Ultra-Sonic cleaners
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
Joined
·
388 Posts
I personally love mine. I have a few friends that use the media cleaners that have converted over to sonic since checking mine out. I love how little time it takes, and almost no noise. Important for me as I reload in our house and not in the garage of shed. I just pop the cases in for 12-18 minutes and nice shiny cases come out! You can even make a homemade blend of cleaning solution so you don't have to spend so much on the sonic solutions.
Joined
·
388 Posts
I have the medium size lyman. It was the largest but now they have this huge one that can hold an ar lower! As for my solution I use this stuff called lemi-shine from Walmart. I shake about a teaspoon and a teaspoon of dawn with the water. The real trick is to not overload it. I usually do 50 cases at a time that way I only run it for 12 minutes. I then stick my brass in oven while I clean another 50 cases. It says you can put 600 (9mm) cases in at one time but they don't cleanup much that way. Another trick I read is to stand up the cases if possible.
Joined
·
7,850 Posts
Hearing all the lauding of these cleaners, I went to Harbor Freight and got a small one. It has a 3-minute timer and will hold about 20 30-06 or 50 38 special (usually a little more of each). I have to hit the "ON" botton every 3 minutes, and I do it for about 6 or 7 times before taking brass out. This equates to about 20 minutes or so. Then I rinse them in the little colander it comes with, and blow each one out with a blast of air. Then on to drying in a case holder. This little cleaner is nowhere near as nice as a Lyman or other commercial one, but I got it just to see if it was praise worthy.
Here's what I use, and it works fine: water and a couple of squirts of lemon or lime juice (from those squeezable plastic containers). Primer pockets are clean, inside of cases are clean, and outside is more than acceptable, although not quite as shiny as tumbling in fresh media.
The down side is you're dealing with liquids (water). SO there's rinsing, drying time, and all that stuff. I don;t use the oven, but whatever method you use is a "process". Upside is no noise, no dust. You can ultasonic clean brass in any room of your house if you wanted. Also, you can clean any mettalic part in an ultrasonic cleaner.
If I upgrade, I will get a larger unit with no auto shutoff (unless it's 30 minutes or more).
Decades ago, my wife worked at a jewelry supply store and my best friend was one of their backroom jewelsmiths. Those guys always have something being cleaned in the ultrasound. I was completely aware of it being "on" all the time, but never even once equated it's use with anything other than jewelry.
Here's what I use, and it works fine: water and a couple of squirts of lemon or lime juice (from those squeezable plastic containers). Primer pockets are clean, inside of cases are clean, and outside is more than acceptable, although not quite as shiny as tumbling in fresh media.
The down side is you're dealing with liquids (water). SO there's rinsing, drying time, and all that stuff. I don;t use the oven, but whatever method you use is a "process". Upside is no noise, no dust. You can ultasonic clean brass in any room of your house if you wanted. Also, you can clean any mettalic part in an ultrasonic cleaner.
If I upgrade, I will get a larger unit with no auto shutoff (unless it's 30 minutes or more).
Decades ago, my wife worked at a jewelry supply store and my best friend was one of their backroom jewelsmiths. Those guys always have something being cleaned in the ultrasound. I was completely aware of it being "on" all the time, but never even once equated it's use with anything other than jewelry.
I bought the large Harbor Freight model using thier discount coupon. So far I'm satisfied with it. I use a little citric acid and it works quite well. I will be experimenting with other cleaners. After cleaning I blow the water out of the cases with the compressor and spread them out on an old bath towel.
Bob
Bob
Joined
·
7,850 Posts
You know, I noticed that. I was decapping some 38 brass and dropping them straight down in, headstamp down, as they came off the press. The went straight down and stood straight up, so I made a game of seeing if I could do them all without one tilting. I did. It seems that those batches cleaned better and more quickly! I wrote it off as a fluke and haven;t repeated it. ((
D)))
D)))
Joined
·
546 Posts
I just purchased an 2l ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight myself and like it. I've only had it for two days and its been a big help. I plopped some 3+ year old once fired 44 mag brass that has set and hardened for ever. After a few washes with Hornady sonic cleaner they are smooth again.
Funny thing I'm noticing is that good brass cleans better than lessor brass. My Starline and Hornady cases come out dazzling clean while the Winchester and Remington stay somewhat tarnished. I even put my old bore brushes in for a spin and they came out great.
Funny thing I'm noticing is that good brass cleans better than lessor brass. My Starline and Hornady cases come out dazzling clean while the Winchester and Remington stay somewhat tarnished. I even put my old bore brushes in for a spin and they came out great.
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
