When I worked in a music store, we had a really big one in the repair shop. You could fit a tuba in it! I think they used a very dilute solution of Simple Green and a pretty strong acid (can't remember if it was sulphuric acid or HCl) It did wonders and we didn't leave stuff in there for more than 5-6 minutes. Whatever the solution was, it would turn some metals pink. One of the guys in the repair shop let a friend of his bring his gun in to clean it in there and it turned pink. I know raw brass would usually turn pink if left for too long.

But, yes, these things are great! The bigger they are, the noisier they get.

Just to put some closure to the thread, I picked up one of the ones Chilero did at Harbor Freight today, $79.99 on sale for $59.99 plus a 20% off coupon...out the door for $51 and change after tax.

Dropped in one of the V GT Luxe RDs I picked up this week, one that I had cleaned to the best of my ability. I ued Dawn, warm water, and a little JetDry as a surfactant as suggested earlier in the thread. Turned it on and nearly immediately gunk started to come out of pivot points and such. I'm very impressed with it's ability to drive gunk out of impossible to reach places. Honestly, this thing will totally change how I rehab a bike. I used to clean and scrub...now, I'll clean all surface dirt easily accessible and let the ultrasonic to the rest. All my own parts/bikes will get the treatment too when I do winter teardowns.

Anyway...if you're a stickler for clean parts...this is for you.

so where's the after pics? doesn't sound much like closure to me.

Yeah, I know, but I forgot the before pics!

I'll have another component or two this week from the co-op, I'll do a full photo workup: as bought, after light brushing/cleaning for BIG dirt, after ultrasonic, after polishing.

Fair 'nuff?