ultrasonic cleaners

[redneckturkeycaller]

I am going to purchase an ultrasonic cleaner and need some advise as what unit I should purchase. The members here have far more knowledge than I do. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all of the wonderful advise in the past. Thanks again
Jeff

 

[superlight93]

All I know is the cheapest one can be found at Harbor Freight.

 

[hogpatrol]

I bought one of the cheapos on ebay for about 50 bucks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PRO-LARGE-60W-1-4-Liter-ULTRASONIC-CLEANER-JEWELRY-/140596966912?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20bc3b7600

It worked just ok with straight distilled water. There are a couple of concoctions for cheap cleaning fluids discussed on the main board. Don't know how it works with the commercial cleaning solutions.

 

[artbosco]

I am going to purchase an ultrasonic cleaner and need some advise as what unit I should purchase. The members here have far more knowledge than I do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Watch the Video of the Hornady Sonic Cleaner: http://www.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Load-ultra-Sonic-Cleaner If interested, use one of their many distributors for discounted/competitive prices.

Personally, I wish I had never purchased one. What a pain. Too much of a hassle with liquids and beakers, pouring out and changing liquids etc. and over cleans to the point you need dry lube inside the neck to seat bullets smoothly.

You won't know whether you like it until you try it. This site has a comprehensive article you might want to read if you haven't seen it yet. It covers the process in detail.

 

[Mudcat]

unfortunately I bought 2 before I discovered stainless media! I still use the ultrasonics for tasks other than cleaning brass though, so not a total loss. You should check out SS media before buying the ultrasonic....you might save yourself some $$s in the long run.

John


PS, let me add that one unit is a harborfreight one (now sold as the lyman brand, I think), and it sucks. The other is a big commerical unit and its pretty good, but not cheap and still doesnt do the job that the stainless media will do.

 

[Dave T]

Oh yea ultra sonic cleaners, I agree with mudcat and Outdoorsman, for me not worth the time and hassle and really are overated.
Just my opinion and I could be wrong.
Dave T

 

[Taildrag15X]

I use one but it's not a import TOY, it's an L&R Pro model, it's at least 25 yrs old and still going strong.

Not sure about these post that mention beakers and pour and changing fuilds, all I use is tap water, a bit of dish soap and Lim*e*shine, they come out clean by the thousands each time.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

I use an import toy (Harbor Freight special), but like Mike, not sure about the mention of beakers and changing fluids and whatnot. I use water with a dash of Citranox and dump the brass straight into the cleaner. When you are done, you dump the dirty water. Doesn't really get any simpler. The only bad part about the lower end, non-commercial class cleaners is that they all seem to have a timer that doesn't allow you to do long term sessions. For example, the Harbor Freight special only allows 8 minutes at a time, so you have to keep resetting it. Even the big Hornady only allows you to do 99 minutes at a time (although 99 minutes is plenty long enough for 99% of your cleaning needs in an ultrasonic cleaner).

The SS solution works great, but takes a bit longer to do the same amount of cleaning. You'll hear that it does a better job in the end, but I've found the end results to be the same between the two, with less dwell time in the ultrasonic cleaner. On the other hand, I can set it and forget it with the SS tumbler. If I could afford the model Mike has, that's all I would use.

I use one but it's not a import TOY, it's an L&R Pro model, it's at least 25 yrs old and still going strong.

Not sure about these post that mention beakers and pour and changing fuilds, all I use is tap water, a bit of dish soap and Lim*e*shine, they come out clean by the thousands each time.

 

[fullersson]

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=344021

This is the one I use. I've been very happy with mine. I use it first to clean the primer pockets mainly then after letting the brass air dry for a little bit I run the brass through the tumbler to make sure the brass is completely dry. The running through the tumbler part came after my first ever misfire due to the brass still being damp. Getting the brass completely dry in my opinion is the most important part of using the ultrasonic cleaner. The SS media can also be aggravating if your brass has small flash holes because the media will become lodged and can be a hassle to remove. Either method (SS media or ultrasonic) has it advantages and disadvantages for me the ultrasonic cleaner has more applications like being able to clean your pistols and your rifle actions. Good luck, Brian Brown.

 

[artbosco]

Not sure about these posts that mention beakers and pour and changing fluids,

Then you haven't read your host's article on UltraSonic Cleaning:

http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html

See the pictures adjacent to paragraph #4 and paragraph #7 and the related writeup.

 

[Taildrag15X]

I've read it, why would I go backwards, I've used an Ultrasonic Cleaner for rilfe/pistol brass right close to.....lets see, 25 yrs. and some months now, also works great on carburators, handguns, bolts and the wifes *BLING*. I'd never get anything clean fooling around with beakers and dumping/changing fuilds, I fill it with the known amount of mixture (about 2.5 gals.) throw in anywhere from 100-3,000 rounds of and set the timer to hold.

How many 50 BMG does that beaker hold?

 

[Jay Christopherson]

Sure I've read it and it's got some good info, but it's not a my-way-or-the-highway type deal. If the article told me to clean brass by the light of the moon on the summer solstice only, while preparing a sacrificial goat, I wouldn't do that either... I get your point that that's where the mention of beakers and changing of the fluids comes in, but really, all that is required is:

A: Add solution (whatever you are using)
B: Add brass
C: Run ultrasonic cleaner for N minutes
D: Remove brass, rinse thoroughly
E: Dump dirty water down the sink
F: Repeat endlessly

Not sure about these posts that mention beakers and pour and changing fluids,

Then you haven't read your host's article on UltraSonic Cleaning:

http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html

See the pictures adjacent to paragraph #4 and paragraph #7 and the related writeup.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

Mike, what model do you have from L&R?

I've read it, why would I go backwards, I've used an Ultrasonic Cleaner for rilfe/pistol brass right close to.....lets see, 25 yrs. and some months now, also works great on carburators, handguns, bolts and the wifes *BLING*. I'd never get anything clean fooling around with beakers and dumping/changing fuilds, I fill it with the known amount of mixture (about 2.5 gals.) throw in anywhere from 100-3,000 rounds of and set the timer to hold.

How many 50 BMG does that beaker hold?

 

[Taildrag15X]

I think it's about equal to today's Quantrex 360 or 380, it holds right at 4 gals. of liquid, empty and has heat.

Looks like this.

 

[Taildrag15X]

Best bet would to be shop for used, Dentist, Jewelry or Watch/Clock shop Auctions, even ebay like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Gallon-L-R-Ultrasonic-GREAT-Working-Condition-/320740322690?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aad9ced82

It's a good size (2 gals.) and close to what I paid over 25 yrs. ago for a slightly used one.

 

[Wrangler John]

I bought a Hornady unit just for giggles. Found that ultra sonic cleaning was:
1. No better than vibratory tumbling with corncob media and polish for cleaning cases.
2. Took too long to get results.
3. Resulted in wet cases that needed extra step of drying, in my case by using compressed air to quicken the process.
4. Produced no gain in case life or accuracy. Removing the carbon from case interiors is dubious as an enhancement to either accuracy and case life, i.e. a waste of time.
5. Primer pockets still needed to be mechanically cleaned for best results.
6. Commercial solutions used in vibratory tumbling are more expensive than dry media, and needed to be diluted with distilled water adding to the expense and inconvenience.

I found the entire ultrasonic cleaning process to be a big disappointment, I really thought I was on to something, but it proved to be another gimmick. However the ultrasonic cleaner does clean my wrist watch's expansion band spotless.