Ultrasonic Cleaners for Action Figures and outfits - Toy Polloi
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- I was very kindly sent a couple of different Ultrasonic cleaners to test out with cleaning vintage toys. A smaller home unit, and a larger professional cleaner. Check out how I got on.
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I don’t really even collect toys I just enjoy your content. It’s kind of like ASMR. My fav are the ones you use paint markers to do color touch ups. I could watch those forever they are very satisfying. Please do more of those! Keep up the great work.
Asmr ?
Dawn dish soap and a toothbrush is my standard. Gets out all the dirt and is affordable.
I've seen some incredible videos for de-yellowing. One in particular involved heating water and hydrogen peroxide and had perfect results! After watching this video, it occurs to me that you can fill the bigger professional cleaner with food-grade (13%) hydrogen peroxide and be able to precisely maintain a proper temperature to keep the h2o2 under boiling temp and evaporating away. The heat and h2o2 combined really make yellowed parts pristine again and more maluable and less brittle, which makes the parts last longer too. This process never required sunlight, UV lamps, or sealing them in bags or cartons! So, by doing this, you are now talking about de-yellowing in a matter of minutes, instead of days, all while cleaning it at the same time. You can leave them in as little or long as possible of course too to get the results you're after. Would make for a great follow-up video! Thanks, Dave! Thumbs up!!! 8-)
its nice to have equipments to help in restoring figures
I use mine for loads of stuff, figures, accessories, soft part even cycle parts. I literally use it for everything.
Good video.
Distilled water and a proper cleaning solution would help a lot. The temperature needs to be high enough to dissolve the grease.
Also 3 minutes isn't long enough, these figures need at least 10 and probably more.
In the USA people use super clean as the solution and how much you put in and how long you let it sit defines the result (like 6 hours with a high concentration will strip the paint from toys)
Hey there Polloi!
I was just experimenting with ready made paints (Restoring my very first vintage figures I ever owned, sweet!)
I found that a dead on match for my silver accents variation of the 77 death squad commander (gloss boots and gloves) is Tamiya lacquer LP-11 silver.
I really smiled a bit about this video. You already made a video about the effects of an ultrasonic cleaner. I showed this old video to my husband as soon you published it, and after watching the video, he immediately ordered such an industrial ultrasonic cleaner for his model railway. He has some quite old models and you can get these really clean and ready for airbrushing with this method without breaking anything of the tiny details.
But I also like to use it for doll parts. It is much easier than the kitchen sink and hot, soapy water. And it can get into nucks and crannies where no toothbrush can reach.
Although I still do hate the sound of this tool. It hurts my head so much...
I used these in my dental studio, it helps to use ultrasonic cleaning fluid too.
They are also commonly used to clean jewelry
It won't remove stains... It merely vibrates debri free
Thanks for sharing the comparisons, Dave.
While they do work with just water and the cavitation effect of the ultrasonic transducer, results can be improved with some detergent as this will emulsify the dirt more effectively and suspend it in the water. I use Dettol surface spray or washing up liquid (dish soap) with great results.
Great job Dave! 👍😁
Love you videos and simple fixes!
Have you tried a UV ultrasonic cleaner? It may just be the best alternative to de-yellowing figures instead of the peroxide/sunbath treatment. Get an ultrasonic cleaner with UV light and drop a denture tablet into warm water. The UV light activates the molecular oxidation process in the plastic as the denture tablets oxidize to restore the plastic.
The bigger one looks just like a McDonalds French fry fryer. With no telling where these vintage action figures have been, the sonic cleaning's sanitizing is especially helpful.
I enjoy doing my toy cleaning by hand ,but if it works 4u then that's all that matters nice video
Very interesting. I would save using the soap for Action Man/Mego figures' clothing. It might be interesting to see if these baths can get ingrained dirt out of Action Man flocked heads. Some people use the smaller machine without the plastic basket, as there is a belief that the plastic absorbs some of the ultrasonic agitation. I've used industrial ones, and I think that they're a great help.
Wow i like the machine!
The soap acts as a 'wetting' agent that helps the drying process, and avoids water droplet marks
It’s a great result and obviously a good investment 🤔 I do have some figures requiring cleaning, but budget wise I have to think about it 🤔
Great video! As always 👍🏽✌🏽
I use one for cleaning radio control car parts, mainly tamiya parts, gets into all the nooks and crannies. Very satisfying rebuilding with clean parts. I suppose lego could also be cleaned in there.
I bet that a longer time, AND the dish soap would work very well for the clothing.
i think so too.
Really convinced I'm not
Or even a little laundry detergent?
Those STARWARS figs looked real good.
It does looks like a home fryer :D awesome video brother
You don't really need the washing up liquid. The idea is that the ultrasound vibrates the dirt out. Put your eye glasses in the large ultrasonic bath with cold water and watch the dirt flow out of the crevices. I've used these devices for years in metallurgy labs. The grease on the surface of your toys will still need to be scrubbed off. Change the water after every use and don't worry about running it for longer.
