Ultrasonic cleaning BLUED steel gun parts?

[UNIQUEDOT]

Can someone turn me on to a solution that is both effective and SAFE for blued steel gun parts? I'm not inclined to pay for the commercial stuff unless absolutely necessary. I bought a heated frankford arsenal cleaner a few weeks ago just for this purpose. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/898794/frankford-arsenal-extreme-ultrasonic-case-cleaner-110-volt?cm_vc=ProductFinding any help would be greatly appreciated.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

How hot does the heat get? If it only gets warm, Ed's Red would be hard to be and is very inexpensive to make tons of it. That's what we use in our gunsmithing business, but we generally don't use the heat of the unit we have. Others have used (brain fart here) that green solution you mix with water to clean up the grease on the garage floor.

[UNIQUEDOT]

I don't even recall the instructions noting the temperature, but I left the heater on for a good while the first time I used it and the parts were too hot to hold in the hand. Using the heat on the unit is optional though. I tried simple green, mean green, and greased lightning mixed with water and even dish detergent, but it just didn't work well enough.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Simple green was what I was thinking about. Tried that and it just didn't work. If the temperature can be adjusted, the Ed's Red should work fine with it fairly warm. The only ingredient I'd be concerned about in Ed's Red for heat is the acetone. Not sure what the flash temperature is for that, but the transmission fluid in it should keep the flash temperature higher then acetone would be alone.

I'll be frank and say that these vibratory things get things started, but there's just no substitute for soaking over night, then scrubbing by hand with a USGI surplus "tooth" brush - the kind you get in a M16 cleaning kit. Soak, scrub, soak, scrub and so it goes until it's all off.

[Walter Laich]

Soak, scrub, soak, scrub and so it goes until it's all off.

Yea, they've been trying to improve on that method since Man picked up a stick and called it a weapon

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Yea, they've been trying to improve on that method since Man picked up a stick and called it a weapon

Yep, unfortunately, there just is no substitute for hands on cleaning. One day, if all goes well, they'll come up with a robot that'll be able to do it right.:drinks:

[ElDorado]

I've tried the Hornady commercial cleaner and didn't find it as effective as Simple Green or Dawn and water. I haven't tried Ed's Red, although I wouldn't use the heater if I did. I always end up scrubbing after the fact, anyway.

Be careful with Simple Green, it can remove the finish off of aluminum parts.

[UNIQUEDOT]

I already have the ingredients for ER so I think I'll give that a try.

[Pilgrim Sojourner]

I (and am sure others also) would appreciate your telling us how well this works for you.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I (and am sure others also) would appreciate your telling us how well this works for you.

Pilgrim, read my post's number 2 and 4 above. Your answer is there.

That said, Ed's Red is the most effective gun cleaner (particularly for milsurps and nasty 1911's from cheap ball ammo) for the least amount of money out there. Buy the ingredients in a quart or gallon size (leave out the lanolin to save money and use cheap plastic gloves when using), mix up 5 quarts or five gallons and place it back in the metal contains you bought the ingredients in (be sure to mark what it is) for long term storage.

I use a lot of Ed's Red in the gunsmithing business for two simple reasons: 1. It works extremely well for everything but copper (home made electronic bore cleaner and industrial strength ammonia take care of copper). 2. It's very inexpensive to make a lot. Used to be, 20 bucks bought the average guy about a two year plus supply. Not sure what the cost is now, haven't bought the ingredients in a couple years.

There you have it, straight from the guy who cleans up the jammed nasty guns the owner can't get working.

The vibratory cleaning thing helps a little bit, but to me, the best solution is to go get one of those tanks with the return feed from harbor freight and clean the guns in it. Use a screen on the bottom to keep from losing small parts. Drain and store the solution so it doesn't stink up your garage when you're not cleaning guns. Follow the reviewer's recommendations about priming the pump and keeping the pump seals lubed.

This is the one I like and use:

http://www.harborfreight.com/20-gallon-parts-washer-with-pump-60769.html

Here's a cheaper plastic model they offer, it gets more mixed reviews. Buy only at the store and read the reviews so you know what you're getting:

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-1-2-half-gallon-parts-washer-96952.html

[UNIQUEDOT]

Dave, how important is the acetone in the mixture? I don't have that ingredient on hand. BTW the parts washer you mention was my first choice, but I went with the ultrasonic in the end thinking that it would save me labor and time...oh well.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

The acetone is pretty important in my mind. It's a real grease cutter and though it's very evaporative and makes odors, it works very well and the ingredients are a chemist's modernization of the old Hatcher notebook formula the US arsenals used back when. You can pick the acetone up at Lowe's, they have it in the cans and have the good stuff vs. Home Depot who is going to plastic and "watered down" chemicals for more money, less performance.