My ultrasonic cleaner was in the middle of a job, started to get loud, then made a PFFFT sound. I know it was the sound of death. It still gets power and the timer still works but it does not vibrate anymore.
So I guess the ultrasonic generator itself died. The most important component. I cannot think of a way to repurpose this thing. So I guess the question is, is it worth it to replace the ultrasonic generator? The answer to that likely depends on compatibility. What are the chances that another ultrasonic generator can be a drop-in replacement? Would they all generally take the same amount of DC or AC power, generally?
I am tempted to say not worth it, because the tub is small. If I get my hands on the naked UG component, I wonder if it would make more sense to epoxy that to a bigger tub, like a spare metal sink that I have.
BTW, it died under warranty and the vendor did not even want the dead unit back, so they apparently decided it’s not worth it for them to repair, and they would likely have the correct parts on hand.
Here’s what I would do: open it up, see if the ultrasonic transducer has a part number written on it. If it does, Google it and see if you can easily buy a replacement for a reasonable amount. If it’s not too expensive, I’d say it’s worth a shot.
Otherwise, yeah it probably isn’t worth putting any more effort into fixing.
Crack it open and take a look
Does it have heat? Might still be useful as a soaking only bath for things that just need to soak. But you might wanna crack it open and see of its just a bad capacitor that popped.
No, in fact the cheap thing is allergic to heat. The manual says it’s important to fill with /cold/ water. And the running time is restricted to like 4 min. If I run two cycles, the water gets a little warm despite (apparently) having no heating element. The manual also says not to run more than 2 cycles. So it seems the thing is sensitive to heat and the water functions to keep the ultrasonic generator cool, which makes it a bit sucky. I know pro jewelers who have industrial cleaners that have heating elements to deliberately make the liquid very hot.
My cheap vevor sonic cleaner has heat. This thing sounds like trash, time for a upgrade.
I saw a video at some point on how to build an ultrasonic by epoxying an u/s generator to the bottom of a metal tub. Many adhesives fail when a surface gets sufficiently hot. I haven’t opened it up yet but I imagine they used some kind of adhesive, as opposed to welding it. It would be interesting to know if your cleaner uses glue or welding to fasten the u/s generator.