Citronox and Ultrasonic Cleaning

[GarethMarijt]

Hi,

If anyone is using Citranox, can I pick their brains please?

I followed the advice of Gunamonth and diluted the Citranox 1:100 with distilled water. After I clean the cases, I run them through a couple of cycles of plain water, just to wash off any traces of the solution. The cases are lovely and shiny when they come out the fluid, but after they have dried off, they look somewhat tarnished and discoloured. Does anyone perform a subsequent process? I gather neutralizing isn't necessary for dilutes of Citranox.

I am hoping is doesn't effect the brass and is just a cosmetic thing, but will be working on 6mmBR brass shortly and don't want to do anything that will weaken the cases. :-\

Kind regards
Gareth

 

[Taildrag15X]

It shouldn't do a thing to hurt the cases, mine has always had that dull shine after drying, I don't think Bling-Bling cases group better so I leave them as they are.

 

[GarethMarijt]

Thanks for your speedy response Mike. It was very reassuring, as I was a bit worried about the hot loads from the 6mm BR.

Gareth

 

[artbosco]

Hi,

If anyone is using Citranox, can I pick their brains please?

I followed the advice of Gunamonth and diluted the Citranox 1:100 with distilled water. After I clean the cases, I run them through a couple of cycles of plain water, just to wash off any traces of the solution. The cases are lovely and shiny when they come out the fluid, but after they have dried off, they look somewhat tarnished and discoloured. Does anyone perform a subsequent process? I gather neutralizing isn't necessary for dilutes of Citranox.

I am hoping is doesn't effect the brass and is just a cosmetic thing, but will be working on 6mmBR brass shortly and don't want to do anything that will weaken the cases. :-\

Kind regards
Gareth

I got the same results when I over cleaned them, that is, left them in too long. Cosmetically they look a little weird but they're OK. I found that inserting a bullet in the neck required a little more effort than usual. Dry lube may be needed. Eventually I gave up on that method altogether. Too much time required, messy, liquids, beakers, additional equipment, special lube, etcetera. Life's too short.

 

[TheBlueEyedBear]

I use regular tap water: One gallon of water to One tablespoon of Citronox and 1/2 teaspoon of LemonBrite. The rest of the procedure is the same. Cases turn out great.

 

[pbot]

I use the same method as you - Citranox diluted 1:100 in distilled water. After ultrasonic cleaning, I rinse them several times in clean tap water and then put them in a food dehydrator for a couple of hours to dry. Mine stay pretty shiny with the occasional discolored/tarnished spot. Never had a problem with the cases weakening.

 

[Scott Harris]

The citranox worked great for me, and I did a short rinse after the wash cycle: both using tap water. Always came out clean and dull. If you want clean and shiny, I'd recommend the stainless tumbling method. I have switched over to that method because I can do much larger batches of brass and it's less work. The brass looks better than new every time and that's just gravy. With tumbling, I can dump 140 pieces of 308 brass into the tumbler and use simple dish detergent. Flip a switch and one hour later you are done. The ultrasonic is more tedious and takes longer.

 

[DennisH]

The citranox worked great for me, and I did a short rinse after the wash cycle: both using tap water. Always came out clean and dull. If you want clean and shiny, I'd recommend the stainless tumbling method. I have switched over to that method because I can do much larger batches of brass and it's less work. The brass looks better than new every time and that's just gravy. With tumbling, I can dump 140 pieces of 308 brass into the tumbler and use simple dish detergent. Flip a switch and one hour later you are done. The ultrasonic is more tedious and takes longer.

Where is the best place to get a Stainless Tumbler. Does any of the media get stuck in the flash hole?

 

[Scott Harris]

I ordered everything as a kit from the stainless media gentleman: media, tumbler, strainer & 5 gal bucket.

LINK: http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/

STM YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdvq3Kc_Vm0

In the beginning, media gets stuck in a few pieces of brass. But, the mfr recommendation is to just discard this stainless pieces. Fewer and fewer pieces get stuck as time goes on. After a few months, it's pretty rare for any media to get stuck.

 

[GarethMarijt]

Thanks all...

Will try and find the equivalent of LemonBrite and give that a go. As said earlier, wasn't too worried about shiny brass, just safe brass and now feel better about things.

Gareth

 

[GarethMarijt]

Instead of running them through a couple of cycles of clean water, I washed them under the tap before drying them (our halogen oven on "wash setting" came in quite handy here ;D) and they retained their shiny appearance.

As an aside, I thought I would clean off the lube after re-sizing and didn't want to wait for the tumbler, so I put them back in the ultrasonic. I only had enough pre-prepared solution for 1/2 the batch. Interestingly, the 1/2 that were washed in water + washing up liquid tarnished slightly, but the ones with water + washing up liquid + citronox didn't.

Not big on the scale of things, as they all work the same, but I do like prefer shiny brass
Gareth

 

[AusFclass]

i use nearly boiling distilled water to rinse the cases and blow them out with compressed air. the cases get hot enough that theyed almost dry themselves.

 

[GarethMarijt]

I heated the distilled water in the microwave for 3 minutes before using it as well. Apparently the ultrasonics work better with warmed liquid, I have seen a few comments to this affect.

Gareth

 

[Taildrag15X]

My L&R has a heater built in, so they come out at fairly warm, about 150-160, then they get a clean water rinse at 212 or so and then in to the drying rack.