School me on the finer points of buying the right Sharperteck ultra sonic cleane

[jlow]

I am planning to purchase a Sharperteck ultra cleaner (US) and still trying to find the “right” size and accessories to go with it. When I was first looking at these, I was thinking of using the approximate size of the cartridge to figure out the cleaning capacity of the cleaners. For example a 308 cartridge has a “rectangular” volume of 2”x0.465”x0.465” which equates a volume of about 0.43 square inch. So a SH120-3L which has tank dimensions of 9”x5.5”x4”. I understand that the material to be cleaned with these 40KHz tanks should be at least 1” from the bottom so this would reduce dimensions to 9”x5.5”x3” which should still give a volume of 148.5 square inch. With this in mind, the cleaner would have a theoretical capacity to hold and clean a maximum of 343 pieces of 308 brass.

My experience with using US cleaners is restricted to the laboratory situation where we use the US energy to help us dissolve relatively insoluble compounds. As such we usually deal with small amounts of material in small glass vial sitting in a large US tank. However, when thinking about brass cleaning, the more I think about this, I realize that even though the tank could hold that many pieces of brass, it may not be able to actually clean that many since with each piece of added brass will absorb some of the ultrasonic energy and as a result weaken the pulse and its ability to clean. So my question to the folks who has used the Sharpertech, what would be a real life cleaning capacity for the SH120-3L? The normal pieces of brass I like to prep are actually closer to about 150 and so much smaller than the 343 theoretical number. My question would be if the SH120-3L is the right size for me?

The other question I have is with brass cleaning, what type of basket should one use to hold the brass? Any suggestion of a source for it? Anything else I would need? For cleaner I will be buying a gallon of their 1220-G cleaner.

 

[Erik Cortina]

Go with the Stainless tumbling media instead. It cleans brass much better and you can do 75 at a time for about 30 minutes if you do it in a regular basis. All you need is dish soap and lemi-shine and you are all set.

 

[Mudcat]

Listen to Erik.

 

[jlow]

Guys I have the SS media setup and have been using it for abot 2 years already. It works well to clean the brass but for precision rifle, I am moving away from SS media since it has a tendency to preen the mouth of the case which to me affects neck tension since it changes the thickness of the brass at the very end of the neck. I am still going to use it for some rifle and all my pistol but no long for precision rifle.

 

[Leaddog]

For my .308's, SS is the way to go. The small amount of peening gets trimmed off after resizing and using the Giraud trimmer. For my 6 Dasher brass (.010 neck wall thickness), I use the US.

Runtimes:

SS - 75 to 90 minutes with 66 to 75 pieces of .308 brass.

US - 20 minutes for 35 pieces of 6 Dasher brass.

Both methods work great. SS cleaning is shinier and leaves a thin carbon coating in the neck. US cleans everything off and the cases are not quite as shiny, but close.

 

[jlow]

Thanks Charlie! Not being anywhere as advanced as you, Your 6 Dasher would be my 308 and your 308s would be my 556 LOL!

You have the SH180-6L right? I am looking at either the 4L or 3L – what do you think of my proposal to do 150 pieces of 308 at a time with either one of these two small ones?

 

[Leaddog]

Thanks Charlie! Not being anywhere as advanced as you, Your 6 Dasher would be my 308 and your 308s would be my 556 LOL!

You have the SH180-6L right? I am looking at either the 4L or 3L – what do you think of my proposal to do 150 pieces of 308 at a time with either one of these two small ones?

Yes, I have the 6L. I think 30 or so pieces at a time is more realistic. I've found with long run times the brass get's a tarnished look so that's why I run a smaller amount for a shorter time. After that, a couple of rinsings in clear water and a final rinse off in an isopropyl alcohol bath (99%). Done. They dry in minutes and are ready for the annealer. It's quite easy and fast.

 

[jlow]

Thanks Charlie, good advice I am sure! Do you put those in a Pyrex beaker?

 

[DennisH]

http://www.sharpertek.com/ultrasonic-cleaner-sh180-6l.html

Charlie and I both have the above unit. Give them a call and they will give you a super deal.

NOTE: I have both, the SS cleaner and the US cleaner. I use both for all the reasons stated above. I would probably say the SS cleaner gets used every 4th cleaning.

Charlie say he puts about 30 units of brass per cleaning in the US. I put about 40 pieces of 308's in mine as I usually have around 80 pieces to clean, 6br, somewhere around 70 at one time as that's all I usually have to clean! I sometimes agitate and run them through 3 cycles. They both do a great job. If you really want your brass to shine, I put them in the good ole vibrator for an hour or so after one of the above processes!

You can also put a Sig 226 in the US cleaner, or anything similar, re-oil as per instructions. That part is very nice. I clean my pistols and some friends as well. Small carburetors can be brought back to life in the US cleaner as well.

If I had to sell one, the SS would go first.

 

[jlow]

Thanks DennisH! Did you guys get a better price than what was advertised on their website?

