Looking for an ultrasonic cleaner to clean BCGs and suppressor parts.

What to look for?

Are the Chinese units on Amazon worth a shit?

Thanks in advance!

The cheap and cheerful ones on Amazon/ebay do sort of work, but they really are not up to cleaning tons of baked off crud from BCGs or suppressors.

Unfortunately, what you want are the industrial ones, that cost a fortune (comparatively) and are as capable of taking the flesh of your finger bones as cleaning the items you are interested in.

There really isn't, in my experience, any magic bullet here. The closest that I have found is using stainless steel pins in a tumbler for silencer baffles. (Not the tube, if its made of Al, or if you value the finish.

I have one I got on Amazon, something like a 4L unit.  It works, and cleans stuff fine.  However, it does take a good while to clean - it's faster to just clean it by hand.  The usefulness is when you have a bunch of stuff to clean, you can drop some in the ultrasonic for half an hour while you clean other stuff.  But you do have the setup and cleanup time.  Overall, I don't use it much.  Plus, use the wrong solution, and you'll take the finish right off of stuff.

If you want to clean your BCG quickly, spray it down liberally with whatever oil you have before you leave the range.  Go home, put it in the safe overnight, and clean it the next day, the carbon will just wipe off.  Time makes it easy.

Appreciate the feedback. Are any of the Amazon units better that others?

I have this guy, cleaning suppressors and suppressed guns is a PIA. For most cleaning I use the Hornady 1 shot gun parts cleaner and that works really well, for really nasty parts I use 10 parts water, 1 part Simple Green. Remember don't put anything  aluminum in an ultra sonic cleaner, especially with Simple Green.

EDIT
The only thing I would change on my cleaner is having a valve that empties the water/solution.

A possibly smarter move is to buy a Harbor Freight ultrasonic unit.
If there's a problem it's a lot easier to return, especially if you have a HF store near by.
Almost all the units are made in China, and I don't see a lot of difference between them in the same price range.
If you want one to really last and do a better job, bite the buck and buy an American made unit like L&R, Crest, or one of the other name brands.

Here's some info from an old post I did........

The good points:

They really clean.

They usually clean FAST. Drop a dirty part in, and the dirt actually BOILS off in a cloud.

They deep clean, getting crud you normally don't even see. Ultrasonics get into cracks and holes that normally you can't get to with other methods.

You don't have to disassemble things. Ultrasonics are used by watchmakers to avoid having to disassemble some small components.  A gun or gun part is huge by comparison and will clean well assembled.

They work with a variety of solutions. Water with detergent works on many types of dirt, so you don't HAVE to use a volatile solvent.
Simply Green or any of the other strong cleaners are effective...BUT.... Many of them will EAT aluminum and anodized aluminum finishes, and will do so FAST.
Ordinary Dawn and hot water will often work very well.

The solution is heated up by the ultrasonic action. Warm solution cleans even better. Many tanks have a built-in heater also.
You can pre-warm the solution by just letting the tank run a while, or put the can in a sink of hot water to warm it.

You can put an inch of water in the bottom and use small glass or plastic cups to hold solvent and small parts.
The ultrasonic waves are transmitted by the water in the bottom through the beakers or jars.
Using this technique you can use extremely flammable solvents like Lacquer thinner.
A good solvent is ordinary cheap paint thinner.
HOWEVER, when using any solvent that's even slightly flammable NEVER walk off and leave the unit running, even for just a moment.

If you get a unit with a bottom drain, test it carefully to be sure a solvent doesn't dissolve the plug and run hot solution all over the floor.

You can use the tank for many cleaning jobs, Paint brushes, dirty watch bands, electric razor heads, your wife's jewelry, car parts, and almost anything that you can fit into the tank will clean up surgically clean.
TEST FIRST.  Ultrasonics can damage some things.

You don't have to run the unit a long time to get most items clean.  Usually 15 minutes in warm solution is the max I ever had to run anything.

The bad:
KEEP YOUR FINGERS OUT OF THE TANK. Ultrasonics and bone marrow don't mix.
This isn't something that happens instantly, it's over time.

Expense.
The larger name brand tanks are expensive. However, if you want to clean a stripped pistol or small parts, one of the smaller $150.00 range tanks will work fine.
You can put a portion of a frame or slide in the tank at a time.
After cleaning it, turn it over and clean the other half.

