Ultrasonic cleaner recommendations

[TheTrevor]

For cleaning guns I've had mixed results with ultrasonic cleaners. Sometimes the guns come out really clean, other times I still have to hit them with brushes and picks to get heavy carbon off. I was also told by a buddy of mine that his department was advised by sales rep to not leave guns in for more than 4 minutes as it could cause problems with the parts. If that's the case then how many times would it take before the cumulative total of multiple cleanings caused the same issue?

Heard an entertaining story this week from a Glock factory rep. Apparently an agency had a bunch of guns with night sights installed, shot them all filthy at the range, then dropped them into the ultrasonic cleaner for de-gunking. Problem is that they let the cleaner run all weekend -- when they came back on Monday, all of the tritium capsules had fallen out of their mountings and collected on the bottom of the cleaner tank.

Must have been one heck of an industrial-grade ultrasonic cleaner. Mine will only run for 8 minutes per cycle!

[PPGMD]

Amazon. There's a generic version called the model 4280. You can search on that and find a compatible basket.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846

It just happened that I stumbled along this thread today.

But I search for the generic basket, it was $11 and was prime eligible. I can't wait to get it in.

[TheTrevor]

It just happened that I stumbled along this thread today.

But I search for the generic basket, it was $11 and was prime eligible. I can't wait to get it in.

Damn, you lucked out. When I bought the basket for mine a couple of months ago, all I could find was stuff with hefty S&H charges.

Still worth it, though.

[LSP972]

I was also told by a buddy of mine that his department was advised by sales rep to not leave guns in for more than 4 minutes as it could cause problems with the parts. If that's the case then how many times would it take before the cumulative total of multiple cleanings caused the same issue?
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That would be the dreaded "hydrogen embrittlement". There are some pretty convincing arguments on both sides of THAT "issue"... me, I dunno.

I do know that the local sheriff's office has two big industrial-grade ultrasonic cleaners that they have been cleaning Glocks in for the past couple of years, with no problems that I've heard of... yet.

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[41magfan]

I got this one a few years ago on Ebay for about $130. It's a heated unit with a 2.2 liter capacity, which is large enough for most frames and slides. I don't use water based solutions however, but prefer to clean in a one-step process using a concoction of Stoddard solvent and Cylinder and Slide Dunk-Kit solution.

A 12-15 minute cycle at 90 deg F does the trick with just a minor amount of brushing on breach faces and other various nooks and crannies. I strain the solution occasionally through coffee filters and the solid gunk easily wipes clean from the bottom of the tank. The solution's effectiveness last a LONG time.

[5pins]

This is one of the cleaners we use at work. It has a 5 gallon capacity. We use a 9 to 1 mix of Simple Green and water on non-aluminum parts, otherwise we use Brownells cleaner.



This is what happens when you use Simple Green on aluminum.

[PPGMD]

So what is everyone using for gun cleaning? I've noticed a couple of mentions of Simple Green and water which is what I am using today. In the past I used MPro 7, but it is expensive unless you are saving the lube which it is a pain in the butt to drain from the tank unless you have a nice one with a hose and valve setup. I saw Slip 2000 as a cleaner, at the concentrate gallon price it doesn't seem too bad, anyone used it?

How are you doing the post cleaning water displacement? A lube dunk tank (if so which lube and tank)? Air compressor?

[TheTrevor]

I don't immersion-clean my guns, because I don't want to strip out lubricant from locations that I'd normally only lube during a full armorer-level strip, inspection and reassembly. On my HKs in particular, I have carefully applied thin layers of high-quality grease between the various sear/block components stacked side-by-side in the action. I want that lubrication film preserved until the next 25k round service.

I'll blast the other parts of the guns with cleaners to get gunk off, though, and give the sear/block component exteriors a thorough wet wipe-down with patches and laboratory swabs. For that I'll use Hoppes #9 as a heavy-duty cleaner, and until I run out, Break-Free CLP as a light cleaner/protectant for non-critical areas.

This practice may change as I start to add non-HK guns to the permanent collection. We'll see.

[PPGMD]

I only use my ultrasonic during detail strip cleaning. My goal is to get the gun as close to new factory clean as possible without too much effort at the major maintenance intervals.

[LSP972]

This is one of the cleaners we use at work. It has a 5 gallon capacity. We use a 9 to 1 mix of Simple Green and water on non-aluminum parts, otherwise we use Brownells cleaner.

That's what the sheriff's office I referenced uses; two of those bad boys. One has a cleaning solution, the other a light oil bath. The cleaning solution is some cheap stuff they buy at the local Chinese Quartermaster.

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