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Posted: 1/15/2010 7:09:44 PM EDT
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I put a few dirty fired brass in my new ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight. The specs say it has 160 watts of power and 2.5 liter capacity (for reference only). Filled the cleaner to the minimum fill line and added some Lemi-shine. Almost as soon as it was turned on black stuff began coming out of the brass. Only had the ultrasonic on for a couple of minutes but it did get the brass, including the primer pocket and inside, quite clean.
My observation: With a relative small cleaner like this the process is not for bulk cleaning. However, if you want to clean 25 cases or so at a time, it will get them looking like new brass. If my observation changes after I get more experience with this I will post again. |
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I have the same ultrasonic cleaner. You can make it more efficient and clean more cases at one time by getting or making a basket that hangs from the top of the machine. Putting items on the bottom soaks up a lot of the energy from the transducer, reducing the amount of ultrasonic power that does lots of the cleaning work. Suspend the cases over the bottom of the vessel by about 1/4" and you can almost pack the thing full and still get good results.
BTW, Lemishine is a great product for cleaning even without the ultrasonic, but using them together is a lot faster. |
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Quoted:
I have the same ultrasonic cleaner. You can make it more efficient and clean more cases at one time by getting or making a basket that hangs from the top of the machine. Putting items on the bottom soaks up a lot of the energy from the transducer, reducing the amount of ultrasonic power that does lots of the cleaning work. Suspend the cases over the bottom of the vessel by about 1/4" and you can almost pack the thing full and still get good results. BTW, Lemishine is a great product for cleaning even without the ultrasonic, but using them together is a lot faster. Great idea. Any suggestions on how you got the basket to hang? |
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Quoted:
I have the same ultrasonic cleaner. You can make it more efficient and clean more cases at one time by getting or making a basket that hangs from the top of the machine. Putting items on the bottom soaks up a lot of the energy from the transducer, reducing the amount of ultrasonic power that does lots of the cleaning work. Suspend the cases over the bottom of the vessel by about 1/4" and you can almost pack the thing full and still get good results. With the cleaner came a plastic support piece that sits on the bottom of the tank and is meant to assists putting the piece to be cleaned into and out of the tank. It is about 1/8 in thick so adding a 1/8 in spacer to the corners would do the job. I may try this later. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I have the same ultrasonic cleaner. You can make it more efficient and clean more cases at one time by getting or making a basket that hangs from the top of the machine. Putting items on the bottom soaks up a lot of the energy from the transducer, reducing the amount of ultrasonic power that does lots of the cleaning work. Suspend the cases over the bottom of the vessel by about 1/4" and you can almost pack the thing full and still get good results. With the cleaner came a plastic support piece that sits on the bottom of the tank and is meant to assists putting the piece to be cleaned into and out of the tank. It is about 1/8 in thick so adding a 1/8 in spacer to the corners would do the job. I may try this later. Better: hang that plastic rack from stiff wire that hooks over the outside edges of the unit. I'm actually working on that right now. The rack in mine is built to handle small wire bails on each end, so I'm now just working out how to hang the rack from the edges. Paperclips and fishing line are easy prototype materials. |
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I just took some 1/4" square rabbit wire and cut a 6"x12" piece. Then took a pair of dikes and cut the slots so that I could fold it into a box. I then ran some tie wire from corner to corner and made a loop and slide a rod across ... works great.
The heater built into the unit get the water so hot it will burn your hands if you reach in for any dropped brass ... that's why I made mine in a box shape so that none can roll off. They plastic tray was too flimsy and didn't have any edges to stop them. By the way the big US Cleaner at HF is only $58 this week. Sarg |
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I did another test with my HF US cleaner- I determined that the brass is so light (.223 and 9mm) that I simply laid the brass down directly on the bottom of the cleaner (without the plastic basket). You don't want to cover the bottom- give 'em room to dance around. In this test, I first tried about 40 .223. Later, I ran a load of 50 9mm. It's wierd- the brass scoots around, spins, dances, and generally avoids the impressions in the bottom of the tank for the transducer and the heater.
