Best ultrasonic solution

I have been using Okite BCR in my ultrasonic for years. Went to
order some more and the Co. has gone nuts on their pricing. Used high
pressure sales techniques. As a result I no longer use their product
and am looking for a replacement. Any suggestions, tips advice about
any solutions anyone is using with success would be greatly
appreciated (I don’t want to try them all) As always TIA TBear

Oakite is the best ( for oil based polish) , I buy a drum of it and
split it with some other local jewelers. I still use ammonia and dish
washing liquid for people dirt in rings. Marty

Ted, We’ve been using “Ultra CR” cleaning compound from Poly Chemical,
in Chestnut Hill, NY. for the past 2 years with great results. Just
received two ea 5 gal pails at $100 each. Use warm, change
frequently. Jack Van Dell

    I have been using Okite BCR in my ultrasonic for years.  Went
to order some more and the Co. has gone nuts on their pricing. As a
result I no longer use their product and am looking for a
replacement. Any suggestions, tips advice about any solutions
anyone is using with success would be greatly appreciated 

Hello Ted, I recently was wandering around our local Dollar General
store and bought some “Mean Green” household cleaner. Hey, it was $2
for a 40 oz. spray bottle. I suspect it’s a knock-off version of
“Simple Green.” (They also have a degreaser in a small jug, at the
same price I plan to try.) I poured some into my ultrasonic and
literally watched the buffing compound fall away from a piece fresh
off the buffer! Wow! I use it full-strength in a suspended glass
beaker surrounded by tap water (with a drop of dish soap) in the
ultrasonic. That way, I can discard the small amount of cleaning
solution in the beaker as it becomes dirty. Dirty solution doesn’t
clean very well. I can also microwave the solution in the beaker to
pre-heat it. Read all the Orchid archive postings on ultrasonic use
and you’ll learn much from Ken Kotoski, Mike & Dale (Lone StarTech.
Svc.) and John Cranor. There are also good discussions about what
people use in their ultrasonics. Hope this helps. Also, I want to
thank Hanuman/Dr. Aspler for his efforts moderating Orchid. Welcome
back - I missed Orchid during your Thai new year vacation. Judy in
Kansas

Judy M. Willingham, R.S.
Extension Associate
221 Call Hall Kansas State Univerisity
Manhattan KS 66506
(785) 532-1213 FAX (785) 532-5681

Just a simple formula which should work for most all crud removal. In
a gallon water jug put about 1/2 cup Joy or Dawn or NOW dish washing
liquid. ( the clear seems to work best) 1 pint of soapy ammonia,
lemon scent 1 pint of walgreens rubbing alcohol (ispropyl alcohol 70%)
and the rest fill with water. . This is a basic recipe and you can
modify it to suit your needs.

If you live in the Florida area there is a product called Formula 88
which we use at 50/50 to clean up the rouge crud left on the
ultrasonic tanks and cases when they come to us for repair. While I’m
on that subject… it wouldn’t hurt to wipe the outside of the
ultrasonic with the Joy solution every once in a while. Also check
the area of the tank inside where the heaters are attached and use a
little vinegar (full strength) to remove the scale that probably has
built up on the inside of the tank. If vinegar does not remove the
scale use a product like Lime-away on a scotchbrite pad and GENTLY
scrub the scale until it is gone. Of course you will be wearing
rubber gloves while you are doing this. Removing the scale will
improve the heaters ability to heat and cleaning the tank will also
improve the ultrasonic action.

Mike and Dale
The ultrasonic repair guys, “If you don’t need us today, we’ll be here
tomorrow”
Lone Star Technical Services

My choice for an ultrasonic solution is the common product “NOW” I
buy it at Sams for about $6/ half gallon, and use it at about 5 or 6
parts water to one part NOW. It cleans very well, is non toxic,
cheap and readily available. I do use it in a heated sonic.

Judy Hoch, G.G.
@Judy_Hoch

—“I have been using Okite BCR in my ultrasonic for years. Went to
order some more and the Co. has gone nuts on their pricing” TBear,
The store I work at has been using Oakite BCR for years and years as

well, we have always bought the 19 gallon drum direct from Oakite and
it lasts a long time, but is difficult to manage. We recently called
Oakite to

order again an found out that the price per gallon was considerably
increased. Like you we decided to look around —“(I don’t want to
try them all)”

Looking around we found that Gesswein sells BCR in smaller quantities
at a cheaper price per gallon than we have paid for quite some time.
Its easier to manage, as we chose the somewhat easier to lift 5 gallon
pail. Gessweins

phone number is 1-800-243-4466, or can be found at www.gesswein.com
We are all creatures of habit, I don’t know if any of the other ideas
are better or not. I just know that BCR is great stuff!
Paul in Kansas where the south wind is blowing strong again today.

