Thread: Ultrasonic cleaners

Was in jay car today and they have basic ones there for -$100 ,how good does an ultrasonic cleaner work ?only doing 25-30 cases at a time these days,do you buy a special solution or make up a concoction?are the cases ready to load once been through a cycle of ultrasonic or is there more involved? Thanks

as the name says they work thru higher than audible frequency audio waves. basically you are shaking the dirt off.
it all depends what solvent you put in to what it shakes off, and if its from jaycar then its costing is more than what its worth, probably more suitable for cleaning jewellery etc.

Originally Posted by muzza

I use one for cleaning carbs off motorcycles - ideally you need a decent time cycle , a good heat temperature and a decent fluid capacity. I use Simple Green Industrial Cleaner as the detergent .

simple green is awesome, i use it in my waterblaster

I used my mates hornady one the other day, it did a good job with the hornandy solution in it.
But I tried cleaning some other cases with detergent then a 1 hour soak in 50:50 vinager and water mix followed buy a rinse in hot water and detergent the just plain water and it cleans them equally as good.
Dunno if I'd be in a hurry to go buy a ultrasonic cleaner after seeing the results other than its slightly more convenient.

Originally Posted by The bomb

Was in jay car today and they have basic ones there for -$100 ,how good does an ultrasonic cleaner work ?only doing 25-30 cases at a time these days,do you buy a special solution or make up a concoction?are the cases ready to load once been through a cycle of ultrasonic or is there more involved? Thanks

A cheap ultrasonic cleaner won't last as long as a quality (more expensive) one.
I know because my cheap one was replaced a couple of times before I bought a much better one.

Mine holds about 100 cases.
I use citric acid (cheapest supermarket brand) and dishwashing liquid 2 teaspoons of each in 1 litre of 80 C water.
8 minute cycle cleans well, rinse in cold water, oven dry @ 120 C for 10 minutes, air cool.

As @gonetropo and @Cyclops state, a cheap one isn't going to last so if you're going that way pay a little extra and get a good one.

I inherited mine with my reloading gear and it came with a container of Hornady OneShot cleaning fluid. I find it works well for me and I like the results it gives. Typically I give the brass a good 20 minute clean and with that its usually looking pretty sharp with the insides of the brass looking like new and no shit left in the primer pockets. You can use it for a bunch of other things too like cleaning hydraulic filters and your wifes jewellery. Though not both at the same time.

I'm about half way through my container of cleaning fluid and I wasn't looking forward to laying out my hard earned money for another... it seems far too expensive for what it is... so I'm very interested in trying those formulations noted above. Thats for those ideas Lads.

It’s all relative, right? I paid around $30 for my one from AliExpress. Only does up to 20 at a time, does much better with less and is fine with vinegar/water followed by baking soda / water. I only reload small batches at a time, so it suits me perfectly

I used one and have done for the last 2 years, reloading for 5 calibers. I bought a cheap one off eBay and it continues to give good service. 100 cases at a time, 2 tea spoons of citric acid and a large glug of washing up liquid, on for an hour and then dry off in the oven. The cases aren’t as bright and shiny as tumbled brass but substance and not shine is more important for me.
bryn

I agree, a tumbler will leave the brass looking like new and I definitely like that new look on my reloaded brass. To get those kind of results with the ultrasonic bath I give the brass a quick skim with some fine scotchbrite. I do this at the same time I have the brass in the battery drill to trim and chamfer the neck. Comes up nicely.

Originally Posted by Cyclops

Mine holds about 100 cases.
I use citric acid (cheapest supermarket brand) and dishwashing liquid 2 teaspoons of each in 1 litre of 80 C water.
8 minute cycle cleans well, rinse in cold water, oven dry @ 120 C for 10 minutes, air cool.

Serve with garnish and salt and pepper to taste?

Looks like I might just stick with my drill and plastic drum setup for now then.does good enough job .

I made a wet tumbler for about $20 and maybe an hour.
works great
no idea how to make an ultrasonic tho

@Mauser308, @Cyclops, what cleaner model do you have and/or recommend please ?

I have a Hornady ultrasonic. Works fine but because you don't have the case agitation you might have with a tumbler, cases are not as shiny bright. Main reason I don't use mine as much these days is due to the volume of cases I process. I think it just depends on what your end goals are and how you want to go about it.

Originally Posted by Mauser308

What is this miracle product? "Shower Power BAM". Comes in a couple of flavours, I dunno never used anything other than the original one and it is basically the exact same sh*t as Hornady ultrasonic cleaner fluid at about 1/10th the price.

I keep telling people about this stuff, and people keep thinking I'm talking out my arse but I challenge you to find the MSDS for the Hornady ultrasonic cleaner fluid and then compare it to the Shower Power BAM crap. Same stuff, available at your supermarket for about $5 in a handy pump spray pack. Actually I use it instead of Simple Green now for everything I used to use Simple Green for with the exception of oxygen-cleaning dive regs, as to the best of my knowledge no one has ever tried Shower Power BAM in 100% o2 (and I can't be arsed being the first).

Outstanding. Thanks for that info... just outstanding. Really appreciate it @Mauser308

Two thumbs up!




I used compressed air to dry my cases out. It means picking each case up and blowing it out but if I want to make immediate progress its faster than heating them up.