Ultrasonic Cleaning- Please input on how "sound" this idea seems.

[XD40SUBBIE]

I've been researching about ultrasonic cleaning. Being an airbrush person, I already own one. From my research, it seems that the solution I use in the machine will determine the effectiveness of the cleaning. With that said, I order the Hornady gun parts solution.

My understanding is that the cleaning will strip the parts of the much needed grease and oil that protects parts from rusting, etc. There is a gunsmith online that recommends against these dunking methodologies just for the reason.

So what I am planning is to use the Hornady gun parts cleaner to clean out the gun. Blow dry with a heat gun on low or my wife's hair dryer and then soak it again in a vat of Mobil 1 motor oil. Wipe the excess, except for places I obviously cannot reach, as I don't plan to do a complete disassembly.

What do you think? I will be cleaning my XD 40 Subcompact and my XD 40 Service.

[Ron-Solo]

We used to have one at one of the stations I worked at. It didn't clean for squat.

[Dannicus]

In my experience, only the big industrial ultra sonic cleaners work any better than simply soaking the part. We had one in my shop that you could watch bubbles throw the carbon off a part. It'd make my fillings hurt if I stood too close to it!

[zinfull]

I use one that has an extra tub for oiling the parts. If I hand clean I wash in hot water and then put in the oven at 175 to dry, then cool before oiling.

jerry

[HKJay]

I just purchased one of the Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaners and I'm running into the same concerns as you. Just in case you didn't know, Crest makes some post-wash lubricant as well as L&R. Although neither are inexpensive.

If you do go the Mobil 1 route, please post your results.

[XD40SUBBIE]

HKJay, Got the same machine. It is actually the same one that others (Lyman, etc.) market as "gun cleaner" and asks twice the money for. The reason I came up with the Mobil 1 idea is that: 1. it is easy to get. 2. it is relatively cheap compared to the "gun" ones and people seem to taut its ability to displace water that can harm the metal.

From my research, the downsides appear to be that it is thinner, less gummy than RemOil, WD-40, etc. Some have suggested mixing it with Marvel Mystery Oil to thicken it up.

I may do just that. I have two machines, one that is the 2.5L with heat, etc and another one, a smaller one. What I plan to do is to use the Hornady cleaner, which is not water based so it may evaporate better. Air dry it quickly with the heat gun or hair dryer and blow our the access using my compressor.

Then, dip it into the Mobile 1 and MM mixture, I believe it is a 4:1 ratio - MB1:MM. let it sit for 20 minutes in the vat of oil. then drain it out and wipe off the excess. Then spray it with silicon, wipe that. Done.

Since Ultrasonic cleaning does very little to carbon build up and even for some copper and lead deposits, I will pre-clean ala dishwasher with Gun Scrubber, loosen the carbon and other deposits with a brush and then soak it in One Shot (Hornady).

[Peter.Steele]

I've got the same Harbor Freight 2.5 L heated cleaner. Works great for me.

I rebuilt my 10/22 couple years back. I'd never done more than swab the bore out in the whole time I'd owned it. Never once detail stripped the gun, and it's not like it was a safe queen - the reason I was rebuilding it is because it had become a smoothbore. After I tore it down and put it all in the cleaner, ran it a few cycles ... those parts were pristine. Absolutely clean. I had to change the water three times before I was done.

[Spiggy]

I have the same HF 2.5L machine, and I use it to clean various small steel, aluminum, and plastic machine parts. I found that you need to be pretty exact with your solution to get an effective clean.

For example, steel requires specific steel solution. Aluminum can not use steel solution or it will discolor and corrode. And Plastic can be cleaned out with simple water and Dawn. And depending on the grease or oil used. You may need a stronger or milder solution.

The machine works great for me in 2-5 cycles depending on the part. The heat function allows the metal parts to air dry quickly, but you do need to take them off the drying platform and oil them or they can rust. With how the thing functions I can work on other things while it's "cooking."

[LexLuther]

Ed's red

I use Ed's Red cleaning solvent for the lube job. Actually I use it almost exclusively for general cleaning and lube. It is cheap in large quantities, and the Eds Red lube is good also. I put my parts in a jar of eds red then put the whole jar in the cleaning solution in the ultrasonic and run it for a cycle. I previously used simple green in the ultrasonic, worked GREAT, but since the parts came out so dry, I am trying the Hornady parts cleaner, it seems less effective, and I am wondering if it is just repackaged pine-sol.