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Ultrasonic cleaner - works great!

rep308

rep308

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See update Post #3


I clean a lot of shotguns for my youth team and figured an ultrasonic cleaner would help with parts like chokes. Can I put is part ASSEMBLIES, like a trigger assembly or bold assembly from say an 1100 or will the ultrasonic action shake them apart or damage them. If I try to put in an assembled pistol slide will it damage adjustable sites?

Sorry for such a basic question but I don't want to damage any kids gun.

I plan to use Simple Green as the cleaning solution.


Thanks in advance
 
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No damage from the ultrasound , but you need to able be to remove all the water from the assembly. No aluminum in the ultrasonic cleaner it will damage anodized coatings. Long periods of time in the cleaner can also remove paint or dull the finish.
 
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So after checking around and getting advice from Tim Gossling at Gartman Arms I got this model:

Kendal Commercial Grade 6 Liters 380 Watts HEATED ULTRASONIC CLEANER HB-36MHT

http://www.amazon.com/Kendal-Commer...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

At $270 it wasn't cheap but I wanted a quality unit, that had a tank big enough to drop an entire handgun in. I was warned about high temp, cleaning solutions and excessive times. I practiced first on tools in my shop I couldn't wreck and ended up spending rainy Sunday cleaning a dozen of my guns. I used water with half a cup of Simple Green, heated the tank to 120F, took my grips off my stainless steel revolver and put in in the basket and into the tank. You could see all sorts of crud being removed and after 5 minutes I pulled it out, very clean. I immediately lubed the gun and brushed and swabbed the chambers. It didn't remove the black from the front of the cylinder but it worked very well. I detailed stripped a Glock and put all the parts in again for 5 minutes and it did a great job. I'm loving this thing.

I have a set of ported stainless steel shotgun chokes that I could never get clean. I turned the temp up to 140F and put them in for 5 minutes. I then ran a brush through them as there was a film that was still there and put them back in for another 5 minutes. It did great job.

Thanks to the people who gave me advice, and warning about the power of this thing. I've got a few AR bolts that are next on my list to clean
 
Don't know that I'd be submerging a revolver in any sort of water-based solution. Do you bake the handgun after cleaning to completely remove any moisture from the interior?
 
M1911 said:
How do you get all the water out of the nooks and crannies of the gun?
Click to expand...

I have an air compressor, but it wasn't much of an issue. I disassembled the glock slide to prevent water seepage but put the frame in assembled, blew it with air, and lubed it. I wasn't as tough as I was worried about. YouTube has some "what NOT to do" videos with these cleaners.
 
Use Simple Green Pro (its purple not green) as it is less harmful to paint and the anodized coatings. Simple green will tear that shit up.
 
Glad you are pleased with your cleaner Ralph, and thanks for the plug. +1 for Simple Purple. I have used a 1:10 ratio with tap water in all my machines for 5+ years, and never had any issues. I use high pressure air to remove all moisture, and soak parts in Rem-Oil Aerosol packed in paper towels overnight to avoid any rust or corrosion. Glad to hear you guys are keeping your guns clean!
 
A rinse in alcohol will also help get the water out. An old timer showed me this. He had a small tub with alcohol next to his cleaner and he dunked them after rinsing with water then blew them out with compressed air. the alcohol mixes readily with the water and helps both evaporate quickly. just make sure you keep teh alcohol covered or it will be gone in a hurry.
 
Hoon said:
How do these cleaners work on hard carbon?

BCGs, bore fouling, etc?
Click to expand...


When heated and using the Simple Green Pro, they work great. The stuff just brushes or wipes off after a good clean. I let it heat up for a few hours then put it in for 20 minutes if the fouling is bad. Handgun bbl's fit easily in mine but no way could I do my 20" bbl's.

One thing to note is that you do need to dry and oil quickly after then come out bc they start to rust almost immediately: The cleaner removes all oil from the metal.


As for using oil to clean, well it doesn't really remove copper and carbon fouling like an actual cleaner does.
 
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Have never had good results with oil or gun solvents in my cleaners. They are expensive, messy, and usually do not remove built up carbon very well. I had a 3 gal filled with gunzilla for a while and it was super gross, will never try that again lol. I like the alcohol bath idea, I will have to give that a try!
 
M1911 said:
Are you taking off the side plates of the revolvers to blow water out of frame?
Click to expand...

No, I'm not skilled or brave enough for that. Grips off, into the ultrasonic tank for 5-10 mins at 100 deg f, blow out water, lube, blow out lube, upside down for a day on the bench, grips back on, all done.
 
I have this small thingy and I uncrewed a cylinder from one of my revolvers and tried it. Useless. Didn't even touch the carbon. Had to scrape tons of it with a brush after two rounds of ultrasonic cleaning.
Used distilled water. Didn't want to use simple green because it is acidic.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018IIPFK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Will try this solution next but so far the results were incredibly disappointing.

https://www.amazon.com/Hornady-Soni...d=1465596175&sr=1-1&keywords=hornady+cleaning
 
I've seen ultrasonic cleaners eat up various alloyed metals in the shop at work. I wouldn't put anything like a whole trigger assembly in there myself.
Personally, that kind of cleaning on any trigger mechanism sounds like overkill to me. I've got 10's of thousands of rounds on some of my shotguns without anything more than a blast of gun scrubber in the works ( and patch down the pipe of course)
 
rep308 said:
No, I'm not skilled or brave enough for that. Grips off, into the ultrasonic tank for 5-10 mins at 100 deg f, blow out water, lube, blow out lube, upside down for a day on the bench, grips back on, all done.
Click to expand...

So... are you sure there isn't a whole bunch of water inside each of your revolver frames (under the side plates)? That would be my biggest concern if I were putting entire revolvers into h2o.

Not trying to be a jerk. I just don't want anything to happen to your revolvers!
 
It is actually quite easy to take off the side plate of a Smith & Wesson revolver. All you need are proper gunsmith style screwdrivers that match the screw heads, so you don't mess up the heads. Then tap the grip frame with the butt end of your screwdriver to remove the plate -- don't pry it:

 
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from my experience, ultrasonic cleaners will spew whatever solvent you are using into the air. So I would use it OUTSIDE. I had the luxury of using it under a fume hood, but few will have those at home.
 
Spanz said:
from my experience, ultrasonic cleaners will spew whatever solvent you are using into the air. So I would use it OUTSIDE. I had the luxury of using it under a fume hood, but few will have those at home.
Click to expand...

That's why it has a cover...
 
I've been using one for years. The biggest step is using a lubricant or water displacement solution after the fact. This has been the best for me. If you are working with anything steel, you need some type of solution (or lots of low heat) to get the water out.
 
Quick update:

I used my ultrasonic cleaner to clean brass and nickel cases over the weekend. I removed all the dies, except the decap and resize die from my Dillon 550 and process about 1000 cases. I then soaked them all in a bucket of hot water with Birchwood case cleaner in it for about 30 minutes. I then heated my ultrasonic cleaner to 60 deg C with the water/case cleaner mix and process the cases in a 15 minute ultrasonic bath. I rinsed them with fresh water, and put the on a cookie sheet in the oven at 200 deg F until dry.

This removed all the crap from the primer pockets and left the cases looking shiny new.

I also used the ultrasonic cleaner to degunk my dies, they were loaded with crap.
 
i used to use an ultrasonic tank with solvent cleaner. no water used. But this was at a place that had a fume hood.
 
so i typically use my harbor freight ultrasonic for carburetors...remove the carb bowl...drop all parts in...add simple green pro...add hot water...run through as many cycles as it takes...rinse in clean water...dry with hair drier...and reassemble

any reason i can't follow the same process with a g19 but lube after drying?...field strip and drop all the parts in...would it be bad for the plastic parts or the springs?
 
Point37 said:
so i typically use my harbor freight ultrasonic for carburetors...remove the carb bowl...drop all parts in...add simple green pro...add hot water...run through as many cycles as it takes...rinse in clean water...dry with hair drier...and reassemble

any reason i can't follow the same process with a g19 but lube after drying?...field strip and drop all the parts in...would it be bad for the plastic parts or the springs?
Click to expand...

That's what I do, watch the temp and time.
 
Harbor freight...

7035722907453d1ce3b894f8bfbd6a53.jpg


67608b77c8f18490a7870d599723b2ce.jpg



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