francovendee wrote: ↑22 Jun 2022, 10:34am
Coming from a production medical engineering background I know how effective ultrasonic cleaning is in reaching into small cavities and blind holes.
Initially we used solvents but then moved to surfactants.
Before we went over to ultrasonic cleaners we used a tank with solvent that was warmed and the parts agitated. The value of ultrasonic cleaning was shown when the rep for Branson Ultrasonics left us a tank to try out. We did the same experiment as I did for my chain and saw just how much dirt and oil was left on what we thought of as a clean surgical instrument.
From my experience chains last 50% longer now I use the ultrasonic cleaner and with chains costing a fair bit I've saved the cost of the tank already.
The cleaner you get the chain the longer it will last.
Although getting an ultrasonic cleaner is partly just playing with an interesting gubbins, for me, there's also a more function-based motive, which is to discover if US cleaning will extract that last bit of grit from the very deepest innards of the chain.
As I understand it, chain "stretch" is no such thing but a small wearing of each pin in its bushing, which eventually slackens the fit by teeny amounts, with the teeny amounts adding up to a not-so-teeny amount that produces the chain "stretch". The chain "stretch", in turn, applies greater pressure to the faces of the sprockets which it contacts, eventually with just one link pressing most on just one sprocket valley and the rest of the chain-sprocket interfaces behind that leading link-sprocket valley interface slightly slack, because the chain is no longer exactly matched to the chainring. This is what begins to rapidly wear the sprockets.
So far, I've managed to keep a cassette, without enough wear so that a sprocket needs swapping out, over the life of about three chains. And a chain typically lasts me a couple of thousand kilometres, as I do keep them clean a la regular & often shake-in-degreaser method. Mind, I always shake three times with fresh degreaser; and trickle excess thin lubricant such as TF2 down a dried & hanging chain, which drips off the bottom and, significantly, does come off discoloured by further stuff that it washes out of the supposedly clean chain.
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So, if US cleaning will remove even those last little bits of grit from the most difficult to get at innards (the stuff that shake-in-a-jar seems to leave if one is not prepared to shake N times) then that will hopefully extend the chain life. And the sprocket life. And the chainring life. Have you seen the current price of a Shimano cassette!
I guess that the grit in the deepest innards of the chain (pin-bushing interfaces) is what does the most wear-damage. Is that a reasonable guess, do you think?
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I've also bought some Wippermann Connex stainless steel chains, sold as good for the extra wattage of e-bikes but bought by me mostly because they're much more rust resistant than plain steel chains and have the Connex quick link, needing no special tool to put on or take off; and which can be used as many times as you like. This makes chain removal for cleaning quick and easy. Cleaning a chain on the bike just splashes cleaning stuff all over my nice wheel rims and disc brakes, man! And I'm not putting a whole bike in the US cleaner. No.
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Yes, it's over-the-top chain cleaning. But as long as one is interested in bike maintenance - because one likes doing it, not just to keep the bike running well - then why not?
Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes