The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old April 8, 2012, 08:59 AM   #1
rogerxvr
Member
 
Join Date: July 2, 2007
Posts: 42
ultrasonic cleaner

Anyone have any input on the harbor freight ultrasonic brass cleaner at 29.00>????
rogerxvr is offline  
Old April 8, 2012, 09:05 AM   #2
Jim243
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 5, 2009
Location: Just off Route 66
Posts: 5,067
I have one and I consider it useless, too small a motor. Get the large $79.95 one if you get one at all.

Jim
__________________
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Jim243 is offline  
Old April 8, 2012, 09:18 AM   #3
rogerxvr
Member
 
Join Date: July 2, 2007
Posts: 42
Thanks jim i'll look in to that one.
rogerxvr is offline  
Old April 8, 2012, 12:14 PM   #4
m&p45acp10+1
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 3, 2009
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 3,930
I have one. It works. Though If you can afford the bigger one I would say for it. You can run it for longer cycles. The small one you are stuck with 3 minute cycles. You have to restart it every three minutes. Though brass usualy cleans up in four cycles or less in mine. For super shiny, and clean flash holes use the sonic cleaning powder with a touch of dish soap, and a quarter cup of white vinegar. Also be sure to rinse the brass well when done.
__________________
No matter how many times you do it and nothing happens it only takes something going wrong one time to kill you.
m&p45acp10+1 is offline  
Old April 8, 2012, 07:40 PM   #5
er775
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 9, 2011
Posts: 129
I went to the harbor freight store in des moines and looked at the $29 cleaner, it is wayyy too small, looked like it would only hold 20-30 223 cases at a time, they were sold out of the bigger one
er775 is offline  
Old April 9, 2012, 05:24 PM   #6
m&p45acp10+1
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 3, 2009
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 3,930
I can fit about 80 or so .223 Rem cases in mine. It works just fine for what I use it for. If I am doing a large number of cruddy range pick ups I tumble them for an hour, then process them. After lubing, sizing/depriming, and trimming I trow a couple of hand fulls in the cleaner, and run for 3 cycles. Pull the basket, rinse, then repeat with the next batch. I only process a couple of hundred .223 at a time as I do not do large batches for trimming.

Pistol brass if it is cruddy range pick up. Goes into the tumbler for an hour or so. After that it gets reloaded till I loose them, or the case mouth cracks.
__________________
No matter how many times you do it and nothing happens it only takes something going wrong one time to kill you.
m&p45acp10+1 is offline  
Old April 9, 2012, 08:01 PM   #7
thedaddycat
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 25, 2011
Posts: 388
I have the 2.6 quart unit. It works fine for what I do with it. I mix 80% water and 20% white vinegar with a spoonful of dish soap. I run it 4 or 5 cycles (3 min.) and the brass comes out pretty clean. I fill it up with as much brass as will fit and still be under the surface of the liquid. Maybe 75 or 80 .30-06 cases, over a hundred .223 I think will fit. I do use the heater when I clean with it. When I did a bunch of rifle brass it was already sorted by headstamp so I just did however many of that headstamp I had that would fit.
thedaddycat is offline  
Old April 9, 2012, 09:21 PM   #8
jef2015
Member
 
Join Date: September 23, 2011
Posts: 34
I agree with the guys that said get the larger one.
jef2015 is offline  
Old April 9, 2012, 09:45 PM   #9
Will Lee
Member
 
Join Date: November 30, 2011
Location: North Texas
Posts: 99
I have the Hornady Lock-N-Load Sonic Cleaner 2L model & I use the Hornady One Shot Sonic Clean™ Solution - Cartridge Case Formula & Gun Parts Formula.

Does a fantastic job on cases & the best thing going for cleaning AR parts.

Will Lee is offline  
Old April 10, 2012, 08:02 AM   #10
toolguy2006
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 28, 2010
Location: Western Washington State
Posts: 144
I have the larger of the harbor freight models, and I have found that it really only has the power to clean about twenty .308 cases at a time. You can put a lot more in at once, but it just takes a lot longer to get them clean. Also, I put my cases in a container, which is filled with the cleaning solution, and the cleaner itself is filled with water.

I have found that this process works very well:

http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html

Using these containers to hold the cases:

http://www.etundra.com/Camwear%C2%AE...fhu=3735333038
toolguy2006 is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:46 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.05558 seconds with 10 queries