More US Questions for Jason

[Silverfox]

jb1000br--I just received my US cleaning machine today and haven't even opened the box yet. I ordered in some of the Casey Birchwood rifle case cleaning solution and may have to rob my wife's cupboards and find some vinegar.

My question is, when you are done with each of the solutions, do you just dump them or can you use them again. I would imagine they might be pretty well contaminated, but would like to hear what you do. Thanks.

 

[jb1000br]

SF -- dump the vinegar, reuse the BC cleaner.

the BC cleaner only shines the cases...no crud in it, so it will last forever.

the vinegar on the other hand will look like coal

JB

 

[Silverfox]

jb1000br--Thanks for the information on the solutions. Another question that came to my mind was: what size glass beaker/beakers are you using in this process? Also, maybe I missed this, but are you using the glass beakers inside the SS tub WITHOUT the plastic basket or are you putting the glass beakers inside the plastic basket and then placing that combination into the tank? Sorry about all the questions, but "You are THE man" when it comes to this US case cleaning process, so please bear with me. Thanks.

 

[jb1000br]

SF -- 3-250ml beakers just fit with no liner...i have not been using a basket or anything, and it hasn't hurt me yet,not to say it wont), but i suppose i'll try something along the line of a basket or wire mesh soon.

JB

 

[Silverfox]

jb1000br--Many thanks for all the help. I'll be giving this system a try soon.

 

[jb1000br]

report back

JB :thumb:

 

[Silverfox]

jb1000br--Silverfox reporting as requested SIR!!!

I finally got all the ingredients for the US "Clean and Shiny" process together today and went down into my lair at about 10:15 p.m. to run some casings through the US machine.

I used one glass beaker of the 400 mL size and one 250 mL glass beaker. I could have used two of the 400 mL size because there was plenty room for both of them in the plastic basket.

I placed 35 of my .17 Remington casings in the 400 mL beaker and 30 of my .17 Rem casings in the 250 mL beaker. By placing that many casings in the beakers, the casings would stand up straight because the bases of the casings seemed to be touching at the bottom. The sides of the casings were away from the sides of the beakers and casings were not touching each other on the sides.

I filled the tub with tap water up to the Maximum fill line with the beakers in place. Then I filled the beakers with the vinegar/water/soap mix until the mixture was above the casing necks by about 3/8 of an inch.

I meticulously ran through the 50% white vinegar mixed with 50% water and a drop of dishwashing soap for each 8 oz. of water. After the full 24 minutes, I carefully took the beakers over to my dumping sink and gingerly emptied the murky mix out of the beakers without the casings falling out of the beakers.

I have a question about what could/should have been done at this point. Since the vinegar/water mix was so contaminated, should I have rinsed the casings with some plain tap water at this point so my Birchwood Casey/water mix didn't become murky gray too????? I didn't and the BC/water mix is the same color as the vinegar/water mix was. I saved the BC/water mix in a quart jar, but I don't think I'll use it again.

Onward and upward--I did the BC/water mix run and, as mentioned above, the mix became very dirty. I gingerly dumped that mix into the quart jar from each of the beakers. At this point, I felt it would be prudent to use some hot tap water to rinse the casings a wee bit before I put hot tap water on them and placed them back into the US cleaning machine for the last cycle.

I ran the US cleaning for the 380 second cycle and dumped the water out into the sink and used a wee bit of tap water to rinse them before filling the beakers with distilled water. I ran that cycle for the 280 seconds and then dumped the distilled water out and placed the casings on a soft towel.

Then I took two casings in each hand and shook as much water out of them as I could and laid them down until I had done that to all 65 casings. Then I took a paper towel and rolled that over the top of the casings to get water off the outsides. Last, I lined all the casing mouths up, held them down by placing a yard stick over them and use a hair dryer on high to blow hot air into the casing mouths. This got the insides of the casings quite dry.

My casings are not as shiny as those illustrated in the article about US cleaning casings, but they are clean inside and out EXCEPT for what looks like carbon fouling on some of the casing necks. Yes, I can clean that off with some 0000 steel wool, but I thought they would be squeaky clean through and through.

So, while the casings are, for the most part, very clean, the necks could be cleaner. My unanswered questions are:

1) Am I placing too many casings in the beakers, thus cutting down on the US action? As I looked back through the article about US case cleaning, I noticed that there were only 16 dirty .243 casings in that beaker on page 3 of the article and I think I counted 18 in the bottom right beaker in the photo in the middle of page 4 of the article.

2) Should I have rinsed the casings with tap water after the 24 minute cycle of vinegar/water/soap?

3) Another thing I think you mentioned earlier was that you didn't use the basket. I used the basket. Could this have been cutting down on the cleaning power of the US machine?

4) Should I fill the liquids higher above the casing necks or is it sufficient just to have the necks under the surface of the mixtures?

5) I know someone else asked about the importance of the liquid level in the stainless steel tub as compared to the level of the liquid in the beakers. The liquid level in the SS tub was well below that of the liquid level in the beakers. It can be no other way with the shallow SS tub. Should one lay the casings on their sides so the liquid level in the SS tub is equal to or higher than that of the liquid level in the beakers?