Any solvent that will attack plastic or gun finishes, will attack it FASTER in ultrasonics.
Painted sight or safety markings will be removed eventually, and if you use a solvent like lacquer thinner, they're removed instantly.

You've got to be careful to apply a thorough coat of anti-rust lube after cleaning. Ultrasonics remove ALL grease and lube, leaving the part absolutely bare, including in tiny holes and crevices that ordinarily cleaning never touches.

They don't work as well on soft gummy grease as harder dirt. You can speed things up by pulling parts out and scrubbing with a brush.

Advice:
If possible buy a basket that holds parts off the bottom or make up wire hangers. Ultrasonics work better when the parts are suspended in the solution instead of laying on the bottom of the tank.

A tank cover is nice to hold down fumes.

NEVER run the unit when the tank is dry even for a few seconds, it'll burn out.

Be careful what cleaning solution you use. You can pull the item out and find finish or plastic parts GONE.

Usually running a part again in a rinse isn't necessary.
Unless the solvent is really dirty you can just clean and dry.
For water based cleaners just hold the parts under a running faucet with hot water, or swish around in a sink of hot water.

To dry, shake or blow off the excess with compressed air then use a hair dryer to warm the parts.  NOT a torch or heat gun.

Again, you have to get a rust preventing lube into all areas to stop rusting.  Most liquid lubes will creep and spread but you need to be sure or risk rust in hidden places.

Great info!

I ended up ordering on of these... if it’s a dud, I can return it:

Thats the unit I have and it works very well, takes a little time to heat up. I start off using hot water and let the unit maintain the temperature, it gets pretty hot, and will burn you. My unit also has a brass drain valve.

Simple Green works very well, and just a little goes a long way.

Go to the grocey store. Buy one of those disposable lasaga or meatloaf pans ( Size depends what your putting into it).
Then go to Home Cheapo or Lowes in their paint dept and buy a gallon of Oderless Mineral Spirits.
Put metal parts in pan. Not anything made of wood or plastic.
Fill pan with Mineral Spirits.
Let soak, after a few hours put some gloves on and hit the bad areas like the bolt face with a toothbrush.
Let soak some more. A few hours or even overnight is fine.
Then take parts out let dry on a towel or hit with some compressed air.
Parts should be completely clean and dry. Don't forget to relube.
Take a paper coffee filter and put in a funnel.
Pour the mineral spirits through the filter back into it's can.
It can be reused for a pretty long time.

I found this works as good as a Ultra Sonic cleaner and alot cheaper.

I bought the one off Amazon. It's the same unit they sell at Harbor Freight Tools.

What I do is use it for small parts like BCG and bolt by using the purple color HD Simple Green. Cleans fairly well and most of the carbon comes out.

12/25 update: the Amazon ultrasonic cleaner works surprisingly well. I bought this unit mainly for cleaning suppressor baffles... soaking and manual cleaning was not very effective and a huge pain in the ass - and hands.

For the member that recommended mineral spirits: that is the method I typically use to clean BCG components and to flush oil/crud. I figured letting the machine clean the small parts while I cleaned the major components would speed up cleaning... which it does, with the right cleaning solution.

Rugged recommends 50% “Purple Power” (lye-based) cleaner for stainless baffles. This works so well for the application that it didn’t think much about dropping a disassembled BGC into the heated solution for 15 minutes. The BCG parks were cleaned exceptionally well... so well that the parkerizing was removed or damaged in some areas

Only relatively minor issue, will try Simple Green on park’ed surfaces next time.

I bought the Hornady "Hot tub" sonic cleaner. It works well for me, can put a 16" barrel in it or use the trays in conjunction w main tub.
Also, I use the Simple Green, Heavy Duty Cleanser which is the Purple solution. It is safe for aluminum and other metals.

I bought the one from amazon that you can also buy from harbor freight. I use the purple HD simple green that you buy from Home Depot by the gallon. I don’t put any frames or receivers in it. I worry about water going into places so I just put in anything solid like a bolt carrier or bolt and it has worked very well.

If you do decide to purchase one, don't let it run long.  Otherwise, it will remove the coating such as DLC or Nitride.