Ultrasonic cleaning
- Thread starter 300meter
- Start date
no. Some aggressive cleaners will remove zinc from the cases turning them a copper color if too much is used.
NO way its something else.
RegionRat
Gold $$ Contributor
It is a real risk with an industrial ultra-sonic cleaner, but I am surprised to hear that a home reloading unit did this. The cheap ones are typically low power to avoid this, aren't they?
How many Watts or Watts per gallon is your tank?
In an industrial setting, there are frequencies and power or energy levels that are easily able to damage thin sheets. We have to study a tank and the settings before we use one.
We also have to be careful when loading stacked parts or assemblies to make sure we don't accidentally tune the frequency to create cavitation damage between parts. But those tanks are usually way stronger than what they sell for home use.
An Ultrasonic Energy meter is not a cheap investment. By itself, it doesn't answer the damage threshold question. That answer comes from destructive testing and then deciding on power levels and frequencies to avoid the damage.
I used scrapped guns, trigger assemblies, receivers, and cans and destroyed many when setting up automated gun cleaning tanks before we learned to balance power and frequency for each application.
Since most home use tanks don't have frequency controls, and some don't even have power settings, my advice is to be careful with what you put in there.
An inexpensive way to check out your tank, is to use a small sheet of aluminum foil and watch it for damage. Sometimes all you have to do is use a spacer to keep the work off the floor or use a mesh basket to position the work in the tank.
How many Watts or Watts per gallon is your tank?
In an industrial setting, there are frequencies and power or energy levels that are easily able to damage thin sheets. We have to study a tank and the settings before we use one.
We also have to be careful when loading stacked parts or assemblies to make sure we don't accidentally tune the frequency to create cavitation damage between parts. But those tanks are usually way stronger than what they sell for home use.
An Ultrasonic Energy meter is not a cheap investment. By itself, it doesn't answer the damage threshold question. That answer comes from destructive testing and then deciding on power levels and frequencies to avoid the damage.
I used scrapped guns, trigger assemblies, receivers, and cans and destroyed many when setting up automated gun cleaning tanks before we learned to balance power and frequency for each application.
Since most home use tanks don't have frequency controls, and some don't even have power settings, my advice is to be careful with what you put in there.
An inexpensive way to check out your tank, is to use a small sheet of aluminum foil and watch it for damage. Sometimes all you have to do is use a spacer to keep the work off the floor or use a mesh basket to position the work in the tank.
farmerjohn
Gold $$ Contributor
tag
RegionRat
Gold $$ Contributor
Is there by chance a power rating on that unit? How many Watts is it and roughly how much is the volume?
I think the RCBS unit is only like 60 Watts and 3 liters, which should generally be pretty safe.
ETA: another caveat would be adding a chemical that attacks the brass, but I hope the OP is only using soap water or a product specifically made for cartridge brass cleaning.
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I will try to help with a little cheap trick I learned years ago for cleaning match brass and SS muzzle breaks. 2-3 heaping tablespoons of fruit fresh to 1 gallon of hot tap water. You can literally see the carbon coming out when you turn on the unit. I stand all of my cases up in the ultrasonic before turning it on.
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Bronsin
Silver $$ Contributor
The unit I used is an industrial grade ultrasonic cleaner. The Aviation Precision cleaner was an experiment. It's ok to soak them for about 10 minutes at room temp. Brass comes out nice. I was warned before using this unit to never put my hands in it while it was running, as the frequencies it generates can break down the cartilage in your joints. I don't even bother cleaning my brass anymore.
CJ6
Silver $$ Contributor
365 Watts and 1.6 gallons. It's supposed to hold 1300 223 cases or 450 308 cases. I've never filled it to capacity (case wise), I usually put 200-250 cases in it no matter what the case size and use the Lyman solution.
RegionRat
Gold $$ Contributor
I imagine that 365 Watts is for both a heater and the sonic generator, so if that is correct then they have it scaled down to where the power/energy density is low enough the risk is pretty low that it will damage anything.
I'm wondering if the OP uses any chemicals when cleaning that explain what happened?
I'm wondering if the OP uses any chemicals when cleaning that explain what happened?
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