Ultrasonic cleaner advice

[plodder]

I am considering acquiring an ultrasonic cleaner because I am tiring of getting my hands filthy while case prepping. Will using an ultrasonic eliminate the need to media tumble (vibrate) my shell cases to clean before reloading?

How many rounds can be cleaned before the cleaning solution needs to be changed?

 

[flyskater]

Personally I tried them all. The ultrasonic cleaner limits you to the number of cases you can do at one time even if you have those large tabletop machine. You can just use tlhe ultrasonic cleaner without the walnut or corn cob tumbling. Although you can use the corn cob to make it extra shiny after the cases are dried.
My personal favorite is stainless steel media. Once I use stainless, I never looked back.

 

[Gillie Dog]

I have only done three sets of cases in an ultrasonic before changing the solution because that is the most I have had to do at one time. The solution is so cheap I would have no problem changing every batch. I use citric acid and warm water at about 1% solution so a little goes a long way.

I also do not tumble after ultrasonic cleaning, just load an go.

Hope that helps

GD

 

[squarepants33889]

How does a rifle case that has been reloaded several times look if it gets that far without ever seeing a tumbler?
Just curious. Do they start to look pretty scratched up or dull?

 

[Gillie Dog]

33889,

With ultrasonic cleaning and citric acid they come out shiny every time but there is a down side. The cases are so clean they have no lube, oils or other protective coating on them and they do become “dull” after extended time. I have had some ultrasonic cleaned brass sitting in a loading block on the bench for over 9 months now which are no longer shiny, they have turned the darker brass color you would expect but do not see in brass which has been tumbled or vibratory tumbled in corn cob or walnut media with some kind of protective additive in the media. This will be the same with stainless steel wet media also, the cases have no protection coming out of the solution.

That said they are not quite as “shiny” as if they were tumbled/vibratory tumbled in corn cob or walnut media with NuFinish for an extended time. But when tumbled for 10 minutes with NuFinish does give them a protective coating and they will remain as shiny as they come out of the solution.

Ultrasonic cleaning will not remove actual scratches from a case like stainless media might but you will have a nice clean shiny scratch on the case. I do not get much for scratches since most cases of mine run through bolt guns and a rare few actually hit the ground so I can not compare vibratory tumbled in corn cob to ultrasonic, both of which I have done. I have over 10 loadings on shiny ultrasonic cleaned cases and they look very close to as good as when they came out of the bulk bag they were purchased in. For my purposes ultrasonic gives me the cleanliness and aesthetic results I like in about 8 minutes and I will not go to stainless media but will use tumbling as needed in the future if I need a protective coating on the brass to keep it from getting dull.

That is my two cents for you. Hope it helps.

GD

 

[edwin41]

i also use an ultrasonic cleaner for my brass , and mine holds 50 . 357 mag.
this is enough for my needs as i load a batch of 50 , shoot them , reload them.
i really like how they come out of the cleaner , very shiny in and outside , even the flasholes are clean , dry them and there ready to go.
i heat the water somewhat and my solution is water with some vinegar and about a spoon of regular detergent , like one uses to clean windows with.
i chance the solution very time.
this works very well for me , from time to time i rotate them in a tumbler
for a polished look , but not often.