The ultra sonic cleaner I use(us model) I run everything 15 minutes at a go. I also found a better degreaser works better, I imagine it wouldn't be good on the clothing.
If you save some jam jars you can put a jar with your preferred cleaning product into the water filled ultrasonic and get the best of both. That's how I safely use mine with pure alcohol for rinsing off photpolymer resin on 3d printed items.
I can see this being beneficial when you have a lot of parts to clean.
Hello, I have a similar Ultrasonic cleaner to your pair. It is somewhere between both. Mine purchased from Harbor Freight in the USA has a built in heater and digital timer. Generally these cleaners are used to clean jewelry. Jewelry has a tendency to collect all sorts of debris from human skin along with the usual oils. I have NEVER seen an ultrasonic cleaner that bans the use of soaps. They usually forbid any type of petroleum based flammable cleaning fluids. All the ones I've seen over the years have manufacturer provided soap in liquid or powder form. Plain water while being a universal solvent is to dense to get into the tiny cracks and internal areas. That alone is the reason you need some sort of detergent and most of the time these detergents have a water thinning compound making the water flow more easily into small cracks. Dirt is usually held in place by grease or oil. In the case of toys and jewelry hand or body oil is what makes the dirt stick. A soap or detergent breaks down the oil, hence loosening the dirt. You've heard the term, "oil and water don't mix". Plain water then even in an ultrasonic cleaner will not loosen oil. I have found two products that work well. "Windex" is a window cleaning solution. It has thinners and a mild detergent. It works very well in ultrasonic cleaners. For tough jobs "Windex" has a product called "Windex with Ammonia D" this has an ammonia additive that is not as coarse or strong as regular ammonia. This product cleans even the worst oily gummed up dirt. One other option best used outdoors or a well ventilated area is a product here in the USA called "Sudsy Ammonia" this is pretty cheap and as indicated is plain ammonia with a soapy detergent additive. The fumes are very bad and I use it outdoors or in my shed. I'd advise testing the items first to see if they hold up to the ammonia. So far I haven't had any problems. When cleaning any plastic parts, especially small thin parts for toy cars, land-speeders etc. heat can cause warping so use heat only on heavier parts. I think you'll be much happier using the window cleaner type fluids. I'd also check with the manufacturer and ask why they forbid soaps? My guess, it's to cover themselves. If they say outright that soap is OK, some idiot will overload the machine and cause a spillage or a splash on their face and then sue them. Best wishes I hope all this helps somewhat. Tom
Put tiny bit of stain remover in it to remove stains on action man clothes
I was just about to shut it down for the night...and who should pop into my subscription file?
Dang it Dave, I will get 30mins less sleep tonight, counting my comment and such. hahaha 😉
Worth it.
Take care😁
Looks to work pretty well but i enjoy cleaning my toys by hand, a toothbrush and a dab of soap does just as good of a job of cleaning most figures and bowl of hot soapy water for Action Man clothing usually does the trick and i'll use a washing machine as a last resort. Still, it was an interesting watch.
I still enjoy washing the figures by hand as well. Therapeutic. But nice to have options.
Playing with Sand People in the sand box is probably why they are so grubby 40+ years later. I know that's why mine were.
Another great video. These sonic cleaners are probably not worth the money for a collector like me, but I can see someone who collects a high amount fo figures, or sells a lot of figures (EG ebay seller, toy shop owner, etc), it would be very useful. Personally, I use warm soap, water, and a soft toothbrush.
Nice job toy polloi
Great video. The only suggestions I would make when sonic cleaning comes from the way I clean my LP's/Records : I have a home solution for record cleaning and it is a 4:3 ratio of water to All Clear Liquid Laundry Detergent. For every 4 ounces of Distilled Water used in the sonic cleaner you add 3 drops, from an eye dropper, of All Clear Liquid Laundry Detergent. Use distilled water because it is more pure and has less minerals/waste in the water than tap water has. With record cleaning the All Clear Liquid Laundry Detergent acts as a surfactant and gets into the grooves of the record and cleans out the grooves. So with the sonic action combined with the All Clear Liquid Laundry Detergent it should act in the same way. With records there is a cleaning with the 4:3 solution and then you do a second cleaning with JUST distilled water. I don't know if you have to go that far with the action figures...but it wouldn't hurt. The All Clear Liquid Laundry Detergent has no perfumes or phosphates so it shouldn't damage the plastic of the toys. It works miracles on old dirty/grimey records. Hope that helps...and keep making these great videos.
Maybe you might want to rinse especially the clothes after cleaning for the best result. Thanks for the great content!
Very nice! Maybe now you can save your hands from getting dishwasher dry skin! I would have been curious to see what the soap would do for the action man clothing in the professional sonic cleaner. I think that would have given you better results than just the cleaner alone. One would think that it would have especially helped the jump suit stains. Oh well. I suppose you can try it with soap later, on a longer setting to see how it goes. :)
I wasn't expecting the crayon to come off with water alone. This stuff is basically wax. Very hard to get rid of.
very nice. just curious when you get around to restoring the bespin Luke do you think you might try a custom paint job and give him a silver lightsabre on his belt ?
