Lyman Ultrasonic Case Cleaner - 115 Volt

[OnTheFly]

Anyone have experience with the ultrasonic cleaners?  I have a chance to by a Lyman Ultrasonic Case Cleaner - 115 Volt (#7631700) for $87 + shipping.  Not sure if the ultrasonic cleaners work that well.

Fly

[OnTheFly]

NO ONE uses an ultrasonic cleaner or has any experience with them?

Fly

[SemperFiGuy]

Fly.........

Coupla places to check out while waiting for response from Forum members:

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

http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/ultrasonic-cartridge-cleaning-tips/

http://www.realguns.com/articles/202.htm

Cordially,

sfg

[00BUCK]

I've got a Hornady Magnum sonic and I love it. I do brass in it, as well as pistol barrels, frames and slides. AR bolts come out perfectly clean. I've even used it to clean the carb for my snow blower. I like the dual transducers, selectable temp and time and the size of it. If you can swing it go for the magnum - I had a smaller one at first and realized how much more I could do with the bigger tank and 2X the power.

[OnTheFly]

Thanks 00BUCK. I will look at the Hornady. The Hornady, while more expensive than the Lyman I was looking at, is still cheaper than the traditional vibratory cleaner and media separator I was originally considering.

Fly

[OnTheFly]

00BUCK,

Do you have the 115 or 220 volt model? Not sure if there is a huge advantage with the 220. I would rather not have to run a 220 line to my man cave. That could get expensive.

Fly

[jonm]

I use my ultrasonic cleaner for gun parts only. The extra time/hassle it takes to get brass clean, it isnt worth it IMO.

I use this for cleaning/separating media. It is inexpensive and effective.
http://www.natchezss.com/brand.cfm?contentID=productDetail&brand=UY&prodID=UYNSSIKIT02&prodTitle=Smart%20Reloader%20SR787%20Dream%20Tumbler%20&%20SR405%20Media%20Separator%20Combo

You can also get cheap tumbling media from here. I bought some 2 years ago and I'm not even 1/4 the way through the bag.
http://www.drillspot.com/products/499763/econoline_526020g-40_40_lbs_blast_media

[wallace11bravo]

Some discussion here: http://nebraskafirearms.org/forum/index.php/topic,6495.msg46350.html#msg46350

[00BUCK]

00BUCK,

Do you have the 115 or 220 volt model? Not sure if there is a huge advantage with the 220. I would rather not have to run a 220 line to my man cave. That could get expensive.

Fly

I have the 115V version. I don't believe there is a performance difference between the two.

I don't clean ALL of my brass in it - just the stuff I am loading for accuracy - it does get the insides of the cases and the primer pockets perfectly clean. I love it for bigger gun parts.

The wife likes it too for jewelry. She puts a mason jar in the basket, fills the tank with water fills the mason jar with cleaning solution  up to the water line. Puts her jewelry in the mason jar for about 10-15 minutes.

[unfy]

Sold lead to Ronvandyn, and immediately went to Cabella's heh.  Was debating some 30-30 dies, but decided to go with an ultra sonic cleaner instead.

They had a sign up for the Lyman 700 (smallest model) for $49.  Picked it up. Sign was in error, but they gave me the discounted price (from $69 iirc) and kept the sign heh.  Gotta say the service to customer was nice .  I didn't have to balk or get nasty.  And if they weren't going to give it to me at that price woulda just bought dies instead heh.

Anyhoo, it's a single transducer, 1 liter capacity thing that can go up to 10min.  It is NOT heated.

To copy / paste an email I sent recently about it:


I skipped buying 'official' solution for the ultrasonic.  Going with a cap full of mr clean and a cap full of ammonia per cup of solution (comes out to about 4 cap fulls of each).  Jeweler guy (was talking to over by the powders near the muzzle loading stuff) suggested it and it sounds similar to what I've seen online.  Although i think online possibly mentioned vinegar instead, i dunno.  Anyhoo, $20 for a bottle of cleaning solution is a bit extreme for brass cases.

It... generally cleans as advertised.  The Lyman 700 is tiny (a quart capacity)... and doesn't have a heating element.... so it's not suggested.  But as a get-feet-wet splash, I'm liking it so far.

I took some 30-50 year old rifle brass and put it through it along with some normal and fairly dirty 40s&w.  It does indeed clean insides of the cases nicely, and 3 out of 4 primer pockets were very clean.  Some of the ancient brass was still a bit dirty in the primer pockets heh but thats kinda forgivable.

