# of cases you can US clean at a time

[memilanuk]

Hello,

Just getting started w/ an ultrasonic cleaner,mid-sized digital model w/ heater from Harbor Freight). Nifty! :thumb:

How many cases can you generally do at a whack before you start getting minimal results?

I started out trying to do ~50 .308 Win cases, but the results were pretty underwhelming.

Backed off and am running 25 thru this go-around; already the results look much improved though no-where near the clean and shiny, or even the cheap-n-clean.

I'm curious as to what kind of results are getting, based on size of cartridge, US cleaner unit, solvents used, etc.

Thanks,

Monte

 

[mmcauliffe]

I have a small "cheapo" unit and use 600ml beaker to hold the brass/cleaning solution.
I have found that when I clean 20+ pieces of 22-250, they take longer and still don't come out as nice as when I limit the amount of casings to 15.

 

[Raidman]

I bought a cleaner from Harbor freight and made a new top to hold the beaker.

I use a very simple solution in mine. 75% water from my RO drinking water system, about 20% white vinegar and a few drops of dish washing detergent, I also have found that a 1/2 teaspoon of "Limishine" helps with the shine, kind of a dull looking case without it. I can clean about 40 cases before changing the solution. I clean for 480 seconds, rinse with RO water and blow dry with compressed air. This will normally clean 100% inside and out.

Cleaner with nothing done to it

Cleaner with new top

With beaker installed

With cases in beaker

 

[mmcauliffe]

Do you put the Limeshine in with the water & vinigar solution?

 

[Raidman]

Yes I put it into the solution but please be aware that it is NOT Limeshine but "Lemishine". You can get it at Walmart in the dish washing dept.

 

[mmcauliffe]

Thanks for the correction.
How does your sequence differ from the following?

1) 1/2 water, 1/2 white vinigar w/couple drops of dish soap ~ 660 sec
2) water with tiny bit of baking soda ~ 380 sec
3) hot tap water ~ 380 sec
4) Distilled water ~ 380 sec

 

[Raidman]

I don't use any hot water as it inhibits the Ultrasonic reaction,where the cartridge dances and it looks like it's boiling)where it cleans the best. Other than that it's pretty much the same.

I understand why you use the baking soda, I do think it's good to use distilled or reverse osmosis water to keep the cases from spotting. The "Lemishine" is also a great cleaner and brightener, bottom line is if it works for you.

 

[PALefty]

I have been reading up on various sites about US Cleaning. Being a HF junkie myself.. I have been considering buying one of their units. How do you like the $99 model you are using? Do you think there is any advantage to their larger $150 model?


Also, some general questions:
- What purpose do the beakers serve? Do they provide a primarily a way to hold the cases upright.. or is their advantage to limit the amount of liquid cleaner needed?

- If using a beaker... I would assume the cleaning liquid would go inside the beaker.. but does water or something else need to be outside the beaker for the US to work?

- When one lists a series of timed steps such as this:
1) 1/2 water, 1/2 white vinegar w/couple drops of dish soap ~ 660 sec
2) water with tiny bit of baking soda ~ 380 sec
3) hot tap water ~ 380 sec
4) Distilled water ~ 380 sec
How does one switch from one to the other? It seems easier to switch when using a beaker.. as you can probably just dump the liquid contents while using your hand to keep the cases from falling out.

- I know of one site where the person was using the cheaper/smaller $28 model from HF. Would there be any benefit to having a couple of these smaller ones used in series.. rather than a larger model?

 

[mmcauliffe]

- What purpose do the beakers serve? Do they provide a primarily a way to hold the cases upright.. or is their advantage to limit the amount of liquid cleaner needed?

Yes to both

- If using a beaker... I would assume the cleaning liquid would go inside the beaker.. but does water or something else need to be outside the beaker for the US to work?

Again, yes to both, water outside the beaker but be careful not to fill the unit too high. When you add the beaker it will displace a sizable volume of water

- When one lists a series of timed steps such as this:
1) 1/2 water, 1/2 white vinegar w/couple drops of dish soap ~ 660 sec
2) water with tiny bit of baking soda ~ 380 sec
3) hot tap water ~ 380 sec
4) Distilled water ~ 380 sec
How does one switch from one to the other? It seems easier to switch when using a beaker.. as you can probably just dump the liquid contents while using your hand to keep the cases from falling out.