I added 1/2 teaspoon of Lemishine, added hot water to the minimum fill line, turned the heater on- and ran the brass through two 480 second cycles. The water gets quite black during these two cycles, and starts to smell like a gun range.  I rinsed the brass, and ran through one 480 second cycle of clean water.
Let me tell you- the cleansing is stunning. Where you really notice is the inside of the case. The 9mm came out especially pristine- and this was 9mm that I have reloaded several times. You know how black 9mm gets inside? The tumbler can take some of it out, but the HS clean simply cleans them up spotless. I don't know that I'd want to do this to all of my brass- but the little time I spent doing this experiment was very impressive. |
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I have the same HF ultrasonic cleaner and I built a basket that hangs from the top to about 1" off bottom and it doesn't do near as good a job as putting the brass straight in the ultrasonic cleaner with no basket or bottom tray, the cleaner doesn't have enough power to produce enough sonic wave with the brass in the basket. If you put 50 pieces of .223 or 6.8SPC brass in it without the basket or plastic tray it does a wonderful job cleaning the brass.
I use Aqua Clean in mine mixed 50:50 cleaner & water and it does a stunning job on brass(looks as good as new if it didn't have scratches on it) or any gun parts you might need to clean like a BCG or FCG that's really nasty, the Aqua Clean is kinda expensive for a gallon but it seems like it's going to last for a long time and it works like nothing else I have ever tried(I'm going to try their bore cleaner as well). I have cleaned 4-500 pieces of 6.8 brass and 2-300 of my match(good) .223 brass in it and it works just as good each time. Just rinse with hot water and blow dry with wife's hair drier and in 15 min's you got 50 pieces of like new brass to load, I do still tumble for bulk of over 100+ pieces at a time. One thing I do is when I get through I have a kitty litter scooper(a new one  ) that fits the inside of the cleaner perfectly and I use it to scoop all the brass out at once, then I put a shop paper towel(one of the blue thick ones) in the bottom and 90% of the black stuff in the solution settles to the bottom on the paper towel and i can take the paper towel out next time catching most of the grime that settled to the bottom(and it's thick and nasty) keeping the solution much cleaner and I have not needing to change it as of yet(just add a cup of water every couple times is it).
I will have to get some before and after pic's so you guys can see just how good this stuff works, and it not just a brass cleaner like limn shine. |
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Quoted:
I have the same HF ultrasonic cleaner and I built a basket that hangs from the top to about 1" off bottom and it doesn't do near as good a job as putting the brass straight in the ultrasonic cleaner with no basket or bottom tray, the cleaner doesn't have enough power to produce enough sonic wave with the brass in the basket. If you put 50 pieces of .223 or 6.8SPC brass in it without the basket or plastic tray it does a wonderful job cleaning the brass. I use Aqua Clean in mine mixed 50:50 cleaner & water and it does a stunning job on brass(looks as good as new if it didn't have scratches on it) or any gun parts you might need to clean like a BCG or FCG that's really nasty, the Aqua Clean is kinda expensive for a gallon but it seems like it's going to last for a long time and it works like nothing else I have ever tried(I'm going to try their bore cleaner as well). I have cleaned 4-500 pieces of 6.8 brass and 2-300 of my match(good) .223 brass in it and it works just as good each time. Just rinse with hot water and blow dry with wife's hair drier and in 15 min's you got 50 pieces of like new brass to load, I do still tumble for bulk of over 100+ pieces at a time. One thing I do is when I get through I have a kitty litter scooper(a new one ) that fits the inside of the cleaner perfectly and I use it to scoop all the brass out at once, then I put a shop paper towel(one of the blue thick ones) in the bottom and 90% of the black stuff in the solution settles to the bottom on the paper towel and i can take the paper towel out next time catching most of the grime that settled to the bottom(and it's thick and nasty) keeping the solution much cleaner and I have not needing to change it as of yet(just add a cup of water every couple times is it).