The 40s&w came out cleaned nicely.  There was a 1x from factory starline brass in the bunch.  It came out clean, obviously, but also it was used to contrast appearance from tumbled brass.  Tumbled brass is usually very very shiny.  This came out... kinda like how glass can come out of a dishwasher.  'Foggy' in appearance ? I dunno.

The rifle brass was interesting.  It was greatly discolored going into the sonic... and quite brown.  If I didn't know better, I'd say it looks a little better now.

I'll have to try preheating my water on the next go around.


If anyone wants to fiddle with it or see it in action, send me a PM through the forum and we can work something out.  I'd prefer to do it at my work (Hwy 370 and Fort Crook Rd in Bellevue).  Bring your own brass naturally .

edit:

the thing says you can use tap water, but jewelry guy suggested ya boil tap water to get rid of chlorine or to use distilled water

[Ronvandyn]

Glad to have helped out.  A WIN-WIN in my book!

Ron

[unfy]

Dunno if this needs to be a new thread or just tack on to this thread.

When purchasing my experimental Lyman TS-700 itty bitty thing, a jeweler at Cabela's suggested to always fill the basin up to the max line, even if not doing a full load of brass or similar.  He mentioned it was hard on the transducers if ya don't do so and can cause early burn out... especially if you run the machine empty.

Heating the solution seems helps it work better.  The TS-700 doesn't have a heating element, most of the more expensive ($110+) have a heating element.  I just threw my distilled water in the microwave.

While Lyman and others suggest using tap water, the jeweler mentioned either boiling your tap water or using distilled water to get rid of chlorine.

For those of us not willing to spend $20 a bottle on cleaning solution.... this is what I've worked out so far.

Same jeweler suggested a cap full of Mr Clean and and a cap full of ammonia per cup of  water.

Known caveats:
* mr clean is a very low solution of sodium hydroxide based
** ie: lye, should be fine afaik. 
** straight lye eats aluminum though heh.
* ammonia and brass are historically known to not get along and cause cracking... i've not seen any problems
* seems to work fine, but i've noted discoloration in different brass and such
** working on what's going on.. not sure...
** maybe freshly tumbled brass still has some of the corn/walnet-media activator on it ?

Do NOT use Simple Green.  Simple Green is known to wreck havoc with aluminum.  Whether if this is gun parts or just the basin of the cleaning device itself.

Some folks have fiddled with citric acid (Zep makes a cleaner based off of it .... copper sulfate... citric acid... i think i like this company! heh).


Actually... these guys appear to have done some extensive testing and I'll go about trying to replicate some of their tests:

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

I'll prolly go with attempting variations (time based) of this:

CHEAP and CLEAN
24 minutes - 50% Vinegar + 1 Drop Dish Soap per 8 ounces water
480 seconds - Baking Soda (BS) in water (1 grain BS per ounce of water)
480 seconds - Hot Water
480 seconds - Distilled Water
Total: 48 minutes

The TS-700 doesn't like running for more than 20min at a go... or was it 30 ? I dunno... but the manual says 'let it rest' if ya do extended periods heh.  I'm also going to have to do something with the basket, it's darn near impossible to remove from the unit sometimes.  Prolly just a couple strings.

Lastly... the TS-700 doesn't have a simple way to dump the solution out.  Just gotta flip the whole unit upside down etc.  I'll need to go about getting some large jars or something to hold solutions in or something.

Next few days will be fun!

[unfy]

CHEAP and CLEAN
24 minutes - 50% Vinegar + 1 Drop Dish Soap per 8 ounces water
480 seconds - Baking Soda (BS) in water (1 grain BS per ounce of water)
480 seconds - Hot Water
480 seconds - Distilled Water
Total: 48 minutes

Followed this, skipping the hot water.  Came out quite nice.  Thus 24 + 8 + 8 min = 40min.  Did the experiment on just 30 pieces. 2 or 3 pieces weren't perfect, but there were some nasty pieces before going into the dip, could be them.  I think 1 didn't have a clean interior.  The rest really nice.

Documentation says it can do 100 9mm cases.  I'll work on upping the quantity count... for plinking pistol brass, 30 pieces aint gonna cut it in 40min .  I'll look into faster plinking-fine-brass later.  But for benchrest ? oh yes.

