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Thread: Harbor Freight Ultrasonic Cleaner

  1. #1
    Boolit Master 44Blam's Avatar
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    Harbor Freight Ultrasonic Cleaner

    I got one of these, but it doesn't appear to be cleaning very well... Also, does anyone know how to make it go for longer than 8 minutes at a time?

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    Boolit Master
    Rick Hodges's Avatar
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    I have a small Hornady cleaner....it will only run for 3 minutes at a time before you have to hit the button again. Twice through does a pretty good job with only water lemonshine and a drop of dawn. I have never used the commercial stuff that Hornady sells.

    What cleaning solution do you use? I wish mine would go for 8 minutes without stopping.

  3. #3
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    Mine cleans fine. Don"t overload it. I stir the brass several times while the cleaner is on. I use citric acid and dish soap in the water. One 8 min cycle to start then two 1 1/2 min cycles over 30 min with soak in between. I bought a Frankford Arsneal Rotary Tumbler (FART) at Christmas when they were on sale for about $125 to speed things up.
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    Wife got me mine for Christmas ,runs 15 mins max so I do two cycles with citric acid and washup liquid,tip it out refill with fresh solution for 5 min rince and leaf to dry then polish in tumbler.it's a quart capacity.

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    Depending on the wattage, will mean how much you can do at a time. Overloading diminishes the action. The better ultrasonics carry a serious price tag.
    Buyer beware.

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    Boolit Master pertnear's Avatar
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    I bought the Harbor Freight Ultrasonic Cleaner for de-carboning .22 RF cases as part of the bullet jacket making process. Let's just say, I've not been very impressed with the HF unit.
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  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by pertnear View Post
    I bought the Harbor Freight Ultrasonic Cleaner for de-carboning .22 RF cases as part of the bullet jacket making process. Let's just say, I've not been very impressed with the HF unit.
    It is definitely not a commercial unit. But it does work. It is much slower and has a smaller capacity.
    For the small time user it is fine, no need to spend thousands, but it got to be too slow for me so I got a FART.
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  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    I have a HF unit.

    I use my wife’s outdated concentrated lemon juice, dawn dish soap and pour in pre-heated water.

    The circuitry is cheap and light weight. You can not run long cycles back to back, that is just the way it is. But the alternative is spending a lot more money to save some time.

    Best regards

    Three44s

  9. #9
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    Mine was a $500 unit off ebray at a 70 % savings. You can load it to the max and it cleans as good as if it were lightly filled at any time you choose to dial in.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master 44Blam's Avatar
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    I "don't overload"... That's probably my problem. I filled it pretty full with shells, I'll take some out and see if it helps.

    I'm using the Harbor Freight powder - lord knows what's in it... And a little dawn.

  11. #11
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    I got rid of the Lyman version of that US cleaner. It's the same thing but it comes w/ a basket. It worked but the eight minute cycles, weak heating element and only one transducer caused me to upgrade. Expect to have to run cases through a minimum of three cycles to get them clean. Hot, close to boiling, water and dawn help a lot. You can buy a unit w/ more transducers on Amazon or eBay for a little more money. They're worth it.

  12. #12
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    The HF machine is just a toy......likd so much of thier Chicom stuff. Mainly sold to clean simple jewelry in small batches. Has no power to really clean at all! I have several very high wattage industrial units for cleaning clocks and those really make the dirt and grime “shake”. They have up to 8 tranducers on the bottoms. The solution you use is critical also. Water will do virtually nothing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by 44Blam View Post
    I "don't overload"... That's probably my problem. I filled it pretty full with shells, I'll take some out and see if it helps.

    I'm using the Harbor Freight powder - lord knows what's in it... And a little dawn.
    Try taking MOST of them out!!!!!!! US cleaners need room to work. And that little toy HF unit can clean only 1 or 2 things at at time. Do not treat it like a vibrator casing tumbler you fill to overflowing!!!!! Can’t do it.

    Try using a cleaning solution of citirc acid powder and water. Get it in the canning secetion of food stores.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by bangerjim View Post
    The HF machine is just a toy.....
    It's not a toy. I used one successfully for years. Use it w/in its limitations and it will serve you well. A reloader doesn't need the industrial units you have. There is no denying they work a lot better. But their price puts them out of range for most.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by dragon813gt View Post
    It's not a toy. I used one successfully for years. Use it w/in its limitations and it will serve you well. A reloader doesn't need the industrial units you have. There is no denying they work a lot better. But their price puts them out of range for most.
    If one is seriously into a hobby (which I am in several venues, besides guns), “out of range” price is not in the vocabulary! If one can determine the tight limits of something like the HF cleaner and get it to work for their needs repeatedly, then great! I buy the tools and equipment I need to get a job done effeciently and rapidly when I need them. And having all those “widgets” on the shelf the next time around is really nice.

    I acquired 3 of those HF cleaners in a box of junk I bought at a sale for $12 sometime back. After playing around with them and observing their limitations as to what I needed, I elected to donate them to Goodwill. More power (pun not intended) to those that find them sufficient for thier cleaning needs.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master rsrocket1's Avatar
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    Brass is an excellent absorber of ultrasonic energy and the HF cleaner is woefully weak. It took me four eight minute cycles to clean a maximum of 18 45ACP cases. Any more than 18 and it just acts as a vibratory cleaner which means you are just as well off by shaking the tub with a soapy solution.

    True ultrasonic cleaning should be achievable with nothing more than tap water and a drop of Dawn detergent. The brass needs to be separated and not touching each other. When the true ultrasonic action works, you will see tiny bubbles come from the brass and the soot coming off like smoke into the water and soap solution.

    Obviously with such a slow process of needing to push the button 4 times every 8 minutes for just 18 pieces of brass, it was traded in for a vibratory tumbler and I haven't looked back.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master 44Blam's Avatar
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    I gave up, gonna return it. Back to the the pack in a ton of shells into the vibro cleaner.

  18. #18
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    I returned mine. It needed 3 8min cycles to clean one layer of cases. Bought a LYMAN & LYMAN Cleaner "juice". Now I clean 100 223's in 8 minutes. Made a 300 case drying rack. By the time the 4th 100 are clean the 1st 100 are dry.
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  19. #19
    Boolit Bub
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    I LOVE my HB unltrasonic cleaner. I only use it for tarnished brass, and only put in a single layer of .30-06 brass. or what would be about the same for handgun brass. Have had it for 3 years and use it a lot. No malfunctions yet. Of course, having said that, I imagine when next I use it, it won't run. But I would get another right away.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Walks View Post
    I returned mine. It needed 3 8min cycles to clean one layer of cases. Bought a LYMAN & LYMAN Cleaner "juice". Now I clean 100 223's in 8 minutes. Made a 300 case drying rack. By the time the 4th 100 are clean the 1st 100 are dry.
    The Lyman TS-2500 and Harbor Freight units are the same unit in a different box. If you bought one of the larger Lyman units they are different.

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