Cleaning my figures

It's been a while since my last post. I haven't bought a single collectible since my last post but today I received notice that a couple of my orders has just been shipped out so expect new 'hauls' to come in the next few weeks.

Most collectors who knows me knew that some of my collection got submerged in the Ondoy flood 3 years ago. I have cleaned up most of them but I still have a few mini figures (around 100-200pcs) stashed in 3 boxes that were left uncleaned.

The plan to clean them all up kept getting postponed due to lack to free time and motivation, until a few months ago I discovered this hi-tech gadget:

It's an Ultrasonic Cleaner!

It took two freaking months for me to receive it since I ordered it online because it was stuck in customs. All the frustrations were gone when I got the news it arrived at my local post office.

About the gadget

The Ultrasonic cleaner uses high frequency sound at 40KHz to vibrate the water, this causes tiny bubbles to create on the surface of the object to be cleaned. The bubbles constantly create and implode and this causes the dirt on the surface to detach and dissolve into the water.

After just a week, I've already finished 2 of the 3 boxes of uncleaned mini figures.

Here's a video I made to demonstrate the cleaning power of the Ultrasonic cleaner.


Note the cloud of dirt coming out as soon as the figure is submerged in the water.
I can clean about 6 gashapons per batch and timer set to maximum of 480secs (8 minutes).
I found out that the more items in the cleaner, the less power is applied for each item, so for items which needs thorough cleaning, I clean one at a time for about 180 secs (3 minutes) just like on the video.

For large figures, it can be cleaned while holding it and partially dipping the figure in the water and rotate it around until all areas are covered taking care not to get my fingers into the water while the ultrasonic cleaner is operating.

Last batch from the 2nd box already cleaned

The Ultrasonic cleaner costs me almost 7k PHP (about 170 USD) tax included.