My old Lyman's Turbo 1200 gave up the ghost this morning. Had that thing for about 17 or 18 years, cannot complain one bit, it did its job with no problem at all. Now I was looking at these new tumbler models from Lyman and one of them that grabbed my eye was the ultrasound unit. See HERE and then there is a another one that uses stainless steel pins. See HERE.

My wife did bring up some pretty good points as far as buying the ultrasound machine as it can also be used to clean other things besides brass cases. Another point she made was no more media, (corn, walnut, nu-finish,) and the best part is missing dryer sheets.

I used to let my brass tumble 3-4 hrs for once shot brass and longer for range pickup, but they say that the ultrasound can do it in 5 min using a beaker.

If any of you guys use any of the above methods, chime in.

Omi, what's wrong on your Turbo 1200? You cannot repair it anymore? When it's the motor, maybe you should have a look at the little motor used on the centrifugal pump of a washing machine...

but when your mind and your wife are pointing to an ultrasound unit, then I cannot discuss it anymore

Aloysius wrote:

Omi, what's wrong on your Turbo 1200? You cannot repair it anymore? When it's the motor, maybe you should have a look at the little motor used on the centrifugal pump of a washing machine... but when your mind and your wife are pointing to an ultrasound unit, then I cannot discuss it anymore

Thanks for replying Aloysius: what happened was the bearings on the shaft that connect to the motor froze up. So the heat from the motor trying to turn the drum did cause a lot of heat and (stink) that it set of the smoke alarms in the house. The bearing at the bottom of the tumbler is junk and the pot is just about burnt through, like I said before, it lasted 17 or 18 years and it was a great unit.

But Aloysius, that unit from Lyman served me very well and with technogy moving forward, I thought about (didn't say I would) jumping onto the next generation.

Look forward to more input.

Been using Ultrasonics for years now, very happy, they even clean the primer pockets spotless.
Sometime, I chuck my pistols inside and let it buzz, came out nice and shiny
You got to dry the pistol well afterwards tho
Nothing to it.. spray liberally with WD-40 then follow up with your favorite preservative oil.

Gelandangan, the unit I am looking at has 150 watts of ultrasonic power and also comes with a 600ml beaker. What do you use for a brass cleaning recipe?

My machine is a 3 liter cleaner. I could dunk the whole S&W686 within the bowl.

The liquid I used is something controversial that I reported here a few months back.

CITRIC ACID 1 teaspoon / liter of water.

I have since used, cleaned and reused and recleaned repeatedly my brass (maybe over 20 repetitions) with no adverse effect, and my brass are as shiny yellow as the day they were shipped out from the factory.

I think it is magical formula, but somehow is not popular here

Try some with some scrap brass and see what I mean.

Gelan,
I just don't like the idea of using an acid to clean brass repeatedly. It leaches the zinc out which weakens and softens the brass. I am glad it is working for you though.
Paul

Paul,
thats ok mate, as everyone of us have something we swear of or at.
One mans medicine might be the other's poison.

Paul, don't you use vinegar (acetic acid) to clean your brass that's been used with black powder? When you don't give them an acid bath the black powder residue will ruin them.

And citric acid is only a weak organic acid. Tartaric and oxalic acid might also do the trick, maybe even better. Have a look when a professional is cleaning the windows of his glass-garden, he will often use oxalic acid (the poisonous acid in rubarb)

Been thinking seriously about one of those ultrasonic cleaners...but it looks like I have successfully replaced the motor in the one that died, so I probably won't need one. They aren't expensive though, which is a big plus...that and the ability to be used for other cleaning jobs as well.

Cheers, Vince

Took the plunge into ultrasonic cleaners and bought a kendal unit. It holds 3/4 of a gallon solution and at the store the owner showed me a box of Gilby ls-722-sc packages that will make 25 gallons of non acid industrial cleaner that is used by the hospital and dental industry. So I bought them and like he recommended I stopped and picked up 2 gals of distilled water.

I also bought a beaker 600ml for cleaning ultra dirty items without getting the solution in the tank contaminated. When I got home, I mixed up 1 gallon of the solution and poured 1/3 gallon into the unit and about 10oz into the beaker. After using 5 brass cases that were cleaned by my old Lyman tumbler, you can definitely see the difference. As the photo shows, on the left is from the lyman tumbler, and on the right is from the ultrasound unit. Time in the ultrasound was 3 minutes.

I like it, and its fast plus I can clean other stuff with it also, so thats a plus.

Yup! thats the result I got too..
Now, that shiny will tarnish in a few days or weeks.

OTOH, if you use citric acid, the tarnishing would be much retarded.
I got a few that I clean some month ago, still shiny yellow

Aloysius wrote:

Paul, don't you use vinegar (acetic acid) to clean your brass that's been used with black powder? When you don't give them an acid bath the black powder residue will ruin them. And citric acid is only a weak organic acid. Tartaric and oxalic acid might also do the trick, maybe even better. Have a look when a professional is cleaning the windows of his glass-garden, he will often use oxalic acid (the poisonous acid in rubarb)

Aloys,
I don't shoot black powder currently but you are right that you have to counteract the ammonia (which is a base) to stop the corrosion. I heard it wa better to use boric acid - commonly used in eyewashes - to clean the brass. (Boric acid will not even react with baking soda-very weak)
Paul