School me on sonic cleaners...specifically frankford arsenal

[The Bandit]

Ok so woot has this deal for like $68ish delivered.
http://sport.woot.com/offers/frankford-arsenal-extreme-sonic-cleaner
looks to be the 2 liter model and i just wanted to know if anyone had any experience with them. I actually got it more for cleaning guns as the cleanest guns iv ever put my hands on have been cleaned in sonic cleaners. Its perfect for me right now as i dont have alot of room for a reloading set up but and squirreling away supplies when i can get my hands on them for when i do have enough room to set up. Just wanted to know if anyone had any experience with this model or just any comments for general sonic case cleaning. Appreciate it all.

 

[glockink]

They are amazing. I have a pretty good size L&R

 

[The Bandit]

They are amazing. I have a pretty good size L&R

i remember reading a thread or talking with you about yours in your chat or something awhile back and thats one reason i wanted one. This seemed the best option for me right now just didnt know if frankford was a good option or not. i remember i traded a revolver to a guy that was so nasty and caked with lead that it looked like a 22 caliber in the bore. iv never seen anything like it. took it and got it ultra sonic cleaned and it looks brand new. my dad wants to reload and shoots 22 hornet and 4570 so this is also perfect for those small batches.

 

[Clarke123]

At about the same (or less) price, I have a Harbor Freight 2.5L model with Stainless Steel Tub that works just fine.
Take your 25% off discount coupon and get their large size (2.5L). IMHO, the "Bigger, the Better" ... I wish I could afford to
have a 5 gallon model!

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html

The chemicals that you would use for gun cleaning are not
inexpensive, and I would be interested in hearing what others
have used, as well as the results.

I primarily use mine to clean brass cartridges prior to reloading.
It get them clean, but not necessarily bright and shiny.

The best (and most affordable) commercial brass cleaner is on Amazon
Alconox 1801 Citranox. Personally, I use a solution of 2 Teaspoons of Citric Acid
and 1/4 Teaspoon of HE Laundry Detergent (Tide) per gallon of water for my brass cleaning
work.


Whatever the application, remember to degauss a new batch of solution for 3-4 minutes
prior to insertings materials to be cleaned. Otherwise you will not get good performance
on the first use of a new batch.

 

[jjrock]

I know I read something on here where someone used a rock tumbler and stainless media for cleaning with liquid solutions. Did I read this wrong or does that work too? The rock tumblers are quite affordable and large at harbor freight...

 

[Clarke123]

I know I read something on here where someone used a rock tumbler and stainless media for cleaning with liquid solutions. Did I read this wrong or does that work too? The rock tumblers are quite affordable and large at harbor freight...

The Stainless Steel media can cost you quite a bit ($45 for 5 pounds + Shipping) unless you buy it direct from the manufacturer in 20 pound lots
I have an older posting where I went the SS way ... I can attest that it is the very best, but it's a lot of work to do less than 1k lots of brass at as time.

I processed about 8k of brass and traded my outfit off for ~$200 (a $150 loss over cost). I'm now using a Harbor Freight Ultra Sonic Cleaner and process about what I shoot each time at the range 100 to 200 cases per session. The results are good clean brass, but not as clean and shiny as the SS Tumbler!

I use the very same cleaning solution in the Ultra-Sonic as I did with the SS Tumbler,

 

[jjrock]

So was the tumbler used for stainless steel a rock tumbler?

 

[potenza]

At about the same (or less) price, I have a Harbor Freight 2.5L model with Stainless Steel Tub that works just fine.
Take your 25% off discount coupon and get their large size (2.5L). IMHO, the "Bigger, the Better" ... I wish I could afford to
have a 5 gallon model!

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html

The chemicals that you would use for gun cleaning are not
inexpensive, and I would be interested in hearing what others
have used, as well as the results.

I primarily use mine to clean brass cartridges prior to reloading.
It get them clean, but not necessarily bright and shiny.

The best (and most affordable) commercial brass cleaner is on Amazon
Alconox 1801 Citranox. Personally, I use a solution of 2 Teaspoons of Citric Acid
and 1/4 Teaspoon of HE Laundry Detergent (Tide) per gallon of water for my brass cleaning
work.


Whatever the application, remember to degauss a new batch of solution for 3-4 minutes
prior to insertings materials to be cleaned. Otherwise you will not get good performance
on the first use of a new batch.

