Ultrasonic Lube?

[kbm6893]

I have an ultrasonic that I bought to clean brass. It kind of sucks for that task. Wet or dry tumbling gets them much cleaner. I have cleaned the occasional small gun part in there using purple simple green and water, plus a light oiling of the component. An AR bolt and bolt carrier are good in there.

But I’ve never cleaned a slide or a frame. I like to tinker but I don’t feel like taking a slide completely apart (not to mention I have doubts the ultrasonic wouldn’t damage the night sights), and I don’t feel like taking a frame apart either. I’ve read reports that ultrasonics aren’t good for aluminum even using the purple simple green that is safe for aluminum.

But submerging a steel or polymer frame into the water/purple simple green, followed by compressed air, then maybe some low heat in a oven or case dryer to get the last of any moisture out, seems like it should be safe. But then the gun has absolutely no lube, so it would require a dip in some ultrasonic lube.

But how does that work? Is the lube so light it won’t gum up the gun? We’re all told to oil sparingly because oil attracts dirt. Three drops on the rail and you’re done. Now I’m supposed to submerge an entire gun?

Anybody submerge a frame without fully taking it apart? I read in here that the Shield at least has some cloth pledget around the trigger spring to help with vibrations and a dunk would not be good for that part, but I don’t see any mention of that in the schematics.

I would never do any of this with any frequency. Maybe every thousand rounds or so. I am pretty anal about clean guns. Right now, I just use brake cleaner on the slides and polymer safe gun scrubber for the polymer frame to get them clean. Then a fine spritz of oil into the frame and I’m done.

 

[jdh]

At the gun shop we had two ultrasonic cleaners. One had the cleaner. It was pretty much soap and water and safe for any metal or plastic gun parts. At home I use dish washing detergent and water.

The other had a lube that in the heated tank would get hot enough to evaporate any remaining water from the rinse and blow. It would also evaporate from the hot parts after taking them from the tank turning in to a dry film lubricant and protectant. Safety Ultrasonic Weapon Lubricating Solution | L&R Manufacturing | Ultrasonic Cleaners

 

[S&WIowegan]

Cleaning brass

I found through trial and error that brass will get clean(eventually) if I de-prime it first. I have a good quality medium-sized ultrasonic set-up but I only use it to clean my high quality brass that I use a lot. Otherwise ultrasonic is more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Black Sunshine]

Have you tried using citric acid in your ultrasonic for cleaning brass? That's what I use and it works very well. It also has a passivating action that helps keep the brass from tarnishing....same basic process that manufacturers of brass fittings use.

 

[kbm6893]

Have you tried using citric acid in your ultrasonic for cleaning brass? That's what I use and it works very well. It also has a passivating action that helps keep the brass from tarnishing....same basic process that manufacturers of brass fittings use.

I've tried it all. The brass comes out OK, but not nearly as clean as dry tumbling. The wet tumbling does it even better. I run the dirty cases in a wet tumbler with no pins just to clean them up, then de-prime and resize the cases. When I have enough, I wet tumble with the pins and dry. The a final quick dry tumble to polish them up. The ultrasonic cleaning of the brass didn't do such a great job. Made them OK, but not like new.

 

[dfariswheel]

Ultrasonics might or might not harm night sites.
I'd recommend contacting the make of the sights and ask them about it.
The standard small cleaners are not as powerful as the large rifle size cleaners so it probably won't hurt them. Again, ask the maker.

For cleaning most anything will work, even hot water and Dawn dish detergent.
Many of the strong soap detergents like Greased Lightning and the Purple and Green cleaners can aggressively attack aluminum and the anodized finishes, and will do it faster in an US cleaner.
Test carefully on some old scrap aluminum or worn out gun parts.

If you use a water based cleaner there's no real need to run the parts in the US cleaner to rinse.
Just swishing in a sink of hot water or holding parts under a running faucet will do.

If you use a solvent cleaner like cheap paint thinner then a dunk in a pan of clean solvent is usually enough.

To dry you can blow with compressed air, or just give it a vigorous shake, then use a hair dryer to warm the parts.
NOTE: Hair dryer and warm, not torch, oven, or heat gun and HOT.

To lube I sprayed in a fine mist of a good lube, then shake, wipe, and drain the excess.
Most all lubricants will creep and infiltrate into all areas.
I have used a cheap airbrush to spray in a mist of CLP Breakfree, and that works very well.
WARNING: DO NOT breath the mist...you will NOT like it.

