My New Ultrasonic Cleaner

Rocketmandb

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  • Nov 2, 2018
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    The fan in my Hornady 2L ultrasonic is about to go out and I decided to get a new cleaner. The Hornady worked okay, but I wanted a larger capacity and something a little more powerful.

    I ended up getting:

    I just ran my first batch of brass through it. Here are some observations:

    - I ran about 200 6 BRA cases and 30 300 PRC. It was probably 1/3 full, so I'm thinking that I could have gone one size smaller as I don't usually run this much, and I still have a lot of capacity available.
    - I ran it for two 30-minute cycles using Boretech's Case Clean - three cap fulls with the water just covering the brass.
    - For comparison, I would run my Hornady for three 30-minute cycles.
    - The cases are definitely cleaner with this new unit.
    - Every primer pocket was spotless - usually I would have some that had some residue with the Hornady.
    - Some necks still had carbon residue, but a simple swipe of my finger cleared it - this has been common for me using ultrasonic.
    - It is louder than the smaller Hornady unit by a fair amount.
    - It has a drain with a valve to open/close. Very nice feature.
    - It has heating.
     
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    I might have to return the harbor freight one I bought today and pick up one of these instead. Looks like it’s built a hell of a lot better and has a more aggressive cleaning action.
     
    Did it clean inside the brass?

    Ultrasonic generally will clean inside the brass - some cases better than other for reasons I haven't figured out yet.

    My process:

    - Deprime cases
    - Add cleaner to the ultrasonic unit
    - Add brass, and add hot water until cases are covered.
    - Run for 2 or 3 cycles of 30 min. Did 2 first time I used it, 5I might do 3 next time.
    - After last cycle, I turn on the water in the sink to hot
    - Pull each case, rinse case and dump the stuff from the case into the sink, then look in the neck
    - If it's still got carbon, I fill with water and take a bottle brush to it for a few swipes, dump, then put in the dryer.
    - If there's no carbon, I fill with water, rinse and it goes straight to the dryer

    As I mentioned before, the primer pockets were ALL clean this go. Necks were clean or had loose carbon left on them that would come off by wiping with my finger while rinsing.

    Brass ends up clean, but not shiny like when you dry tumble. I have a dry tumbler, but I don't really care if the brass is shiny or not.