Thanks for the idea
I collect old Star Wars Toys I like fixing the broken x wing I have.
I've done He-man through mine
Toy Polly the space boots where from The six million dollar man space suit.
These machines performed no miracles.
I think a more proper test would have been to include simply soaking a third set of figures in a bowl of warm water to see if the ultrasonic part of the cleaning does anything at all versus just a good soak and rubbing with a towel.
Dave do you think it would do better if you used solutions used for Sonic cleaners adding it in the water? Great video 😃
Is 40 degrees hot? I will bet your hot tap water is around 40 degrees? After all your blood is around 37 degrees, so 40 should not be that hot unless your worried about decals.
Probably a good investment for dealers who trawl carboot sales and flea markets for toys.
I wonder what just soaking in 40C water would have done.
All of these big sonic 3D were discontinued
I usually just rub a dub with an old toothbrush and then use some soap and warm water but this would be a game changer :-D
I normally add a product simple green
‘Hot soapey Water’ that’s the rule. But very good if you’re cleaning many figures.
I'm not able to see the improvement over manual cleaning with a toothbrush or similar, but I suppose you get to free up some time to do other deeds.
same here
For the people that have or sell thousands of figures, it would probably save a lot of time.
You also avoid applying abrasion on the toy when brushing it, likely making small marks or ruining the paint
Perhaps a pre soak in some Vanish first....?
Off topic, but is there was way to keep glow-in-the-dark figures from darkening over time? Kenner made a couple glowing "Predator" toys in the early 1990's (Ambush Predator and Stalker Predator) and if you look for examples on eBay several of them look terrible (they turn brown). I'm guessing the discoloration has a lot to do with temperature.
I would guess it's just the plastic degrading in the sun. If you watch my zartan videos you can see how different the swamp skiers look. They had color change plastic in them. Not sure anything can be done to reverse it.
What do you do with the figures that are sticky from the plastic degrading?
Wash them in hot soapy water. It will help. But they will get sticky again as the plastic degrades.
I could use one of these 👍
Simon Farrell Link in the description mate 👍🏻
I wonder how well it would clean the fabric with a little soap added? Looks like it worked exceptionally well on the Action Man outfits. Did you rinse them a 2nd time before drying (since the water was so filthy in the ultrasonic cleaner)? You may have a lot of laundry to do with all the Action Man outfits ;-)
Very cool, as always.
Yes, I always rinse the fabric stuff before I let it dry, just to make sure.
@@toypolloi You're so thorough - I should have known better. Cheers. :-)
How would a Transformer react to this cleaning, what with their metal hardware, diecast pieces, and painted areas? Would it be safe to dunk one in?
Should be fine. I would take the figure apart first, and then make sure it is fully dried before putting it back together.
The screws would be the biggest concern.
Have you tried soaking action figure clothing in Oxi Clean? I had a friend give me a few G.I. Joe figures the larger ones with fabric clothes and he was a s HEAVY smoker. They looked horrid and smelled so bad that even running the clothes in the normal wash could NOT get that nasty out. After soaking in Oxi Clean they looked clean and no longer smelled like a damned ashtray. Sure an ultrasonic cleaner can go chemical free but not really an option for me.
I don't want you to ruin that cleaner- but would you be able to Retrobrite using that machine? I am wondering since you can heat the water and stuff. I have seen the 8 Bit guy do retrobriting with hot water and peroxide on a stove. I gotta wonder if the ultrasonic portion might help things along.
It could work. The main tank is stainless steel, so I don't think it would be damaged at all by the hydrogen peroxide.
DO U HAVE A VIDEO SHOWING HOW TO INSTALL THE WHOLE BOTTOM PART OF A HEMAN FIGURE TO THE TOP BODY PART? I DO NOT WANT TO BREAK IT. TRYING TO PUT BACK TOGETHER A FIGURE. THANKING YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.
How did you get it apart without breaking it?
TRYING TO FIX A BATTLE ARMOR HEMAN. I WAS ABLE TO OPEN IT UP BUY BOILING IT IN HOT WATER FOR 10 MINUTES. IT OPENED WITHOUT CRACKING. TOOK MY TIME AND WAS ABLE TO DO IT
@@toypolloi
Whatch my video on battle armour skeletor. That should help.
Excellent video,!!👍☯️👍
Just to let you know, the link to the company no longer works.
Oh well. I have outlasted them I guess.
Interesting ,i wondering if u can do the same with motu's .
Do you think they should New to get dryed?
The problem with submerging MOTU figures is that there's a metal spring inside them that you wouldn't be able to dry properly. This would result in it rusting and, ultimately, breaking.
@@yunoyuluvit Good point!
be careful with the clothes they can loose color and think of which colour of clothes you put together
I hate dealing with sticky figures.
When is the Landspeeder windscreen video arriving 😉
If you are a Patreon of mine, you can watch it on Sunday.