DIY Ultrasonic Cleaner

[Fig]

I scored an industrial, heated ultrasonic cleaner in an auction (been wanting one for a long time) and started googling around and was a little disappointed at how valuable the commercial, ultra sonic, “gun cleaning” stuff is.
I’m wondering if everyone runs water and water based, or anhydrous/oil in their ultrasonic, and what recipes do you know beyond a little Dawn and some ammonia?
I’m primarily interested in cutting the baked on carbon in my cans rather than worried about lead or copper fouling, but would also like to maybe drop a field stripped pistol in as well.
Wondering if anyone has insight into the chemistry, process, sit times, etc.

 

[gigamortis]

I've tried numerous home brew and commercial products in my ultrasonic cleaner for cleaning brass. The best by far is Boretech Case Clean. 20 minutes is all it takes for clean rifle brass inside and out along with clean primer pockets. After my 20 minute cleaning run, I rinse the concentrate out and run a 10 minute cycle with just clean water to ensure all concentrate has let go of the brass. With the 10 minute rinse cycle, the brass doesn't discolor as much over time.

 

[bax]

Be careful putting a pistol in there. Wilson told me that it would strip the coating off a CQB.

 

[jrhtx]

Don't put anything AL in it either. It will eat it up.

 

[Fig]

Well, after experimentation and sifting through more bullshit YouTube videos than I care to recount, it seems that Zep, concentrated, purple degreaser is the stuff with a little ammonia and Dawn added It knocks the carbon out. The really thick shit gets soft.

The suppressors came 90% clean after 30 minutes, I scraped the deep areas (now soft) with a brass scraper, another 30 minutes, and they’re like new. I should have weighed the sealed cans first, but the water was black. The only can it hurt the finish on was the TB U9, but I don’t GAF, as long as it’s cleaned out. I suppose eventually it’s going to be Ti gold if I keep doing it, which I’m gona. I don’t own any aluminum cans, and very few aluminum framed pistols.

I also did a plastic pistol.
The FNX has an exposed trigger mechanism that gets gummed with carbon and is very difficult to get completely clean. 30 minutes in very hot and it was all like new, blew it out with WD40, and then CLP. This is the hardest pistol to clean and it’s never actually been completely clean. Beats the hell out of doing it manually. Totally worth it.

I was a little worried it would be a bust even though I’ve seen GMs put whole M2s in a freezer sized, heated, sonic cleaner. This one goes to 90c, which is plenty hot. I probably don’t need the WD40, as everything seems to dry out in a minute or so after coming out smoking.

 

[Threadcutter308]

Things I have been told;

Use distilled water (mineral free) in the cleaner tub, otherwise tap water can harm the ultrasonic transducer over time.

You can put your parts in a ziplock bag along with the cleaning solution, close the bag, then immerse the bag in distilled water in the ultrasonic cleaner tub. This prolongs the life of the transducer. Don't know if, or by how much it reduces the cleaning action, haven't tried it yet. Worth a try though.....

 

[El Viejo]

Well, after experimentation and sifting through more bullshit YouTube videos than I care to recount, it seems that Zep, concentrated, purple degreaser is the stuff with a little ammonia and Dawn added It knocks the carbon out. The really thick shit gets soft.

The suppressors came 90% clean after 30 minutes, I scraped the deep areas (now soft) with a brass scraper, another 30 minutes, and they’re like new. I should have weighed the sealed cans first, but the water was black. The only can it hurt the finish on was the TB U9, but I don’t GAF, as long as it’s cleaned out. I suppose eventually it’s going to be Ti gold if I keep doing it, which I’m gona. I don’t own any aluminum cans, and very few aluminum framed pistols.

I also did a plastic pistol.
The FNX has an exposed trigger mechanism that gets gummed with carbon and is very difficult to get completely clean. 30 minutes in very hot and it was all like new, blew it out with WD40, and then CLP. This is the hardest pistol to clean and it’s never actually been completely clean. Beats the hell out of doing it manually. Totally worth it.

I was a little worried it would be a bust even though I’ve seen GMs put whole M2s in a freezer sized, heated, sonic cleaner. This one goes to 90c, which is plenty hot. I probably don’t need the WD40, as everything seems to dry out in a minute or so after coming out smoking.

What was the formula using Zep Purple that was most effective? I use Dawn in my steel pin tumbler as a surfactant. Is that why you added it to the Zep? How much?