Cleaning a piece after polishing

[Victoria]

Quick question (hopefully!) - what's the best way to clean a piece after polishing? I find that polishing compound gets stuck in the back of stone settings and in the hallmark which I can't get out. I wash in soapy water with a soft brush then use a combination of a pin to pick out bits of polish followed by a sonic cleaner and cotton buds but there's always something left in there...it bugs me!

Thanks!
V

[CJ57]

I think everyone will tell you that an ultrasonic cleaner will do the job. I only have a cheap £20 one that needs hot water and 3 or 4 goes but it does the job, you can actually watch the vibration take the compound out and I've put chains in and it cleans them perfectly. It depends what you want to spend or how much time is a factor

[Patstone]

I had a sonic cleaner and it was rubbish, didnt do anything. I just put my stuff in the tumbler and leave for a couple of hours, comes out really shiny.

[Victoria]

Maybe my sonic cleaner isn't very good then as even after quite a few goes there's still polishing compound stuck in there...?

[CJ57]

Maybe my sonic cleaner isn't very good then as even after quite a few goes there's still polishing compound stuck in there...?

You really need hot water and washing up liquid as strong as possible, that was all we used at college back in the day and a toothbrush

[Victoria]

I soaked the ring I was working on yesterday and it has eventually come up clean and shiny. Going to buy a cheap kids toothbrush today!

That's interesting about the different polishes - I've certainly found that the tripoli in particular is a swine to remove as it gets really stuck in there. Unfortunately I've got a massive block of the stuff and it seems really wasteful to not use it...wonder if there's any way to recycle it..?

Next question - which Luxi to get as there's loads of different ones?! Any recommendations on which are best and in which order? I use a pendant drill rather than polishing by hand with a cloth.

[ps_bond]

I have an Elma S30H - heated, 2.75l. That's about big enough for 2 good sized bangles. The saga of where it was purchased has been covered before... The manufacturer's support has been excellent however. It is very effective at removing polish residues as well as general gunk - although as Dennis says, cleaning rings can loosen the dirt that's holding the stones in so I'd always put something like that into a teaball. Read up on your stones before cleaning any in the ultrasonic - there's a lot are not suitable for it, so have to be done with the toothbrush still. I did a repair on an opal ring last week; that's one to *never* put in an ultrasonic (as with AFAIR all the organic-origin stones - amber, pearl, mother of pearl etc.)

Doing one or two items with a toothbrush is fine - yesterday I was doing about 20 at a time though.

On the Luxi, there are 2 polishes for low speed use, one's green; the other purple. They're what I'm using at the moment with a micromotor (unless it's platinum, in which case I use different polishes).

Forgot to add - I also have one of the cheaper ones which I use if I need something quick (heating time!). So long as I use hot water and a drop of detergent it cleans polish residues very effectively; it's a little less effective on built-up gunk as the transducer is less powerful.

[caroleallen]

I've got the Cooksons one. It works quite well but is very noisy and sets my teeth on edge. My main problem is finding things to put items in so that they don't scratch each other. Most of the supports you can buy are too big for mine. I use a flat nylon sieve which I bought for enamelling and a plastic coated pronged thing but sometimes things still come out with a faint white mark which then has to be polished off again. I also have a piece of wire which is bent into zigzags for things with bails or holes but sometimes they touch the bottom. Nightmare!

Oh and on the polish front, most of us use Menzerna nowadays as it's better than all the others.

[art925]

I use a flat nylon sieve which I bought for enamelling and a plastic coated pronged thing but sometimes things still come out with a faint white mark which then has to be polished off again.

Those faint marks Carole are caused by the sonic bath itself. In a more economical bath the sonic "generator" is located in one position causing an etching effect on the piece as it is actually too intense, you may be able to remedy this by relocating your piece in the bath.

[Victoria]

Ok will try with really hot water. Would a toothbrush not mark the metal/take off the polish?

Tumblers...there's a whole other problem! I find that tumblers leave a pitted effect on the surface of the metal and so I get a better smoother finish by polishing by hand. But I'm probably doing something else wrong there!