New lock and Load Sonic Cleaner Questions

[6gun]

Have a new Horandy Lock and load sonic cleaner the kids bought me for Christmas tried it out for the first time today, and not to impressed a hour and a half later primer pockets are not real clean and insides are still not very clean.

Am I expecting to much or does it take more time to clean? how long do you guys run your brass? this is my first experiance with a sonic cleaner so wondering if I'm doing something wrong? I am using the Horandy cleaner for brass mixed as the instructions called out.

 

[mr surveyor]

I don't know anything about the Hornady brand cleaning solution, but just for grins and giggles try a mix of plain old white vinegar and water mixed 50/50 and a few drops of dishwashing soap on another similarly dirty batch of brass. If that ain't getting the cruddies out, then your ultra-sonic ain't doing it's sonic thing.

 

[6gun]

I'll have to try that mixture next time I have dirty brass, I cleaned 3 different cals together at the same time, odd thing is most all of the 38spl. cases are really clean inside and out, some of the 357 are also real clean not all, the 44mag. case's all look different some still very dirty inside some a bit clean in the bottom, some look half way clean. :?

I rinsed them off them off after cleaning trying to get the cleaner off and let them dry, now they have lots of spots that look like glasses ran through a dishwasher that didn't rinse well, I'll run them through my tumber and hope all that comes off, not sure I like sonic cleaning.

 

[PiratePast40]

You'll have spots if you don't dry the brass, same as any other smooth surface. You can try a spot free rinse agent for dishwashers but that's just a substitute for drying the brass. I don't use an ultrasonic cleaner but I do use a tumbler, which is another wet method. After a trip through the separator, I give the brass a quick dry with a towel and then lay the batch out on a cookie sheet. We happen to have a pellet stove, so I just set the cookie sheet on top of that while the next batch is tumbling. I've heard of people putting the brass in a mesh laundry bag and placing it on the clothes dryer tray for drying. I've also heard of people using a blow dryer. Use whichever method you like, but the goal is to dry them quickly to prevent spots.

 

[mr surveyor]

mine just gets the vinegar solution, rinsed, and spread out on a towel to dry. Never noticed water spots, but wouldn't really care. I just want them clean before running them through the sizing die and seating primers.

6gun .... do you think you may have started with too much brass in one batch and it hindered the ultra-sonic action maybe?

 

[6gun]

mine just gets the vinegar solution, rinsed, and spread out on a towel to dry. Never noticed water spots, but wouldn't really care. I just want them clean before running them through the sizing die and seating primers.

6gun .... do you think you may have started with too much brass in one batch and it hindered the ultra-sonic action maybe?

It is possable I put to much brass in at once I'm going to try a small patch of 223 my kid had of only about 40 rounds.

My first batch of pistol rounds that didn't clean well was about 200+

So what mixture do you use for gun parts? thought it would be great if I could put S/S revolver cylinders in to clean.

 

[6gun]

6gun - I sold a Hornady Sonic Cleaner (the newer one that looks like a metal box) before I moved. I'll buy another in a little while. I liked mine, but yes, they don't work like the youtube videos show.

I cleaned rifle and pistol brass in mine, and I used the Hornady liquid that they market, along with distilled water. That juice lasts for a whole lot of cartridge cases.

One thing I learned early on: the cases right over the transducers get clean the fastest. Since I would fire up the unit in the evenings when I was working on the computer I would regularly get up and take out the ones that were clean, rinse them in fresh water, then dry them, and then move the other cases right over those transducers. That worked the best for me.

This is too much work for a lot of people and I understand that there were many folks who thought the sonic cleaners were misrepresented. They might have a point, but I loved the way my cases came out, as long as I was willing to kind of babysit the cleaning a bit.

I warmed the solution up to about 120 degrees; that seems to help too. And once my cases were all cleaned, rinsed, and dried, they went into the corn cob in the vibratory tumbler. (Sometimes nickel plated pistol brass would show spots, even when rinsed right away after coming out of the sonic cleaner. The corn cob and the vibratory tumbler would get those funny looking spots out completely). Again, this is way more than a lot of folks want to bother with, but I have always been in love with really clean brass. Hope this helps. - DixieBoy

This sonic cleaner is just their little 2L model with plastic case, didn't know anything about transducers. maybe thats the problem? ran about 40 223 case's today all looked pretty good on the outside but most were still dirty on the inside some the inside necks was clean so they vary on how clean they are, been cleaning a old brass shotgun shell the inside is getting a little cleaner but the outside is getting black blotches on it very weird, I ran my other case through my corn cob media they cleaned up OK, I like my brass polished and new looking also.

 

[6gun]

6gun - I sold a Hornady Sonic Cleaner (the newer one that looks like a metal box) before I moved. I'll buy another in a little while. I liked mine, but yes, they don't work like the youtube videos show.

I cleaned rifle and pistol brass in mine, and I used the Hornady liquid that they market, along with distilled water. That juice lasts for a whole lot of cartridge cases.

One thing I learned early on: the cases right over the transducers get clean the fastest. Since I would fire up the unit in the evenings when I was working on the computer I would regularly get up and take out the ones that were clean, rinse them in fresh water, then dry them, and then move the other cases right over those transducers. That worked the best for me.

This is too much work for a lot of people and I understand that there were many folks who thought the sonic cleaners were misrepresented. They might have a point, but I loved the way my cases came out, as long as I was willing to kind of babysit the cleaning a bit.

