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So with a pile of painted models I want stripped (I say pile. I mean mountain), I've been considering investing in a sonic cleaner to just speed up the whole process. Thing is I have no idea what ones are good or not.

Ideally I'd like it to be able to handle something the size of as assembled land raider as that means it'll take pretty much anything I own.

I don't really want to pay more than about £50.

So does anyone have any recommendations? Any budget ones you've used you'd recommend?

Help me get rid of some awful paint jobs!

If its not fine cast or forgeworld resin, 99% isopropal alcohol will ususally take down models to primer, if not base plastic no issues in about 5 to 10 minutes depending on how thick or if its been varnished.

i used to use a sonic cleaner from the harbor freight but it burns out really quick. and you have to click the button over and over.

budget machines never work out well.

Fuze Biostrip 20. Not the spray version. Better than a sonic cleaner.

I recently ordered a low-end iSonic ultrasonic cleaner, but it won't arrive for about a week. I'll see how that turns out.

I use this stuff,and I didn't think anything could beat acetone free nail polish remover but......it does! The way you use it is different;you just brush it on and brush it off,it's that quick. So far I've not come up against anything it couldn't handle/it is specifically for acrylic paint so I don't know what else it will work on.Unfortunately you don't get enough to soak loads of minis,nor is it cost effective to try and do so. But it works!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VMS-CLEAN-SLATE-Easily-remove-paint-from-a-model-Acrylic-paint-stripper-200-ml-/322134155729?epid=863205141&hash=item4b00b121d1:g:bGwAAOSwHMJYPwUP

I have a budget ultrasonic cleaner, £20 off eBay. It's only 650ml capacity but is perfect for stripping a squad at a time. I recently snagged 20 genestealers off eBay and stripped them down to grey plastic in less than 30 minutes. (Had to do two batches of ten)

Everyone has their own miracle fluids they use but if you are in the UK, I recommend methylated spirit (you know, the purple stuff). Leave it for 10-20 minutes in the cleaner and take a toothbrush to the models. The paint literally falls off straight back to the grey plastic as good as new with no damage or deformities. It has the added benefit of being cheap.

Because it's cheap I'd recommend trying a few models in a spirit bath without the ultrasonic cleaner and see how much paint comes off, might save you £50.

Just gotta watch out for the fumes and make sure it doesn't get too hot from the vibrations.

I should have mentioned I've done the chemical stripping approaches. Brown dettol, power spray, nail varnish remover...I was just hoping for something a bit quicker with less scrubbing.

I figured with a sonic cleaner I could throw a batch in, put a film on and switch batches out every 15 minutes or so.

I used a low end sonic cleaner from amazon to strip some metals:

I used isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush to take the majority of paint off, then I put them in the sonic cleaner with superclean to get most of the paint out of the recesses. Then a toothpick for cleanup.

This worked for 1 Squad of kasrkins then it burned out and I had to return it.

It took a LONG time in the sonic cleaner, but the only actual work was pushing a button.

If this mountain is worth a lot of $$$ then I would suggest a mid grade sonic cleaner that has a timer that goes for a long time.

It's going to be somewhere in the region of about 7-8k worth of points, spread across orks, tau, wolves and possibly eldar if no one buys them from me...