Ultrasonic cleaner specification checklist
Quotes for an industrial ultrasonic cleaner can only be compared when every supplier has answered the same questions. This checklist sets out what to write down first.
Quality and procurement teams call the finished document a URS (user requirement specification). Most of it can be filled in from the workshop floor in an hour.
Work through it in this order
Each section feeds the next. The part and the soil set the chemistry. The cleanliness test sets the process. Throughput and the site set the machine.
The parts
Size, weight, materials, features.
The soil
What it is and where it comes from.
How clean is clean
The test the part has to pass.
Throughput
Parts per shift and how they arrive.
The process around the tank
Before, after, rinse and dry.
Site services
Power, water, drains, floor.
Records and approvals
Logs, recipes, approvals.
What to send
Photos, drawings, data sheets.
The parts
The largest part sets the tank. The smallest feature sets the frequency and how the part sits in the basket.
- The largest part. Length, width, height and weight.
- The smallest features. Blind holes, galleries, threads and internal passages.
- Every material. Include coatings, plating and any bonded or pressed-in parts.
- What must not get wet or hot. Bearings, seals, electronics, adhesives.
The soil
The soil and the metal together choose the chemistry. Name both and most applications are settled.
- What it is. Oil and grease, baked carbon, rust and scale, paint, flux, polishing compound or process residue.
- Where it comes from. The process step before cleaning.
- How old it is. And whether it has been through heat.
- The safety data sheet. If the soil is a process fluid, send its SDS.
How clean is clean
Name the measurement. A part is clean when it passes a test that someone has written down.
If no measure exists yet, write down what the next process needs. Coating, welding, assembly or inspection each sets its own standard.
With a reference photo.
Where coating or bonding follows.
Milligrams per part.
To ISO 16232 or VDA 19.
For electronics.
Flow, pressure drop, a gauge check.
Choose one and write the limit beside it. How to prove a part is clean sets out each test.
Throughput
Tank size follows from the largest part and the batch. Cycle time and the number of stages follow from the parts per shift.
- Volume. Parts per shift and per day, and the peak.
- Batch size. And whether parts arrive loose, racked or in baskets.
- Handling. Manual loading, a lift platform or automated transfer.
- Basket weight. The heaviest full load an operator or a hoist must lift.
The process around the tank
A single tank cleans. Rinsing, rust protection and drying are separate stages, and the checklist should say which ones the part needs.
- Before cleaning. Pre-wash, disassembly, masking.
- After cleaning. Rinse, rust protection, drying, packing.
- Dry time. How soon the part is needed dry, and how dry.
- Rinse water. Tap water, or deionised water where spotting matters.
Site services
Site services decide what can be installed and where. Check them before the quote.
- Power. Single-phase 240 V or three-phase 415 V, and the amps available at the point of use.
- Water. Supply, pressure and quality.
- Drainage. Floor drains and trade waste arrangements for spent baths.
- Floor. Space, access route to the room and floor loading.
- Containment. Bunding and extraction, where the site requires them.
Records and approvals
Audited work needs the cycle on record. Say who reads the record and what it must show.
- Cycle logs. Whether cycles must be logged, and who reads the log. A customer audit, a quality system or a survey.
- Locked recipes. Whether recipes must be locked to a part number.
- Chemistry approvals. Approvals the work calls for, such as Boeing BAC 5749.
- Acceptance. Whether you will witness a factory acceptance test before despatch.
What to send with it
Send as much as you have. A part list and a few photos are enough to start.
The dirtiest part, close up, and the part in its rack or basket.
A drawing, or the main dimensions and weight.
For the soil, and for any chemistry you run now.
If the soil is unusual, a sample helps settle the chemistry.
What happens next
Through the enquiry page, or as much of it as you have.
A machine, a chemistry and any questions still open.
We quote against your checklist. Engineered systems are tested against it before despatch.
Questions buyers ask
Do we need a cleaning trial before buying?
Who should fill the checklist in?
What if we do not know the soil?
What size tank do we need?
Can we send drawings in confidence?
Related pages
Ultrasonic cleaner sizes
Work out the tank from the part and the batch.
Clean is a number
How cleanliness is measured, test by test.
Multi-stage cleaning
When a part needs spray, rinse and dry stages.
Machines
Benchtop, floor-standing and engineered systems.
Quality and compliance
Pre-despatch testing and acceptance records.
Mutual NDA
Sign online before you send drawings.
Industrial ultrasonic cleaners for New Zealand
Machines, chemistry and spares shipped to New Zealand and supported from Melbourne.
Send us your checklist
Send the checklist, or as much of it as you have. Technical sales will come back with a machine, a chemistry and the questions still open.