I will have to get some before and after pic's so you guys can see just how good this stuff works, and it not just a brass cleaner like limn shine. Pics would be great! Thanks for the info. |
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That there is a great article. |
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Quoted:
I did another test with my HF US cleaner- I determined that the brass is so light (.223 and 9mm) that I simply laid the brass down directly on the bottom of the cleaner (without the plastic basket). You don't want to cover the bottom- give 'em room to dance around. In this test, I first tried about 40 .223. Later, I ran a load of 50 9mm. It's wierd- the brass scoots around, spins, dances, and generally avoids the impressions in the bottom of the tank for the transducer and the heater. I added 1/2 teaspoon of Lemishine, added hot water to the minimum fill line, turned the heater on- and ran the brass through two 480 second cycles. The water gets quite black during these two cycles, and starts to smell like a gun range. I rinsed the brass, and ran through one 480 second cycle of clean water.
Let me tell you- the cleansing is stunning. Where you really notice is the inside of the case. The 9mm came out especially pristine- and this was 9mm that I have reloaded several times. You know how black 9mm gets inside? The tumbler can take some of it out, but the HS clean simply cleans them up spotless. I don't know that I'd want to do this to all of my brass- but the little time I spent doing this experiment was very impressive. I'll bet if the brass is allowed to soak in Lemishine for a couple of hours, then put into the ultrasonic cleaner, that very little time will be needed to get them completely clean. When I've soaked cases the carbon deposits get so soft that a single wipe will clean it off, but it has enough adhesion that simply shaking it in the jar I use will only dislodge a little of the carbon. I would be interested to see someone's experiment with this modification to the process. |
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I'll bet if the brass is allowed to soak in Lemishine for a couple of hours, then put into the ultrasonic cleaner, that very little time will be needed to get them completely clean. When I've soaked cases the carbon deposits get so soft that a single wipe will clean it off, but it has enough adhesion that simply shaking it in the jar I use will only dislodge a little of the carbon. I would be interested to see someone's experiment with this modification to the process. AeroE, I tried this tonight- I soaked some .223 in hot water and a drop of Dawn for 30 minutes, then dumped them into the ultrasonic cleaner with clean water, 1/2 teaspoon of Lemishine, and a drop of Dawn. The brass came out pristine after once full cycle (8 minutes). The moment I turned on the US cleaner, I saw streams of black gunk coming out both ends of the case. The inside of the case, as well as the primer pocket were 100% spotless after the 8 minute cycle. ...so you're right... just a bit of a soak to loosen things up a bit makes all the difference in the world. Also note that I place the brass directly into the US cleaner- no basket, no nothing. Just 50 cases right into the cleaner. What's nice about all of this is the total lack of carbon in the case, no need to worry about the primer pocket any longer, and the fact that none of this garbage will ever make it into my tumbler again. |
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The trick now is to find large capacity cleaners that don't cost as much as a car.
I don't like fooling with wet cases, but the effort might be worthwhile in some cases. I have no doubt that Lemishine is a great way to clean up the worst of the range pickup brass. |
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I picked up the large Ultrasonic cleaner off ebay for like 37.49 including shipping. The thing works just fine. I only put my nastiness brass in it, stuff that has been turning brown from being on the ground for a long time. After a few cycles I toss it in the tumbler and tumble it and it looks almost like a regular normal case again. Granted I dont think I would do this all the time for all of my brass but the nasty ones will probably go through this.
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Quoted:
The trick now is to find large capacity cleaners that don't cost as much as a car. I don't like fooling with wet cases, but the effort might be worthwhile in some cases. I have no doubt that Lemishine is a great way to clean up the worst of the range pickup brass. This is very true-it can cost several hundred dollars to get a basic ultrasonic (without heat) that will hold more than a few hundred pistol cases and be able to do anything useful with them. It is still very important to support the cases off the bottom of the vessel, so that the cases don't weigh down the bottom of the vessel and basically dampen the sound energy to the point of uselessness. In other words, with ANY ultrasonic cleaner, you need a good basket that hangs in the vessel and does not touch it anywhere. The stainless steel baskets themselves are quite expensive, and the WECSOG method of basket construction usually produces mixed results... Lemishine and Dawn are your friends, and in most cases do a great job given just a little time to work. I'm not sure I'd be that motivated to clean up anything that these two products didn't clean by themselves. |
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