Home / Machines / Ultrasonic baths
Ultrasonic baths · 3 L benchtop to 225 L industrial

Ultrasonic baths, from the 3 L bench bath to the 225 L industrial tank

An ultrasonic bath is a heated stainless tank of cleaning solution with ultrasonic transducers bonded underneath. It cleans every surface the liquid reaches, inside and out, with nothing mechanical touching the part. Misonics supplies ten baths in one family: the PowerSonic benchtop baths from $1,475 ex GST for labs, clinics and jewellers, the MSX 15 and MSX 30 for the workshop bench, and the MSX 50 to MSX 240 floor-standing baths for plants and rebuilders.

Talk to an engineerCall 1300 647 664
The range

Ultrasonic bath sizes and prices

Pick a bath by the basket and the working depth, not by the litres printed on the box. The basket is what your part has to fit in, fully under the liquid and clear of the tank floor.

BathUseful volumeBasket · working depthFrequencyUltrasonic powerHeatingSupplyPrice ex GST
PS 6032.6 L240 × 135 mm · 80 mm40 kHz swept200 Wto 80 °C240 V, 10 A$1,475
PS 6052.9 L240 × 120 mm · 100 mm40 kHz swept350 Wto 80 °C240 V, 10 A$1,805
PS 6105 L250 × 200 mm · 100 mm40 kHz swept400 Wto 80 °C240 V, 10 A$2,135
PS 62011 L440 × 250 mm · 100 mm40 kHz swept700 Wto 80 °C240 V, 10 A$2,795
MSX 159.4 L320 × 225 mm · 130 mm40 kHz300 Wto 80 °C240 V, 10 A$3,970
MSX 3016.2 L490 × 235 mm · 140 mm25 / 45 kHz dual650 Wto 80 °C240 V, 10 A$5,980
MSX 5045 L500 × 300 mm · 300 mm25 kHz1,500 W2.4 kW, to 80 °C240 V, 15 AFrom $13,770
MSX 7072 L600 × 400 mm · 300 mm25 kHz1,500 W2.4 kW, to 80 °C240 V, 15 AFrom $15,900
MSX 140140 L700 × 500 mm · 400 mm25 kHz3,000 W4 kW415 V three-phaseQuoted · rent from $266/wk
MSX 240225 L900 × 500 mm · 500 mm25 kHz4,500 W4 kW415 V three-phaseQuoted · rent from $337/wk

Prices ex GST. Specifications and pricing are confirmed in writing at quotation. Larger tanks, multi-stage lines and custom baths up to 46,000 L: see ultrasonic cleaner sizes and the EvoSonic range.

Who uses which

Benchtop, workshop or industrial bath

Benchtop: PowerSonic, 3.3 to 20.7 L

Laboratories, dental and vet practices, jewellers, watchmakers, electronics repair. 40 kHz swept with degas for fine work. Plugs into a 10 A socket.

Workshop: MSX 15 and MSX 30

Injectors, carburettors, tooling and daily trays. Heated to 80 °C; the MSX 30 switches between 25 and 45 kHz.

Industrial: MSX 50 to MSX 240

Cylinder heads, housings, heat exchangers and batch trays. 25 kHz with load sensing; the 140 and 240 carry weir, oil capture and filtration.

Using it

How to use an ultrasonic bath

  1. Fill to the fill line with water, then add the concentrate at its dose. Too little liquid lets the transducers overheat; too much spills when the basket goes in.
  2. Heat it. Most solutions work best at 50 to 70 °C. Heavy oil and carbon want the top of the range.
  3. Degas a fresh bath for 5 to 10 minutes before the first load. Dissolved air in new water soaks up the energy and cleans badly. See degassing.
  4. Use the basket. Never stand parts on the tank floor: it damps the bath and wears the tank. Keep parts apart so the liquid reaches every face.
  5. Run the cycle, usually 3 to 20 minutes, longer for carbon and scale. Lift and check rather than guess.
  6. Rinse and dry. Clean water rinse, then dry straight away so steel does not flash-rust.
  7. Change the bath when it stops cleaning at the usual time, not on a calendar. Skim oil off the top between loads.
Bath not cleaning? Five fixes →
Chemistry

Ultrasonic bath solution: what goes in the tank

The bubbles do the scrubbing; the solution decides what comes off. Pick it by the dirt and by the metal, and keep to the dose: more concentrate does not clean faster, it only leaves residue.

