Ultrasonic Cleaner

[glockguy609]

Newbie question, I may have the opportunity to buy a heated ultrasonic cleaner fairly cheap, it's tank is 24wide, 6in front to back, and 12 1/2 in tall. Would something like this be usefull for cleaning guns or would it dammage parts? if it is useful what kind of cleaner would be good to use in it?

 

[JNewell]

Lots of things to say on this...in no particular order and with no representation that it's complete, here goes...

Yes, u/s cleaners can be very useful for cleaning. Among other things, they do very well cleaning in crevices where we can't easily clean, and do a good job cleaning some assemblies that we'd have to disassemble to clean (example: M1 bolt assemblies).

In terms of size, you should focus on how big the basket is, since my experience is that parts lying on the tank bottom don't necessarily clean as well. Having said that, this cleaner sounds as if it would be big enough to do most jobs you'd want to do. I have one roughly that size and have even done receivers and the piston areas of Beretta 390 barrels by leaning or dangling things into the tank.

I use three things to clean. First, I use and recommend the cleaner made for this purpose by C&R, which you can get from a variety of sources (including Brownells, though they may not be the cheapest - dunno). I also have used diluted Simple Green, but WARNING do not put aluminum parts into SG in an u/s cleaner. I sometimes also use just water, which can work surprisingly well, though not as well as the C&R solution. Part of the purpose of the cleaner is to promote the best action by the little bubbles that the u/s transducers create, which are what cleans the parts (when the bubbles collapse) -- so just using any old liquid (like water or SG) is not going to give you the best cleaning action, at least in theory.

Make sure you get any cleaning solution, even water, out. It's probably overkill, but I always do a pure water rinse in the u/s cleaner if I've used any kind of cleaner, and I get it good and hot so the parts dry quickly.

Be advised that if u/s cleaners have a fault, it is that they can get things too clean -- parts come out completely stripped of lube as well as dirt. Take that into account when you reassemble the weapon.

 

[dfariswheel]

More advice:

Ordinary, Cheap paint thinner makes a good cleaner, but be careful, it is flamable.

Let the solution get warm. Ultrasonics work better with warm solution.

Be warned that any solution that can damage plastics, paint, or the metal itself, will be damaged FASTER in ultrasonics.
This means that painted sights, plastic parts, some night sights and other parts can be damaged or removed entirely.

KEEP YOUR HANDS OUT OF THE TANK.
Ultrasonics and bone marrow don't "mix" well. This isn't something that happens instantly, it causes bad thing to happen over time.

Try to keep parts off the bottom of the tank.
Ultrasonics work better on parts that are in a basket or hanging in the solution.

You can brush parts with a toothbrush to speed up cleaning.

Ultrasonics will NOT remove metal fouling from the bore. It will remove carbon, but you still have to clean the bore with bore solvent, rod and brush.

As above, when parts come out of the tank, they're surgically clean. This means NO lubricant will be left, even in the tiny cracks, crevices, and holes ordinary cleaning doesn't remove.

After drying the parts, LUBE them with a good lube like CLP Breakfree that will penetrate back into those tiny places, and do it IMMEDIATELY.
With no lube parts will rust QUICKLY.

You can dry parts with an old hair dryer.

NEVER, EVER allow the tank to run with no fluid in the tank. This will burn it out ASAP.

You can use small plastic, glass, or metal jars or containers full of solution to clean small parts, by standing them in an inch or so of water.
This allows you to use small amounts of more flamable solutions like lacquor thinner.

If you use plain water, add a few drops of soap as a wetting agent. This increases the flow of ultrasonics through the water.

Allow the tank to run for a minute or so to drive all the bubbles out of the solution. This increases cleaning power.

You can clean larger parts that don't fit in the tank by standing them in the solution and cleaning them 1/2 at a time.

 

[glockguy609]

Thanks for the info, if I can get this for what I thin, it will probably be worth it.

 

[JNewell]

I was going to mention the flammable thing...forgot...

KEEP YOUR HANDS OUT OF THE TANK.
Ultrasonics and bone marrow don't "mix" well. This isn't something that happens instantly, it causes bad thing to happen over time.

Was gonna mention that, too. I have several broken bones in each hand. Stuck one hand into the tank once and the broken bone felt like I'd just connected myself to the house mains. Very unpleasant.

Ultrasonics will NOT remove metal fouling from the bore. It will remove carbon, but you still have to clean the bore with bore solvent, rod and brush

Also meant to mention that. Use the bore cleaner first to get any metal that's on top of carbon off first so the u/s can do as much work as possible for you.

 

[larryw]

Interesting comment: http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=1636101&postcount=4