Ultrasonic Cleaners --- To use or not to use...

[ez1putt]

My wife never takes her diamond wedding ring off, and as such, tends to get enough crud on it to "lose the sparkle". The stone is a 6 prong 1.25 round with channel set princess cuts on the the ring. She cleans it once a week with the "soft brush" method, but doesn''t do the job of the jeweler tools. Will using an ultrasonic once a week between visits to the jeweler do the trick?

What''s the consensus on ultrasonics? I did a search and received mostly opinions from early last year. Hopefully someone has new input. I''m looking at the $85 Sharper Image model.

Thoughts?

 

[2Bmarried]

I just bought the Sharper Image model for my fiancee a few weeks ago. I bought a baby soft toothbrush to get some of the surface crud & lotions off before I run it through the ultrasonic. I usually put some hot water in it along with about a teaspoon of ammonia & a few drops of Dawn dish soap. I typically clean her ring 2-3 times a week in it. I take out the ring, stop-up the sink & rinse it under hot water. Then I use compressed air to blow away any moisture & "voila!", it looks fantastic. I'd highly recommend it & I've read at least one other person's comments on Pricescope stating the same thing.

 

[caratgirl]

2Bmarried, LOL, I just love your dedication to your fiancee's ring! Very admirable...my husband gives me his diamond wedding band to clean in the ultrasonic about once a month, and I run it about 15 minutes.

 

[DavidEmslie]

Ultrasoincs do a decent job. However it depends on the quality. Mine ran be about $300 but I use it in jewelry production...For customers it blows the dirt of most rings in a flat 3 to 5 seconds, About a min of use gets most polishing compounds off, however, anyting really nasty that has been on there for years, or has been baked on with heat can still be quite the problem.

the solution is simple, and works great no matter how much or how litlte dirt you have. For the really stubborn grime that even the best ultrasonics cant get, there is a very simple method that works quickly and is very inexpensive...RED DEVIL LYE
The stuff eats soap scum like none other. Great for getting into the little cracks and crevesis, its how I get polishing compound out from behind diamonds ect. Take a small dish, and warm water, and about a spoon full of lye, let it sit for a few min, dirt will puff up and flake off, then take it out with tweezers, DONT TOUCH THE LYE, IT WILL START TURNING YOUR SKIN INTO SOAP! Rinse the ring off with water for a min and dry with a paper towl or clean rag....and thats it, perfectly clean, no organic residue left what so ever.
If its really caked on and puffed up and wont rinse off, ultrasonic it and the remaining softened up crud blows off in an ultrasonic.

In ultrasonics I use amonia and water, about 1/3 amonia, and the rest water, it works quite well.

 

[Griffin]

Ah, David. That was a sworn jewelers secret. Whaddya go do that for...

BTW, the lye is extremely caustic (it is the active ingredient in drain openers) so be careful.
This stuff works GREAT on diamonds, rubies, etc., as it dissolves all organic materials away entirely. It will remove the unremovable from years of buildup on rings.
I don't know exactly how this would work on delicate stuff like opals, pearls, etc., but wouldn't try it - I doubt it would do good things.

 

[ez1putt]

I should have clarified...the ring is about a year old. No long term crud has been built up. We just had it professionally cleaned last week. Trying to get an idea if the ultrasonic is a good way to keep it as clean as possible from this point forward.

Thanks for the feedback, please keep it coming.

 

[glitterata]

I wonder about this, too. My ring, which was my grandmother's, has dozens of tiny bead-set (or pave) melee diamonds in a deco setting from 1929. If I got an ultrasonic, would I risk loosening the pave?

The warm water, ammonia, and toothbrush method works pretty well. My mom said to me the other day, "Look how sparkly that ring is! It never sparkled like that when my mother wore it." (It's not even particularly sparkly by PS standards. It's a transition cut that leaks like mad in the Idealscope.) But when I look at it with a loupe, even after cleaning it, I always see a ton of tiny specks.

Is it safe to use an untrasonic on a complicated pave setting?

 

[PMR]

Does anyone have a web site where you can buy a ultrasonic cleaner from? I could use one!

 

[DavidEmslie]

If the ring gets regular cleaing one of the less expensive ultrasonics should be fine.

Any well made diamond setting can take the abuse, however softer more fragile stones are often not recomended, anyting Diamond, ruby, sapphire, quartz group, tourmaline, or non oiled beryl will be just fine. Emerald treated with oil will lose some oil each time you do it. Retreatment requires a vacume pump.

So long as the pave was done correctly it should be just fine to clean. If prongs are missing they could come out, it would require a repair anyway at that point. But it should be fine if it has lasted since 1929 with out problems.

As far as where to get ultrasonics, I picked mine up from a jewelry tool supply company, however you have to have an account to buy one from those people. Do a search online. Id stay away from the $20 versions. May as well use a tooth brush at that point and save the $
they are a waste, If your really seriouse I think there are some good ones in the $120 to $150 range that you will be impressed with.
Usualy amonia and a tooth brush is all you need.

 

[icelovr]

Hi all - RE: ultrasonic cleaners - I recently bought one and I really like it - especially now, knowing the lye trick (thanks to the pros

) I don't know if it's a really really good one - but it seemed like one of the better one w/o spending a fortune or having it as large as my sink. The site is cleanosonic.com/b200.htm

Hope this helps -
Icelovr

 

[caratgirl]

Just to add to David's list of stones NOT to put into an ultrasonic machine - Tanzanite.