New Brass cleaner

t-85820.jpg


Pick one up without the Hornady name and the jacked price.

And this is in no way a "New way to clean brass"

http://cgi.ebay.ca/1-2-QUART-ULTRASONIC-CLEANER-JEWLERY-TATTOO-MEDICAL_W0QQitemZ270526548831QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efca38b5f
46a5_1.JPG



Or get one in White:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/PRO-LARGE-ULTRASONIC-CLEANER-JEWELRY-DENTAL-TATTOO-PART_W0QQitemZ220551814252QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3359e99c6c
 
The 40 dollar shipping kinda kills the great price of the noname unit... its still a very good price... I wonder for the extra money for the hornady cleaner what kind of warranty they offer. Since they really dont mention anything about warranty if its lifetime then it might be worth the extra money.
 
Any word on the effectiveness of these sonic cleaners? Capacity seems well enough, I'm guessing it can handle a few hundred handgun casings without a problem
 
Ultra sonic cleaners have been used in the dentist industry, jewlery industry and many others... Like Cyan1de said this is nothing new I have been looking to get one to clean gun parts but the cost of professional grade machines with the capacity to clean larger objects has prevented me from getting one I just clean my guns the old fasion way with a cloth and solvents... The hornady unit is pretty much at the lower end spectrum as far as price goes... these units of professional grade can be several hundred dollars... I might pick one up and use it as a demo so I can tell customers about the machine.
 
Has anyone tried a sonic cleaner on brass to see if it cleans it as well as Hornady claims, if it does I would be interested in either the Hornady or the other brand if they do work.
 
i picked one up last week and it does clean the brass very well . the biggest thing to watch for is your mixture for cleaning solution. i didn't naturalize well enough after the cycle and had some come out funky colors! other then that 2 480 cycles and the brass came out looking new
 
It should clean brass well.
I've used one for 20 years to clean jewelry. Works well on gold, silver platinum etc.
You may still need to do a final polish to make brass really shine though.
It will get rid of anything like powder residue or crud in a hurry
 
Ultrasonic cleaner

I have used one for rifle and pistol brass, and it works really well. I deprime first. It removes the powder residue from inside the case and does a great job on primer pockets. You are supposed to use a glass beaker; I do that on a small unit, but I also tried a larger unit and that held a 4 litre icecream bucket. The key is to not let the container touch the bottom of the basket (I think that is hard on the transducers, i.e. the elements that generate the sound waves).
I simply add some liquid dish washing soap and a bit of vinegar. The water looks like you washed potatoes!

It does not make then really shiney, but you could tumble them if you wanted that.
 
Therion said:
I have used one for rifle and pistol brass, and it works really well. I deprime first. It removes the powder residue from inside the case and does a great job on primer pockets. You are supposed to use a glass beaker; I do that on a small unit, but I also tried a larger unit and that held a 4 litre icecream bucket. The key is to not let the container touch the bottom of the basket (I think that is hard on the transducers, i.e. the elements that generate the sound waves).
I simply add some liquid dish washing soap and a bit of vinegar. The water looks like you washed potatoes!

It does not make then really shiney, but you could tumble them if you wanted that.
Click to expand...


If you made the vinegar and water 50-50 you'd get them nice and shiny. Then you would have to do a rinse to kill the vinegar activation. FS
 
Here is a couple of solutions that are from the 6mmBR.com article. Check out the full article and see the pictures of his results. http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html

ULTRASONIC CLEANING — Baney's Best Recipes

My ultimate solution resulted in shiny brass that was 100% devoid of carbon, inside and out. Even the carbon deposits on the neck and the primer pockets were completely removed! My objective had been accomplished! Dirty old black brass came out like new inside and out…I was amazed. Not only did my protocol work well, but it was the least expensive option in the whole test! For "Cheap and Clean," this is the procedure I settled on:

