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Is this just a myth or not? Using sonic cleaners to quickly prepare forgeworld products? Does it really beat toothbrush and cleaner?

Well, ultrasonic cleaners definitely are not a myth, but whether it beats the old fashioned way is debatable. I don't have an ultrasonic cleaner myself, but from what I've read, heard and seen in youtube videos, the machine works (as long as you're using it correctly). But you still need the cleaning fluid, and if you're only prepping resin models (washing away the oils), doing it with a toothbrush should be enough. Of course, if you've got a lot of models, or you're stripping models of old paint, the ultrasonic cleaner might save time and elbow grease. The cleaner should also get in every nook and cranny where a toothbrush might not fit.

 Elgrun wrote:

Does it really beat toothbrush and cleaner?

TL;DR: In my opinion no.

If you are taking care to prepare all your parts by removing mould lines/flash and sprue joins, then rushing one step doesn't save a huge amount of time (boring as hand cleaning parts may be).

Further to that point, there are two qualities of Sonic Cleaners
1. Cheap rubbish found on Amazon and eBay such as small jewelry cleaners with insufficient tank size and larger units of dubious reliability and dubious electrical safety
2. Expensive Industrial grade ones with a proper warranty sold by manufacturers which get eye-wateringly expensive at even modest tank sizes e.g. https://www.ultrawave.co.uk

I tried type 1, which was crap and then broke after a few uses. I decided against type 2 because I'd rather spend money on the miniatures. Additionally either type are quite bulky so storage space may be an issue.

Soap, water and a soft bristled child's toothbrush work fine. Use small interdental brushes for fiddly bits. I found 0.6 & 0.45mm work great. As an added bonus, hand cleaning the parts means you get to examine the parts more before priming and painting. So you tend to spot problem areas before assembly, such as areas that will be difficult to paint, parts you need to fill and mould line bits you missed.

I have had an opposite experience as Code - I picked up a $30 ultrasonic cleaner on Amazon and it's been a friggin' champ. Worked a ton in stripping metal miniatures, etc.

It probably needs replacing now after several years of work --- but it was not a bad investment. I'd definitely consider it if I was doing a ton of resin work. A brush and soap is still fine - an electric toothbrush probably even better (and can be had for the same as a cheap ultrasonic cleaner).

Interesting. Didn't even think of using one for that. I have been using it just cleaning interiors of airbrush time to time.

 Elbows wrote:
I have had an opposite experience as Code - I picked up a $30 ultrasonic cleaner on Amazon and it's been a friggin' champ. Worked a ton in stripping metal miniatures, etc.

To be fair if I had to strip a lot of metal miniatures, I'd reconsider getting another Sonic Cleaner. I rarely scrape myself on plastic but I still have old old scars from metal.

+1 for my $30 Amazon model which works great and i've had for a long time. Very grateful i spent the money.

I've had tough situations with paintstripping models from ebay, where even after a deep go at 'em with a toothbrush, i wasn't getting everything off. 1 or 2 runs through the cleaner with Simple Green or Super Clean makes the models come out looking like i'd just opened a brand-new kit.

What i use it for even more often is giving my airbrush the proper full-cleaning it needs after every spray session. For this i use simple, cheap, generic brand glass cleaner from the store.

I actually hadn't considered using it for prepping resin, but that would definitely work too.

Didn't realize a sonic cleaner would work so well on cleaning metal. Does it work well on metal painted with enamel or really thick coats of acrylic?

@ Sentionaut I thought using glass cleaner does damage to your airbrush in time? Or is it the ammonia based cleaners to avoid?

I have a $300 china ultrasonic cleaner and it is a massive improvement over soaking and scrubbing with a toothbrush. It rapidly speeds up the entire cleaning / stripping process and can equally scrub the entire model in every little nook.

What you use as a stripping agent determines what you can strip. Castrol Super Clean / Purple Power handle just about anything.

FWIW, OP is asking whether you can use them to prep FW resin, not whether they strip paint.

I've used a cheap sonic cleaner to prep forgeworld resin and clean plastic models. It does work very well at cleaning irregular shaped objects of anything that that cleaning fluid would remove with manual scrubbing. It works most effectively on hard surfaces, as effectively it vibrates the cleaning fluid against the surface creating bursting bubbles that scrub it.

So for removing oil or mould release warm soapy water works fine, and ammonia-free windscreen cleaner works pretty nicely on deep cleaning on my airbrush (which is its usual job).
It's not so much as a time saver, though it is that too, as saving my aging hands the scrapes and cramp and getting into nooks and detail.

The timer on my cheapo one doesn't go very high though, so I tend to have to give stubborn stains two or three short runs. If it can survive that, it's going to need something more aggressive like 99% IPA which I don't put in the sonic cleaner (flammable liquids should not be used for the obvious reason)

If you only need to clean something small you can save on cleaning fluid by putting part and cleaner in a ziplock bag, then fill the rest of the sonic bath with water. The vibrations will transfer from water to cleaning fluid no problem, and any gunk that comes off stays in the bag instead of staining your sonic cleaner.

Sonic cleaners are debatable, I had a G-shock covered in Iraqi sand and gunk, when I came home I took it to a watch hospital to have it cleaned and when I got it back it still had junk in the crevices

So it was probably the rubber material that was damping the effects of the cleaner or it didn’t work

I love mine. I got one with a heating element from harbor freight for like $70, and it does a great job of stripping models of paint and cleaning my airbrush. Haven't used it for much forge world, but I suspect it would do a good job - probably better than a toothbrush.

Dax415 wrote:
Didn't realize a sonic cleaner would work so well on cleaning metal. Does it work well on metal painted with enamel or really thick coats of acrylic?

@ Sentionaut I thought using glass cleaner does damage to your airbrush in time? Or is it the ammonia based cleaners to avoid?

Ultrasonics work BETTER on metal than anything else. The harder the surface, the better.

I haven't tried cleaning enamel with an ultrasonic, but it should work, depending on the cleaning solution. I'd pre-soak in something like Pine Sol (which DOES strip Testors Enamels, from experience) for a week prior to popping it into the ultrasonic.