DIY ultrasonic solution?
- Thread starter Riven
- Start date
Hi. I used this http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html information to clean brass. It works very well. I have no idea if the same solution would work for non brass items. One thing I did find out, don't try to clean nickel shells in this. The nickel changes colour and looks like absolute crap!
I get good results for gun parts with "Ed's Red" it is easily found with Google.
For Brass I have tried a few different solutions and find that Cascade powder dishwasher detergent is as good as anything. You can add Lemi shine and a little Dawn but you don't want lots of bubbles. I also add Jet Dry to help get rid of water spots.
Cascade works in the tumbler as well. For pistol brass I don't even use pins anymore.
I'd try a few things and find what you like. I'm sure you will find that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get good results.
For Brass I have tried a few different solutions and find that Cascade powder dishwasher detergent is as good as anything. You can add Lemi shine and a little Dawn but you don't want lots of bubbles. I also add Jet Dry to help get rid of water spots.
Cascade works in the tumbler as well. For pistol brass I don't even use pins anymore.
I'd try a few things and find what you like. I'm sure you will find that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get good results.
3/8's cup lemi shine booster (coffee scoop) and 4 generous squirts of dawn dish detergent into 1 liter of very hot water, 30 minutes with mild shaking every 5-10 minutes to dissolve the carbon and help it from settling inside the cases. I haven't manually cleaned a primer pocket since going over to the buzz box
Hmmm . . I hate those water spots. . going to try some Jet Dry in my cold water rinse.
To speed the cleaning up, I give the primer pockets a quick pre-clean with a primer pocket cleaning tool held in my variable speed drill. Brass then goes in a heated ultrasonic @ 60-65C with ~80% water ~20% vinegar and a few drops of soap. Brass gets rinsed in cold water with some baking soda.
I use corn cob to polish the brass after cleaning in ultrasonic. To reduce the 'dust', I read somewhere about cutting a drier sheet in small pieces ( 1" x 2") and adding it to corn cob/walnut polishing material. The drier sheet grabs and holds the 'fines'. The corn cob is noticeable coarser with next to no fines. I replace the sheet after about 3-4 rounds of brass polishing. The brass come out o so shinny, bright and clean
. I have a 'can of air' to blow out the annoying chunk or 2 that gets stuck in a flash hole. Maybe just me but the brass feels softer, smoother
.I use tap hot water in my ultrasonic, with a few drops of dish soap, a few drops of vinegar, and a few shakes from the salt shaker. (I have a small cheap amazon ultrasonic cleaner that cost $25 and holds 50 large pistol brass or 15-20 rifle brass at a time) Not a speck of powder or case lube left behind, but they don't shine much... and I don't really care about shine, so it works for me
I have been using 50/50 water/vinegar solution with Dawn dish soap (blue) for quite a while in my ultrasonic cleaner. I de-cap first so the primer pockets get cleaned. After annealing, sizing and trimmings I tumble with rice and car polish to make it shine.
Just finished my first load of brass using water, lemi shine and dawn dish soap.
Gets my brass fairly bright and shiney after 2 cycles but did leave a few peaces with some pink splotches but that all came off in the tumler.
Ill try some other mixes you all have mentioned soon
Thanks everyone
Gets my brass fairly bright and shiney after 2 cycles but did leave a few peaces with some pink splotches but that all came off in the tumler.
Ill try some other mixes you all have mentioned soon
Thanks everyone
Hornady One Shot® Sonic Clean® Lock-N-Load Sonic Brass Case Solution. The MSDS sheet tells you it is 15% citric acid.
Vinegar typically contains 5–20% by volume acetic acid.
Lemi-Shine contains citric acid.
Many reloaders remove the stainless steel pins from their wet tumblers and just use dish washing soap and LemiShine with good results.
This tells me either mechanical movement in a wet tumbler or sonic vibration with the same cleaning solutions works.
NOTE, in my STM wet tumbler that holds approximately one gallon of water the instructions tell you to use two tablespoons of Dawn and 1/4 teaspoon of LemiShine. And the type soap cleans the brass of burnt carbon and the LemiShine adds the Bling. And the LemiShine is also a water softer to aid cleaning and help prevent water spots.
Vinegar typically contains 5–20% by volume acetic acid.
Lemi-Shine contains citric acid.
Many reloaders remove the stainless steel pins from their wet tumblers and just use dish washing soap and LemiShine with good results.
This tells me either mechanical movement in a wet tumbler or sonic vibration with the same cleaning solutions works.
NOTE, in my STM wet tumbler that holds approximately one gallon of water the instructions tell you to use two tablespoons of Dawn and 1/4 teaspoon of LemiShine. And the type soap cleans the brass of burnt carbon and the LemiShine adds the Bling. And the LemiShine is also a water softer to aid cleaning and help prevent water spots.
Last edited:
- Location
- campbell river bc
I am a retired pulp mill electrician. I used an ultrasonic cleaner to clean a variety of equipment including printed circuit boards which had been contaminated with a variety of pulp mill chemicals and found that water and a bit of "Mr. Clean" would do as good a job as any of the comercially available cleaners. Hope this helps.
- Location
- campbell river bc
I never measured the exact amount. but probably a "capful" . It will be experimental with your size of cleaner but the solution is cheap compared to buying the commercial stuff. Good luck with it.
We also used to steam clean very large DC motors that were full of carbon dust and when "Mr. Clean" was added to the process it worked as good and sometimes better than the heavy duty industrial cleaners we also used sometimes. i bet they never thought of these uses for the product when they were developing it. lololol
We also used to steam clean very large DC motors that were full of carbon dust and when "Mr. Clean" was added to the process it worked as good and sometimes better than the heavy duty industrial cleaners we also used sometimes. i bet they never thought of these uses for the product when they were developing it. lololol
I have yet to use my Ultrasonic cleaner, just found it again the other day, so this thread is timely. Does everyone add these solutions into the ultrasonic water, or do people use another container inside of the ultrasonic filled with water? I can't imagine adding Ed's Red into the whole 2.0l chamber.
holzmeister
Regular
- Location
- Neumarkt Ontario
I run 2 L of hot tap water ( I leave the heater off the ultrasonic cleaner ) , a squirt of dish soap and some lemon shine. Run that for 30 mins, then lift out the basket holding the shells and place into a water bath with a pinch of baking soda to neutralize the citrus acid. Then let dry... squeeky clean!
