Ultrasonic cleaners VS "medium" cleaners

[Tom D]

Anyone use an ultrasonic cleaner? As a tree surgeon I have lots of wee gadgets that would benefit from cleaning now and again, many have moving parts like caribiners, and chainsaw parts. I would quite like a cleaning device that would double up, cleaning brass and other things. Medium cleaners won't work for caribiners I would think as the parts will clog up with medium. But I don't want to splash out on something that won't clean brass.

​So do they work on brass?

 

[kennyc]

yes they do

 

[Tom D]

Any recommendations on a make and model?

 

[Barkingsnake]

Yes they do "work" on brass and also anything else like carburettors and suppressors. I use a Maplin jobby that's about 3 litres I think and IRO £80 plus the cleaning stuff. The latter makes a difference and I've the Maplin stuff works very well: just be aware of the pricing structure.

I've owned a Lyman 2200 tumbler for, oh, 22 years and I think I prefer the finish the tumbler can produce. However, the ultrasonic shifts the internal grot well even if it's not as shiny outside.

 

[Barkingsnake]

Maplin Cleaner

JPL 8050 H Professional Ultrasonic Cleaner 2.5L : Ultrasonic Cleaners : Maplin Electronics


Seaclean 2 - Double Strength Concentrate : Ultrasonic Cleaners : Maplin Electronics


The Ultrasonic cleaner they flog looks almost the same as the Lyman one that's about £20 more...

 

[paul o']

you cold splash out on a Lyman's new Turbo Sonic like mine it cleans inside and out or find a tattooist one on e-bay just get the brass cleaning juice, one thing i have found if i use an old electric kettle and heat but not boiled the same destilled water , i wash off the case's as it helps them dry quicker just stand them on a nail peg board to drain off sound long winded but it takes a few mins only.

 

[Rog]

Teaspoon of citric acid off eBay for a couple of quid a packet, drop of washing up liquid and a pint of water....awesome results.

 

[limulus]

Having used sonicators for a number of years Ive found by far the best cleaning solutions to be ammoniacal based with a drop or two of detergent added.
You can buy ammonia at most chemists. Add 5ml to 10ml of 8/80 ammonia and a couple of drops of fairy liquid to the warm water and sonicate for about 15-20mins, longer for really mucky stuff. Be careful with anything that has stones in (earings, rings etc) as these can be shaken out of their mounts if you give them too much welly.

 

[jthyttin]

Ultrasonic can also get the cases too clean...

I like to tumble in corn cob (walnut cleans better but is dusty and sticks in flash holes) for 2-3 hours, grease (RCBS Case Lube II), full length resize, and tumble again for 30min.

I've tried replacing the first tumbling with ultrasonic, it works but I found I need to lube the inside of the neck before resizing. This of course with bottleneck rifle cases, but also with straight wall pistol cases and carbide dies I've found the resizing process is not as smooth as with tumbled cases. Anyway, after resize you need to get the lube out and I did this by tumbling 30mins, especially since there was lube inside the neck. I guess you could replace this step by washing the cases, at least with water soluble greases like the RCBS.

Ultrasonic isn't worth the hassle for me. Depending on model you need to carefully place the cases by hand, the power depends on how close the cases are to the ultrasonic units (number of which varies depending on model) etc.

 

[paul o']

while we are on the ultra sound thing anyone know how i can make the ( lyman new turbo sonic) to run longer at the mo you can only set it running for 8 ish mins and that is a pain !

 

[jcampbellsmith]

while we are on the ultra sound thing anyone know how i can make the ( lyman new turbo sonic) to run longer at the mo you can only set it running for 4 plus mins and that is a pain !

No. I just set the kitchen timer to go off when the cycle was finished and kept a check sheet of how many times I had run the cleaner. My new cleaner will run for 59 minutes. Regards JCS

 

[paul o']

mine will only set for 480 sec's or 8 naffin mins

 

[Muir]

I've tried replacing the first tumbling with ultrasonic, it works but I found I need to lube the inside of the neck before resizing. This of course with bottleneck rifle cases, but also with straight wall pistol cases and carbide dies I've found the resizing process is not as smooth as with tumbled cases. Anyway, after resize you need to get the lube out and I did this by tumbling 30mins, especially since there was lube inside the neck. I guess you could replace this step by washing the cases, at least with water soluble greases like the RCBS.