When you guys clean your brass what type of holder do you put them in?

Yea, you got me nailed there with the other uses. I do intend to use it to clean my handguns and the carburetors – it’s all in my mater plans too to justify buying the unit. ;D

 

[Leaddog]

Thanks Charlie, good advice I am sure! Do you put those in a Pyrex beaker?

I use the supplied mesh basket. Works well.

I would recommend the 6L because of the larger capacity. Sharper Tek has another website with the discounted prices:

www.ultrasonicsdirect.com

Don't forget to get some 1852 cleaning solution for your brass. I add about a .45 ACP casing full of Lemishine to the tank solution to shine them up. 1852 is a 7:1 mixing ratio so it will last a long time. Also, no need to change out the tank after each use. Change only when the solution gets very dirty or you start to see diminished results.

 

[jlow]

Thanks! It’s good to hear that they supply a mesh basket!

Regarding the right size machine, I was measuring the length of my handgun slide (8”) as a gauge, which is where I zero in on the 4L which has a tank dimension of 12”x 6” x 3.76”. I guess the 6L has that extra depth which pretty much allow you to submerge the whole gun grip and all. Was that the rationale for your choice?

Thanks for the tip regarding the 1852 cleaning solution, I was originally thinking of the 1220 but perhaps I need both!

 

[DennisH]

Thanks DennisH! Did you guys get a better price than what was advertised on their website?

When you guys clean your brass what type of holder do you put them in?

Yea, you got me nailed there with the other uses. I do intend to use it to clean my handguns and the carburetors – it’s all in my mater plans too to justify buying the unit

Yes, they normally will give you a better than advertised price if you call in. They are many uses for the US cleaners, dentist use them to clean their tools, the list could probably go on.

They provide a wire mesh basket to hold your brass and other items.

Dennis

PS: Dave Berg, nice followup. As per your last paragraph, this is why I agitate the brass and run them for a few extra short cycles. Works nice.

 

[jlow]

Dave – Thanks! Yes, I did have that bad idea originally but the light came on last week and so wanted to know more about how many would be a reasonable number for a good effective US clean. Don’t mind the 30/40 number for 308 as I don’t really need to clean that many pieces too frequently. So I think the 4L is probably GTG.

Quadrajet – no I don’t have any plans to clean any auto-related carbs, just ones from small engines used in lawn and power tools. Good advice for using something to keep the brass upright and flash hole closer to the wave generator, guess this is why people use glass beakers.

Yes on the degas of the solutions – my question here is how best to do this. It would be easy in a lab, I would just hook it up to a vacuum source but less options at home?

DennishH – Thanks for the tip about the price, will talk to them by phone next week. Good to hear about the wire mesh basket.

 

[jlow]

Thanks for the degas tip. So is the reason why you don’t try to degas with the brass in is because it slows down everything including the degas? Better to degas first and then the solution will work better?

Thanks also for the beaker tip. Will look into the SS beaker or Kimax.

The Citranox cleaner sounds interesting. I wonder how different it is compared to the SH1852 that Sharperteck is selling which is also a “moderately acidic product formulated to strip metal oxide and metallic coating” – cost is $57.30.

http://www.ultrasonicsdirect.com/shclsoforreo.html

I also did find Citranox here:

http://www.gogenlab.com/products/citranox-liquid-acid-cleaner-and-detergent?utm_source=google&utm_medium=Product%2BSearch&utm_campaign=Google%2BBase&gclid=CN3G3Z-_ybMCFcU-MgodP1EAXw

The one gallon stuff cost about the same i.e. $54.60 and they apparently are selling it in quart size for $15.70.

 

[THOMAST]

Gentlemen, This is slightly off topic but has to do with US cleaning.
I had a friend at a laboratory weigh some fired and deprimed cases (6mmRemington) on some of lab scales. The cases were then cleaned one by one in an US cleaner , dried and weighed again. The average weight difference between cleaned and fouled cases was 0.32gr. These cases had been fired 5 times without cleaning.
Now my question is this: Would one expect to see a bigger weight difference if the cases were fired, say 15 times? (more fouling inside case) Or does the fouling reach a point of "constantness"where some is burnt away with each firing, similar to the carbon deposits on a engine valve, for instance?

 

[Leaddog]

Sharpertek's 1852 includes 5-15% Citric Acid and 5-15% Sodium Citrate according to the MSDS. Citranox also includes 5-15% Citric Acid plus other ingredients.

I have requested some Citranox samples per their website and will let you know what I find in comparison.

 

[jlow]

That's great info - will wait to hear from you.

 

[TrapperT]

I agree with Dave. I have been using Citranox for the past two years. It cleans really well (even in my cheapo US unit). I rinse in hot water after they come out. I was able to find the Citranox locally which was a big help. I mix it per the directions - easy, quick and clean!

BTW - I also use the Kimax beakers.

Just my .02

Tony

 

[jlow]

Thanks! I wonder how different it is from the Lemishine which also contains citric acid?