Just got a new ultrasonic cleaner

What's everyone using for cleaning solution, and what shouldn't i use/do?
Thanks.

Well, since we don't know what you bought, I'll share my experience and findings. Bought a Hornady Magnum sonic cleaner a couple months ago, along with a quart of their brass cleaner concentrate. The stuff plain works in this large sonic cleaner with two transducers and a good heater that goes above 120 degrees F. I can make no claims to how it may perform in the smaller capacity cleaners with only a single transducer and no way to heat the water.

I have also found that nothing more than plain hot water, a good squeez of Dawn dish soap, and a 9mm case full of Lemishine from Walmart does just as good as the Hornady stuff. I also reuse the fluid at least 4 times with good results. The Magnum cleaner will hold lots of brass in the basket, but the more you put in, the longer the cleaning cycles will be. What's nice about this one is that I'm not limited to 480 second cycles, I can set it to run for an hour without stopping.

Go the the Mid South Shooters Supply YouTube page and find the videos they did to compare the home-made brass cleaning recipies from Kool-Aid on up. Interesting stuff.

Don't make the mistake I did. I used mine to clean my gun parts too, and it works pretty well. Just make certain, absolutely certain that you remember to take them out when its done!

That nifty timer makes it so easy to forget you have the barrel of a prized semi-auto soaking in what is more or less water. My SR9 barrel came out unscathed, my precious p226 barrel was pretty much ruined, figures! I can't describe the feeling when I saw that barrel covered in reddish sludge, and then the pitting revealed when I cleaned it off.

They are nice gadgets, and very handy, just keep the limitations in mind. And set an alarm if you put something in there that might not survive forgetting about!

The Lyman solution works great....The gun cleaning solution works well on small pistols and parts as well.

I use citric acid crystals at 1 or 2 TEAspoons per gallon of tap water. I deprime first and the whole case is clean.

2 or 3 parts water to one part vinegar.
Drop of dishsoap.

4-480 second cycles.

Then

Teaspoon of baking soda and water- one cycle.

I've recently found that adding a spray or two of my hoppes elite gun cleaner to the mix works on the really stubborn cases that won't come clean otherwise.

Don't overload your cleaner. I have a big one, and I find that anything more than 200 or so cases really slows down the process.

That plastic tray that came with it ? You can set that aside too...the closer the brass is to your transducer, the better the results....unless you are into that "tuning" nonsense some people subscribe to...I don't, I have to clean more than 5 cases at a time.

50/50 distilled water and white viniger, drop of dish soap. Then rinse with tap when done.

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

2 or 3 parts water to one part vinegar.
Drop of dishsoap.

4-480 second cycles.

Then

Teaspoon of baking soda and water- one cycle.

I do this with the addition of one more cycle, water only.


Don't overload your cleaner. I have a big one, and I find that anything more than 200 or so cases really slows down the process.

That plastic tray that came with it ? You can set that aside too...the closer the brass is to your transducer, the better the results....unless you are into that "tuning" nonsense some people subscribe to...I don't, I have to clean more than 5 cases at a time.

What I found to my liking is using one or two 1 litre beakers in the bath, with one or two batches of 50 .44 cases each at a time. This allows me to do two things: 1, keep the solution out of the bath (which is plain water) and 2: run different solutions at the same time.

I do not use the heater.

I have the HF large unit.

Don't make the mistake I did. I used mine to clean my gun parts too, and it works pretty well. Just make certain, absolutely certain that you remember to take them out when its done!
I have read to use a ziplock bag with clp in it, suspended in a water bath for parts cleaning.

Not sure if that would have helped your situation, timing is everything. I cannot hear the timer nor the cleaner operating when I am more than 5 feet away from it, so I need to protect for situations like that.

I really appreciate all the advice and tips!

I've had the best bet with hot water and a squirt of dish soap or laundry detergent.

-Jenrick

I use Costco Neutral Floor Cleaner at about four ounces per gallon, along with one to two teaspoons of citric acid. I run them for about 7-10 minutes with the solution around 120 degrees F.

The citric acid is all-important in my opinion as it not only dramatically speeds up the cleaning process, but it apparently passivates the brass so as to help prevent further oxidation.

Since I am cheap (very) I tried 4 buffered asprin to 600 ml of water instead of the 50/50 vinegar solution. Still used a little soap and the base and water steps. It worked as well as the vinegar.

If you know the amount of asprin you can calculate the pH. I guestimated. Looking for around 3.

As john16443 said. Lemi-shine is made to take the crud out of the water to give shiny dishes - no need for distilled water. Rinse good in tap water and dry. Use Ed's red for parts cleaner. No, it won't de-lead the barrel.

I have tried the Hornady and a few other advertised commercial ultrasonic cleaning solutions. I have had my best luck with a product called Citronox using cold water. 4-6 minutes is all you need for shiny cases. I still brush out my primer pockets b-4 cleaning as the extra cleaning time to get them totally cleaned is not worth the wear and tear on your machine, considering a few flicks of the wrist will do the job in a much shorter period of time.

As I mentioned above, I have found that cold water works better for me. The beakers work great and don't try to do too many at one time.


Just my 2 cents

I know this has been mentioned. But I prefer the Lyman solution. Works best for me.