Ultrasonic cleaners

[VinnyQC]

Lol. As crazy as that sounds, that's a good question. I would think it would - or at least make a good try of it.

Cut to me 6 hours later putting random dirty things into my ultrasonic...

A lot of it will also have to do with what you're using as cleaner. Everyone seems to have their own recipe for what works in their machine.

Yeah, gonna try a few formulas. I'm kind of limited because what I wanna clean is some kind of mouthguard, so any toxic product is off the list.

Have you tried only brass or gun parts too? How does an ultrasonic fare on a feed ramp of a pistol barrel full of calcinated carbon? Ultrasonic are pretty cheap, if it works well, I could get a second one for gun parts if it cuts my time cleaning them.

 

[dermolotov]

Question for those with an ultrasonic cleaner: How noisy is yours? I just bought one (not for cleaning brass) and it makes almost zero noise, but doesn't seem to clean anything either. I'm wondering if it's broken or if it's normal.

I do feel a little tingling if I put my finger in the water while it's on.

We were taught in lab not to place your body into the water since it jostles it around. Not a problem a few times but if you're using it day in, day out then may develop issues with your nerves and blood

My mom can barely hear mine but I still have my high pitch hearing and as a result I cannot be in the same room as one that is running. I even cover my ears when sonocating a small lab sample when i'm at work for 5 or so seconds.

Yeah, gonna try a few formulas. I'm kind of limited because what I wanna clean is some kind of mouthguard, so any toxic product is off the list.

Put your stainless steel container into the 2 litre. Fill the container on the bottom with water and fill that stainless steel top container with brass and cleaning solution. That way you can still use it for household items without all the lead and tar contamination on your glasses or sporks or dildos or whatever you want to clean

 

[BAAC]

Yeah, gonna try a few formulas. I'm kind of limited because what I wanna clean is some kind of mouthguard, so any toxic product is off the list.

Have you tried only brass or gun parts too? How does an ultrasonic fare on a feed ramp of a pistol barrel full of calcinated carbon? Ultrasonic are pretty cheap, if it works well, I could get a second one for gun parts if it cuts my time cleaning them.

I've cleaned a few parts with no issues. Weird one though - I put a Lee reloading die in it and it turned black, like it was covered in oil. No damage to the part, just blackened. At first I thought the rubber ring had disintegrated, but it was still there, undamaged. I still have no idea what caused that reaction.

So - I think just experiment. I'm sure 99.9% of the time it will work well. Just that odd time it might have a weird reaction.

 

[kb007]

I have an ultrasonic and used it for a few years, but have since moved to a wet / stainless pin tumbler and I really like the results. On brass, they come out beautiful. On nickel cases, I either run them thru for 1/2 hr with the pins, or just run them with no pins and the cases come out great. Plus it holds about 2,000 9mm cases, which is way more than my ultrasonic did. I have a Lyman, the other popular one is the franklin arsenal FART.

 

[dermolotov]

I've cleaned a few parts with no issues. Weird one though - I put a Lee reloading die in it and it turned black, like it was covered in oil. No damage to the part, just blackened./QUOTE]

Tungsten chloride is black and so are light mixtures of other tungsten salts. Try taking a tungsten bit to it and see if it scrapes off a bit at all or if you can penetrate the surface material

 

[BAAC]

Tungsten chloride is black and so are light mixtures of other tungsten salts. Try taking a tungsten bit to it and see if it scrapes off a bit at all or if you can penetrate the surface material

Will do. Thanks!

 

[ryan_s]

How long do you normal run the brass in the tumbler and do you add Lime Shine or something like that? I think after this form I am leaning harder to a wet tumbler for brass and then get an ultrasonic cleaner for gun parts.

I have an ultrasonic and used it for a few years, but have since moved to a wet / stainless pin tumbler and I really like the results. On brass, they come out beautiful. On nickel cases, I either run them thru for 1/2 hr with the pins, or just run them with no pins and the cases come out great. Plus it holds about 2,000 9mm cases, which is way more than my ultrasonic did. I have a Lyman, the other popular one is the franklin arsenal FART.

 

[Chilly807]

What kind of a job does the ultrasonic do on removing carbon from inside bottle neck rifle cases with different solutions?
The few times I've tried it with a borrowed machine it didn't remove much carbon in that area at all. That may be the solution that was used?

