Something missed... you can put your solvents/degreasers/oils in plastic or glass jars. Believe smaller stainless bins work. The waves travel through the material and work inside the containers. You can just fill the ultrasonic with straight water that way, meaning you need much less degreaser/oil/solvent. Also keeps really nasty stuff from crudding up everything else.

Just FYI, the principle of an ultrasonic isn’t agitation, it’s cavitation. The sonic causes air bubbles to implode, collapse, thus pulling foreign particals away from hard surfaces. Very efficient when used correctly. They’re used all the time for surgical instruments.

I’ve been cleaning electronics for years using my ultrasonic. A fun tip to use, if you don’t have compressed air, is rinse with 99% ipa after using the ultrasonic, it’ll clear any water in hard to reach places. Place it in front of a fan or air purifier and it’ll dry super quick. Then just grease it up and you’re good to go.

Using “Simple Green Extreme” over standard “Simple Green” isn’t about cleaning power. “Simple Green Extreme” won’t attack aluminum. That’s why it says “Aviation” on the label. Most planes are made from aluminum and you don’t want a puddle of Simple Green to be hiding somewhere, corroding the aluminum. You’re using the right product, but for the wrong reason. Personally, I prefer Lucas Pro Ultrasonic Gun Cleaner. Buy the 64oz containers. They’re hard to find, but it’s the least expensive way to purchase it. It is not only a solvent, but it also leaves a slight film of corrosion-inhibitor behind. If a little gets left behind, it won’t rust/corrode/oxidize the internals of your gun. Simply place the (disassembled) gun in the ultrasonic cleaner, run the cleaner, remove the gun, wipe off any excess cleaner, use compressed air to get the solution out of any crevices, lube the lubrication points, assemble the gun, give it one last wipe-down and you’re done. Also, I see a lot of people placing their guns in u/s cleaners, for much too long of a time. Some leave them in for HOURS. Run the u/s cleaner for ten minutes and then check your parts. Remove any clean parts, use a soft brush on the still-dirty ones and run it for another ten minutes. Because of ‘standing waves’ within the cleaning chamber, move your parts around once in a while. Always turn the u/s cleaner off, before moving any parts. Get a small parts basket or ‘clamshell’ basket, for small parts, such as screws. They’ll be much easier to find and won’t dig into the finish of the gun. NEVER place anything on the bottom of the cleaning chamber. Always use the basket. If your guns won’t fir without removing the basket, buy a larger cleaner. Placing parts on the bottom, will cause your ultrasonic transducers to fail, which are very expensive and difficult to replace. One more thing... There are a lot of ultrasonic cleaners on EBay. They’re not bad and I use a few of them. One thing to note, is that they over-state the capacity. For example, I purchased a three liter cleaner. When filling it, I discovered that it would only hold two liters, if filled to the recommended fill line, and 2.6 liters if filled to the very top of the cleaning chamber. (Don’t fill above the recommended line.) Looking at the owner’s manual, it shows that they are over-rated. (i.e. The 3 liter model only holds 2 liters.) If your budget allows, always buy more capacity than you need. If you’re worried about how much solution you’ll need, with a larger unit, simply place your parts in a zip-lock bag, containing solution, and try to remove as much air as possible. Then, place the bag in the cleaner and cover it with tap water. This way, you’ll only need just enough solution, and you can throw it away when you’re done. If you’re a cheap-ass, like I am, you can filter your solution and use it a few more times. You can use paper laboratory filters, or filter it through 3 or 4 coffee filters. You can also place the solution in a closed jar, wait for the solids to settle and pour off the clean solution. (It will never look like new, but getting the solids out will make it perform better.) Obviously, never pour your used solution, back into your new solution.

Eric, I work in the industrial ultrasonic industry and sell/service this type of equipment. First, there is no motor, the ultrasonic power is from a piezo electric disc expanding and contracting x amount of times a second. Second, as mentioned dish soap works awesome, blue dawn seems to be the best. If you have any questions I will be happy to answer them.

I absolutely love tearing apart my firearms and cleaning them. It's a zen like state for me.

Puts M4 in an ultrasonic cleaner for five hours........still fails the NCO's inspection.

