Ultrasonic coin cleaning?
moursund
Posts: 3,207 ✭✭✭✭✭
Anybody use ultrasonic for coins? Fill it with water? Acetone?
100th pint of blood donated 7/19/2022 
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. Transactions with WilliamF, Relaxn, LukeMarshal, jclovescoins, braddick, JWP, Weather11am, Fairlaneman, Dscoins, lordmarcovan, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, JimW. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that who so believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.0
Comments
Putting acetone into a regular ultrasonic cleaner is asking for trouble. Do not use a flammable liquid.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
good point. Ok, what about using an ultrasonic cleaner on coins, in general?
Some people do use one. I would defer to their opinions. Personally, I would not put any coin with porous surfaces in an ultrasonic bath--the bath might make the surface roughness worse (due to spalling).
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
There have been a few threads on here in the past about ultrasonics. You'll probably get quicker info by searching the archives and reading the threads rather than waiting for all of that stuff to get reposted.
Plus, you can ask specific questions based on what you read
Yeah good idea... Sometimes I search first, probably I should more often
I have used them with dichloromethane and chloroform as the solvents. Works great to get the PVC off. You just need to make sure that the coin is retained by the rim so that it doesn't vibrate on the bottom of a beaker.
While both chloroform and dichloromethane are widely used for various purposes, I would not use either in an ultrasonic cleaner. Both are suspected carcinogens.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
I have used ultrasonic cleaners in business.... and even with acetone.... Precautions must be taken. Whatever the solvent/solution, be sure not to let the coin contact other surfaces, and only process it for a few minutes at a time. Usually four or five minutes are all that is necessary...often even less. Cheers, RickO
The desire to clean coins is the devil's doorbell.
Keep pressing it and soon enough he will answer.
peacockcoins
Why do you feel the need to do this?
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
I've used an ultrasonic before to get crud out of the tough spots. Worked especially well on 2 1/2 and 5 dollar Indians. I used cigar tubes with a bit of solvent in them, dropped the coin in and just held it in the cleaner. Didn't take long.