Posted: 5/31/2013 8:32:07 PM EDT
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I recently took possession of my long awaited suppressors (Sparrow and Osprey). After the first range trip, I decided to clean them up and see how bad it was. Needless to say I don't ever want to clean them again by hand. Now I am trying to decide what US cleaner I want to buy. Ive read that many on here use the Harbor Freight cheapo unit. Personally I think I want a higher level of quality than that. I also reload and would likely use the US for cleaning brass as well. After a little poking around, I am looking at either the 250W Kendal or the 750W Sharpertek. What say GD? ETA: Soultion wise, I am leaning toward Slip 725 Gun Cleaner/Degreaser. Can be had by the gallon at a fair price. |
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Quoted: I recently took possession of my long awaited suppressors (Sparrow and Osprey). After the first range trip, I decided to clean them up and see how bad it was. Needless to say I don't ever want to clean them again by hand. Now I am trying to decide what US cleaner I want to buy. Ive read that many on here use the Harbor Freight cheapo unit. Personally I think I want a higher level of quality than that. I also reload and would likely use the US for cleaning brass as well. After a little poking around, I am looking at either the 250W Kendal or the 750W Sharpertek. What say GD? ETA: Soultion wise, I am leaning toward Slip 725 Gun Cleaner/Degreaser. Can be had by the gallon at a fair price. I have actually had the fortune to do a bit of a comparison on cheap units versus lab/industrial grade. Now, for cleaning trigger components or 22 slides, etc, a simple cheap unit will work.....BUT, what a cheap unit can do, an industrial or lab grade unit will do ten times better...AT THE MINIMUM. I have to get the name of the unit, but the one I use in my lab at work just fricking screams!!! In fact, while I have lost much of my hi range hearing, the lid on my work unit will get resonant with the tub and it's got a squeal that sets my teeth on edge if I get too close to it. That thing has even pulled RUST off of tool steel. All I use for a solution is Starrett brand surface plate cleaner. ( Because I have about 20 gallons of it ) Again, for loosening up minor or medium grime, a cheap unit is fair....but a TRUE US cleaner will wipe the floor with a cheap unit. ETA: By the look of it, the Kendall should do you good! I like the boxier profile of the tank a bit better than the more expensive unit. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I recently took possession of my long awaited suppressors (Sparrow and Osprey). After the first range trip, I decided to clean them up and see how bad it was. Needless to say I don't ever want to clean them again by hand. Now I am trying to decide what US cleaner I want to buy. Ive read that many on here use the Harbor Freight cheapo unit. Personally I think I want a higher level of quality than that. I also reload and would likely use the US for cleaning brass as well. After a little poking around, I am looking at either the 250W Kendal or the 750W Sharpertek. What say GD? ETA: Soultion wise, I am leaning toward Slip 725 Gun Cleaner/Degreaser. Can be had by the gallon at a fair price. I have actually had the fortune to do a bit of a comparison on cheap units versus lab/industrial grade. Now, for cleaning trigger components or 22 slides, etc, a simple cheap unit will work.....BUT, what a cheap unit can do, an industrial or lab grade unit will do ten times better...AT THE MINIMUM. I have to get the name of the unit, but the one I use in my lab at work just fricking screams!!! In fact, while I have lost much of my hi range hearing, the lid on my work unit will get resonant with the tub and it's got a squeal that sets my teeth on edge if I get too close to it. That thing has even pulled RUST off of tool steel. All I use for a solution is Starrett brand surface plate cleaner. ( Because I have about 20 gallons of it ) Again, for loosening up minor or medium grime, a cheap unit is fair....but a TRUE US cleaner will wipe the floor with a cheap unit. ETA: By the look of it, the Kendall should do you good! I like the boxier profile of the tank a bit better than the more expensive unit. I guess between the two units I see two things that may make or break the deal. The Kendal is a third the power and a couple inches smaller. I am wondering how long it would take to get a heavily used 22 can clean in one over the other. I would assume more power is going to speed the process up considerably. Additionally, the Shapertek is 12" long versus 9". So that means I might be able to get larger handguns and parts that would otherwise not fit in the Kendal. |
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I thought I heard that aluminum doesn't go well with sonic cleaners? It doesn't. Not a good idea to put Al or its alloys in an US cleaner. SS Sparrow, so no worries there. Not sure about the construction of the booster on the Osprey. How dare you talk about things I can't own in this shit hole. 
ETA A "sweeping" frequency is also desirable. This is where the ultra sonic frequency is "swept" by +/- 3kHz or so. It allows for a better cleaning action, but of course costs more. Also, if it can get nice an hot, that's a plus too. My company puts Crest brand machines in the trucks, and also uses Branson machines at the HQ. Of course, these cost a couple grand, but they are the larger units. The smaller ones are not out of reach. Also, mechanical timer and temperature dial will work just fine and cost less. |
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uggghh want SO bad |
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I have an SBR, and in the process (as in, NFA office has everyting) of getting a Surefire SOCOM556-RC, so I know how much of a pain in the ass it can be.  
That's awesome man. That picture made me hit the handgun section for opinions on a full size handgun. Though I do need a threaded barrel for my M&P9c....