Eric you make the most boring topics informative and exciting, you're such a brilliant advocate for gun ownership 👍🏻

I’m a qualified goldsmith & silversmith and the best thing to use is a good dishwashing detergent with a little cloudy ammonia. Don’t always recommend the ammonia for metals like brass and aluminium but it’s pretty safe.

I buy the Simple Green HD (safe for all metals) it works great in the ultrasonic for handguns, AR bolt carrier groups and reloading dies.

I have the little Lyman cleaner. Does a great job on brass and small parts! eta: when I turn the thing on at work, the "shop dog" goes nuts.

Great tips. Ultrasonics work great for cleaning cosmoline entombed surplus firearms but it is helpful to skim the wax off the top before removal. I use compressed air to blow them dry following removal.

Have a Hornady cleaner and used regular simple green. Set my glock 19 lower in it for 10 minutes and did not remove dirt. Run another 5 minutes and nothing. Finally did it the old fashion way and it will pass any inspection. Not convinced this is a good effective and efficient way to clean guns MP5SD an awesome gun. Used in the Marine Corps on Security Forces.

Honestly, I've had good luck with the cheap Harbor Freight sonic cleaner. I have two, one I use simple green in, another filled with Lucas solvent. It's amazing what you can get out of a $40 cleaner. The only down side is they're small. We're handgun shooters, so it's perfect for us.

I work in aerospace. Units that come from the field we clean in our units ultrasonic cleaners. We have a 4 step process not including rising. But then we bake our units/parts at 250 degrees for 20-30mins to make sure they are dry. Im sure gun parts would work also.

Had been using ultrasonic tanks to clean Aviation Instrument parts for the past 30 years. The most efficient and safe of all solvent is L & R Ultrasonics Extra Fine Watch Cleaning Solution. Also we use a tank cover plate which has holes that holds the 1000 ml beaker lips while keeping them 80% submerged in the water, giving us the flexibility of immersing the parts inside the beakers in different type of cleaning solutions.

Good timing. I was wondering about getting one because Im basically the armourer of my friends. I dont have time to clean all of their guns AND school them on stuff that they cant be assed to read them selves. Love your content man! Keep makin us a more informed community!

Thats good info to know!! Really good to know it will clean Cosmoline!

You could use a cleaning or lube solution in a freezer zip lock from what I seen on other channels.

this looks like the answer to a maidens prayer. I am a black powder (real Black Gun Powder) shooter and this looks like a perfect way to get all the nooks and crannies de-cruded. Especially the bottom sof the chambersr and all the spots in the frames. Thanks.

My ultrasonic cleaner consists of a covered container full of safety kleen parts cleaner sitting on top of my grandmas 1970's heated electric foot massager. Its a two speed LOW and SHAKE like its 1999 industrial strength oscillatory

I just bought a small, 10L one to clean my suppressors and small parts such as bolt carriers. Have a few old rifles that need all their small parts deeply cleaned

I've got a small one to clean my brass. Half a dishwasher tablet thrown in works a treat.

Jerry Miculek is as he says, “I am spoiled with my ultrasonic cleaner.”

little tip, use a big magnet to hold small parts that would otherwise slip through the basket

Id love to gunsmith. But it doesnt pay enough

Hornady LNL Tub Was inexpensive and gets my guns factory new with no effort! Cost me less then 350. Cleans any rifle for the most part. Worth every penny in time saved!

Thank you for teaching us how to clean with an ultrasonic cleaner iraq, i love you

Thanks for the Video !! A couple of years back I purchased from Harbor Freight a Small Ultrasonic Cleaner. Never thought of using it as a ultrasonic oil bath !?!?!! Nice Concept !!! Also, I’ve only used it with water and a light soap (Dawn) or Fantastik ! Just ordered Simple Green !!!! Only use mine for Handguns !!

Good info Eric, thanks!

-Strange gun cleaning methods -AK owners : XDDDDD

Thank you and best review of ultrasonic cleaning.

I’ll take simple green over soylent green any day.

L&R made a cleaning concentrate and lubrication solution for use in ultrasonic cleaners on firearms. I believe they still do. I work in the jewelry industry and use one daily. Yes I clean car parts, tools, firearms and even jewelry in mine.

