Ultrasonic cleaner for guns and other stuff

[cheese1566]

I picked up a decent industrial ultrasonic cleaner for $30. Needed cleaning and a basket. I made up a basket system from Walmart that will keep items off the bottom (which I read is a no no.) and incorporates a smaller basket for finer parts. It went together good as I can suspend the small basket over large parts near the bottom. The smaller basket is 2" over the bottom basket. I figure I can do a handgun with the small parts in the overhead basket. Either will easily hold a AR bolt or slide.
it is a Branson 185 watt that was sold as a diesel injector cleaner. Has a heater and seems to hold up to the aluminum foil test. I added the glock decal to cover the melted area by the heater element on the tank. I think someone left it on with not enough liquid. I resealed the tank to the base with new silicone.

i have never used one and want to use it for gun cleaning and other metal parts like dies. I doubt I will ever use it for brass cleaning as I SST tumble.
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Anyone have experience with the Brownell's branded ultrasonic cleaner and after oil products? Seems the best deal for $32 each after my LE discounts.

i would love to see if it would work on my suppressor baffles, but they are non- anodized bare aluminum. I am afraid it will damage them. I have scrap left over to test.

Any issues I should be concerned with with gun cleaning ?

[comdiver]

Where did you find it? I've been thinking there must be something like that out there in the surplus/used market. Medical?

[justashooter]

When I was a helicopter turbine engine mechanic we had a nearly identical unit for use in cleaning carbon deposits from fuel system parts. We used Varsol as a solvent. Varsol is about the consistency of diesel fuel, is filtered very clean, dissolves any petroleum based greases, is non-estering, and relatively non-toxic. It is also nearly non-flammable, as petroleum products go, and does not react with aluminum. a simple aluminum baking pan would be a cheap cover to keep your solvent clean and hold the smell down.

[gkainz]

Would love to hear more discussion on this - I've been cleaning both blued and stainless guns with my Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner (looks physically identical to the Lyman Turbo Sonic). I use dish-washing soap and hot water. Interested in hearing about different ultrasonic cleaners.

[cheese1566]

I found it on a local facebook garage sale ad for $40. I offered $30 as it needed a cleaning and reseal. It had a label on it relating to cleaning diesel fuel injectors using a sodium hydroxide solution. It came with a SST shelf platform that was corrugated to hold injectors. Seems to work OK as I dropped in some foil. I cleaned it up and blew out the spider webs.

My biggest dilemma is finding a decent weapon solution. Brownells has some and the best look to be in the ($60 range). The cleaner is OK as it makes up about ten gallons, but then you also have to buy an oil to keep the parts from rusting. Browells is out of the cleaner but have the lube, for $32 a gallon. I was looking at L&R Ultrasonics solutions but they are $60-$70 per gallon. They have the best reviews as the Brownells brand dont. L&R states you can use the weapon cleaner for brass cases too.

RCBS came out with a weapon cleaner concentrate for $22 that makes ten gallon. Waiting from them to see if it is OK with aluminum and needs an oil bath afterword (I suspect so as it is mixed with water...)

I did drop my raw scraps of 6061 and 7075 alum in the machine with plain water for 30 minutes and didnt see any pits or corrosion.

I see Hornady has a replacement basket for about $15 that may work. It is for their Magnum Sonic which I think is about the same size. I also read some manufacturers use (or have used) restaurant steam table pans used in buffet lines for the tanks. That may be handy if they fit to use as an indirect tank for some cleaners or the oil bath. Those lids hopefully fit.

[comdiver]

Does anyone know if the medical industry uses ultrasonic cleaners.

[cheese1566]

medical, dental, and optometry

My dentist had some in his storage that didnt work. I asked if he had a basket but he had tossed them already. Ebay is a possibility.

[RKJ]

You might try Dawn dish washing soap and some lemishine. I've used that combo on my SS guns and they come out sparkling. You also might want to check your blued guns before you put them into it, I took the bluing completely off a M28 using mine. That was an expensive lesson. :)

[cheese1566]

I plan on using a commercial weapon cleaning solution.

[pme166]

I posted this over in the other thread, but it seems appropriate here also.

I use mpro7 as my primary cleaner in my Stuellersonic. It was not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. I bought mine factory refurbished for about $500 many years back and use it routinely. I believe my unit new runs around $1500. It takes well over a gallon of Mpro7 so I normally keep one used gallon and half along with one new gallon to top off the solution over time.


My routine is run 15 minutes with the heater on and full power with a full tank per disassembled gun. I wipe down and get rid of grease and soft stuff first like loose powder and then into the Ultrasonic it goes. After 15 minutes it comes out immaculate. I normally brush the barrel a few times and look to see if any gunk left in it. If so another 15 minutes along with the next gun. I let the first gun drip dry into a pan.


After all guns are through the Mpro7 stage, I open the drain cock, filter the mpro7 through a coffee filter and then switch to L&R gun oil. Here I just have two full gallons of the stuff as the guns do not seem to absorb much of it. Again, another 15 minutes then the hot oily gun gets drip dried while the next one runs. Once done drain the oil out and pack away.


While the second gun is running in the L&R stage, I conventional lube and assemble the first gun and repeat until all guns are done.


It is hard to describe how clean the guns are out of my ultrasonic. Surgically clean is the best description. It is a clean unlike anything you probably have ever seen frankly. Right down in the roll marks, in the fine scratches of the machining marks is perfectly clean. It is really impressive but putsy. I figure it takes about an hour to do the first gun and then an additional 20 minutes per additional gun.


So bottom line, I use Mpro7 as my cleaner, no dilution, straight up and it runs about $50 a gallon delivered. I use L&R gun oil, straight up at about $30 a gallon delivered (old price though. I have not bought any in years.)