 

[dermolotov]

What kind of a job does the ultrasonic do on removing carbon from inside bottle neck rifle cases with different solutions?
The few times I've tried it with a borrowed machine it didn't remove much carbon in that area at all. That may be the solution that was used?

The cases more to the bottom are cleaned better in my experience. Makes sense, more waves to bounce around. Often times when I overload the machines, the top ones are rarely cleaned as well as the bottom ones (and the ones poking out from the top that are not dissolved get funny patterns on the brass that don't affect their performance, too!). The fill level advice isn't for safety as it is for efficacy.
Also, the machines tend to cannabalise themselves if loaded often or improperly. The ones in one of my bigger labs were used so often that they would stop being as efficient 1 year down the line. And these were $4k machines and not the $200 ones we find on ebay or amazon.

The bottom stains on the brass cases are often a mix of pyrolytic tars (think asphalt but not as dense) mixed with lead or bismuth salts from the styphanate / oxide results in the primers that blow into the case. I have found it to be helpful to add a lot of salt to the cleaning solution (luckily I have a sal####er aquarium tank so I just use half water from that source). Metal salts and some tars dissolve much better in incredibly salty brine solutions (wikipedia: Uncommon-ion effect, page: Common-ion effect) compared to just pure water. Just remember to wash the brass cases VERY thoroughly afterwards.

If your sonocator is big enough (and deep enough), I would recommend placing a separate container of metal in it so that you are able to stand up every single case by placing the boltface flush to the very bottom of the container as opposed to just laying them horizontally all over the place. I have found the best results doing this and even so far as cleaning the primer pocket neatly if I deprime them prior to cleaning them (which I do by either using water pressure in a bucket or buy placing the lee decapp/resizer primer punch as low as it can be to only punch it and not resize it)

 

[IMR4320]

There is no win or lose with tumbler and sonic cleaner, they work differently and have different results. After years of reloading and wanting perfect and clean brass inside and out, I developed a technique that may sound extensive but in the end actually is not as much. I first mechanically clean my brass in a tumbler in a mix of corn cobs and tuff nuts, when the brass is clean, I resize it to my chamber and then put it into sonic cleaner to wash off the sizing lube residue, clean them inside and clean the primer pockets. While this adds the step of sonic washing, it removes the step of lube residue wiping and having to clean the primer pockets, which can be time consuming but mainly, cleans the cases inside. Then just length trim and ready to load. Good sonic cleaning solution is important because if you don't get that right, the brass comes out stained and needs to be re-tumbled for a short time to regain the shine and consequently you need to unplug the primer flash holes, which does not take long but it partly extends the process. Get the sonic solution right and you'll like your results.

 

[IMR4320]

The cases more to the bottom are cleaned better in my experience. Makes sense, more waves to bounce around. Often times when I overload the machines, the top ones are rarely cleaned as well as the bottom ones (and the ones poking out from the top that are not dissolved get funny patterns on the brass that don't affect their performance, too!). The fill level advice isn't for safety as it is for efficacy.
Also, the machines tend to cannabalise themselves if loaded often or improperly. The ones in one of my bigger labs were used so often that they would stop being as efficient 1 year down the line. And these were $4k machines and not the $200 ones we find on ebay or amazon.

The bottom stains on the brass cases are often a mix of pyrolytic tars (think asphalt but not as dense) mixed with lead or bismuth salts from the styphanate / oxide results in the primers that blow into the case. I have found it to be helpful to add a lot of salt to the cleaning solution (luckily I have a sal####er aquarium tank so I just use half water from that source). Metal salts and some tars dissolve much better in incredibly salty brine solutions (wikipedia: Uncommon-ion effect, page: Common-ion effect) compared to just pure water. Just remember to wash the brass cases VERY thoroughly afterwards.

If your sonocator is big enough (and deep enough), I would recommend placing a separate container of metal in it so that you are able to stand up every single case by placing the boltface flush to the very bottom of the container as opposed to just laying them horizontally all over the place. I have found the best results doing this and even so far as cleaning the primer pocket neatly if I deprime them prior to cleaning them (which I do by either using water pressure in a bucket or buy placing the lee decapp/resizer primer punch as low as it can be to only punch it and not resize it)

Interesting take on adding salt in the solution, I didn't know about that. What if I tried salty ocean water ? We kind of have lots of it around here. I could run it through paper filter to clean it up a bit and if it cleans better, good, I'll take that.

