Ultrasonic Case Cleaning

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  • Last Post 02 November 2010
mike morrison posted this 30 September 2010

I see hornady now has a ultrasonic case cleaner. i see another on the market also. has anyone tried this method? any recomendations or experiences or opinions.

after many firings my cases will not come as clean inside as i would like. corncob in a vibrator keeps the outside clean but does not seem to do much on the inside.

had thoughts of the ceramic media also. shoot some black powder and have folks say it works good for that. seems like ultra sonic would do well for black powder cases also.

just looking for info before i leap into something i have no experience in. all info or comments or experience welcome. and thanks in advance

m

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primersp posted this 30 September 2010

i never see an used ,several times fire cases issued clean from an ultra sonic cleaner. if you clean one time shoot is ok but for the olds no best use with vinegar and salt.

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billwnr posted this 30 September 2010

I bought one off of ebay a few years ago because of an article I read on the 6mmbr website. It really cleans cases nice. Don't know if it makes them group better but it makes the shooter look good.

One benefit is it cleans out the inside of the neck squeaky clean. You'd be surprised how much crud comes from inside the case.

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JetMech posted this 30 September 2010

I wouldn't have any issue using one, they work great, but follow the directions. We use several ultrasonic cleaners for aircraft engine parts and there is a very specific time limit, especially on cheaper ones that do not vary the frequency. We have demonstrated that, with a fixed frequency cleaner, in a couple hours use, holes will begin to appear in aluminum sheets. The turbine rotors we clean have a 15 minute limit with fixed frequency cleaners.

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c3d4b2 posted this 05 October 2010

I have seen industrial (high wattage) ultrasonic units put holes in aluminum foil in less than a minute.

I question if the smaller units have the power to do much damage. But you can use aluminum foil to test the systems out.

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Brodie posted this 05 October 2010

I wonder:

Would, or could, an ultrasonic cleaner “work harden” the brass ?

B.E.Brickey

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JetMech posted this 06 October 2010

Old Coot wrote: I wonder:

Would, or could, an ultrasonic cleaner “work harden” the brass ? That's a good question. The other possibility is that it might have a shot-peening effect that would actually reduce stresses. I'll do some research with our engineer and see what we come up with.

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biddulph posted this 06 October 2010

Hi all,

some great thinking going on here, esp. dollar bill with his aironautical engineering back ground.

My addition to this is way, way more low tech. When I was a kid I used to collect old WW2 ammo, mainly from a young mate who had just returned with his family after living there for years. The ammo was dirty, corroded etc: very crudy.

What we did was to soak it over night in vinegar. In the morning it had a pink colour and a quick, light rubbing with fine wire wool would clean it up very well. Followed by Brasso, or some other brass polish and you had what looked like new brass. Inside necks I used an old .30 cal cleaning brush.

As I said, not high teck but it worked.

I now have a few hundred .224 Weatherby cases (once fired) that have laid around for 30 years, some of which are quite tarnished. Reckon the vinegar method is safe for them? I put them through my RCBS vibratory cleaner for 18 hours but still tarnish marks remain. Advice wanted re safety of this brass. If I can figure out how to send photos on this forum I send some samples of the brass.

 

cheers

James

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James Ball posted this 07 October 2010

i have been using the hornady sonic cleaner for about 6 months.here is what i have found.using ther cleaning solution,at the recomened mix ratio,the machine runs for 480 seconds for max clean cycle.solution gets warm.instructions say let cool for aprox 14min,i think.cases in the center come clean the best.outside edge ones need to be moved to the center.turning upside down helps also.after 3-4 cycles i run tap water over them,compleatly submurge,rince untill all sign of foming bubbles are gone.then i blow dry with compressed air.then i use a nylon brush,fits in the neck,brush out water stains inside the case.then i blow out the inside of the case with a 1/8in tip blowgun.the dust that comes out is unbelievable.seems more of a hassel,but cases come out looking brand new.i dont dump out the solution.i drilled too small holes in the end of the basket,put two small zippties for handels so i can lift the basket out of the unit.then let the solution set for several hours.the fouling settles to the bottem,then i use a medical sipon with hose 1/8in,sipon off the solution to the top of the residue in the bottem.used solution works for about 5-6 more cleaning sessions.i was able to clean,and thourely,1800pc of brass with one qt of solution.-Jim Ball 

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billwnr posted this 07 October 2010

Here's a link to the article I mentioned above. It cautions about too much vinegar or too much time in the vinegar solution. I did duplicate the discoloring alluded to in the article. If the directions are followed it sure does clean up cases.

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

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fc60 posted this 07 October 2010

Greetings,

I have two ultrasonics that I use for parts cleaning. May try them on brass one day.

Anyhow, Brasso has ammonia that weakens the brass and should not be used.

Another chemical that cleans brass well is Citric Acid. It is available in powder form. A mix of 5% strength in water with a Lortone rock tumbler cleans quite well. I suspect in an ultrasonic it would also be a good choice.

The NRA tested and recommended the Citric Acid. They claim it does no harm to the brass. Also, it is easy to dispose of.

Cheers,

Dave

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mike morrison posted this 21 October 2010

bit the bullet and ordered the hornady ultrasonic, it arrived today. looking around for some brass i picked up several cases in these were a few 45 colt cases that had been fired with black powder. i seperated them and they had been sitting for almost a year. they were the dirtiest cases i had so with a few others i decided to try the new machine out. i used their cleaner concentrate (yes it says it contains citric acid). instructions said to let the machine rest after three cycles i ranit four cycles (480 sec each) i let it rest in between. i will attach pictures of the before and after if i can figggger it out.

mike

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mike morrison posted this 21 October 2010

ok i can't get two pics on the same page. puter illiterate. so here is the after.

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Antietamgw posted this 22 October 2010

I've used a tabletop unit for some years and have been very happy with it. It was especially handy for degunking brass picked up off the range. A friend recently bought one from Harbor Freight Tools for about $70+10 for an additional 2 year replacement warranty. It seems to do a very good job as well. Don't know how long it will last but the price seems right if it stays healthy. I lucked out on mine - a biomed tech at the local hospital gave me mine, said they were going to trash it. All it needed was a fuse and that was probably 5 years and an awful lot of cycles ago.

Keep your plowshare and your sword. Know how and when to use them.

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mike morrison posted this 22 October 2010

artie, what do you use for a solution. m

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Antietamgw posted this 25 October 2010

For range pickup brass, I just use a touch of dawn dishwashing liquid and a little vinegar. A non-foaming detergent is supposed to be used in an ultrasonic cleaner but the Dawn is handy, cheap and works fine for me. I'll let it run for 10 minutes. If it's really nasty it gets a second cycle. I decap first in a Lee universal decapping die. When finished, a blast of compressed air will clean any remaining residue from the primer pocket and inside the body. Compressed air isn't necessary but I have it handy and I'm lazy.... Then on to the tumbler. As I have time I size, trim, deburr flash holes and uniform the primer pockets. It's handy to have the extra brass prepped and ready to go.

Keep your plowshare and your sword. Know how and when to use them.

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codarnall posted this 02 November 2010

These US cleaners can run from $30 to $400. I have mainly used them for trying to get the smoke out of my SS cylinders to keel them looking nice. A waste of time. Tumbling your brass in a wet system is by far the best method if you want brighter than new in my opinion. It's cheap but somewhat a pain to keep the BB's dry an out of the primer pockets. Commercial reloaders have done it this way for years but they dried the brass in sawdust something I never did. Charlie

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