Thank you VERY much for the !! Do you use the BCR
original or the BCR Plus product? Do you get the same results as with
the Okite BCR solutions? I really appreciate the feed-back as I don’t
want to try “them all” either. TBear

Hey guys, Just a quick word of caution here… Be VERY VERY careful
putting any kind of amonia products in your ultrasonic even if they
are diluted with water… If you look at the MSDS on amonia you will
find that prolonged exposure will lead to lung disease and if I am not
mistaken I am pretty sure it is a carcenigen. (spelling??)… Be
careful what you put in there especially amonia… I persaonlly use BCR
and have used the amonia products before… I am sticking to BCR
myself… It works the best…

Marc Williams

    Looking around we found that Gesswein sells BCR in smaller
quantities at a cheaper price per gallon than we have paid for quite
some time. Its easier to manage, as we chose the somewhat easier to
lift 5 gallon pail.  Gessweins phone number is 1-800-243-4466,  or
can be found at    www.gesswein.com 

Gesswein’s website is down right now for retooling. We will have it
back up by the end of May (it seems to be all I work on these days
:). If you would like to be automatically notified by email when the
site is back up, just go to www.gesswein.com and key in your email
address.

Meanwhile you can call us at the number Paul mentioned above
(1-800-243-4466) or at 203-366-5400 or fax us at 1-888-454-4377 to
order BCR or anything else you’d like.

Thanks for mentioning us Paul!

Best Regards,
Elaine Corwin
VP Technical Services
GESSWEIN CO INC USA

I checked the MSDS for Ammonia and it is not a carcinogen but it is
real toxic on your lungs and skin. It is also very bad for nickle
white gold settings. it can cause stress crack corrosion on a prong
that is set and cause it to crack and then you lose the stone. So I
would avoid the ammonia based solutions. –

James Binnion Metal Arts

@James_Binnion
Member of the Better Business Bureau

First of all my apologies to Mark Williams but his post is just not
factual.

  "Hey guys, Just a quick word of caution here.. Be VERY VERY
  careful putting any kind of amonia products in your ultrasonic
  even if they are diluted with water.. If you look at the MSDS on
  amonia you will find that prolonged exposure will lead to lung
  disease and if I am not mistaken I am pretty sure it is a
  carcenigen. (spelling??).." 

I carefully checked the MSDS http://hazard.com/msds/tox/f/q8/q361.html

and at the levels we use it, even the material you can buy from the
hardware store you’d have to drink it! Neat, undiluted and with gin!

I’m having a real go at people today… sorry. No disrespect
intended.

Look at the International Chemical Safety Cards at
http://ehs.clemson.edu/niosh/ipcs/ipcs0000.htm then go to ammonia
http://ehs.clemson.edu/niosh/ipcs/ipcs0414.htm

and get the full facts. Remember that this is for the pure gas stored
in a cylinder under pressure!

A mild solution of ammonia in water is not very toxic. Breathing in
the fumes will irritate the lungs, like a bonfire will, and cause you
to cough and your eyes to water. Ever heard of smelling salts?

No mention of carcinogenic effects except in lab animals and bacteria
at very high doses!

Will people please stop posting urban myths as fact!

        (Looking around we found that Gesswein sells BCR in smaller
quantities ) 

What is BCR.?? I use a Gesswein multi purpose ultrasonic solution
that is ok, but don’t know what BCR stand for. Can you enlighten me?
Thomas

BCR stands for buffing compound remover. It is by far the best
solution I have used in all my years on the bench. It is produced by
Oakite products Inc. and be bought in 5 to 50 gal. containers. Try
calling thier national number for a local rep. (908)464-6900
John

TBear & Thomas, and all Orchidians, we are still using up the last of
our “big drum” of BCR ( which as I understand, stands for Buffing
Compound Remover, if thats not what it stands for, then it should ;o)
We ordered and have recieved the original formula, The BCR Plus is
actually cheaper, but thats how pleased we are with the original. (to
make it cheaper, what do they leave out?, and how much does that lower
the price? How much do they add for the mysterious “Plus” Why is
newer and better cheaper? Shouldn’t it cost More? I have assumed that
Gesswein must be buying it from Oakite by the trainload or other
similar quantity to get such favorable pricing, However I don’t know
this for fact, Perhaps this is a Gesswein manufactured product, It
does have the same name which ought to be trademarked? Haven’t
checked the facts yet, “but now ya got me curious” Perhaps the fine
folks at Gesswein could enlighten us, Thanks. Paul in Kansas, It is
an absolutely beautiful spring day today, Blue
skies, nice gentle breeze, WOW, feels like mountain weather.

 Why is newer and better cheaper? Shouldn't it cost More? I have
assumed that Gesswein must be buying it from Oakite by the trainload
or other similar quantity to get such favorable pricing,  However I
don't know this for fact, Perhaps this is a Gesswein manufactured
product, It does have the same name which ought to be trademarked?  

Hi Paul in Kansas, Gesswein does not manufacture BCR Plus, Oakite
does. Understandably Oakite does not want to tell us exactly what
changes they made in the chemical formulation of BCR to make BCR
Plus. I think they just changed ratios of ingredients frankly but
I’m guessing.

Here’s my understanding and here’s a glimpse of how life works in the
world of suppliers: Oakite gave an exclusive to a distributor for
BCR. In other words we cannot buy BCR direct from Oakite anymore but
are forced to go through this distributor. The distributor has to
make a profit, of course, so we end up paying substantially more for
BCR than we used to. Oakite offered us (and other suppliers) BCR
Plus to ease the pain of this situation. That’s why BCR Plus is
cheaper from us than original BCR.

And yes, BCR stand for “Buffing Compound Remover”. :slight_smile:

Best Regards,

Elaine Corwin
VP Technical Services
GESSWEIN CO INC USA