Sonic Cleaner

[Granite]

What are your guys thoughts on sonic cleaners?

I found an old thread from 2010, but would rather have more recent input.

Harbor freight has sonic cleaners.

[SoldierLife7]

I have one that I use pretty often to clean small items. It does an amazing job on items that have tight areas that are hard to clean.

I will mention that it is not a good idea to put a 10/22 receiver in a sonic cleaner. Other than one bad experience, I like mine.

[hemiguy55]

I have one that I used to use for cleaning brass. Did a so so job compared to ss tumbling. I think i will b using it to clean gun parts from now on.

Out of curiosity, what's wrong with putting a receiver in a sonic cleaner? I put my slide and barrel of my g 34 in it and it cleaned it really well.

[SoldierLife7]

I have cleaned several receivers with great results..

Aluminum 10/22 receiver is the only one I have ever had an issue with!!


Evidently the aluminum had some imperfections beneath the "paint", and the sonic vibrations caused the paint to flake off of the receiver.







The link in my signature block shows what it looks like now....

[Pablo5959]

I use mine for about 15 min per batch, and like ss tumbling the brass will discolor while drying.
Then I toss them into the corncob w/ Nufinish for a couple hours and its all good.

[Germz]

I used to have an ultrasonic cleaner. it was destroyed after I left palmolive/vinegar in it for an extended period of time; ate right through the metal.

[CaffeinFeign]

I bought one few years back with the intention of cleaning brass, I have never used it for that. I still tumble everything. But I do use it for cleaning parts. I have thrown all my stainless Kimber and Dan Wesson 1911 parts, barrels, receivers, small parts...in it and it works really well. I am sure I could live without it, but it is handy when you got a lot of parts to clean.

[stevec223]

I used to tumble in walnut after sizing.. (Rifle).... I started finding walnut stuck (glued) inside the cases after tumbling.. I was using rcbs (pad) or dillon spray... As many as 15-20 pieces of walnut !! That just cant be good... Now i lube and size,,, clean in ultrasonic,, dry in oven,,, then tumble in walnut as oven dulls brass when drying... No more lube or walnut stuck inside cases... Maybe i just overused the walnut to clean lube off after sizing... I was bulk preping a couple k of mil brass... Anyway problem solved... Ultrasonic a great tool for cleaning hard to get carbon off bolts and carriers, gas system parts and about everything fluid can get into to work... Make sure your cleaning solution is compatable with what your cleaning !!!!!... Cheers ...

[pagedeveloper]

I use to use the Corn Cob on my cases also. I got tired of each time I was done, I would be digging out corn cob out of the flash hole. So I changed over to ground walnut shells. It works soooo much better. I was thinking of going to the SS thumbing, but just not invested in it yet. I am looking to make a DIY one, but can not find the parts for it. I have not looked really hard, though.

[seasnake]

Use it to clean the wife/girlfriend`s jewelery . Then she will love it when you are in the reloading room .

[Southpaw45]

I down graded my Harbor Freight sonic cleaner to just gun parts after having sub par results with cleaning brass. I tried all cleaning recipes you can think of. Stainless is the way I go now for brass cleaning. It works much better...