Been using an ultrasonic cleaner on every kind of pistol and rifle parts you can think of (including all types of plastics) for YEEEEAAAARRRSS. The ONE issue I've ever encountered was the red paint on the loaded chamber indicator of a Ruger SR9C came off. Of the dozens of guns, there has never been another issue. Even with tritium painted sights. I either use purple power, simple green, or Barbicide as a solution. Often a mixture of these. Barbicide has the benefit of removing mild corrosion and some protection against future corrosion after application. I use the cleaner on my own guns after every trip to the range or hunting. Just drop the parts in, let it run a few cycles, and everything comes out glistening clean. Wouldn't want to own guns without one!

"About that much." Good info there. So just 7 to 12 plugs from the bottle lol.

Thanks for the informative video, Eric.

Thanks for the info. Lots of great info.

HI Eric!!! talk about smaller ones for handguns and handgun parts/BCGs! i clean the larger bits by hand while the smaller ones get hit by the cleaner. totaly recommend a smaller one to someone for handguns especially. the smaller ones are cheap!!! like 30$ and it saves you time. you can clean most all of a handgun in one of these cleaners. good subject to cover i feel like most people don't know about this!

Been saving for one for a bit. Don't shoot often but when I do I go through a few thousand rounds over a few days.

Not quite. No motors, only transducers bonded to the bottom of the tank. Electronic circuits generate 20-40KHz frequency, amplify it and feed it to the transducers that generate a waveform in the water, creating cavitation, which can clean most things to a molecular level. Solvents must be selected for the specific task as hand. Occasionally, you’ll run into something impervious to cavitation. There must be water contact with what you’re cleaning, no air pockets. For most jobs, most effective cleaning there is. I worked for an ultrasonic cleaner company and we made everything from cleaners for rocket engines, Diesel engine parts, injectors, etc, to watches and jewelry. Especially good for brass with proper solvent. For degreasing, I’ve always used Cascade dishwashing soap or Dawn. (But I also have HandiKleen solvent degreaser) I might have to try Simple Green.

Just FYI, you can put lubricant in an ultrasonic as well after you’re done cleaning them just lightly wipe your firearms down and they’re perfect. Also, the plastic bag method works really well. Then you don’t get any dirt in your ultrasonic cleaner at all. Works really well especially if you’re going to do jewelry and car parts as well as firearms. Just remember to wear gloves if you’re cleaning firearms, you don’t want all that liquid lead soaking into your skin.

I use a couple different ultrasonic cleaning machines depending on what I'm cleaning. The only constant in them is the solvent. I have tried around 20 different products, the BEST I have used is in ALL my units....SLIP2000 Ultra-Clean. Ultra-Clean can be purchased ready to use or in concentrate. It is water based, so oils float to top of tank when turned off. Easy to skim off oils from cleaner. I get 10 to 12 cycles before noticing any difference in cleaning power. When more is needed usually a few capsules are enough. Works better and faster on brass than any tumbler I have seen. I also use SLIP 2000 Ultre-Lube for most internal parts. I have a tank that always has Ultre-Lube in it. When something other than brass to reload comes out of cleaning, I blow it off good with compressed air and into the Lube tank for a few minutes. Both products work GREAT at a variety of temperature settings. When ALL done in the tanks, I let the LUBED stuff dry in the air, then LUBE it however it needs with SLIP 2000 products. The REALLY FILTHY STUFF, like black powder barrels and breaches get a 5 minute soak in SLIP 2000 CARBON CUTTER before the ultrasonic cleaner just to city time and temp in the tank. I don't run over 115° on my tanks, but that is personal preference. For brass to reload, when it comes out of cleaning I put it in the oven for 10 minutes or so at 225° to dry.

I would not recommend for aluminum baffles, but works fine for steel and Ti. Bought a cheap Chinese one for cleaning .22lr can baffles and realized one day I could also use it to clean AR BCGs. Remove the o-ring and toss the rest of the BCG in cleaner, let it do its job, rinse off in the sink, stick in the oven on lowest heat setting for 10 or so minutes, drop into Ed's Red and finally wipe off any excess.

