Clean resin from woodworking blades, routers and tools in an Ultrasonic Cleaner

Cleaning woodworking tools the old way.

Cleaning resin from woodworking tooling such as routers, blades, profile cutter CNC machine tools is an essential but time consuming process. This  chore can be reduced to just a few minutes with an Ultrasonic Cleaner. It’s a low cost investment saving time and money.

Build up of resin from machining Pine, MDF and other wood materials  reduces the efficiency of a tool because the additional friction created by the resin generates heat. The heat then dulls the cutting edge of the tool thus making a rougher cut.

There are several cleaning fluids for woodworking tools available, but these require the tool to be soaked before plenty of elbow grease is needed to brush, scrape and wipe resin from the router or saw blade. Each tool takes 10-15 minutes to clean by hand. Even the smallest of woodworking businesses can have enough tools that require several hours in cleaning each week.

Cleaning tools with an ultrasonic cleaner

The smart way to clean woodworking tools is with an Ultrasonic cleaner and a cleaning solvent (non toxic). The ultrasonic machine does all the work in a matter of minutes whilst you are free to carry on with other things.

Before Ultrasonic Cleaning.

After Ultrasonic Cleaning (5 minute cycle).

The Ultrasonic Cleaning process

Place the tools in the tank and fill with fluid. Turn the ultrasonic tank on. Remove the tooling after 5 minutes and wipe with a dry cloth. Done. Simple. And whilst the machine is cleaning, you are free to carry on earning money.

The tools shown above were placed in the ultrasonic cleaner for 5 minutes without any heating. The cleaning solution is non-toxic, has a citrus content and smells a little like oranges. Use it neat and change when dirty. The bottle on the left hand side of the photo has been used several times. The bottle on the right is new.

Woodworking tool cleaning – a case study

I went to visit a customer based in Sheffield, Designer Woodwork Services (DWS Ltd) who purchased one of our Ultrasonic Cleaners to see how the machine was performing. Dan, who very kindly took time out of his busy day to demonstrate how he has quite literally, saved many hours every month cleaning machine tools. And as Dan, a true Yorkshireman says, “time is money”.

Dan runs a small but busy business manufacturing bespoke joinery products. The machine tools range from 100 years old (and still in use every  day) to a modern planer / profiler costing £38,000. A planing tool can cost around £6000 and keeping it free from resin build-up is essential. DSW Ltd purchased a 6 Ltr Ultrasonic Cleaner, large enough to hold most of his tooling.

Dan said, “the purchase was £190 well spent”. He explained that he now cleans all his machining tools in the ultrasonic tank.

Update March 2021.

I phoned Dan to enquire about the cleaning fluid. 6 years on and he’s still using the same machine.

 More information on Ultrasonic Cleaners can be found on our website.

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