Ultrasonic cleaning solution
- Thread starter Kram
- Start date
Use a ratio of 1:1 of distilled water with white vinegar and a couple of drops of dish soap. I clean my brass only 30 minutes. Than rinse brass in water and add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to neutralize the acid from the vinegar. May not come out as shiny but the brass will be clean.
I just use Lemi-Shine and Dawn. One teaspoon of Lemi-Shine and a few drops of Dawn or so.
I also rinse in water with baking soda to neutralize the acid.
I dry them under an inferred heater hanging on my wall then, when dry, tumble them for about half an hour in my dry tumblers treated with Turtle Ice polymer car wax. That keeps them from tarnishing for a long time.
Some people use Armor All Wash and Wax in their pin tumblers but I have never tried that in my Ultrasonic. My recipe works to well for me so I just stick with it.
I also rinse in water with baking soda to neutralize the acid.
I dry them under an inferred heater hanging on my wall then, when dry, tumble them for about half an hour in my dry tumblers treated with Turtle Ice polymer car wax. That keeps them from tarnishing for a long time.
Some people use Armor All Wash and Wax in their pin tumblers but I have never tried that in my Ultrasonic. My recipe works to well for me so I just stick with it.
Kram,
The old Frankford Arsenal solution from before they stopped cleaning military cases in the 1920's was just 5% citric acid by weight. It both softens the water and cleans off oxides. That is about 1 Cup of crystals to a gallon of water. It is a bit strong if you are not going to reuse it, but it works well. There is a whole HUGE thread (44 pages) on citric acid cleaning on the guns.boolits.com.
If you have Amazon Primer, they are the cheapest source. 10 lbs will make up about 23 gallons. If you have to pay shipping, this may be cheaper.
I used a heated US cleaner here.
The old Frankford Arsenal solution from before they stopped cleaning military cases in the 1920's was just 5% citric acid by weight. It both softens the water and cleans off oxides. That is about 1 Cup of crystals to a gallon of water. It is a bit strong if you are not going to reuse it, but it works well. There is a whole HUGE thread (44 pages) on citric acid cleaning on the guns.boolits.com.
If you have Amazon Primer, they are the cheapest source. 10 lbs will make up about 23 gallons. If you have to pay shipping, this may be cheaper.
I used a heated US cleaner here.
Not all ultrasonic units are created equal.
The cleaning solution is important, but you need a well functioning unit to use it in.
The best way of knowing is performing the tin foil test. Stick a strip of tin foil directly in the solution while the ultra sonic is on. After about 10 to 15 seconds it should come out perforated with hundreds on fine holes.
The cleaning solution is important, but you need a well functioning unit to use it in.
The best way of knowing is performing the tin foil test. Stick a strip of tin foil directly in the solution while the ultra sonic is on. After about 10 to 15 seconds it should come out perforated with hundreds on fine holes.
TruthTellers
New member
I just use Lemishine, no dish soap when I use the Ultrasonic. I prefer rotary tumbling now tho. It does take a lot longer, but I just run the tumbler for 4 hours with the steel pins and some lemishine and the cases come out looking like factory new brass.
Can't say the same for ultrasonics, but they do clean them and quickly, just not spotless clean. While I like the rotary tumbler, I keep the ultrasonic for cleaning parts or in the future after the electric grid is destroyed by various means, I can use a solar panel and the ultrasonic to clean brass and reload.
Until the grid fails, I'll use the rotary tumbler.
Can't say the same for ultrasonics, but they do clean them and quickly, just not spotless clean. While I like the rotary tumbler, I keep the ultrasonic for cleaning parts or in the future after the electric grid is destroyed by various means, I can use a solar panel and the ultrasonic to clean brass and reload.
Until the grid fails, I'll use the rotary tumbler.
TruthTellers
New member
I didn't know about this test. I'm gonna try it with mine and see what happens.
I can also use a hard plastic like a bottle cap or comb, or spoon. You will notice that the surface will not be as smooth and depending on plastic may be pitted.
I used Lemi shine and a few drops of Dawn in my Lyman unit. It did clean them off but not shiny clean. So I figure if I'm going to mess with wet cases I might as well wet tumble them with stainless pins. That gets them clean as new, inside and out. So now other than the wife's rings I really don't use my ultrasonic cleaner much. I will use it for really dirty small parts, cleans those up nicely.
lamarw said:
That's for a high power density unit running at around 25 kHz. The 43 KHz unit I cleaned the cases in the photo with won't pass that test. I wish I had one that would, as that would make it work faster (those took half an hour or so, IIRC).
For those not familiar with US units, the lower frequencies do coarse cleaning better and the higher frequencies are preferred for fine cleaning. I saw recently that someone bought a unit running around 35 kHz, which might be the best compromise for cases. You also want auto-tuning so the frequency can adjust over a small range to handle changes in load and liquid levels, at least to some extent.