 

[bibatoad]

Hey guys,

I am looking into getting an ultrasonic cleaner. I have increased the amount I shoot (been shooting about 1500 rounds of 40sw per month) and cleaning my brass with the tumbler is a bit time consuming. I am looking for recommendations for what everyone uses? I was thinking of getting a pretty big tank so I can do more in my time. Also, what does everyone use for concentrate or do you make your own concoction?

Ryan

Forget ultra sonic cleaners, waste of money, invest in a good rock tumbler from Lortone and some walnut media mixed with a little jewelers rouge. Tried the ultra sonic system, very disappointed sold it off.

 

[Joep17]

I have one taking up space in my loading room......
I could throw it out and have room to start a pet rock collection? Better use of space

 

[dermolotov]

Interesting take on adding salt in the solution, I didn't know about that. What if I tried salty ocean water ? We kind of have lots of it around here. I could run it through paper filter to clean it up a bit and if it cleans better, good, I'll take that.

Yeah I just use the aquarium water that gets changed out from my salt water aquarium. As salty as the sea and probably as dirty, too. Worse case is a bit of sand and calcium gets in, no matter. Dip some dish soap in there, then mix it half:half with vinegar. I normally heat it up using the stove to almost boiling but you could just microwave it and it'll be hot enough

That solution can clean just about anything. Brass doesn't rust like iron does so that solution is good for a crisp clean. I wouldn't recommend this for bolts and nuts and tools, though since sal####er really eats away at anything containing iron. Plus bolts and tools rarely have metal deposits that are caked on as well as brass does so I don't think the salt water would even help that much compared to just regular dish soap water.

 

[kriach]

I have a 4.5 liter Ultrasonic I bought from Amazon. It works very well. I clean approximately 400 9mm brass at a time. I use either the Frankford arsenal or the RCBS case cleaning solution concentrate diluted at 40:1 . My unit has a built in heater and thermostat which I set to 60 degrees C. I usually run a batch of brass for about 25 minutes in the ultrasonic and then rinse and dry before tumbling for 2-3 hours to polish up the cases. I deprime and size my brass before cleaning to make sure the primer pocket gets cleaned.
Hope this helps.
Ken

 

[Chilly807]

I picked up the Hornady 2L ultrasonic yesterday and a bottle of their case cleaner to get started with. Results were good, although the rifle brass hadn't been cleaned internally since it was new, 4 firings for most of them.
Carbon removal is my biggest wish, I'll experiment with some different solutions for that purpose.
Shiny polished brass isn't high on my list of priorities, clean brass is.

 

[Ed Smurf]

Question for those with an ultrasonic cleaner: How noisy is yours? I just bought one (not for cleaning brass) and it makes almost zero noise, but doesn't seem to clean anything either. I'm wondering if it's broken or if it's normal.

I do feel a little tingling if I put my finger in the water while it's on.

A way of determining if your Ultrasonic is working is to put a small single sheet of aluminum foil in your cleaning solution...nothing else. If the US is working , after a few minutes your aluminum foil should have holes in it. I had the same question and did the test.

 

[Janeau]

Ultrasonic is great for guns and parts but no so for cleaning brass. If you want an effective way - stainless pins in wet media is the best. I own a Hornady 9 Liters that can take an AR 16 inches upper for some time. I gave up cleaning brass.
If you go to the extend of wetting and drying brass- might as well get a full clean and shine with the SS pins.

 

[Chilly807]

Question for those with an ultrasonic cleaner: How noisy is yours? I just bought one (not for cleaning brass) and it makes almost zero noise, but doesn't seem to clean anything either. I'm wondering if it's broken or if it's normal.

I do feel a little tingling if I put my finger in the water while it's on.

Mine has a quiet buzz to it, nothing objectionable. There are visible ripples on the surface of the water, and it cleans well.

 

[SND]

I only use ultrasonic the last couple years, pinch of lemi shine and a bit of dish soap is all I put in it and run about an hour. I found pins were a pita and too hard on brass for match use, good for processing a lot quickly though, also got annoyed with the occasional stuck pin, could turn a good day bad pretty quick.