I was very interested in this topic. Great video

Brilliant video!

Useful for if you're cleaning a LOT of guns for a business, but for the price and upkeep I'll stick with brushes, gun scrubber, and oil. Especially since the wrong mixture can strip finishes/mess with polymers.

i want to see a twist rate comparison video by iraqveteran8888

I own RCBS ultrsonic cleaner which I bought specifically to clean brass for reloading. What I learned was it that doesn't clean brass as well as a dry media tumbler however, it cleans gun parts better than anything else I've tried thus far. Also, I've had really good results cleaning gun parts in the ultrasonic with liquid dish soap when I didn't have Simple Green on hand.

Great video. If I could offer one bit of advice when sonicating in solvent. Make sure you take safety precautions, especially when using heat. You need to be aware of flash points/boiling point of solvent that you are using.

What do think of the ziplock bag method and keeping your water clean ?

Great informative presentation.

Good job! Thank you for the enlightenment.

We used simple green to clean everything when I was in the Army. Honestly I used to wish for a better cleaner back then but now, there isn’t one.

Very smart guy. Thanks for your help

Awesome video, thanks

Very interesting Eric an thanks for the knowledge Sir

I use Balistol with water in my ultrasonic and when I am done I rinse with water and dry with compressed air. I have had excellent results. I may have try the simple green at some point.

In my own experience, when using an ultrasonic full of Hoppes #9, do not put old thin leaf springs into the ultrasonic tank no matter how grimy they are. It will weaken the old V and leaf springs so they break under use.

I caught a smaller Frankford Arsenal on Midway clearance for $40, couldn't be more glad I did. Small batches of brass, bolts, slides, and yeah like he said even car parts, it makes short easy work out of all that crap. Now I want a larger one...

I knew you'd explain the in and outs of ultrasonic cleaners because I watched your Martini Henry video where you used this machine or one very similar a couple years ago. 👍🇺🇲

i have two 1 liter cleaners, one i use for jewellery, the other for smaller gun parts like bolts, slides and the likes.... love them, they were cheap as dirt on ebay

I have the harbor freight one, its been great for me.

I thought about getting just to use for my bolt assemblys i can clean the rest of my guns easy

Good video, I need to get an ultrasonic cleaner with all the gunky old milsurps I’ve been buying. Would make cleaning so much easier

Excellent video. My only comment is that some of the smaller ultrasonics--I have the Lyman that flashed by in one of the photos shown--are actually quite affordable, so price may not necessarily be prohibitive, especially if you just want to do handguns and parts of your rifles, fellas.

Simple Green is good stuff . One time I was cleaning old tile that had 20 yr old vinyl floor glue on it. The Simple Green was almost full strength and in less than 1 hr with very little rubbing it lifted it clean off the tile. Later my brother told me thats what the navy uses on its boats.

Your opinion on how an ultra sonic cleaner breaks down copper and or lead build up in a barrel bore?

Well done.

That looks really interesting, but it seems like you really have to know what you're doing to avoid wrecking your gun. I like Hoppes #9 to clean and regular gun oil to lubricate. Can't go wrong with that method. This looks like it would get in all the nooks and crannies better though.

Absolutely love mine. Time is money, and this saves me a LOT of time. I hate the deep cleaning process, mostly bc I have quite a few guns & rather than cleaning them one at a time I have a monthly "cleaning day." I can throw in my fouled-up BCG or AK Piston, run it, and just hand clean my lowers/whatever isn't too bad. If you can swing it, they're worth the money imo. As someone mentioned, the solvent in jars also works but be careful with bluing.

I use a Lyman Turbo Sonic 2500 for cleaning brass. I use 'much off' bike cleaner as a pre soak. Then hot water, white vinegar & lemon juice in the sonic cycle for about 20 minutes. Then rinse / dunk in a bucket of cold water. Every piece of brass comes out very clean inside and out also inside the primer pocket. I then dry the brass in the dehydator for 2 hours.

Good info Eric, how often do you change out the solution?

Also a good point to bring up is proper disposal of fluids. If you have a container full of carbon and lead, especially a 22lr firearm or suppressor, don’t just pour it down the drain.