I thank you for the great new method for cleaning casings. If there is anything in what I did that needs fine tuning, please clue me in.

 

[jb1000br]

1) Am I placing too many casings in the beakers, thus cutting down on the US action? As I looked back through the article about US case cleaning, I noticed that there were only 16 dirty .243 casings in that beaker on page 3 of the article and I think I counted 18 in the bottom right beaker in the photo in the middle of page 4 of the article.


NO PROBLEM, I HAD THE BEAKERS PACKED TIGHT SOMETIMES.


2) Should I have rinsed the casings with tap water after the 24 minute cycle of vinegar/water/soap?


YES...TILL THE WATER IS COMING OFF CLEAR


3) Another thing I think you mentioned earlier was that you didn't use the basket. I used the basket. Could this have been cutting down on the cleaning power of the US machine?


PROBABLY...STEEL BASKET MAY BE BETTER...OR JUST CUT A PIECE OF HARDWARE CLOTH OR CHICKEN WIRE THAT WILL SUSPEND THE BEAKERS FROM THE BOTTOM, BUT NOT ABSORB THE VIBRATIONS...THIS IS WHAT I PLAN TO TRY DURING MY NEXT RUN OF CLEANING CASES.


4) Should I fill the liquids higher above the casing necks or is it sufficient just to have the necks under the surface of the mixtures?


DOUBT IT MATTERS AS LONG AS THEY ARE COVERED...TRY CASE MOUTH DOWN NEXT TIME. ALSO MAKE SURE THE WATER LEVEL IN THE TANK IS AT MAX FILL


5) I know someone else asked about the importance of the liquid level in the stainless steel tub as compared to the level of the liquid in the beakers. The liquid level in the SS tub was well below that of the liquid level in the beakers. It can be no other way with the shallow SS tub. Should one lay the casings on their sides so the liquid level in the SS tub is equal to or higher than that of the liquid level in the beakers?

SEE ANSWER 4...I HAD NO PROBLEM WITH RESIDUE LEFT ANYWHERE! EVEN WITH THE WATER LEVEL MUCH HIGHER IN THE BEAKERS.

HTH,
JB

 

[Silverfox]

JB--I'll give it another try again, maybe today, if I can find a little spare time.

Once again, thanks for all the help. I'll get the hang of this operation yet!!!

 

[Silverfox]

I found some spare time to clean additional casings today. The process went much better and most of the casings looked very clean and sparkly!!!

I did two things differently today than I did them in my earlier attempt at cleaning casings ultrasonically. I DID NOT use the plastic basket. Rather, I just set the beakers in the stainless steel tank. The other thing I changed was that I thoroughly rinsed the casings and the beaker after each step of the procedure was finished except after the distilled water portion.

Here is my makeshift area for the US cleaning machine on the west wall of my reloading room. I have a sink with hot and cold running water located just to the north about 5 feet and east about 8 feet from where this chest-type freezer sits.

I cleaned 73 of my .17 Remington casings on my first run of the afternoon. I used two of the 400 mL beakers and had 37 casings in one beaker and 36 in the other. I drained contaminated fluids off the casing thoroughly and then rinsed the casings with warm tap water until all contaminants were rinsed out and off. These 73 casings came out sparkling clean, even the outside of the necks. These were once-fired casings I purchased on the Internet from a fellow named J. McComas.

I decided to clean 40 of the .17 Remington casings I neck turned for use in my new Pac-Nor barreled .17 Remington with the .1945" neck. They cleaned up spic and span, but of course the necks were bright and shiny to start with!!!

The casings for my Pac-Nor barreled .17 Remington are in the 3rd and 4th rows from the top.

Most of the casings in the bottom row of the photo above are casings I purchased from Southern Belle Brass located in Cordova, TN. This brass was supposed to be once-fired brass as well. There are 4 or 5 casings mixed in with these 23 casings that were neck turned and are shiny. Notice that the rest of necks on those casings are still quite dark.

Here is a closeup of two casings, one from each source.

I guess I can always use some 0000 steel wool and clean the necks up, but I'm wondering why these Southern Belle Brass casings don't clean up through this ultrasonic procedure like the other casings do???? It is strange indeed.

I am very pleased with the process and like you mentioned in the article, even though it does take some time, the time spent is well worth it IMHO. Thanks again!!!

 

[jb1000br]

That is more like it! Nice pics. The 17rem brass i tested was several times fired rem and it came as clean as the rest.

JB :thumb:

 

[Silverfox]

I just spent a little under three hours down in my reloading room and now have another 210 sparkling clean .17 Remington casings ready to reload for my Pac-Nor barreled .194 neck .17 Remington rifle.

I'm having so much fun I might just volunteer to clean casings for everyone on this board---NOT!!!!!!! :lol:

 

[ROCKJAG4]

just a note: I bought 250 7mm saum cases from SOUTHERN BELLE & THEY were the WORST brass i worked with in 40 yrs. question: has anyone tried IOSSO LIQUID CAES CLEANER IN THIER U.S. CLEANER? I THINK IT WORKS GREAT. CAN GET IT FROM sinclair's.