Ultrasonic - getting both ends clean

[memilanuk]

Been fiddling and tweaking my US process before I plunk down any 'serious' money on a bigger unit with a longer timer.

So far getting acceptable results from a small,8 oz) mason jar filled with tap water and a dollop of Citranox. Just a hair faster, and just a bit cleaner, than the 'cheap-n-clean' mix w/ a little Lemishine thrown in.

The only problem left,besides getting a bigger batch, like 50 at a time) seems to be getting *both* ends of the case clean at the same time. If I put the cases in mouth up, the primer pocket and inside bottom of the case get pretty clean, but the powder deposits around the outside of the case neck,especially the 'ring' right at the neck/shoulder junction) seem to hang on til death do us part. Conversely, if I put the cases mouth down, the necks and inside get nice and clean, but the primer pockets do not.

Short of doing two cycles one way, pulling them out and flipping them over,which seems to be inviting a mess) and doing another cyle or two that way... am I missing something here to make my US cleaner more effective? IIRC, Jason set hi beaker on the bottom of the tank,on the plastic grid) same as I do, but I've noticed some folks have their containers suspended from a lid or a hole in a plastic sheet/slab. How much difference does that make?

Thanks,

Monte

 

[memilanuk]

Okay, I'll get a beaker on order.

The destructions that come with it do say to not put anything on the bottom... but the little cheezy plastic grate that comes with it rests on the bottom of the tank It does rest on a couple ribs around the edges, not directly on the metal over the transducer, which I think is what they meant.

If I had a suitable metal basket to put them in, and hang it from the top/rim of the 'tank', I would. I think that'd make things work better due to less time spent degassing the solution, if nothing else. As it is, I figure the first cycle or so is wasted on degas. My 'next' US cleaner *will* have a wire mesh basket, and/or a lid to suspend the beakers, even if I have to make it myself. But I'm definitely getting one w/ a little more... umph than this one.

Hmmm... four or five minutes? On dirty 5x fired brass, this is taking more like four or five 480 second,8 minute) *cycles*. Stuff that's been previously cleaned, maybe 3 cycles. Even when I just put the solutions straight into the tank, and set only 10 or 12 cases directly over the transducer, it doesn't go much faster than that. How the heck are you getting stuff clean in 4-5 minutes,less than one cycle)?

Thanks,

Monte

 

[memilanuk]

Funny you should mention the detergent... I put fifty cases in a 2 liter rubbermaid bottle - the kind you'd mix koolaid or frozen juice or tea in - with hot water and a couple squirts of Ultra Dawn,lemon scent, if that matters ). Shook it off and on over the period of a couple *hours* - basically whenever I walked over that way. From what I could tell looking at the cases against the bottom of the jug, any 'cleaning action' was done after about the first 10-20 minutes - they didn't get much cleaner as time went on.

I could try just the water/citranox w/ no ultrasonic to see if that is making any difference. I did try,like five minutes ago) the foil test to see if the US is actually working - it took it a bit, but it did start perforating the foil. I'm starting to think the problem is simply this unit doesn't have enough chutzpah for the mass of 25+ rifle cases.

I have two kimax beakers on order from a place someone else here mentioned a while back. Pretty much the only place I could find that didn't sell them by the 10 pack.

 

[tx_shooter]

I have found in my US cleaner that 15 cases is about the max I can clean at once,.300 Win Mag). Also - the thinner beaker materials get better results. One more tip - put as much of the beaker in the US water as possible, the more surface area the US can contact the more the disturbance inside the beaker = better results.