Went to Harbor Freight yesterday and picked up there larger Chicago Electric Ultrasonic cleaner. This one looks like and basically is the base unit used for the Lyman unit. It has one transducer with a heater. It will get the water hot! I've found no spec's on the transducer (speaker 
). It will put holes in aluminum foil in very short order and roll the water.
I had just returned from the range and had shot my CZ-52 with corrosive ammo and my M&P 45 with my reloads.
The CZ-52 was first: This pistol barrel has had a complete reverse electrolysis cleaning. It is very accurate! Clays at a 100 free hand if I do my part with surplus ammo. Off rest no problem. When I reparked it. The bore of the barrel got done also. The barrel is pitted and some would call it black. So after shooting I did my normal cleaning job on it. THEN I dropped it in the Ultrasonic. Used water, 2 oz simple green concentrate and a squirt of dawn. Black crap came flowing out of the barrel alone with micro chunks of junk on a 480 sec. run. I then took a patch to it again and got all sorts of black and rust crap out of it. After two more runs through the unit and two more patch jobs the bore was clean! Not even a spec of stain, dirt, rust, jacket or powder fouling left. Patches went in clean and came out clean.
I did no pre cleaning on the M&P .45 barrel. Just threw it in a fresh mix of solution and went after it. One 480 sec. run and it was spotless. Patched out clean.
I then moved on to brass. I had 200 rounds of .40 I threw in. Used water, 2 oz of white vinegar and a squirt of dawn. Ran them three times at 480 sec with heat of course. Dipped out most of the water I could get real quick. Refilled with water and added 1 tsp. of arm and hammer. ran for 180 sec. Pulled brass, rinsed in fresh water. Dried them in the oven in a old cake pan. They looked great and shootable. Me being the brass whore I am. I ran them for a hour in the tumbler. That put the finishing touch on the .40.
I then ran some .32 and .380 outdoor range pick up. The .32 went fine. No problems what so ever. Ran them like the .40, life was good.
When I went to run the .380 it wasn't going so well. The unit wasn't moving water like it had been nor was it screaming like it had. A fast look see, found the tray had bent and was pushing down on the bottom of the unit. Even with nothing loaded in the unit and the tray installed. I was acting like the thing had broke. Took the tray out and it was back. So I cut the little handle tabs off the tray and put it in upside down. This gave the bottom of the unit more breathing space. The unit was back to working like a charm. It finished up the .380's in short order. They look good.
By this point I had ran two barrels and 700 pieces of brass through the unit and made a modification. I was still wanting to put it through more work cycles. Sure I had firearm related stuff I could use. But I wanted the put the weenie to it. I wanted to see if I could break this china hunk of junk.
Didn't take long. I found a old rusted up 16 oz hammer. The head was covered in rust, glues, caulking and Lord only knows what. Mixed up a vinegar and dawn solution and had at it. After 5ea 480 sec runs the water was so mucky the unit stopped cleaning. Rinsed the hammer, cleaned out the unit and reloaded it. Ten more 480 sec cycles, the hammer was done. I was in the white and in drastic need of a good oiling. Sure,,,, the hammer could have been cleaned up in a sand blaster in a few sec's. of cleaned up with emery cloth in a few min's. But the Ultrasonic unit was there and was begging to be abused. The head of the hammer did look like it had been bead blasted.
Bottom Line: I like the unit. It will come in very handy. I see it being used to clean pistols up, clean up other small parts and the wifes jewel's, our glass's and other things around the house. It will not replace my tumbler. It looks to be a good aid to the tumbler. Or,, say a good replacement to walnut media. It seems to have more than enough power for what I need. And if you start with a warm water solution with the heater on it will get quite hot. If you start with cold tap water your going to be waiting awhile for it to make warm water.
To me it is worth the $69.00 plus tax I paid for it.
). It will put holes in aluminum foil in very short order and roll the water.I had just returned from the range and had shot my CZ-52 with corrosive ammo and my M&P 45 with my reloads.
The CZ-52 was first: This pistol barrel has had a complete reverse electrolysis cleaning. It is very accurate! Clays at a 100 free hand if I do my part with surplus ammo. Off rest no problem. When I reparked it. The bore of the barrel got done also. The barrel is pitted and some would call it black. So after shooting I did my normal cleaning job on it. THEN I dropped it in the Ultrasonic. Used water, 2 oz simple green concentrate and a squirt of dawn. Black crap came flowing out of the barrel alone with micro chunks of junk on a 480 sec. run. I then took a patch to it again and got all sorts of black and rust crap out of it. After two more runs through the unit and two more patch jobs the bore was clean! Not even a spec of stain, dirt, rust, jacket or powder fouling left. Patches went in clean and came out clean.
I did no pre cleaning on the M&P .45 barrel. Just threw it in a fresh mix of solution and went after it. One 480 sec. run and it was spotless. Patched out clean.
I then moved on to brass. I had 200 rounds of .40 I threw in. Used water, 2 oz of white vinegar and a squirt of dawn. Ran them three times at 480 sec with heat of course. Dipped out most of the water I could get real quick. Refilled with water and added 1 tsp. of arm and hammer. ran for 180 sec. Pulled brass, rinsed in fresh water. Dried them in the oven in a old cake pan. They looked great and shootable. Me being the brass whore I am. I ran them for a hour in the tumbler. That put the finishing touch on the .40.
I then ran some .32 and .380 outdoor range pick up. The .32 went fine. No problems what so ever. Ran them like the .40, life was good.
When I went to run the .380 it wasn't going so well. The unit wasn't moving water like it had been nor was it screaming like it had. A fast look see, found the tray had bent and was pushing down on the bottom of the unit. Even with nothing loaded in the unit and the tray installed. I was acting like the thing had broke. Took the tray out and it was back. So I cut the little handle tabs off the tray and put it in upside down. This gave the bottom of the unit more breathing space. The unit was back to working like a charm. It finished up the .380's in short order. They look good.
By this point I had ran two barrels and 700 pieces of brass through the unit and made a modification. I was still wanting to put it through more work cycles. Sure I had firearm related stuff I could use. But I wanted the put the weenie to it. I wanted to see if I could break this china hunk of junk.
Didn't take long. I found a old rusted up 16 oz hammer. The head was covered in rust, glues, caulking and Lord only knows what. Mixed up a vinegar and dawn solution and had at it. After 5ea 480 sec runs the water was so mucky the unit stopped cleaning. Rinsed the hammer, cleaned out the unit and reloaded it. Ten more 480 sec cycles, the hammer was done. I was in the white and in drastic need of a good oiling. Sure,,,, the hammer could have been cleaned up in a sand blaster in a few sec's. of cleaned up with emery cloth in a few min's. But the Ultrasonic unit was there and was begging to be abused.
The head of the hammer did look like it had been bead blasted.Bottom Line: I like the unit. It will come in very handy. I see it being used to clean pistols up, clean up other small parts and the wifes jewel's, our glass's and other things around the house. It will not replace my tumbler. It looks to be a good aid to the tumbler. Or,, say a good replacement to walnut media. It seems to have more than enough power for what I need. And if you start with a warm water solution with the heater on it will get quite hot. If you start with cold tap water your going to be waiting awhile for it to make warm water.
To me it is worth the $69.00 plus tax I paid for it.
3-480 sec. runs with it,(100 cases per batch), removed most of the staining, then a 2 hour tumble cleaned the rest.