In short, using an ultrasonic cleaner, drying, and lubricating to prevent rust is not complicated.

Some other info...........

KEEP YOUR FINGERS OUT OF THE TANK.
Bone marrow and US does not play well with each other. This is a cumulative effect that happens over time and repeated dipping your hand in the tank, so just because it doesn't hurt is not an indication of damage.

For cleaning small parts like trigger units, put a inch of water in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Put some lacquer thinner in a small beaker or other plastic, glass, or metal container and put that in the cleaner.
The ultrasonic waves will pass through the container and clean the parts.
This way you can use small amounts of very flammable solvents.

Let the cleaner run a few minutes to force out air and warm the solution.

You can help things along by pulling parts out and scrubbing with a brush.

Use a basket or wires to hang parts in the tank.
It works better if parts aren't lying on the bottom or touching the sides.

You can clean larger objects in small tanks by cleaning half at a time.
As example stand up the slide in a small tank and clean on half, then turn it over and clean the other end.

Since US waves penetrate into even tiny areas, you don't have to fully disassemble everything. Compared to a woman's wrist watch all gun parts are comparatively gigantic and don't require disassembly.

Either use warmed up cleaner solvent or run the tank until it gets warm.
Warm solutions clean faster and better.
Also, run the tank a few minutes first to force out air from the liquid.

NEVER run the tank empty, it burns out very fast.

You can use highly flammable solvents like Acetone and lacquer thinner by putting an inch or so of water in the tank, then standing small jars or beakers with solvent in the water.
US waves will pass through plastic, metal, and glass containers into the solvent.
This works very well for small components like trigger units.

Some solvents will quickly dissolve and remove painted features like sight dots and safety markings.
This usually happens instantly in the US cleaner, and over time even water will eventually remove painted features in the cleaner.

US will not remove copper fouling unless you use a solvent that attacks copper, like a bore solvent.
This can get expensive so I use standard cleaning rod and patches with a bore solvent to clean barrels.

Pretty much the same holds for lead fouling, although US will help loosen and remove at least some.

Carbon fouling usually requires a solvent that will attack carbon fouling.

 

[kbm6893]

Ultrasonics might or might not harm night sites.
I'd recommend contacting the make of the sights and ask them about it.
The standard small cleaners are not as powerful as the large rifle size cleaners so it probably won't hurt them. Again, ask the maker.

For cleaning most anything will work, even hot water and Dawn dish detergent.
Many of the strong soap detergents like Greased Lightning and the Purple and Green cleaners can aggressively attack aluminum and the anodized finishes, and will do it faster in an US cleaner.
Test carefully on some old scrap aluminum or worn out gun parts.

If you use a water based cleaner there's no real need to run the parts in the US cleaner to rinse.
Just swishing in a sink of hot water or holding parts under a running faucet will do.

If you use a solvent cleaner like cheap paint thinner then a dunk in a pan of clean solvent is usually enough.

To dry you can blow with compressed air, or just give it a vigorous shake, then use a hair dryer to warm the parts.
NOTE: Hair dryer and warm, not torch, oven, or heat gun and HOT.

To lube I sprayed in a fine mist of a good lube, then shake, wipe, and drain the excess.
Most all lubricants will creep and infiltrate into all areas.
I have used a cheap airbrush to spray in a mist of CLP Breakfree, and that works very well.
WARNING: DO NOT breath the mist...you will NOT like it.

In short, using an ultrasonic cleaner, drying, and lubricating to prevent rust is not complicated.

Some other info...........

KEEP YOUR FINGERS OUT OF THE TANK.
Bone marrow and US does not play well with each other. This is a cumulative effect that happens over time and repeated dipping your hand in the tank, so just because it doesn't hurt is not an indication of damage.

For cleaning small parts like trigger units, put a inch of water in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Put some lacquer thinner in a small beaker or other plastic, glass, or metal container and put that in the cleaner.
The ultrasonic waves will pass through the container and clean the parts.
This way you can use small amounts of very flammable solvents.

Let the cleaner run a few minutes to force out air and warm the solution.

You can help things along by pulling parts out and scrubbing with a brush.

Use a basket or wires to hang parts in the tank.
It works better if parts aren't lying on the bottom or touching the sides.

