Ultrasonic cleaning of gun parts

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baldabe

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Hello all,
I have been gifted a Harbor Freight 2.5L Ultrasonic Cleaner.

I want to try and clean some gun parts in it. What I saw on you-tube showed using a water based solution with cleaner like Simple Green or Hornady UltraSonic added. What is the consensus on using a Ballistol "moose milk" solution?

Also am not totally clear on how far to disassemble the parts, eg field strip pistols, or completely disassemble before the cleaning? How do the ultrasonic waves affect fibre optic rods, or pins etc, would there be any fretting?

Hoping to get some advice from the wise and experienced on the forum.

Cheers.
PS: I hope this is in the right section of the forum.
 
I have used Ultrasonic cleaning machines in the motorcycle industry for years and have tried many types of cleaning solutions. I highly recommend the industrial ultrasonic cleaning solution from Crystal Electronics Inc from Newmarket ON 1-866-669-9728.

As far as I'm concerned you pay more for products under the name of Hornady, Ballistol etc...

Personally I totally disassemble everything that goes in the machine. I am unsure of the effect on F/O rods. This solution is very effective on cleaning brass, preheat the machine well, drop brass in and they come out spotless in a 20min cycle.

They offer different types of solutions, I believe we use MC-1 Metal Cleaner or MC-3 Metal Cleaner.

http://www.crystalelectronics.ca/canada1200b_024.htm

 
MET said:
I have used Ultrasonic cleaning machines in the motorcycle industry for years and have tried many types of cleaning solutions. I highly recommend the industrial ultrasonic cleaning solution from Crystal Electronics Inc from Newmarket ON 1-866-669-9728.

As far as I'm concerned you pay more for products under the name of Hornady, Ballistol etc...

Personally I totally disassemble everything that goes in the machine. I am unsure of the effect on F/O rods. This solution is very effective on cleaning brass, preheat the machine well, drop brass in and they come out spotless in a 20min cycle.

They offer different types of solutions, I believe we use MC-1 Metal Cleaner or MC-3 Metal Cleaner.

http://www.crystalelectronics.ca/canada1200b_024.htm

Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed info. Most helpful.
 
Be VERY VERY CAREFUL which solutions you use on stuff, the Hornady Ultrasonic solution is meant for cleaning brass, I've had it take the finish/paint/coatings/coloring off of steel... If I'm cleaning something I don't want to harm the finish on I will just use some dish soap, works fine and doesn't harm anything I've found yet...
 
russm86 said:
Be VERY VERY CAREFUL which solutions you use on stuff, the Hornady Ultrasonic solution is meant for cleaning brass, I've had it take the finish/paint/coatings/coloring off of steel... If I'm cleaning something I don't want to harm the finish on I will just use some dish soap, works fine and doesn't harm anything I've found yet...
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Very good warning. Simple Green is bad for aluminum. I will make sure to read the label before using any product.
 
Do not sit anything on the bottom of the tank. Make up a frame to stand on both sides of the unit and hang what you want to clean in the solution. Most janitorial soap concentrates diluted about 1 to 10 with hot water work well. Most of them will attack aluminum. Plating can be removed or bubbled if left in long. If left too long some steel and softer surfaces will be etched by the cavitation. Cleaning will occur anywhere the solution can penetrate, but flushing out what is freed off may call for more work. Blow off ferrous parts and dry with heat gun, propane torch, stovetop or whatever, particularly complex parts where water can hide.
 
Hookturn said:
Ultra sonic cleaning will remove all of the oil on your gun. I always completely strip my guns so I can re oil all the small parts.
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So its like doing a complete teardown and reoil, just less effort/time spent in cleaning? Thanks for the info.

ryan said:
I have cleaned parts in a ultra sonic cleaner, but don't anymore. It took longer, and was more work.
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I can see that with doing a complete teardown, completely dry and reoil right away to prevent rust. Thanks for posting your experience.

RRCo. said:
Do not sit anything on the bottom of the tank. Make up a frame to stand on both sides of the unit and hang what you want to clean in the solution. Most janitorial soap concentrates diluted about 1 to 10 with hot water work well. Most of them will attack aluminum. Plating can be removed or bubbled if left in long. If left too long some steel and softer surfaces will be etched by the cavitation. Cleaning will occur anywhere the solution can penetrate, but flushing out what is freed off may call for more work. Blow off ferrous parts and dry with heat gun, propane torch, stovetop or whatever, particularly complex parts where water can hide.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about the physical vibration aspect of it. So if parts are in direct physical contact with the bottom (where the transducer is attached) they will vibrate?
Thanks for the info.
 
Hornady has two solutions, one for brass and one for gun parts... been cleaning SKS parts and rifle bolts for a long time with NO ill effects. Preheating the dilluted solution makes it more effective. I would not clean aluminum parts or anything painted... just blued or stainless.
 
RePete said:
I use the Lyman solution.

No effect on FO sights, nor tritium. Been doing this for years.
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Thanks for the info.

tjhaile said:
Pro HD can be found at Canadian Tire.
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Cheers!

The Kurgan said:
Hornady has two solutions, one for brass and one for gun parts... been cleaning SKS parts and rifle bolts for a long time with NO ill effects. Preheating the dilluted solution makes it more effective. I would not clean aluminum parts or anything painted... just blued or stainless.
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Good to know.
 
baldabe said:
I was wondering about the physical vibration aspect of it. So if parts are in direct physical contact with the bottom (where the transducer is attached) they will vibrate?
Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

I've got an old tank around here from a Branson machine I got for free years ago. One transducer was shattered and burned out due to someone putting some kind of container on the bottom of the tank. When you do that, the load on the transducer is greatly increased and sometimes they fail: the vibrations are not dissipated the way they should be. Hanging stuff off the rim of the tank is better, but is still putting more load on the transducers than they were designed for. The result is weaker cleaning action at best, at worst damage to the transducers or their attachment to the tank; sometimes the adhesive will fail and the transducer falls off.
 
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