Successful cleaning of jewelry
during /after manufacturing (new jewelry)
used jewelry (worn jewelry)
cleaning of jewelry during/after manufacturing
during/after the manufacturing of jewelry, cleaning is a very important task, why because quality requires perfection.
firstly let us create a bullet list on different cleaning applications, before we describe this cleaning applications in details.
– ultrasonic cleaning removal of plaster after casting process
– steam cleaning & ultrasonic cleaning to remove polishing compounds
– ultrasonic cleaning of 3D printing resin
– cleaning before plating.
– ultrasonic cleaning after stone setting
– final steam cleaning with di-water
ultrasonic cleaning removal of plaster after casting process
after casting of the jewelry trees, remaining plaster need to be removed, a commend way is the break the big plaster parts of manual or to use a high pressure cleaning device to remove rough contaminations, for the fine cleaning a ultrasonic cleaner can be very helpful, here we recommend a multi frequency ultrasonic cleaner for example with 25/45kHz, of course it is depending on the plaster material as well on right ultrasonic frequency to achieve a successful cleaning.
once the jewelry been polished, polishing compound stick to surface, blind holes, pits and needs be removed, here it is important to know the details (MSDS-Material Safety Data Sheet) of the polishing compounds, specially the melting point of this compound otherwise if we don’t know the melting point the compound might not be removed.
– smaller manufacturers mainly use steam cleaners for the pre-cleaning and removal of polishing paste, why because steam cleaners are operated only with water (no chemicals) they are powerful and environmental friendly and help to remove rough contaminations for example from pits and blind holes easily, secondly precleaning with steam help you to increase the life time of your cleaning chemicals in the ultrasonic cleaner, as most polishing paste been removed before the fine cleaning. Third a ultrasonic cleaner is used to do the fine cleaning of the polishing compounds, here the recommendation is to use for example a single frequency ultrasonic cleaner with 37-40kHz or a Multi Frequency ultrasonic cleaner with 25/45kHz.
– in mass production jewelry can be cleaned with multi frequency ultrasonic cleaners, with the right selection of frequency and the perfect positioning of the parts inside the ultrasonic tank, all pieces can be cleaned properly and equal at the same time and no precleaning with steam is required.
however please be aware of the right positioning of your products inside the ultrasonic tank, if too many products are cleaned per time or if the cleaning time is too long, it might happened that some parts which are in a closer location to the ultrasonic cavitation fields might be damaged here agitation can be very helpful.
the position of the parts depend on the frequency selection, means the ultrasonic wave, sensitive parts should not contact each other to prevent scratching, homogenous ultrasonic cavitation is as well an important factor for equal cleaning, the selection of the cleaning chemicals, cleaning time and temperature are other important things.
Which brings us to the conclusion: good ultrasonic cleaner + suitable cleaning chemical + cycle time + temperature selection = are the 4 important factors for a successful cleaning.
ultrasonic cleaning of 3D printing resin
cleaning of 3D printed models help to remove uncured resin and makes the surface smooth. here it is likely depending on the sophisticated shape or design of your models, we recommend a ultrasonic cleaner where you may able to adjust the ultrasonic power or have to multi frequency model for example a Elmasonic P with 37/80kHz.
comment mistakes of cleaning before plating:
*poor cleaning prior to plating, to remove contaminations like grease, sweat , fingerprints, dust
*visual damage after plating, might created by cavitation erosion as a result of too long/strong ultrasonic cleaning !
* is a important because if the parts not properly cleaned, the plating might not well, if parts are not cleaned/rinsed well, the plating might have shadows, this might as well related to the wrong cleaning chemicals.
Stone setting
there are many different ways of Stone settings in the jewelry manufacturing, if the stones are fixed with cement, ultrasonic cleaning might not be an good choice, as ultrasonic cavitation might loosen the bounding of the stones and the cement, here a higher frequency which provide a gentle way of cleaning . however if the stones for example hold with claws, then a ultrasonic cleaner can be used to remove finger print, sweat, grease and dust from the manufacturing process, some customers they use a ultrasonic cleaner to check the stone setting, why because it is better the stones fall at the manufacturing site then at the customers end, which means a ultrasonic cleaner can be used to check the stone setting before the leave the factory.
for ultrasonic cleaning of jewelry with stones we recommend different ultrasonic frequency, depending on the metal and specially on the stones, for example hard stones like diamonds can be cleaned with 25-27 kHz or 40kHz, for soft stones like pearls, lapis we recommended a ultrasonic frequency of > 60kHz or higher.
Final cleaning of jewelry with steam & Di-water
a fine cleaning of jewelry with a steam cleaner using di-water, remove finger prints, grease, sweat & dust, Di-Water (demineralized water) helps to dry up complete and leaves no water marks behind.
cleaning of used jewelry
successful cleaning and restoration of used (worn) jewelry
as longer the jewelry might not be cleaned, as more difficult it will be to remove contaminations, specially sweat which stick to the jewelry for a long time will be hard to remove, here the cleaning as well depend on material (metal) and if the jewelry have stone or not, selecting the cleaning chemical on different materials and contaminations to be removed , as mentioned above for a perfect cleaning it require ( good performing ultrasonic cleaner + suitable cleaning chemicals + right cycle time + perfect temperature). Silver jewelry can be dip into anti tarnish protection to cover them from tarnish for a while.
Call /Contact us for more information’s we are here to help you.