[OnTheFly]

Followed this, skipping the hot water.  Came out quite nice.  Thus 24 + 8 + 8 min = 40min.  Did the experiment on just 30 pieces. 2 or 3 pieces weren't perfect, but there were some nasty pieces before going into the dip, could be them.  I think 1 didn't have a clean interior.  The rest really nice.

Documentation says it can do 100 9mm cases.  I'll work on upping the quantity count... for plinking pistol brass, 30 pieces aint gonna cut it in 40min .  I'll look into faster plinking-fine-brass later.  But for benchrest ? oh yes.

Out of ALL the NFOA forum members, I think you have the most fitting avatar.

Fly

[unfy]

Out of ALL the NFOA forum members, I think you have the most fitting avatar.

Fly

Thanks, it *IS* growing on me heh.

I dunno, I liked Dan's ****-storm animated GIF avatar he had a lil while ago.  So very appropriate for his admin/moderation of the board .

And I do still rather like my old ghostbusters stay puft pic.

Anyhoo, back on topic... the 30 pieces (of 40s&w btw) came out real nice after drying.  So the vinegar/dish soap/baking soda process is a win.

Next up: what would be the 'minimum' time for plinking brass.

After that: how many can I get it to do at once for both plinking and purty.

[unfy]

Fly: did you ever end up buying the Lyman 2500 ?


I am *nearly* sold on the ultrasonic thing.

Trying to debate an appropriate upgrade path after I put this lil lyman through it's paces over the next few days.

Having to juggle 3 solutions is a tad irritating.  Granted, on a larger unit... would only be juggling the solutions once.  Still irksome.  But... depending on quality of the product... buying say, 3 units to assembly line it... might not be out of the question.  Ok, it is.  I don't clean THAT much brass

The $150 2500 lyman is single transducer.

The $280 lyman is dual transducers and has a drain hose attachment... but that's kinda steep, and at 13x8x4 inches... it could handle multiple pistol frames and such... but... not a rifle barrel ... somewhat detracting from possible 'maybe?!' applications.

RCBS has a 3 liter thing that looks to have a drain hose for ~$150 (single transducer, heating element):

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/649164/rcbs-ultrasonic-case-cleaner-110-volt

And then there's this thing, which... I dunno how to form an opinion on:

http://www.harborfreight.com/18-lb-vibratory-bowl-with-liquid-drain-hose-96923.html

And this thing, which could be used as a cheaper wet steel pin based tumbler:

http://www.hobbywarehouse.com/130-A-R12-Rock-Tumbler?gclid=CPnbvISa4LQCFWaoPAod5lwAeg



edit: price correction on the lyman 6000 from 350->280

[OnTheFly]

I did not buy the Lyman. I am now consider the top end Hornaday dual transducer all (?) metal unit.

Thanks for playing around with these solutions. It's good to know that they work.

Fly

[unfy]

The Hornady Magnum seems to get great reviews, which is encouraging.

Dual transducers, heating (if desired), are both great.

Hornady style metal everywhere is encouraging too.

Basket has handles. yay.

Timer unit allegedly goes to 99min... so it's built for heavy duty cycles maybe ?  The FAQ on hornady's site appears to be geared towards 8min cycles, might be in direct relation to the older models ?

00Buck has one and likes it.

I personally like Hornady products, but that's just me.

For detractions:

Weird tank capacity for the price range.  It's around 3L.  $40 more gets you the lyman 6000 with twice the capacity (and more plastic), $100 less gets you an RCBS of similar capacity (and one less tranducer), and $150 less can get you the lyman 2.5L unit (and also single transducer).

With the weird tank capacity thing said -- do you really need to clean more than 200x308 brass or 400x223 brass in one 'go' ? Prolly not .

If you're going to use the hornady case cleaning solutions, then the lack of simple way to empty it of solution isn't as annoying.  Instruction manual says to tip and pour out of one the back corners to avoid getting electronics wet.


Having seen how one transducer works, I'm interested to see how two handles things.   I'm also curious if it's truly required on 2-3 liter or not.

For me, I'll prolly try the RCBS thing, just because it has a drain plug.  It'll also be an interesting foray into 3 liter capacity with only a single transducer.

I'll post pics later, although it doesn't really matter.  The 6mmbr.com link above has pics that are fairly accurate.  But it'll be interesting to see how shorter times affect things etc.