You can clean larger objects in small tanks by cleaning half at a time.
As example stand up the slide in a small tank and clean on half, then turn it over and clean the other end.

Since US waves penetrate into even tiny areas, you don't have to fully disassemble everything. Compared to a woman's wrist watch all gun parts are comparatively gigantic and don't require disassembly.

Either use warmed up cleaner solvent or run the tank until it gets warm.
Warm solutions clean faster and better.
Also, run the tank a few minutes first to force out air from the liquid.

NEVER run the tank empty, it burns out very fast.

You can use highly flammable solvents like Acetone and lacquer thinner by putting an inch or so of water in the tank, then standing small jars or beakers with solvent in the water.
US waves will pass through plastic, metal, and glass containers into the solvent.
This works very well for small components like trigger units.

Some solvents will quickly dissolve and remove painted features like sight dots and safety markings.
This usually happens instantly in the US cleaner, and over time even water will eventually remove painted features in the cleaner.

US will not remove copper fouling unless you use a solvent that attacks copper, like a bore solvent.
This can get expensive so I use standard cleaning rod and patches with a bore solvent to clean barrels.

Pretty much the same holds for lead fouling, although US will help loosen and remove at least some.

Carbon fouling usually requires a solvent that will attack carbon fouling.

Thank you for your answer, but regarding the lube bath, does the lube have a consistency of water, so that it doesn’t gum up the internals? I saw a video where a guy cleaned his M&P then into the lube bath it went. When it was done he used compressed air to blow it out.

 

[dfariswheel]

I don't know of that many good lube bath products.

Cylinder & Slide Shop sell 5 gallon buckets of "Dunk-It", which is both a cleaner and lubricant.
The gun is simply dropped in the bucket and the soak cleans it, and once removed and shaken and drained it leaves behind a lubricant to prevent rust.
It's still recommended to use a dedicated lube on key areas.
You can use Dunk-It in a US tank, but the cost is high.

Most of the rinse-lubes are extremely thin and tend to run off very fast.
You should still use a dedicated lube after to insure proper lubrication in use.

Personally, I found it was faster-easier, more effective to use a canned spray lube or the airbrush trick to apply a rust prevention and lubricating film in.
A rinse-lube product is expensive, doesn't provide really good lubrication, and takes even more time.

Guns are not like delicate instruments like watches where you need to use one or more rinses run in the tank after a cleaner.
Some watchmakers use a rinse-lubricant that rinses off the cleaner and deposits a lube.
This is a great time saver, but I always thought that was like rolling around in a hog yard, then taking a shower with your clothes on.
Guns are comparatively huge and running a rinse in the US tank is seldom necessary.
Guns don't need to be surgically clean like small instruments.

My advice is to use a canned lubricant spray or the airbrush trick to get rust prevention in the gun after cleaning and rinsing.

 

[kbm6893]

I don't know of that many good lube bath products.

Cylinder & Slide Shop sell 5 gallon buckets of "Dunk-It", which is both a cleaner and lubricant.
The gun is simply dropped in the bucket and the soak cleans it, and once removed and shaken and drained it leaves behind a lubricant to prevent rust.
It's still recommended to use a dedicated lube on key areas.
You can use Dunk-It in a US tank, but the cost is high.

Most of the rinse-lubes are extremely thin and tend to run off very fast.
You should still use a dedicated lube after to insure proper lubrication in use.

Personally, I found it was faster-easier, more effective to use a canned spray lube or the airbrush trick to apply a rust prevention and lubricating film in.
A rinse-lube product is expensive, doesn't provide really good lubrication, and takes even more time.

Guns are not like delicate instruments like watches where you need to use one or more rinses run in the tank after a cleaner.
Some watchmakers use a rinse-lubricant that rinses off the cleaner and deposits a lube.
This is a great time saver, but I always thought that was like rolling around in a hog yard, then taking a shower with your clothes on.
Guns are comparatively huge and running a rinse in the US tank is seldom necessary.
Guns don't need to be surgically clean like small instruments.

My advice is to use a canned lubricant spray or the airbrush trick to get rust prevention in the gun after cleaning and rinsing.

Thanks. I'll look into an airbrush. The spritz from a can doesn't seem to me to be able to get everywhere.

And I know to lube the key parts as I always do after a clean. I just figured the dunk lube would get into all the crevices and displace any water left behind. I intend to use compressed air followed up by either hair dryer or leaving the parts in a brass case dryer.