CHEAP and CLEAN
24 minutes - 50% Vinegar + 1 Drop Dish Soap per 8 ounces water
480 seconds - Baking Soda (BS) in water (1 grain BS per ounce of water)
480 seconds - Hot Water
480 seconds - Distilled Water
Total: 48 minutes
Cost: Less than $2.00 per gallon

And for a Super Shiny and FASTER End Result, Add BC Solution
Since the BC solution had worked so well to shine up the cases earlier, I attempted to work it in with the vinegar procedure to streamline it even more and give even better looking brass. So for a couple dollars more, you can have 100% clean cases, which are even shinier than the "Cheap and Clean" procedure above. So this procedure I'll call "Clean and Shiny."

CLEAN and SHINY
24 minutes - 50% Vinegar + 1 Drop Dish Soap per 8 ounces water
380 seconds - Birchwood Casey (BC) Case Cleaner
380 seconds - Hot Water
380 seconds - Distilled Water
Total: 43 minutes
Cost: $2.00 per gallon for the Vinegar and $4.00 per gallon for BC Cleaner.

This "Clean and Shiny" procedure gave me the best combination of carbon removal, case luster, speed, and economy. The "Clean and Shiny" regimen also eliminates the neutralization step, as the BC cleaner acts as a neutralizer. Even though it contains a few acids, they must rinse off more readily than vinegar. Regular household vinegar is 5% acetic acid (2.5% when diluted) and the BC cleaner contains 3 different acids, one of which is phosphoric (the same found in pepsi). It starts at over 50% acid as a concentrate, and a little over 3% when diluted.

Case Care Following Ultrasonic Cleaning
After removing the cases from the final distilled water rinse, I simply blow them out with compressed air and lay them on a paper towel to dry overnight. A hair dryer works well too, especially if you get the air in the case mouth. In the morning you have clean, shiny dry brass ready to size. If you have no air compressor, simply whip them around by hand a few times to force any water drops out of the case mouth. Then lay them on a paper towel to dry overnight.
 
Well, I finally got to try the Ultrasonic I got last month off e-bay, with the 2.5l capacity. I used it on some really dirty range-picked .40 brass. I placed them in a beaker thus limiting the number of cases being cleaned to 40-50.

I used a 50% vinegar solution with a few drops of dish soap and a tablespoon of LemiShine per 1Gal. I had to run three 8-minute cycles to get the brass really clean. It was then rinsed in hot water, followed by 5min in the UC with baking soda solution to neutralize the acid.

While UC does a good cleaning job, I think the process is too labor-intensive, I don't want to babysit 50 cases every 8min. I am now building a rotating tumbler that I want to try with stainless steel cleaning media. That one could be loaded with 300-400 cases & be left alone for a few hours while it is doing its job.
 
Thorvald said:
If anyone is looking for one, I just grabbed the larger model off of eBay.ca for $99 CDN.

Made by the same company it's just the larger model (they all appear to be made in China and rebranded).

Cheaper than the Hornady branded model and larger. Can't beat it. Looks large enough for some gun parts etc.
Click to expand...
That's the one I have. Yes, it is large enough for pistol parts, and I tried that on my Shadow. Using Ed's Red solution (without the acetone, obviously). The gun was clean to start with, but I expected some action in the ejector area since I never took it apart. NOTHING HAPPENED. Not a trace of dirt became visible in the solution after 24min. Now, pouring the solution out of the unit is a major PITA. That's no big deal if it is water, but Ed's Red is another story, LOL.

When I got my UC, I did some tests and realized that the only area with a reasonable cleaning action is right above the transducer (the round outline in the middle of the tank). I think that's why the guys at 6mmbr.com were using beakers. Besides, more brass will absorb more ultrasonic energy & the cleaning will take longer.

If you're cleaning 100 rifle cases weekly that's OK, but if you shoot 400-500 pistol rounds each time the UC is simply too labour-intensive, IMHO. That's why I built a rotary tumbler & will be trying it out with the stainless steel media (see bcsteve's link).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom