b"dont always provide the desired re- which led to reductions of regulatedIn our experience, Santerre sults, Siminovich said. solventshave produced cleanedsaid, a lot of cleaners cost less than The ultrasonic cleaning methodparts that rival or surpass solvent$10,000, even $1,000, but single may produce unsurpassed levels ofcleaning and have a similar payback. units can sell for up to $60,000. But cleanliness but can be expensive. Regarding water-based ultrasonicthe worst-case scenario is having The cost for water-based ma- cleaning, a common misconceptionthe machine operator do the clean-chines, which are generally cheaperis to imagine a tabletop-size tank,ing because an expensive worker is thansolvent-basedmachines,but some ultrasonic systems arebeing used for a low-skill task.ranges from a few thousand dol- over 9.1 m (30') long. All EcocleanA small shop might be able to get lars to more than $1 million. A sol- machines incorporate ultrasonic asby with one machine, but some fa-vent-based machine costs $400,000an option. cilities require dozens of washers.to $500,000, depending on volumeWashing parts is only one of the and size, and removes all grindingcritical steps in todays manufactur-oils. contributors ing processes, yet it is vitally impor-While the solvent-based ma- tant to many industries. Armed with chines carry a higher upfront invest- Ecoclean Inc. the necessary information, any shop ment point, it has considerably less248-450-2000 can figure out which parts cleaning running costs, Siminovich said. Sowww.ecoclean-group.us system would best meet its needs.your payback on the equipment willThere are times when a clean-be fasteron average its aboutGraymills Corp. ing method simply fails for some two yearsthan that of a water- 877-465-7867 reason, Kucklick said. Our ability based machine. www.graymills.com to change gears and try up to three Others have found that develop- Miraclean Ultrasonics other types of cleaning is a tremen-ments in water-based cleaning 716-763-4343 dous benefit when attempting to since the 1988 Montreal Protocol,www.miraclean.com solve a cleaning mystery.CTEPartsCleaning.indd 47 3/16/20 4:42 PM"