Ultrasonic brass cleaning...

centerfire_223

centerfire_223

New member
I bought me a ultrasonic cleaner the other day and have been watching some videos on how to use it to clean brass. Looks like it works pretty good. Though I can't find an answer to a question I have.

What is the difference of using distilled water and tap water to rinse the cases off with or for mixing the solution? Does it make that big of a difference? Any ideas here would help out.
 
Tap water can leave a residue where distilled won't.

I use my own solution mixture and rinse with tap water with no problems. How hard is your tap water?
 
If you don't mind me asking, what is your solution that you use? I have read online to use vinegar, dish detergent, and distilled water. I am going to try it for the first time tomorrow.

Our water isn't very hard at all.
 
CLR [calcium lime and rust remover] or Lime away works well too. I agitate them by hand, rinse them in the sink and air dry them on a towel. I deprime prior to soaking as well.
 
I use the Hornady brand additive.

After rinsing and draining good I put them on a cookie sheet and slip them in the oven @ 200 Degrees till dry.

DAB
 
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Well I tried the recipe that I found online, vinegar, dish detergent and water. I have ran this sucker for about 6-8 times and they are still black on the insides.

Maybe I didn't put enough vinegar in the mixture. Gonna have to go back and read the article again an see where i messed up.
 
I tried something new in the sonic cleaner last night. i used plain ole lemon juice out of the bottle, mixed with water. It got them clean but not shiny. Anyone know what to use to make them shiny? I guess i could always run them through the tumbler for a little bit.
 
The Lemi-Shine is some weird stuff. It works well to clean out the dishwasher and HE Washing machines, too. It just plain breaks up the gunk...and smells good.
 
Just got one two weeks ago. Using 20:1 distilled water and Lymann case cleaner. It does a killer job. I ran it a few times on the same solution. Cleaned 100 22-250, 100 .223 and 400 9mm.
Working on an easy (and quick) drying method.....nothing yet on that.

Any tips on drying ???
 
Originally Posted By: ShovelheadaveJust got one two weeks ago. Using 20:1 distilled water and Lymann case cleaner. It does a killer job. I ran it a few times on the same solution. Cleaned 100 22-250, 100 .223 and 400 9mm.
Working on an easy (and quick) drying method.....nothing yet on that.

Any tips on drying ???

Hair drier with the cases spread on a towel.

Works well for small batches of brass.


.
 
I ran another load thru the cleaner with just the lemon juice and water. I am amazed at how shiny the brass is, inside and out. Right now I have ran about 300 through the same lemon/water mixture. Working great now!!!!

Here is the last load that came out. They are nice and shiney.
001-4.jpg


Here is the first ones. Notice the tarnished looking ones on the left and the clean ones on the right. I think what happened was I didn't run any baking soda through it to stop the tarnishing of the vinegar. Though they were never as clean as the ones with just the lemon.
002-4.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: ShovelheadaveJust got one two weeks ago. Using 20:1 distilled water and Lymann case cleaner. It does a killer job. I ran it a few times on the same solution. Cleaned 100 22-250, 100 .223 and 400 9mm.
Working on an easy (and quick) drying method.....nothing yet on that.

Any tips on drying ???

After rinsing and draining put on cookie sheet that has sides and stick in oven at 200 Degrees till dry, I can dry over 100 300Win. Mag at a time. Could do more if I had another cookie sheet.

But DO NOT set the oven on say 500 or so as sure as he11 you will forget them and they turn out looking like the whole case was annealed. Did that a few years ago when I used some Birchwood Casey brass cleaner. It was only about 25 pcs. of brass so I tossed them.

DAB
 
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