I use 2 beakers, mainly because the place that I ordered them from had a minimum $$ and the price of 2 just made it. I'm glad I ended up with 2 though, the second one seems to come in handy and if I happen to break one someday I'll have at least one to use.

I mix up the next solution while the brass is being cleaned in the other. Then I just use my hand to hold the brass back when I dump out the dirty solution. That said, I usually do multiple batches since I only clean about 15 at a time so I'm thinking about dumping the dirty solution into a container and reusing it at least once during the same day.

- I know of one site where the person was using the cheaper/smaller $28 model from HF. Would there be any benefit to having a couple of these smaller ones used in series.. rather than a larger model?

I don't know

Here is what got me interested in US cleaning: http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html
The author, Jason, was happy to answer questions I pm'd him with and was helpful.

 

[Raidman]

I mix my solution one gallon at a time, fill a beaker just over the top of the cartridges and set it in the cleaner. I run it for 480 seconds one time only. After the 480 seconds I dump that beaker into a plastic pitcher with small holes in the bottom which is setting on top of another beaker. The solution that went through the strainer into the beaker is reusable and the cartridges that are in the strainer get a good rinsing with distilled/RO water. I then blow the cases out with compressed air and let them dry. They should be clean inside and out and very shiny.
I forgot to say that I fill the cleaner with cold water and if it gets hot I dump it and refill with cold water again. You can’t fill it to the top because the beaker displaces some of the space. I have a mark that I fill to and I use 4 beakers to speed things up.

 

[Flybuster]

Milanuk, I bought the smallest unit that Harbor Frieght had. The one for $28.99. I have been using Citranox, a ultrasonic cleaning detergent. I found that this little set up works best when the water is hot. I usually put about 5 cases at a time, whether its 25-06 or 22ppc. It seems the less you put in there the quicker the batch cleans.

Recently my machine has been acting up. It goes for about a minute, then peters out. So it might be time for a new machine. IT did get pretty hot last time I used it.

 

[memilanuk]

Thanks all for the replies...

Like I said earlier, I started w/ about 47 cases; results were unimpressive.

Went down to 25... better, but still not what I'd hoped for.

Tried gunamonth's idea of ditching the beaker/container and putting the cases directly on the grating. I had a 20rd 'grid' from a box of 7.62x54R ammo that worked just perfectly once I cut the 'legs' off of it. Found that apparently I have just one transducer, right in the middle. The six or eight cases directly over the transducer get the cleanest, quickest.

I'm using Citranox, probably a little strong on the mix, running two 480 sec. cycles. Cases right over the transducer are *very* clean, the other 12-14 are 'pretty clean', and successive cycles and/or other concoctions don't seem to help a lot.

This might work really well for someone w/ a hundred or so cases and a lot of time on their hands to clean after each firing... but I'm sitting here looking at six *hundred* match cases wondering if it's worth it to get the cases that clean inside and out. Figure from start to finish even at only two 480 second,8 minute) cycles I'd spent close to 20 minutes each batch... and only getting maybe 10 really clean cases,being a little optimistic here). 20 minutes per batch, times 60 batches... 20 hours worth of cleaning. And drying, etc.

To be fair, my brass is 'batched' in 50rd boxes,by weight), so even tumbling is going to be kind of time consuming. But I can toss a box in the tumbler and forget about it... pick it out the next evening and it won't really hurt anything. 12 batches, but the time spent fussing around is quite a bit less.

It,ultrasonic) might work better for removing case lube from sized cases... a quick 180 second 'dunk' and set them up to dry. Let the tumbler do the 'heavy' scouring, and save the ultrasonic for the fine detail work. But I'm still back to having to set the cases out to dry, etc.

Maybe it's just me... but the way this works right now seems to take entirely too much time to be effective as compared to a few quick twists w/ some 0000 steel wool, a neck brush, and a primer-pocket uniformer.

I've got a bunch of odds-n-ends brass I intend to keep experimenting with to try and find something that works for batch processing. Any ideas/suggestions,short of buying a *much* larger US sink), let me know!

Thanks,

Monte

 

[dmickey]

Boy! That sounds like too much work to me!! I just take the 100 cases that I have just fired and dump them into my vibratory cleaner with ground walnut hulls for three hours while I go off and do other things. Shines them up like new. The blackened inside of the cases doesn't seem to hurt a thing.