Ultrasonic vs Tumbler/Vibrator?

surfclod

surfclod

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I am sure this has been hashed out before but I am getting back into reloading and want to know which direction to go with my brass cleaning.

Previously I had a vibratory cleaner/polisher, made the brass nice and shiny but media got stuck in primer pocket and flash hole. Also failed to clean the primer pockets and who knows how well cleaned the interior of the case was.

I see that the ultrasonic cleaners have come down in price compared to what they were going for about a decade ago. Could also be used to clean small engine and carburettor parts.


Anyways, I'm open to suggestions.
 
I use an ultrasonic and a vibratory cleaner. Why not SS? I only use the ultrasonic on rifle cartridges, not pistol and I can use it for cleaning anything else including my guns, motorcycle parts etc. SS tumbling would only serve for cleaning brass, not as versatile as ultrasonic for me. But the biggest ultrasonic that you can afford...
 
fdc said:
I use an ultrasonic and a vibratory cleaner. Why not SS? I only use the ultrasonic on rifle cartridges, not pistol and I can use it for cleaning anything else including my guns, motorcycle parts etc. SS tumbling would only serve for cleaning brass, not as versatile as ultrasonic for me. But the biggest ultrasonic that you can afford...
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While it seems like tumbling SS is the consensus for brass prep, I can hardly justify the cost for a single purpose.


Unless its rather economical; what is the going rate for a SS tumbling set-up????

Likely in the future get a system.


How much ought a person budget for a decent ultra-sonic cleaner?? Would a $150 one off of eBay or Amazon be fine or is that on the lower threshold of quality?
 
I don't think there's any doubt that wet tumbling with SS pins is the King.

But between vibratory and US there are fans of both. I found that both got the outsides clean on handgun brass. But the vibratory didn't do much on the inside where US cleaned pretty well. And with short brass like 9mm and .45 the US cleans out the inside until it looks almost like new. Rifle brass that is deprimed also comes out spotless inside and out when done in the US cleaner.

The only brass I'm having trouble with cleaning is the cases that I shoot with Pyrodex in them for my black powder cowboy action shooting. That stuff stains like blazes! ! ! ! I'm going to switch to proper black powder to see if that helps. Otherwise I may look at a small SS pin tumbler just for the black powder gun casings and the all brass shot shells.

After cleaning we need to separate the media from the brass. For vibratory that means a lot of shaking around to get the dry media out of the brass. For US cleaning it means a few dunks in clean water to rinse the solution away and then laying it out to let Mother Nature separate the water from the brass by drying. Being rather lazy I like this second method more.

So I strongly vote for US cleaning as the easiest and less costly. And at roughly 80 to 90% as clean as with SS pins I'd call it "good enough" for a lot less cash.
 
I've been using vibratory dry cleaning up until now. It does a decent job for most cases, but is dusty and you're right - stuff can get stuck in flash holes etc. I bought an ultrasonic which a great for doing pistol and parts cleaning but not so good for brass. So I'm moving to rotary stainless steel tumbling. I'm pretty frugal so here's my budget set-up plan: Harbor Freight double-can tumbler (about $80 CAD, cheaper if you go to the US to get it), Lemi Shine is $4 at Canadian Tire, small bottle of Palmolive is $0.99 at Wal-Mart, old towels courtesy of letting my wife by some new ones, an infra-red heat lamp and holder from Princess Auto $10, 2lb stainless steel tumbling media is about $20 off Ebay. So for $110, you're good to go.

Any other suggestions gang?
 
Chrossphyre said:
I've been using vibratory dry cleaning up until now. It does a decent job for most cases, but is dusty and you're right - stuff can get stuck in flash holes etc. I bought an ultrasonic which a great for doing pistol and parts cleaning but not so good for brass. So I'm moving to rotary stainless steel tumbling. I'm pretty frugal so here's my budget set-up plan: Harbor Freight double-can tumbler (about $80 CAD, cheaper if you go to the US to get it), Lemi Shine is $4 at Canadian Tire, small bottle of Palmolive is $0.99 at Wal-Mart, old towels courtesy of letting my wife by some new ones, an infra-red heat lamp and holder from Princess Auto $10, 2lb stainless steel tumbling media is about $20 off Ebay. So for $110, you're good to go.

Any other suggestions gang?
Click to expand...

NOTE to anyone interested, the Harbor Freight double tumbler regularly at $139.98 is currently on sale for $54.99. Use coupon code 70348385 to get it for $43.99.
http://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html
 
I prefer wet tumbling for my needs, Ultrasonic works well, but I like to do large volumes at a time. The ultrasonic is great for cleaning small parts on a variety of stuff.
 
Chrossphyre said:
I've been using vibratory dry cleaning up until now. It does a decent job for most cases, but is dusty and you're right - stuff can get stuck in flash holes etc. I bought an ultrasonic which a great for doing pistol and parts cleaning but not so good for brass. So I'm moving to rotary stainless steel tumbling. I'm pretty frugal so here's my budget set-up plan: Harbor Freight double-can tumbler (about $80 CAD, cheaper if you go to the US to get it), Lemi Shine is $4 at Canadian Tire, small bottle of Palmolive is $0.99 at Wal-Mart, old towels courtesy of letting my wife by some new ones, an infra-red heat lamp and holder from Princess Auto $10, 2lb stainless steel tumbling media is about $20 off Ebay. So for $110, you're good to go.

Any other suggestions gang?
Click to expand...

I'd pass on the Infrared lamp and go straight into a kitchen oven at less than 200 deg F for 1/2 hr app, you'll have enough Lemishine for a lifetime a pinch is all that's needed Tide low E is great as it's low sudsing so less rinsing and get a large magnet from Princess to pick up those pesky pins
 
while stainless pins do a good job, my ultrasonic cleaner was 130$ and I cleaned 1000 cases in about an hour last night. Then I just left all the brass spread out on a towel on the bench top for a few days to dry. Also like it was also stated its nice to be able to throw entire hand gun frames, barrels, cylinders, small engine parts, or anything else that will fit into the ultrasonic cleaner.

I grind my teeth at night and am forced to wear what is essentially a retainer to prevent this. Anyone that's ever worm one knows how nasty they get. I fill my ultrasonic cleaner with water, then put the retainer and half vinegar and half water into a ziplock bag and put that in the ultrasonic cleaner. Gets it brand new clean every time. Also they sell solution to clean jewelry and it works wonders.

for cost effective, mass production, and versatility the US wins in my opinion hands down. Although if what you care about is an obsessive compulsive disorder level of clean, then stainless pins is the way to go
 
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