Ultrasonic isn't worth the hassle for me. Depending on model you need to carefully place the cases by hand, the power depends on how close the cases are to the ultrasonic units (number of which varies depending on model) etc.

I think you need to replace the lube you are using. I always lube the inside of bottle-necked rifle cases. It's the standard procedure unless you're using a carbide expander. I like Hornady One-Shot. Never fouls powder.

I only U/S clean. The cases come out spotless: Not shiney and polished, just spotlessly clean. I use Hornady's U/S cleaner solution. My U/S cleaner is one made for dentures that holds about 60, 308 cases. I toss the cases in, cover them with the solution, and let them go. In about an hour the cases are clean and the solution I rinse out is black.

Man. I would never lube cases going onto a carbide pistol die. If i was going to do that I'd have bought a standard die set and saved the money! ~Muir

 

[Cooter]

JPL 8050 H Professional Ultrasonic Cleaner 2.5L : Ultrasonic Cleaners : Maplin Electronics


The Ultrasonic cleaner they flog looks almost the same as the Lyman one that's about £20 more...

I have been using one of these for the last four years and it does the job brilliantly.

I use the same cleaning method that is found on 6mmbr (cirtric acid and birchwood casey) and the cases always look like new.

 

[rem284]

They do clean. However the cases seem to be more "sticky" when you come to put them through a die

 

[phaedra]

Please don't be fooled by the use of the word "professional", the JPL is not a professional cleaner by any stretch of the imagination. The same cleaner can be found on Ebay for around £20 less than Maplins.

2.5L Ultrasonic Cleaner Heater Recycle Timer Dental Jewelry Glasses Watch Coins | eBay

Or for something a bit more sturdy, 2L Pro Industrial Ultrasonic Cleaner/Bath with Basket Digital TimeHeat Control | eBay

 

[Barkingsnake]

This "professional" enough? Gun cleaners, Ultrasonic | Handgun, Pistol, Rifle | Cleaning System

Or these: Sonic System Sales

 

[jthyttin]

I think you need to replace the lube you are using. I always lube the inside of bottle-necked rifle cases. It's the standard procedure unless you're using a carbide expander. I like Hornady One-Shot. Never fouls powder.

I'm not afraid of fouling the powder, I just don't want lube in the neck to mess with bullet seating. I only lube inside the neck if otherwise I would stretch the brass. I've foudn that tumbling eliminates the stretch, I guess it cleans the inside but only so much (vs. ultrasonic cleaning "too much" like completely de-greasing or something)

Man. I would never lube cases going onto a carbide pistol die. If i was going to do that I'd have bought a standard die set and saved the money!

Sorry for bad wording. I meant that with carbide dies I've found resizing unlubed ultrasonic cleaned cases is "not so smooth" as resizing unlubed tumbled cases.

 

[Muir]

I'm not afraid of fouling the powder, I just don't want lube in the neck to mess with bullet seating. I only lube inside the neck if otherwise I would stretch the brass. I've foudn that tumbling eliminates the stretch, I guess it cleans the inside but only so much (vs. ultrasonic cleaning "too much" like completely de-greasing or something)



Sorry for bad wording. I meant that with carbide dies I've found resizing unlubed ultrasonic cleaned cases is "not so smooth" as resizing unlubed tumbled cases.

I have found that all cases have the propensity to stretch when you don't lube the necks, but, it is largely dependent on the dies and the expander ball. I think just a couple of weeks ago there was a post about cases that were a tough fit after neck sizing: the culprit was inadequate lube or a big expander IIRC. I have never noticed any problems seating after using One Shot, but I flare the necks before I seat the bullets anyhow which causes a deceptively smooth and straight seating.

I hear you on the straight walled cases. I think that U/S cleaning gets the cases absolutely clean and imparts no polish, so you'd expect them to be a little harder to size. Coming from having loaded many thousands of pistol rounds loaded without carbide dies, I find that I'll put up with a little more effort to avoid the lube!~Muir

 

[Alantoo]

but I flare the necks before I seat the bullets anyhow which causes a deceptively smooth and straight seating.

Muir, could you expand on that comment please, how do you flare the necks? You presumably crimp them after in a Lee crimper...

I have a friend who has been having trouble using Barnes solid copper (TSX?) and although he is chamfering inside and out he has been getting a fine shaving coming off the bullet coming off into the canelures, flaring sounds like it would resolve that...

Sorry to go off topic OP.

Alan