Looking at Ultra Sonic cleaner...comments??

[emptybrass]

I currently clean my brass in a Frankford Arsenal Quick-n-Ez Case Tumbler with dry media and am looking at going to ultra sonic. I'm thinking (from what I've read) that the US will do a better job at cleaning the inside of the brass.

I know a lot of folks here use wet rotary with SS pins but I'm thinking that a US would be a little less trouble with not having to separate the pins. etc. I would appreciate some comments from those of you that used (have used) US.

I'm looking at a Lyman Turbo Sonic 2500.

Thanks for your time.

 

[rskent]

That's the same one I bought to clean the lube out of my rifle brass.

Honestly, a bucket of hot soapy water works just about as well.

 

[Blue68f100]

All you need is the cleaning solution in a bucket. US are nice for cleaning parts but not really needed. The bad part is getting the solution neutralized, rinsed and dried.

 

[Artofgolf]

I use the Hornady Lock-N-Load Magnum Sonic Cleaner as the first step in brass clean-up after depriming. Dry & then into the tumbler with walnut lizard litter for polishing. This works well for me, as I use mostly nickel-plated brass.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

A small Hornady ultra sonic is what I started with. It worked okay but I found it to be a big hassle when trying to process 1k , or even 300, pieces of .45acp or .223. Now a big ultra sonic might be worth the trouble, but as much as those cost I would lean towards using a wet tumbler.

 

[quaid]

I started wet and then went rotary tumbler with a home built option. The water mess and acidity was an unnecessary headache. I told myself I could tumble wet on my homemade rotary with a waterproof container, but I just never bothered with the water mess once I had an airtight tumbler.

I currently use walnut media without special auto polishes or high speed additives and I'm completely satisfied. I put a timer on the tumbler and with no acidic solution I am in no rush to remove the brass.

 

[JRWhit]

I use a hornady US cleaner and it does it's job. I run between 2-3 cycles in the US cleaner, rinse, and tumble for about 1-3hrs depending on what other things I get caught up in during the tumble. I don't dry after rinsing, I just throw it in the tumbler as there is not enough water there to do any more than moisten the media.
You are going to want to deprime before cleaning. Brass comes out bright and shiney after a quick polish in the tumbler.

Primer pockets are cleaned very well. You will occasionally still see grit on really stubborn buildup but not enough to interfere with reloading.

I like mine and have saved quite a bit of prep time using it.

I went from about a 4 hr media tumble, to about 1-1/2 hrs total with about 15min US cleaning then 1hr 15min ,"er abouts", of tumbling with better results.

If it takes any longer than that it's purely because I haven't physically made it back to take out of the tumbler.

 

[Toprudder]

I started with dry tumbling, then ultrasonic, then wet tumbling. They each have their advantages.

Dry tumbling leaves a good polish on the outside, but does not do a good job cleaning inside. It is also not good at getting some tarnish off the outside.

Ultrasonic does a much better job of cleaning inside the casings than dry tumbling, but not as good as wet tumbling with SS media. While it gets the cases clean, it does not smooth or polish the surface.

Wet tumbling with SS media does the best cleaning job, inside and out, in my opinion. Some people will finish with dry tumbling to put a polish on the casings, I usually don't bother with it.

Sometimes I wet tumble without the SS media for a short time, especially if I am resizing and decapping rifle brass. After that, I will put the brass back in the wet tumbler with SS media to clean inside and out and remove the lube. This also cleans the primer pockets. For pistol casings, I use a universal decapper before I wet tumble.

Most ultrasonic cleaners won't handle large volumes of brass. I can load over 1000 40 S&W casings in my Frankford wet tumbler. Processing the wet tumbled brass takes a little longer, but doing 1000 casings at a time gives some economy of scale. The consumables are pretty cheap, a tablespoon or so of Dawn and a pinch of Lemishine.

 

[emptybrass]

Good information...thanks.

 

[Bowfishrp]

My dry tumbler died and I went to a wet tumbler with SS media and it does a great job of cleaning. There is definitely more clean-up involved than dry tumbling and you must dry the brass or you get water spots. For me drying the brass is the biggest headache. It is real easy in summer here in Texas...just put them out on a towel outside in the sun for a couple hours!
However, my plan is to get a dry tumbler and put the damp brass in there with some NuFinish to help polish and to coat the brass to help keep that shine longer.

 

[spitballer]

Bought a cheapie Lyman 700 ultrasonic w/one-pint capacity and no heater for 50 bucks, a year or two ago. Heat is not a problem because I can zap the solution in the microwave. Capacity is an issue though: capacity is 50 .223 cases, but they get cleaner with 25. Also count on swabbing afterward with a q-tip, esp around flash hole and under shoulder.

 

[Savage Shooter]

I have had an ultra sonic cleaner I'm surprised no one has said it yet but the US your looking at can be bought much cheaper at harbor freight for the EXACT same one it just doesn't have lymans sticker on it and if you use one of there 25 or 20 percent off coupons you can get it even cheaper. I bought one and tried it out after i already bought a wet tumbler (a lortone qt12) it was very slow didn't clean the brass very well and was a pain to pour out the water and clean it out after you were done cleaning. I returned it needless to say.

Spend the money and get a wet tumbler with stainless pins it is WAY better. I bought a used lortone qt12 off of ebay(better than the thumblers tumbler in my opinion)and i can do way more than the US could and get nice clean shiny cases. I usually leave it running for about 4hours but it will clean the cases in roughly 1.5 hrs it just won't be spotless and REALLY shiny. I bought a cheap plastic colander for .25cents at a flea market and a plastic bucket i pour the hole lot into that and separate the brass it it works just fine for me.