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Thread: Ultrasonic Parts Cleaning

  1. #11
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    I do a gross cleaning first, then toss the disassembled BCG into the ultrasonic. Afterwards I rinse under HOT water to get the detergent residue off the parts, and that HOT water allows it to air dry quickly. Then I "fine clean" it. It seems as though the carbon, especially on the bolt tail, seems to crumble off easily after the ultrasonic. Once clean to my liking the parts are submerged into a mason jar of EWL for lubrication. Then I'll suspend the parts over the jar to let the excess drip off and viola'......you're done!
    11C2P '83-'87
    Airborne Infantry

  2. #12
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    I have a little experience with UC's. Here is my context: LE agency - 1500 members, armorer duties for glock, beretta, remington and AR's. Every year, officers come to qualify, their pistols get the once over by the armorers. Avg class size is 40 members per session over 2 days in groups of 10 - round robin style training. When we were servicing 28-35 guns per sit down, the UC was the bomb. Doing 10 tear downs and inspections, not so much.

    We use an L&R LE236
    http://www.lrultrasonics.com/industr...pon/le236.html

    One tank has cleaning solution, the other a lube solution. The cleaner is a concentrate, 1 part H20 -18 parts concentrate (if I remember correctly). The lube is a straight use fluid. The tanks have heaters - UC's ALWAYS work better when the solution is warm - if using a concentrate with a small desk top unit, I would use as hot water as I can handle when I mix it into the tank. It cleans better and the best part - when gun parts come out hot, they dry faster.

    Here is our process:
    - disassemble pistol, if there is an extractor channel that will open things up - in our case Beretta 96DCT's, pop it out. Put all parts in the tray - we would usually put 8 guns per tray lined up and keep the various parts together.
    - when putting parts in, try and keep openings facing down to allow crud to migrate down to the bottom of the tank.
    - pre-heat tank or mix solution - out cleaning solution was good for about 100 guns, lube about 500. we would preheat the tank for about 30 mins. easy to do, if you are armoring that day, go to the unit and turn it on while you get changed, do your briefings, or what ever. when you are ready to work on guns, its ready to go.
    - put the tray in the tank - this is important - the dirtier the cleaning solution gets, the less effective it is. for the 0-25 guns, we would run for 17 mins - 25-50 guns- 20 mins, 50-75 guns - 23 mins - 75-100 guns - 25-26 mins. so changing fluid becomes important.
    - beside our UC, we have a custom 2 tank sink that are oriented so that the trays can go in fully submerged - the one sink is filled with hot enough water - not to stand it without thick rubber gloves - think chemical handling gloves. when the cleaning cycle is finished, take the tray out, let it sit for about 1 min to drain the cleaner, then put immediately into the sink and rinse out the parts in up and down motion.
    - we would use a spare tray and they take each part out one by one and blow it out with compressed air - eye, ear and respiration protection worn. and put the blown out parts on the spare tray.
    - with that spare tray full, put it into the lube tank and run it for the same time as the cleaner tank. when you hear lube, it isn't like oil or gun lube. it is very watery lube.
    - while that blowing out process was occurring, then the next batch of guns would go into the cleaner tank.
    - when they are done in the lube tank, pull them out, drain for a min, and put into the other sink - empty - then blow out excess lube.
    - we noticed that there was always a film - whitish/grey - we didn't like that and wanted extra corrosion protection - so we would use sentry solutions rags and wipe down the whole pistol and put on a rack to air dry from there - pistol parts were still quite warm from the bath - even after the compressor work.
    - once all dry, complete inspection and re-assemble - now with gun oil where needed

    Note - the lube tank does NOTHING for normal functioning. We chose to add the sentry solutions for protection only....we still needed gun oil.

    the whole process works well for long guns also - do NOT put optics/weapon lights in there regardless of waterproof ratings.

    Hope this helps
    Boltgun
    Last edited by Boltgun; 11-29-14 at 11:44.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by MegademiC View Post
    Even after re-lubing? If so, try putting it back in the ultrasonic bath with clean water, maybe some detergent/cleaner soaked in or something.

    Some things to consider. If using a water-based bath, diping the parts in alcohol will remove the water, and dry much faster/more complete. There's always WD40 as well.
    Yep. Tried it all. I even hit up BCM to see if they had any ideas. They recommended against doing it in the future, for whatever thats worth. It didn't bother me and I sold it a while back with an upper.

  4. #14
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    Sep 2007
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    I bought one of those garbage Chinese US cleaners. It blotched the finish on a colt Bolt carrier. My experience with that damned thing was disappointing to say the least. It does take some carbon fouling off of silencer mounts... but doesn't do a good enough job that you don't end up scraping and wire brushing 25% of the carbon anyway.

    I suppose there's guys who have a better system of cleaning this way, but I was unimpressed to say the least.
    "You people have too much time on your hands." - scottryan

  5. #15
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    Boltgun, thanks for sharing your process and experience. Great information.

    I'm wondering if using CLP or something instead of water would work or not? I'm a bit leery of dunking expensive slides in mostly a water solution. I do worry about heating what amounts to oil up in these things in my house however.

  6. #16
    Join Date
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    you need to be carefully with stuff like that. The first solution that we bought was their ammoniated cleaner concentrate. heads spun working around it - then the came out with their non-ammoniated version.....much better but still stank a bit. hence the wearing of respirators when blowing stuff out. Other stuff has come out - Hoppes Elite cleaner would have worked...I would like to try some Slip 2000 725 degreaser - they say it is UC rated if I recall correctly. it isn't smelly either. I have used it in spray on fashion with good results.

    Boltgun

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