Ultrasonic cleaner for cleaning fire brass? YES/NO

[sixstrings101]

I have a massive ultrasonic cleaner. Would there be any advantage to using this to clean brass over a tumbler plus media plus polish??

[RaisedByWolves]

I wouldnt recommend this as it may weaken your brass. This is only a WAG, but it will eat clean through tinfoil in under a minute.


.

[sixstrings101]

I wouldnt recommend this as it may weaken your brass. This is only a WAG, but it will eat clean through tinfoil in under a minute.


.

I just tried a test batch of 10 or so for about 15 minutes, and they cleaned up much better than my tumbler did in almost 45 minutes. The solution I used was not a very corrosive one. The insides of the cases almost looked brand new as compared with those done in the tumbler.

[RaisedByWolves]

Its not so much the solution as the ultrasonicness (?) that can eat at things. Dont take my word as gospel, but I would reasearch this if I were you.

[Lisa Morantz]

As Six Strings found out, ultrasonic is a fantastic cleaner. It is safe and gentle on most items as the cleaning is done with bubbles. These bubbles form and collapse, and gently lift dir away in the process. The cleaning process is called cavitation and has proven for years not only to work well for this type of cleaning, but in many other arenas as well including surgical and dental tools, jewelry, industrial parts, automotive parts, window blinds, electronics, fire restoration contents and much more.

If anyone else has any other questions about ultrasonics, I will be happy to answer them as we are a local manufacturer of this equipment. Thanks.

[wa3ra]

The brass has a much greater hardness than the aluminum foil (if it was 'real' tin foil, it would have taken much longer to break), and nice mild solutions clean the brass up very well. I use a little d'Solve in mine; takes about ten minutes to clean a handful.

[Xringshooter]

I do gun restoration and repairs and have use an ultrasonic cleaner to clean a complete gun when it is going to have all parts removed. Using a grease cutting solvent (hexane, heptane, tolulene, etc) in an ultrasonic will remove everybit of old greae and oil.

You will notice that when using one to clean it will heat the metal up which helps it dry when you take it out of the bath. This helps when cleaning brass as it's hard to dry the inside and that is where you must insure it is dry.

You have to understand what you are cleaning, what it's made of, what is on the surface (bluing, parkerizing, nickel plate, gold plate, etc.) and what solvent you are going to use to insure compatibility.

[sixstrings101]

Well, I guess this is the route in which I am going to take. I just knocked out about 4k primers out of some 9mm which I am going to clean. That handful that I tried just looked so pretty when it was finished.

[Posit]

I've been using a small one for a couple of months. From what I've read, the cleaning solution is a key... I use 50% water, 50% vinegar, a couple of drops of dish soap. Run them for 6 minutes, put the brass in a baking soda/water solution to neutralize the acid in the vinegar... put them back in the cleaner for 3 minutes. There may be a better mix, but I find that any carbon left on the outside wipes off, anything in the primer pocket is loose - move it out with a toothpick. Then, of course, gotta dry the cases... lay them out, put them in the over, hair dryer, any of those. Haven't used it enough to know if it damages cases, but haven't read anything to that effect.

[sixstrings101]

I've been using a small one for a couple of months. From what I've read, the cleaning solution is a key... I use 50% water, 50% vinegar, a couple of drops of dish soap. Run them for 6 minutes, put the brass in a baking soda/water solution to neutralize the acid in the vinegar... put them back in the cleaner for 3 minutes. There may be a better mix, but I find that any carbon left on the outside wipes off, anything in the primer pocket is loose - move it out with a toothpick. Then, of course, gotta dry the cases... lay them out, put them in the over, hair dryer, any of those. Haven't used it enough to know if it damages cases, but haven't read anything to that effect.

My father uses it for cleaning antique clock movements. If its ok on 100year+ clock movements, I'm sure its fine for my brass. Its a 5gal capacity so I did up about 500 rounds worth the other day in some of the solution that he said had been used pretty heavily. They cleaned right up. I ran the used solution through some cheese cloth and its ready to go again. He also has a drying oven so I just popped them in there and they're good to go.