Ultrasonic Cleaners

[Blackstuff]

Hello all,

I'm contemplating buying an ultrasonic cleaner, mainly for cleaning hard to reach gun parts, e.g. the bolt assembly for my GSG-5, and when i eventually get my harris in gear and start reloading, for cleaning brass. All the reports i'd seen on them were rave reviews but then i watched a series of Youtube videos which appeared to show the exact model i was planning on getting, doing little nothing to brass, a whole revolver and a loads of old coins. Admittedly he was only using ordinary tap water (or he may have used something called 'Simple Green' in one of the videos), but i thought the whole point was for chemical free cleaning.

So anyone use one - dogs nadgers or pile of poop??

Cheers

[dromia]

They do work but at a price, the cheaper Aldi versions are not really up the standard of those used in medical estabishments. The cheaper ones have capacity issues as well.

I have used professional ones and they are very good but not worth all the money for my needs, soaking parts on diesel, white spirit, Eds Red or whatever and a decrease with bicarb does it for me.

In relation to cases you need to dry them afterwards so another step in the process so no thanks I'll stick to walnut in my rotary tumblers.

For my BP cases I tumble them wet in ceramic media.

Thats my take, I have couple of the cheaper ultra sonics and they are used for cleaning my specs.

[Doz]

I use a small one for cleaning brass (small batches at a time) and bits and bobs that are otherwise tricky to clean. It does work reasonably well, especially with the addition of a bit of something to the water. In my case I use their own Seagreen detergent or whatever it's called, but a mate uses a bit of vinegar or something in his for cleaning brass and it works pretty well too. In summary I suppose a handy thing to have but won't set the world alight, and if you want it for brass I think it's inferior to wet tumbling. As dromia suggests, good for cleaning your glasses (or watches, etc). Just don't do what I did and put a blued revolver cylinder in...

[Christel]

We have one and we use it for all sorts of stuff. I have a ring that gets cleaned from time to time, clock parts, gun bits, it works well.

Water and fairy from memory, it is normally Ovenpaa who deals with it.

I think it was some £35-£40 delivered from eBay.

[ovenpaa]

Add a solution of white vinegar and water mixed around 50:50 and clean for around ten minutes or so and then take a look, the brass will need a thorough rinsing afterwards and then left to dry.

[Mike357]

It seems that the solution is critical and some experimentation will be required. No use for bolts etc but have you considered stainless steel tumbler and media?

[ovenpaa]

From what I have seen stainless steel media is a lot better in many respects for cleaning brass however it is quite pricey to set up as you need the media plus a rotary tumbler. Spud uses SS media and really rates it, not sure if he has an ultrasonic cleaner as well so he can give his views on the two side by side.

[dromia]

You do need a bit more than just the water there are various solution recipes on the web.

I've tried the wet stainless pins on BP cases and not found any better than the wet ceramic and probably took a bit longer to get the same level of cleanliness so from my view its not worth the money especially as the pins are hard to get over here where as the ceramic isn't so if you are going wet the creamic does just fine.

To be honest for smokeless case cleaning, walnut or corn cob media works just fine in a tumbler or vibratory cleaner is a lot less hassle and is cheaper. I get my ground walnut from shot blasting suppliers in 1/2 cwt bags. Lasts a long time but encourages you to clean your brass.

[Blackstuff]

Thanks for the replies

This was the one i was thinking of getting;

http://www.maplin.co.uk/professional-ul ... 0-h-261248

As i said its initially for cleaning awkward gun parts. So if you whack in some vinegar or cleaner they do lift all the carbon off??

[Doz]

As i said its initially for cleaning awkward gun parts. So if you whack in some vinegar or cleaner they do lift all the carbon off??

Mine does, also takes off the finish so I only use it on bare metal parts (hence the comment on a blued cylinder earlier in the thread).