using an ultrasonic cleaner on gun parts?

[Ukraine Train]

I was thinking an ultrasonic cleaner would work pretty sweet for cleaning up gunked up bolts or trigger assemblies. My concern is rust, though. At work we use a mixture of 100 parts water to 1 part Micro Clean which is a super concentrated cleaner. I would think that you can keep the parts immersed for a couple hours and then dry them with compressed air as soon as you take them out and they'd be ok. Thoughts?

 

[Preacherman]

A friend uses one. His solution to drying the parts is to put them in the oven for half-an-hour at a medium temperature (the metal parts, of course! ). For plastic parts, he uses a hair-dryer to heat them to a lesser temperature. Seems to work well for him.

 

[BobCat]

dry in alcohol

You can switch them to alcohol in the ultrasonic cleaner, or just take them out of the soapy water and rinse them in alcohol, dry with a hair dryer, and oil with whatever you use.

Lab alcohol or methanol from the hardware store is best, but 70% isoporpyl from the pharmacy will work too, it just contains a little more water.

This is exactly how I clean metal pieces for SEM in high vacuum. If you get them *really* dry with alcohol and warm air, they will not rust soon. OTOH exposure to high humidity will rust them rapidly if you don't oil them.

Purrrrs,
BobCat

 

[Ohen Cepel]

I had a buddy who used one all the time on his gun parts. I think they work great, just need to get them dried and oiled when they come out.

How much does a small one cost? I would consider buying one.

 

[SCOTTYDOG]

Being a dental laboratory technician and lab owner, I use an ultrasonic cleaner on a daily basis to clean polishing compound ( jewelers rouge ) from gold crowns.
That being said, I use it to clean almost anything gun related from internal metal parts to deprimed brass for reloading
The only solution I use is Lemon Fresh Ammonia cleaner for household use.
For stubborn grease and such, I also have a steamer that produces 300 degree steam at 60 psi. The ultrasonic loosens all the gunk and the steamer just blows it all out. The steam is hot enough to heat the part enough to dry it almost instantely.(sp) A high pressure air hose finishes it nicely. Oil, of course.
Dental products are notoriously high priced hence the cost of dental care.
You might try an auto parts store for cleaners and steamers.
They only detriment to using an ammonia cleaner I've found is that it may stain some parts.
Hope this helps in some way.

 

[mfree]

last time I was at a Super Target they had (and I got) 91% isopropyl.

 

[R.H. Lee]

Is carbon fouling and oil even soluble in alchohol?

 

[TimH]

What about drygas? Isn't that pretty close to pure Isopropyl alcohol?

 

[Bobothebigdog]

http://www.lrultrasonics.com/industries/weapons/
They have cleaners and solutions specifically for firearms.

 

[dickwholliday]

A local gunshop has one and i think it is a joke....it looks like one of those on the above website that has two tanks.....that nasty crud that accumulates around the feedramp and breech of an auto pistol is still there after running it through the cleaner.....one of those will not be replacing my five gallon bucket full of mineral spirits and a parts brush any time soon....D I C K

 

[Bobothebigdog]

Here's a guide on ultrasonic firearm cleaning.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/GunTech/NewsletterArchive.aspx?p=0&t=2&i=521

 

[kikilee]

Thanks Bobthebigdog. Good info

 

[Bobothebigdog]

Your welcome, remember, google is your friend.

 

[hso]

http://www.policeproductscorp.com/

I've used Crest Ultrasonics to clean M60s at Knob Creek so fouled that carbon fell out the size of corn flakes on disassembly. Minty fresh when finished.

After being in the cleaning bath the excess water is blown off with an air hose and the parts are put in another tank with fine oil in it. The oil resembles watch oil. I've used this on my own guns and saw no sign of rust even after months.

 

[Bobothebigdog]

Their just too expensive. I wonder how hard it would be to make one... Seems like all you'd need would be a speaker driver capable of 40khz, a stainless steal tank, and a large amplifier.

 

[hso]

The Crest systems use a sweeping frequency system that spans the ultrasonic. They also use LOTS of power. 5kW transducers. The larger the tank the more transducers they use. Lake City, Barret, USAF, FBI, DOE, and others use the Crest systems.

 

[Khornet]

When I set up my endoscopy center

the equipment package included an ultrasonic cleaner for medical equipment. Before beginning operations I decided to go to all-disposable tools, and so the cleaner is still NIB, never used. The tank is about 12" square. It is an Olympus Endosonic cleaner. They don't want to buy it back.

Hmmm....think I'll call Brownells and get some solution.

 

[realmswalker]

I was looking up some web sites on these cleaners and i couldnt find any prices, how much do these things run for a small unit.

 

[Gordon]

I have been using one for years. Used to use simple green solution until I learned it attacks aluminum! Mine has a temp contolled heater, I keep the temp about 180 degrees, which dries pronto. I Blow things out with DRY air at 60 psi.
Some times you do have to wire brush metal deposits off! But for cleaning assembled parts nothing beats Ultra sonic! For instance, I dump old Colt revolvers after removing the grip into the tank. Remove (with heavy rubber gaunlet glove) and blow dry and spray with WD-40 (a moisture displacing, evaporatng oil) wipe off excess and apply a synthetic light grease to moving surfaces. Suddenly old "out of time' Colts work like new!

 

[Jim K]

I found them great for those guns that would take hours to disassemble and re-assemble for cleaing by hand. Plus of course, no lost parts, buggered screws, or guns put together wrong. They don't clean everything, but in most cases they don't have to. Needless to say, wood parts should be removed before dunking the gun.

Jim