I didn't see a "cleaning/maintenance" sub-forum, so figured this was the best place to ask. What are yall's opinions on the best sonic cleaners out there? Ive never used one, but now I want one. Just big enough to clean suppressor baffles, pistol barrels, AR BCG, etc…
I was looking at the hornady lock n load 2L, any experience with this one?

I have one and use the crap out of it regularly. The only issue I have with it is capacity, you always want more, and you have to let it cool down after running a few cycles to help it last longer. Other than that I clean my suppressors, slides and anything else metal with it. It will do 80% of the stuff you want to clean minus an ar upper.

To clarify, you have the hornady one? I figured that size would be a good start and maybe a bigger one down the road.

When I was buying a tumbler, I looked at Hornady's models and heard way too many reports of the chinese motors burning out (very quickly).

I bought a USA made Thumbler's and it's still running after hundreds, maybe thousands of hours. So there's that. It cost basically DOUBLE for US made and quality, but I have no doubt I went the right way. I'd definitely do the same for an ultrasonic cleaner.

Good call for one on BCG's and other smaller, trickier or tedious parts. I should look again.

so whats a good US made ~2L cleaner?

A word of caution:



ultrasonic cleaners can damage aluminum.



me, I bought a harbor freight one to toss my bolt carrier and suppressor cores in. works great.

Screw the overpriced Hornady USC, just go grab the one at Harbor Freight.  I've owned and used mine for the last 4 years, never skips a beat and costs half of that damn Hornady deal.  IIRC, I paid about 65.00 for the HF one, but that was with a 20% coupon too.  I think Lyman uses the same model as the HF, they appeared to be identical when I was researching them.  They just print "Lyman" on the front and jacks the price up.

What cleaning solution do you use?

I tried an ultrasonic cleaner a few years ago on a BCG and the only crap it removed was the stuff I could have easily wiped away to begin with. I still had to do a lot of brushing and scrapping.

I may give it another try.

Is this the harbor freight one y'all are talking about?
HF cleaner

That's the one I have.

 

I have a Hornady 2L.  Been running it a couple years.  Works great.  I think I'd rather rely on Hornady's reliability compared to HF.  

I do buy a few things from HF, but much of their stuff, while maybe made in the same factory as branded stuff, is not subject to the same quality control.  I've had a lot of disappointment trying to save a few nickels there on anything that runs on electricity or pneumatic pressure.  They just haven't held up.  Their hydraulic stuff seems fine.  Sorry for the digression..

I am using Hornady's brass cleaner liquid.  One bottle goes a long way.  I have not tried other brands yet.  I just put a cap full in with bottled water up to the max mark on the side of the tub.

On carrier groups and bolt tails, I use a solution of 1/4 cup orange based citrus cleaner, 2 table spoons of simple green and a literal single drop of dawn dish detergent per quart of distilled water.  NOTE: some parkerized finishes seem to have a dye in them that comes out in the solution ( they'll turn from black to a dark, dark gray when re-oiled ) but I've never seen the crystalline structure of the park actually affected.  If you've let a bolt go more than 500 rounds you will have to do some work either way but several cycles in the tank really do help soften the carbon up.



We should do a thread on FREQUENCIES.  I am sure that different freqs may have better or less efficient applications.  I really want a tank that sweeps along several frequencies.



 

+1 that's it.  Go git r!

I have one of their older units all s/steel. I "believe:" this unit is the same only with controls on the "hipster" plastic.  Had mine 4 years now. I use the hornady sonic cleaner, or 1-2 tablespoons of tide liquid in the water. I stopped using SG after i found out it's not recommended for Al.
It's real nice for dropping my hand gun frames in after a dy of suppressed shooting, Especially 22.  When i clean the sonic unit, i wear PPE (gloves and N95) pour dirty water through a coffee filter. That gives me another 1 or 2 uses before dumping. When i dump i do a few runs through coffee filters before disposing of water.