Oils, grease, workshop dirt

FX Degreaser at 5% in water. The everyday bath for most metals.

Scale and rust

An acid descaler, run in its own tank. Never mix acid and alkaline baths.

Precision and aerospace

Brulin AquaVantage 815 GD for new manufacture; 815 QR-NF for carbon.

Never put petrol, thinners, acetone or any flammable solvent in an ultrasonic bath: the heat and the bubbles throw vapour off the surface.

Ultrasonic bath solution and chemicalsFind my chemical
Buying one

A cheap ultrasonic bath or a proper one

The 1 to 6 L baths sold online clean jewellery and glasses well enough. For daily work they fall short in four places: ultrasonic power per litre, the tank steel, heating that actually reaches temperature, and a supplier who can fix it. Before you buy, check:

The full specification checklist →
Immersion and agitation

Ultrasonic immersion baths and ultrasonic agitation

An ultrasonic immersion bath is any tank the parts are lowered into, fully under the liquid, while the ultrasonics run. Every Misonics bath works that way. If you already have a tank, an immersible transducer box or rod resonator can be dropped into it and turn it into an ultrasonic bath without a new vessel: see immersible transducers and retrofit kits and ultrasonic tank retrofit.

Ultrasonic agitation is what sets an ultrasonic bath apart from a soak tank or a stirred bath. Mechanical agitation moves the liquid past the part; ultrasonic agitation makes cavitation bubbles that collapse on the surface itself, so it reaches blind holes, threads and the inside of a basket of small parts where a pump or paddle cannot. The bigger MSX baths add both: ultrasonics for the surface, and weir and filtration to keep the liquid clean.

Questions

Ultrasonic bath questions

What is an ultrasonic bath?
An ultrasonic bath is a stainless tank of liquid with ultrasonic transducers bonded to it. They make millions of tiny bubbles that collapse against the part (cavitation) and lift dirt off every surface the liquid touches, including blind holes and threads. Ultrasonic bath, ultrasonic cleaner and ultrasonic cleaning bath all mean the same machine.
What solution goes in an ultrasonic bath?
Water plus a cleaning concentrate matched to the dirt and the metal. A mild detergent for light soils and instruments, an alkaline degreaser such as FX Degreaser at 5% for oils and grease, and an acid descaler for scale and rust in a dedicated tank. Never put flammable solvents in an ultrasonic bath. The ultrasonic cleaning solution guide gives the dose, temperature and pH for each.
Can I use plain water in an ultrasonic bath?
Plain water works only on loose dust. Water on its own has high surface tension and does not wet oil or grease, so the bubbles have nothing to carry the dirt away in. A few per cent of the right concentrate makes the same bath several times faster.
How long do you leave parts in an ultrasonic bath?
Most jobs take 3 to 20 minutes once the bath is degassed and at temperature. Heavy carbon, baked oil and scale can take 30 to 60 minutes. Check the part, and write the time and temperature that worked on a process card so it is repeatable.
What size ultrasonic bath do I need?
The smallest one your largest part fits in, fully under the liquid, without touching the tank floor. Compare the basket and the working depth, not the litres on the box. A 3.3 L bath takes a 240 mm basket; a 225 L bath takes 900 mm.
Where can I buy an ultrasonic bath in Australia?
Misonics supplies the PowerSonic benchtop baths (3.3 to 20.7 L), the MSX 15 and MSX 30 bench machines, and the MSX 50 to MSX 240 floor-standing baths, with prices ex GST on each model page. Larger and multi-stage systems are quoted to the job.
What is an ultrasonic immersion bath?
Any ultrasonic bath where the parts are lowered fully under the liquid while the ultrasonics run. You can also make one from your own tank by dropping in an immersible transducer box or rod resonator, with no new vessel.
What is ultrasonic agitation?
Agitation by sound instead of by stirring. The ultrasonics make cavitation bubbles that collapse on the part's surface, so the cleaning reaches blind holes and threads that a pump or paddle cannot.
Next step

Tell us what goes in the bath

Send the part, the dirt and how many you clean a day. An engineer will come back with the bath size, the solution and the cycle.

Talk to an engineerSee the whole range