Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

[Jig Stick]

I have been having great luck using a Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner to clean my cases. But waiting for the cases to dry afterwards always slowed my reloading process down. I used to use a cheap hair dryer to dry them faster, but I just stumbled upon a much more convienient way to dry them while also pissing off my wife!

As I was getting out of the shower this morning I grabbed a nice warm towel from our towel warmer. And I thought....shit, this thing may dry my brass nicely! And oh shit yeah did it work. I dumped 50 cases in it right out of the ultra sonic cleaner. And in about 8 minutes they all were dry. And it freed me up to do other stuff in the mean time. Try it, you guys may like it. You can buy the towel warmer for like 35$ at target or walleyworld

 

[DCR]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

Good to know. I just ordered the sonic cleaner from Harbor Freight myself.

 

[turbo54]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

I don't want to call you out, but I have a really, really hard time believing your brass can go from wet to "ready to load" dry in 8 minutes by laying it on a heated towel. How many watts is this towel heater?

I made myself a drying box out of an old 50 cal ammo can lined with mylar/reflective tape. I installed a wire mesh rack inside, a 100 Watt lightbulb, and an exhaust fan I got from radio shack.

I use the stainless media, but regardless of stainless or sonic, you end up needing to dry cases. After separating the media out with a rotary separator, I dump the cases out on a towel and shake them around to get them pretty much dry on the outside. Then I dump them into my drying box. It takes ~45 minutes in there for me to be 100% confident they are absolutely dry.

 

[Jumper]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

Take an old crock pot. Remove the ceramic pot and use as a water dish for your dog. Drill a few drain/vent holes in the bottom of the heating unit without hitting the wires. Pour in wet clean cases. Turn on. Wait. Done.

 

[armorpl8chikn]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

I may be going out on a limb here but I think he put the brass in the towel warmer and NOT in the warm towel. I would however wonder if it can dry them in as little as 8 minutes. Fast and convenient yes but I would want to make sure they are bone dry inside and out.

 

[427Cobra]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

A bath in Acetone, MEK, or Denatured Alcohol works faster

 

[turbo54]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 427Cobra</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A bath in Acetone, MEK, or Denatured Alcohol works faster </div></div>

Yes, those are effective. Huffing acetone fumes is bad. MEK fumes worse. Alcohol gets less and less effective each use. All are pricey in the volume needed..

I've tried a bunch of methods, and was about to give up on "wet" cleaning methods...until I built my drying box.

 

[DeSilva]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

I like to keep it simple....put my cases in the a pre heated oven on low heat (80C) and go watch tv for an hour. Come back, presto hey all dry for reloading.

 

[ykrvak]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

Not to bust your balls...... BUT.... People out there actually own towel warmers? Really? (eyeroll)

At least your putting it to good use.

 

[Ben Diss]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

I clean with a tumbler, ceramic beads and an ounce of Citranox in about a cup of water. 15 min and everything's clean. Oven works good to dry. 20 min on 250f, 20 min to cool and everything's ready for reloading.

 

[zepheris.hk]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

Toaster oven works wonders for me. 15 mins on 150-175F and its good inside out.

 

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

I think every major appliance manufacturer makes an accessory rack that attaches to the inside shell of their clothes dryer's door so you can dry items without them tumbling.

 

[Nessal]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

I'm pretty anal so I let them dry for a few days in the sun to make absolutely sure.

 

[jdmartin]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

If I want to load them quickly I rinse off the cleaning solution,blow them out with the compressor I use to air up tires,and sit them on a hot plate( metal disc) on the stove. Heat them until too hot to pick up and then turn off the stove . When they are cool enough to handle,they are dry enough to load.

 

[SScott]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

I use the Stainless steel media process for washing my brass. I used to get in a big hurry after washing it, I even put it in the oven, (it melted one of my shellholders) now I just lay them out on a towel, then put them in shell trays with holes drilled in them on top of a box fan for an hour.
SScott

 

[faron]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

which Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner are you using?

there's a $75 one
http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html

and a $30 one
http://www.harborfreight.com/ultrasonic-cleaner-3305.html

i'm assuming you have the bigger one?
which solution are you using with it?

 

[bohem]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

I spread mine out on a cookie sheet and I run them in the oven at "warm" (supposedly 170F) for about an hour.

 

[kombayotch]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

I just dump them in the cardboard boxes from cases of soda and let them dry at room temperature overnight.

 

[Jeffvn]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

Place them neck down on a .45ACP plastic tray and leave overnight. Gather them up and put them in appropriate sorted bag. They are now ready for sizing, priming, and loading.

Jeffvn

 

[jhelmuth]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

Place on a towel and let sit in the sunlight for an hour. The brass absorbs the heat from the suns ray (even in cool weather).
Very Eco-friendly

 

[vman]

Re: Drying Ultrasonic Cleaned Cases

I have a few bottles of Metholated Spirits that i purchased from the supermarket. Costs a couple of $ and is by no means breaking the bank account. I think for less than $10 I can have a few Litres of this stuff. Sorry gents, us Aussies roll with L, not gallons. Wtf is a gallon?

Anyway, I dump cleaned cases in the Metho. After a minute I pour the metho back into its container and then hit the cases up with a hair dryer. After a few minutes they are dry, with no water spots.

Most simple method I have found so far that reduces the chances of tarnishing on the outside of the cases.