Whats your favorite homebrew ultrasonic cleaning solution for brass?

[Mytmousemalibu]

Howdy y'all!

1st, Just joined up after guest browsing for a long time, don't know why I didn't sooner but pleasure to be a member none the less! I've picked up a lot over the years and hopefully can contribute to the wealth of knowledge on this forum!


So just curious, what kinds of homebrew ultrasonic brass cleaning solutions have you folks created? How are the results and any pros/cons? When i'm doing like pistol load development and only a handful of brass I don't bother going out to my shop to fire up my wet tumbler out of convenience. My wet tumbler is home built of my own design and it is a little bulky and can do large amounts of brass. So I just toss my small batches of 50 or less sized/deprimed cases in my Lyman 2500 Turbo Sonic and that does a reasonably good job. Of course it is heated and I use water with a few ounces of Simple Green and a couple squirts of Ballistol.

I haven't played around with much else, but looking for potential better mixes without using the expensive commercial cleaner solutions. Perhaps I should? But that's why i'm asking you guys! :wink:

[RKJ]

Mine is plain & simple. A couple of squirts of dawn dish washing soap (a few lines in on the bottom does just fine) and a couple of shakes of Lemishine (you can get it at WM, the granulated kind). It does a great job, and cheap. I've got the Hornady solution and find the home made works just as well.

[goryshaw]

I run cases through the vibratory cleaner first thing after returning from the range, then lube and resize/deprime before running them through the ultrasonic. I don't care so much about shiny anymore, just getting the carbon out and lubricant off. Tap water and dishwashing detergent, maybe a dash of lemishine for really dirty range brass if necessary. Two eight minute sessions then change the solution and two more sessions. Then spread them out to dry on paper towels or an old towel overnight.

[Case Stuffer]

I have owned a comercial US for over a year (purchased to rapid age E Juice for Vapeing) and this morning was the first time I used it for cleaning brass. I only had 50 9mm cases to clean and most just did it as a test. My US unit hold 72 oz. so I added that much warm water the deprimed cases ,a small squirt of Ajax dish soap and a 9mm case of Lemon shine powder, set time for 45 minutes and when it cut off they were clean as new, outside ,inside, primer pockets and all. Water was at 35C at the start and 53C at then end even though I did not turn heater function on.

Dumped dirty water,gave them a rinse ,added a little baking soda and let them run for a few minutttttes ,dumped,rinsed uder facet and placed on rack in sum to dry.f

[Mytmousemalibu]

Interesting! You know, I have/use Lemi-Shine for rotary tumbling my brass, I don't know why it never occurred to me to try it in my ultrasonic....[smilie=b:

Something else I might try is plain citric acid solution. I restore Coleman lanterns & lamps and other things of that nature and I use citric acid/warm water for cleaning up the brass parts to great effect. Just a guess but I bet Lemi-Shine contains citric acid, hence the name. I do know guys on the Coleman forum that use Kool Aid of cleaning brass because of the high citric acid content, could use that! Brings another whole new meaning behind "don't drink the Kool Aid" :wink:

[EDG]

BenzotriazoleSynonym: 1,2,3-Benzotriazole, 1H-Benzotriazole

Mix a tiny amount of this with some alcohol and then mix that with a rinse solution or your cleaning solution.
This will keep the copper from tarnishing.

http://www.copper.org/publications/pub_list/pdf/a1349.pdf

[Mytmousemalibu]

Benzotriazole

Synonym: 1,2,3-Benzotriazole, 1H-Benzotriazole

Mix a tiny amount of this with some alcohol and then mix that with a rinse solution or your cleaning solution.
This will keep the copper from tarnishing.

http://www.copper.org/publications/pub_list/pdf/a1349.pdf

Where is a good source for this out of curiosity?

[EDG]

It is one of the active ingredients in Birchwood Casey case cleaner if you prefer it already mixed.
Otherwise look for it at photo supply houses. There is a trick to mixing it so read the requirements for getting it to mix.
Adorama sells it http://www.adorama.com/pyb10g.html

So does Photographers Formulary http://stores.photoformulary.com/benzotriazole/

another photo supply http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/123748-REG/Photographers_Formulary_10_0250_10G_Benzotriazole_ Anti_Fog_1.html


Where is a good source for this out of curiosity?

[flyingmonkey35]

I use
Deprime first.

1 part distilled white vinegar
3 parts hot water

2 drops of liqued dish soap.

Stir.

20 mins in the ultra sonic cleaner

A quick dunk in a baking soda water.

Rinse / dry

Then if I want them shiney 10 minutes in a tumbler with nushine car polish.

Brand new brass.

[Dragonheart]

Lemi-Shine and a degreaser like Sam's club Super Degreaser or a little Simple Green. Ultrasonic works best with some type of soap (degreaser) in the water. The Lem-Shine tends to speed up the process by removing the oxidation on the brass.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Excellent! I'll be trying some of your guy's blends. Thanks for the links for the Benzotriazole, I'll take a look at that. I like experimenting with things like this. I like it even better if I can match or best commercial products at home for a lower cost.

[Riverrider2]

I use
Deprime first.

1 part distilled white vinegar
3 parts hot water

2 drops of liqued dish soap.

Stir.

20 mins in the ultra sonic cleaner

A quick dunk in a baking soda water.

Rinse / dry

Then if I want them shiney 10 minutes in a tumbler with nushine car polish.

Brand new brass.

I’m going to try this one tonight. I think vinegar should do just as well as any other (citric) acid.

[agentwolf]

My Brass Cleaner Recipe:

1 qt. Water (4) Cups
1 c. Vinegar
1 Tbsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Dish Soap

(200) 40 S&W (2) 480 Seconds