If you clean something with a lot of oil, you can use an oil absorbant like Pigg Mat to take the oil off the top without soaking up the water & cleaner. Just put it on top of the fluid for a minute before removing the gun.

Simple Green 👍

Love your videos

I was thinking of getting a smaller sonic cleaner to clean my P-10c with a PMM JTTC comp. I figured since I can't get the barrel out of the slide with the comp mounted, this would help keep it super clean. Any reasons I shouldn't do that?

Eric please do a setup tour with videos like this for stands ect.

I was looking at the hornady 2l ultra sonic cleaner for cleaning lubricant off of cases plus i can clean my pistols better. For rifle ill just keep cleaning them by hand because im not spending $700 for an ultra sonic cleaner, but the smaller version is about $160 amd can still fit a pistol or a few hundred cases, so its much more affordable. My primary concern is if the chemical would ruin plastic parts, and ive been reading that green simple green ruins aluminum but blue simple green is fine

Ok so 2 things not mentioned in vid was it can be used to clean reloading brass and equipment like dies and I read on internet but have not experienced this but simple green not sure what type can react negatively with aluminum if I remember correctly. I recently used my points at BPS and got the Hornady Sonic cleaner free but have not used it yet. It will be my first Sonic and I only plan on cleaning brass after universal decappi g with it

Simple Green HD Pro (purple) is the same as Simple Green Extreme except it's 1/3 the cost. This is straight from the manufacturer help line.

What about useing an "industrial" or "jewlers" sonic cleaner for brass instead of the ones that say hornady has?

Couldn't tell did Eric recommend diluting the extreme cleaner 50% with water or using at full strength for Glock style pistols & AR rifle parts?

I would love to see the before after video of an ar 15 melt down!!!!!!GREAT VIDEO

Great video. Well said… Having a second Ultrasonic is great for a lubricating bath.

Watching many "Ultrasonic Gun Cleaning" on KZfaq, haven't seen many mention about after the Ultrasonic Gun Cleaning bath(simple green method), should I rinse with water or just blow dry with air gun ?

Hello, Appreciate the info. So cleaning a supressor with 1-1 with simple green and water will be o.k. and not harm the cerakote ?

I have a Hornady that fits a stripped XDs without issue. I wished now I bought the larger one that can fit an entirely stripped 1911 or FN Hi Power.

hello there your video was really helpful . A question, can I use ultrasonic to lean chokes from my shotguns and parts from my shotgun as well?? thanks

How good would ballistol work in an ultrasonic cleaner? As far as cleaning compared to the simple green. Also wouldn't ballistol be less likely to rust in spots you missed in drying?

I got a little ultrasonic cleaner for cleaning my black powder revolvers. Works wonderfully!

So far just pistol parts and brass in mine. I use the Hornady unit, and Hornady solution in it. Seems to work ok, but I do use Simple Green when I want to soak parts outside the sonic.

Will an ultrasonic cleaner remove surface rust, and not mess up the blueing or the finish on the parts?? Thanks a lot!!

Great video! Just bought a Ultra sonic. What solution would you recommend for cleaning range brass? I have heard that Simple Green will break down the zinc in the brass??

its also great for cleaning brass so you dont get grime in your tumbler and to degrease it and welded supressors that can not be opened or if one is lazy and doesnt disassamble the supressor every time but lets say ~ every 200 rounds with a bolt gun if you make around 70 every time you hit the range - you just put it in the ultrasonic so it doesnt smell like powder and metall ions - some gfs dont like it if you put them in the dishwasher or whatercooker if you use 4 gallons of brake cleaner /acetone with minimum heat you get the gun as degreased as you possibly can if you want to reblue or maybe anodize aluminium and its great for motor parts like cleaning chainsaw and moped motors and carborators

Great video

The only thing I would use one for is suppressor cleaning so something small is all that I need. Harbor freight has an ultra sonic for only $80. Are these any good?

can you clean a barrel in an ultrasonic (steel barrel) and if so, how long would you have to leave it in but without damaging the blueing?

Thanks for the video, very useful information, I have a Sandman L by dead air that I have been looking around on how to clean it and cant find any information on how to, I cannot take it apart because its welded together to clean it myself, would this clean the internals pretty good ???