I warmed the solution up to about 120 degrees; that seems to help too. And once my cases were all cleaned, rinsed, and dried, they went into the corn cob in the vibratory tumbler. (Sometimes nickel plated pistol brass would show spots, even when rinsed right away after coming out of the sonic cleaner. The corn cob and the vibratory tumbler would get those funny looking spots out completely). Again, this is way more than a lot of folks want to bother with, but I have always been in love with really clean brass. Hope this helps. - DixieBoy

This sonic cleaner is just their little 2L model with plastic case, didn't know anything about transducers. maybe thats the problem? ran about 40 223 case's today all looked pretty good on the outside but most were still dirty on the inside some the inside necks was clean so they vary on how clean they are, been cleaning a old brass shotgun shell the inside is getting a little cleaner but the outside is getting black blotches on it very weird, I ran my other case through my corn cob media they cleaned up OK, I like my brass polished and new looking also.

I'm guessing that you're using what I call the 1st generation sonic cleaners. The one I'm familiar with is what I call the 2nd generation. These are like a tall rectangular shaped metal box. It's obvious on these units that there are two "hot spots" where almost all of serious cleaning is taking place. Then, when you get out towards the edge of the basket (mesh basket that holds about 150 pieces of .45acp brass) the cleaning action is much less thorough. I would constantly move those pieces on the outside closer to the transducers as the brass was cleaning. Again, it's a pain in the butt, and may be too much hassle for some folks, but the results were brass that was really clean: primer pockets, inside, and out. All really clean. - DixieBoy

This one has a plastic basket claims to clean to 300 pieces of 223 0r 308 at a time, latest greatest from Horandy I just got it for Christmas, what your saying makes sence and explains a lot about whats happening.

So in other words these are just cheap crappy sonic cleaners nothing but toys that kind of work and nothing like the real deal professional models, kinda like the Little susie bake oven that cooks a cake with a light bulb instead of a heating element like a real one.

 

[6gun]

I hear those wet tumblers using the S/S media works better than any thing else and will make your brass look factory new inside and out.

Didn't figure this sonic cleaner was up to much a good professional model will cost a couple grand your not going to get something that works like they do for around a hundred bucks, kids bought me this thing I would have never bought it, they were tired of hearing my tumber noise and thought this was the answer, little did they know I still have to tumble just maybe not as long.

 

[6gun]

I'm just as picky want all my brass clean as new and my reloads looking as good or better than factory, only those with no pride don't.

 

[Pocketfisherman]

3 cycles at the longest settings and everything comes out spotless for me including the primer pockets. I do agitate the brass between cycles to shuffle it around and I do use the Hornady Case Cleaner concentrate. Also, run the machine for 3 cycles before adding any brass to degass the cleaning solution, it will work better with the dissolved air removed. Don't overload it, no more than 50 pistol cases at a time and 30 rifle cases. Use the basket, brass resting on the bottom of the tub attenuates the sound waves. IF you have hard water, try distilled water for your solution.

 

[6gun]

3 cycles at the longest settings and everything comes out spotless for me including the primer pockets. I do agitate the brass between cycles to shuffle it around and I do use the Hornady Case Cleaner concentrate. Also, run the machine for 3 cycles before adding any brass to degass the cleaning solution, it will work better with the dissolved air removed. Don't overload it, no more than 50 pistol cases at a time and 30 rifle cases. Use the basket, brass resting on the bottom of the tub attenuates the sound waves. IF you have hard water, try distilled water for your solution.

I use distilled water with the Horandy solution, use the botton to remove the air, and have tried everything, large loads of brass, small loads of brass, stiring the brass around, I run 30 min. full cycles, after 3 cycles the brass gets tarnished and all brown looking like old brass left to weather a year or two, some of my 38spl brass has come out fairly clean inside, 357mag. not so clean, and not a single bottle neck rifle case has ever even started to clean inside yet.

Have even tried home brew solutions, the 50/50 water and white vinager with a little dish soap, also tried water powdered citrus acid, both solutions kind of worked as well as the Horandy solution, but the machine is just not doing the job they claim it will do.

 

[mr surveyor]

6gun

your machine must not have much sonic to it. My antique (1983 model) sonic cleaner that I bought for cleaning drafting pens is still getting all the gunk and residue out of even the nastiest of brass. Today I bought a container of lemishine and added about a half teaspoon to the little reservoir in my mini-u/s cleaner, and within 10 minutes the brass was clean inside and out ... including the old gunk in the primer pockets of old .30-30 brass I picked up at a pawn shop for a dollar a box yesterday. And that's with the 50/50 water and vinegar with a couple drops of dishwashing liquid. The lemishine (citric acid) does the exact same thing as adding lemon juice, but much cheaper in the long run.

I hope you figure it out.

JD

 

[6gun]

I think I have figured it out, figure the machine is junk and plan to send it back to Horandy.

 

[mr surveyor]

probably a good move.

 

[m657]

I got one of the HF $69 on sale sonic cleaners a few years ago. While I've never tried the vinegar/soap solution, the few times I did cases were way more work than what I do with crushed walnut shells.

A buddy got one of these stainless steel rod cleaners about 6 months ago; he's a professional lead caster in his spare time. His cases look absolutely sparkling, but require a special tumbler to handle the liquids as well.

My cheapo sonic cleaner does a decent job on small gun parts but cases, pending reveal of something new with this recipe, I'll get back to you.

 

[Pocketfisherman]

FYI, mine that works was bought when they first came out. Maybe they use a different supplier nowadays.

 

[6gun]

FYI, mine that works was bought when they first came out. Maybe they use a different supplier nowadays.

I got the new black and red model, either mine is defective or they cheapened them to point they don't do the job any more.