Sonic cleaning

[DP425]

So I picked up a sonic cleaner from Harbor Freight- ordered up the basket for the lyman sonic cleaner (same model, different brands), and 32oz of Hornady One-Shot sonic cleaning solution.

For some reason my brain decided to not work quiet right- I put in 48oz of distilled water and 6oz of solution. I have no idea why but my brain said "yup, that's 40:1". LOL So yeah I mixed it a good bit stronger than it calls for. However, running 25pc of .308 brass at a time with the mixture fully heated... I let the cases soak for a couple minutes to come up to temp then run two cycles of 480 seconds, a dip in two rinse tanks and dry in the oven.

Does a pretty bang up job! I know steel media is all the rage these days, but I worry about the constant peening effect hardening the brass.

 

[azhank]

Re: Sonic cleaning

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DP425</div><div class="ubbcode-body">So I picked up a sonic cleaner from Harbor Freight- ordered up the basket for the lyman sonic cleaner (same model, different brands), and 32oz of Hornady One-Shot sonic cleaning solution.

For some reason my brain decided to not work quiet right- I put in 48oz of distilled water and 6oz of solution. I have no idea why but my brain said "yup, that's 40:1". LOL So yeah I mixed it a good bit stronger than it calls for. However, running 25pc of .308 brass at a time with the mixture fully heated... I let the cases soak for a couple minutes to come up to temp then run two cycles of 480 seconds, a dip in two rinse tanks and dry in the oven.

Does a pretty bang up job! I know steel media is all the rage these days, but I worry about the constant peening effect hardening the brass. </div></div>

I use the steel media, but would like to get one of these too. It seems like they would make cleaning so much easier. I havent looked into it yet, but have a question for you. How warm will the solution get when you use the heater function?

 

[DP425]

Re: Sonic cleaning

I don't know the actual temp, but warm enough that a little steam comes off of it. It's very apparent between using it without the warming function and with that the hot water makes a difference.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Re: Sonic cleaning

Both have their advantages. I use a sonic to clean, rempove lube, from my shells after they are sized, trimmed, and deswaged (if needed). I've borrowed a tumbler to clean brass that was collected wet and had some discoloration. I don't think brass needs to run though stainless everytime it's fired but it has it's place.

 

[DP425]

Re: Sonic cleaning

I don't know- I may try stainless tumbling. I guess with the water and actually tumbling and not vibrating there's less work hardening than maybe even cleaning in a vibratory cleaner. I don't know. But I was under the impression at first that it was done in a vibratory cleaner and dry...

 

[clmayfield]

Re: Sonic cleaning

When people say "work hardening," I think of the 50,000+ psi that brass gets during a firing or the hardening from working brass in a press. Tumbling in SS media does not work harden brass to remotely the same extent.

Now peening of the chamfer on the neck... that absolutely happens with SS media and you need to watch that with SS media if it is something you care about.

 

[DP425]

Re: Sonic cleaning

So what is the net effect of peening on the chamfer? Would that harden the neck?

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Re: Sonic cleaning

Roughens your nice smooth chamfer.

 

[doubled]

Re: Sonic cleaning

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DP425</div><div class="ubbcode-body">So what is the net effect of peening on the chamfer? Would that harden the neck? </div></div>

absolutely nothing. I ran 50 cases thru my SS tumbler for 3x normal time to "peen the mouths" and then ran 25 of them thru my Giraud to clean them up.

All 50 were loaded to the exact same specs and shot in 5-round groups. There was absolutely no change in group size, POI, or anything between the two lots.

The peening of the mouth talk is allot to do about nothing.

 

[Subxero]

Re: Sonic cleaning

i use a sonic cleaner, it is simple easy clean up and cheap. Bought it for like 30 bucks.

I generally use a water and light vinegar mixture for few minutes, then do another run in just H20.

the vinegar can discolor your brass a little but but if you don't care about it looking shiny then its not a problem.

 

[Utah Shooter]

Re: Sonic cleaning

I just used a Sonic Cleaner for the first time. I gotta tell ya works great. I did learn though that I need to use distilled water. If I use just tap water it turns the cases pinkish.

 

[GardDog]

Re: Sonic cleaning

I got my mixture from reading this: http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html

I don't use distilled water, but I run a couple cycles in a baking soda & water super saturated solution at the end. Never had discoloration.

 

[Gene Poole]

Re: Sonic cleaning

Vinegar is cheap and easy to find, but it's a bitch to clean up after. I've had the best luck with citric acid and detergent. It's a powder so it's easier to work with and it it rinses cleanly without having to neutralize (baking soda is caustic and probably worse for brass than acid); just rinse in distilled water.

I run 50-60 .308 cases with half a teaspoon of citric acid in a full US cleaner (about 2.5 liters I think) and a teaspoon of powdered detergent (Dawn or similar is fine too). I run one bath for 3 or 4 480-second cycles (it is usually so black I can't see through it at that point), then another bath with just about half a half-teaspoon (1/4 teaspoon) of citric acid powder only (mainly just to keep the pH down on my hard tap water), then rinse in a tray of distilled water heated on the stove to nearly boiling--just enough to cover the brass--and shake the brass around in it and dump it out onto a clean towel and let it air-dry. Heating the rinse allows it to dry very fast; too fast to allow any discoloration to occur.

 

[James P]

Re: Sonic cleaning

How well does it clean the primer pocket? I know the Sonic cleaning seems to be a better clean for the insides of the rounds versus typical media.

 

[DP425]

Re: Sonic cleaning

Cleans the primer pockets very well

 

[Gene Poole]

Re: Sonic cleaning

I get stubborn primer pockets sometimes when cleaning range brass of unknown origin. The gunk kind-of sticks in the pocket as a sort of dense sludge after sitting in the hot solution and I think maybe that muffles the ultrasonic effect or something. I just swab them with a q-tip, then back in the tank and that usually takes care of the stubborn ones.

When I clean my good match brass (Lapua) it's usually a day or two after firing and it never has a problem with the primer pockets.