Ultrasonic Cleaner for Handguns

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Are they worth the money? Who makes a decent one for a fair price?
 
I dont know how much they cost, but my dad takes his Kimber in to a shop every now and then to have it done and it comes out cleaner than new.
 
I paid about $450 for mine. I threw away the water-based cleaning agent that came with it, and just use two quarts of Hoppe's No. 9, which lasts quite awhile.

I still have to clean bores and chambers with bronze- and Nylon-bristled brushes, but everything else is cleaned very well in very short order.

Nota bene: Hoppe's No. 9 contains flammable hydrocarbons. Ultrasonic cleaners heat liquids. Exercise reasonable caution, eh?
 
You can take a junk 6X9" car speaker (Or any large speaker) and make a home brew "sonic" cleaner. Just get yourself a stainless steel tray that you can put the biggest of your guns, make a plastic/wood/metal spacer to make up the space between the top of the center of the speaker and the bottom of the tray, and put it together with a ton of silicone. Let it sit for a couple days to dry. The spacer is needed to quiet it down. Without it, it works fine, but is very loud.

Hook it to a boombox or any other amp and play some bassy music, put your gun and some solvent in the tray, and wait a few minutes, and it does a nice job. Every nook and cranny is cleaned, except for lead from the barrel, of course.

I made the last one I had for nothing out of pocket. It lasted 10 years before the speaker fell apart. I'm going to make 2 more with the OEM junk speakers out of my truck. They aren't worth a damn for music, that's for sure.
 
HEMIRAM
I'd really like to know more about how you made this, I'd like to try it as well. You can PM me and I will send you my email address.
 
+2

can you post a few pictures? I have a pretty good image in my mind, but would like to see yours.

How long do you let the music play to get your guns clean?
 
While I can see you could make a lot of noise with a 6x9, what you really want is ultrasonic frequencies. IE: very high frequencies, higher then you can hear. So if you want to build your own, might I suggest you get a piezo tweeter with a range up into the mid 40khz frequencies. At least then you would have a chance of in the ultrasonics with the harmonics.

A quick search with google says your goal should be above 80 Khz and it would be best to have the frequency cycle a bit.
 
I have a small, cheep ultrasonic cleaner that I bought @ Harbour Freight for less than $50.00 to use in another hobby. I've since used it to clean fishing reels & gun parts. While it isn't big enough to clean the entire pistol, it will hold the barrell of a full size 1911, & the other parts as well. You can only clean 1/2 of the slide or frame at a time. I use a 50/50 mixture of Simple Green & water. I rinse every thing with hot water & blow dry with compressed air.
 
I bought a sharpertek gun cleaning system; touts a polycarb scratch free clean and lub tub; very happy with results.
HandgunCleanPackage.jpg
 
Harbor freight had one in their ad last weekend, fairly cheap. If you are just a casual shooter and want something, this will do the trick.
 
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