I bought the larger one from Harbor Freight, today. after the 25% discoount, it was about $50. I asked the forum about cleaning solutions. I saw some great youtube videos http://www.theoutdoorstrader.com/threads/649062-Jewelry-cleaner-solvent

 

[GodBlessTheUSA]

I got the BIG Lyman. It's a monster, but it'll hold entire pistol frames etc. Did a friend's old shotgun receiver (house fire damage) and it is great. The metal cleaning solution will eat the finish off of parts.

For brass I know use a Lee decapper to de-prime all the brass, then sonic clean it. The primer pockets are usually so clean I don't have to scrub 'em. I got tired of left over tumbling media in the primer pockets and holes.

It'll also do a ton of brass at one time. Like more than a hundred. Less mess if you're close to a sink or tub or shower.

You do have to rinse the brass when you're done, and I usually use a hair dryer to remove most of the residual water.

My wonderful and lovely wife bought a cheap ultra sonic cleaner off amazon. It worked two times then died. The Lyman will heat up and "De-Gas" (insert jokes here) when you make up the first batch of solution.

The brass comes out pretty shiny too, maybe not as "new" looking as with "nu-finish".

 

[kuduman]

I like ultrasonics-- I started with the little Hornady "1 liter" or whatever- the little one. It worked well, but couldn't do enough cases at once. So I shopped around, and ended up with a 3-liter one that does a whole lot of rifle brass at once. Built in heater, all that jazz. Expensive, but saves a lot of time. Even so, I still use the little one for smaller jobs.

However, for gun cleaning, think about what you're doing. You're submerging your gun in water. That means you'll have to rinse off the soap, dry it, and fully lube it in all the nooks and crannies afterwards. That pretty much means a dunk in oil. Messy, and kind of expensive, if you aren't using motor oil. ATF also works great, but stains everything red...

Also-- and this is very important. Ultrasonics will blow paint off of metal, and any other kind of coating. Nickel plating? It might survive; I'm not going to try it. Tritium sights? Your guess is as good as mine.

If you get one, fire it up with some hot water (about 150 degrees is best-- not hotter), and run it for five minutes as an earlier poster pointed out. This is to "degas" the water, not "degauss" it (it's not a tape head). Ain't auto-correct fun? : )

Anyway, you run it for a few minutes to get the dissolved air out. Then take a piece of aluminum foil (flat) and hold it in the water. In very short order, you'll start seeing holes develop in the foil. Yeah-- the microbubbles are destroying the aluminum. Might be fine for certain jewelry, but might also destroy watches and some gems. I'd keep my hands out of there too. Note that I mean running straight water-- it's not acid or detergent eating the aluminum. It's the collapsing cavitation bubbles literally blasting holes in the foil. Show that demonstration to anyone skeptical about US cleaners...

AR BCG's clean up pretty well. I haven't tried anything with paint or other coatings, but I suspect the result will be disastrous. You'll still have to do a bit of brushing to get the toughest carbon off, unless you really run it a long time. But this is much, much simpler than scraping it off by hand. And all the innards are clean.

I use Dawn. Citric acid ("LemiShine" with the dishwashing supplies) will make brass shinier. So will other acids like vinegar. But the other acids will eat the metal. Stick with citric acid; allegedly, the reaction it has won't hurt the brass.

Cleaners for other metals-- you're on your own. I do not know. Dawn works very, very well in my experience.

Oh-- a tip. I use disposable chopsticks for moving stuff around in the water. I guess a plastic spoon would work too. But the chopsticks work well for me.

Now let's consider how you clean with the thing.

1.) Pour in Dawn.
2.) Pour in hot water.
3.) Run it for a few minutes to get the air out.
4.) Put your parts in.
5.) Run it for however long. The cheaper units will only do eight minutes at a time-- they have overheating issues, per the manual. You many need to run quite a few cycles. I will periodically stir around the parts/brass to make sure I get it all clean (change the standing wave pattern).
6.) Remove parts, wash and drain.
7.) Empty the cleaner. Rinse it out.
8.) Now-- do you need a rinse cycle? If so, repeat steps 2 through 4, then run it a cycle or two. You might could skip step three. And you might can skip the rinse, if you wash the parts off well in your sink.
9.) Drain again.
10.) Dry and/or lube your parts.

This works great, but it's not as hands-off as running a washing machine or something.

This is not for everyone, and not suited for every purpose. Too big of a unit, and it's a pain to fill and drain. Too small, and you can't do enough stuff at once. Etc. And I still use an ordinary vibratory tumbler for pistol brass, and plinking brass. But the match stuff gets deprimed and run through the US to get the primer pockets and interior clean. A vibratory won't do that, but I hear that the stainless steel method does.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but it has taken me a while to learn the ins and out of ultrasonics. They certainly do have their place.