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You made a great point on the can...I forgot about that. Kendall makes another unit comparable to the 750W...I think it's in the 500 and some watt range....check out that tank, too. You will NOT regret spending good money on a nice US cleaner...you will NOT regret it at all. |
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Quoted: You made a great point on the can...I forgot about that. Kendall makes another unit comparable to the 750W...I think it's in the 500 and some watt range....check out that tank, too. You will NOT regret spending good money on a nice US cleaner...you will NOT regret it at all. I see a 540W, 9L Kendal for $338. It just seems to me that they are either oversizing the tank or undersizing the power when compared to the SharperTek. The price is comparable, with a little extra tank size with considerably less power. I don't mind the motto of, buy once cry once. I just need to make sure that I am indeed getting what I pay for. A coworker of mine has a 400W similar to the Kendal and says it does wonders for brass/gun cleaning. Would a 750W be overkill, if there really is even such a thing? |
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So I ended up ordering this Kendal. Its inbetween, price wise, from my original choices. The deciding factor was that it had a drain where as the other two did not; while keeping the size/power of the Sharpertek. |
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Was looking at the pictures someone posted of his machine, and wow I hope he doesn't keep the water level that low when in use. It needs to be filled to the crease around the top of the tank, roughly 1" below the rim.
Also, keep the lid on the machine while in use as particles can become aerosolized and you don't want to breathe them in - of course it keeps the heat in too. Make sure you always use a basket, don't place anything at the bottom of the tank. Put some CLR in there and your silverware, it'll be clean and shiny as fuck when it comes out. |
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Looking forward to an update.
I would like to buy one for myself personally, but I have one in my company truck that's basically top of the line I can use any time I want. Although, when I'm working in there I can't use it for personal needs, and when I'm done with my work day I just want to go home; so...I never really use it for myself. 
They are really good at what they do. I wouldn't be too apprehensive with experimenting with different cleaning solutions or detergents though. Things like degreasers available at HD (Greased Lightening, ZEP Industrial Purple), Simple Green, CLR, and Neutral pH GP Detergents diluted with water. Of course, some of these can't be used with certain metals or other materials, so read the labels. You might find these things work well and are much cheaper than the specialty solutions. Read your owner's manual too of course. Oh, and after filling the tank run it empty for about ten minutes to degas the unit. This will rid the machine of bubbles that hinder the US cleaning process. |
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Quoted: Quoted: You made a great point on the can...I forgot about that. Kendall makes another unit comparable to the 750W...I think it's in the 500 and some watt range....check out that tank, too. You will NOT regret spending good money on a nice US cleaner...you will NOT regret it at all. I see a 540W, 9L Kendal for $338. It just seems to me that they are either oversizing the tank or undersizing the power when compared to the SharperTek. The price is comparable, with a little extra tank size with considerably less power. I don't mind the motto of, buy once cry once. I just need to make sure that I am indeed getting what I pay for. A coworker of mine has a 400W similar to the Kendal and says it does wonders for brass/gun cleaning. Would a 750W be overkill, if there really is even such a thing? Well, I don't think so. I don't do cans, myself, but most of my friends are Class III types so work with them fairly frequently. If I had a single piece can( particularly a wet can) I'd definitely go hot and heavy as long as the can was steel and or titanium. Make sure the manufacturer says it's ok, of course. Say, can anyone here fill us in on why aluminum isn't ultra sonic friendly? I do use a US cleaner on aluminum stuff at work but it's just anodized bracketry that tends to get a lot of rust stop contamination on it from people transferring the rust stop from steel components to the brackets via touching. My US cleaner is a fairly low powered industrial and I haven't seen any damage. In fact, these components were kinda guinea pigs for me as I was curious if anything major would occur in the tank. |
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I thought I heard that aluminum doesn't go well with sonic cleaners? It doesn't. Not a good idea to put Al or its alloys in an US cleaner. SS Sparrow, so no worries there. Not sure about the construction of the booster on the Osprey. How dare you talk about things I can't own in this shit hole.
ETA A "sweeping" frequency is also desirable. This is where the ultra sonic frequency is "swept" by +/- 3kHz or so. It allows for a better cleaning action, but of course costs more. Also, if it can get nice an hot, that's a plus too. My company puts Crest brand machines in the trucks, and also uses Branson machines at the HQ. Of course, these cost a couple grand, but they are the larger units. The smaller ones are not out of reach. Also, mechanical timer and temperature dial will work just fine and cost less. Sweeping frequencies is desirable as it does not concentrate all the energy at one frequency. In electronics cleaning, a single frequency cleaner can excite a sympathetic resonance in components which can destroy them. For cleaning metal and other rugged stuff, a good quality cleaner is more important. If you really want to dive into it, I have a copy of the aqueous cleaning handbook in the library. Alconox are the go to guys for critical cleaning. Learn from them and use their stuff. Link |
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A couple observations. I used a 10:1 solution of water to SLIP. After degassing, the temp in the tank was still not up to what I had set it to (50C) but I threw the slide of my M&P, slide+frame of my S&W 622, and the booster for my Osprey into the mix. Ran it for 15 minutes and wasn't happy with the results, so I ran it another 15 minutes while the tank reached temp. The slide to my M&P came out pretty damn clean. Wiping it down with a towel was enough to remove anything left over on it once hitting it with the air compressor. The 622, which was completely fouled from shooting several hundred rounds suppressed, still wasn't very clean. Seems heavy carbon will not come off with the solution, temp, duration that I used. The enamel paint + clear nail polish I used on the sight was totally removed though.  The FCG is about as clean as I have ever seen it. If you haven't owned one of these pistols, its hard to do a complete tear down or to clean for that matter. So that is a plus. The heavy carbon on the booster was pretty much untouched, but softened up. A couple minutes with a brush made it reasonably clean. Beats scrubbing forever.Next, I threw the frame of my M&P into the mix for 5 minutes. Holy shit. It came out looking like new. I bought this pistol used, and has been stippled Needless to say, it accumulated a lot of grime in the nooks from carrying. No scrubbing would get it looking right compared to a run through the US. I took some photos of the process and will upload them later along with some further notes. Overall, a sonic cleaner seems to save a lot of elbow grease but its not some magical cleaning machine. |
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Thanks for the update.
The tank won't get up to temperature for at least half an hour, although the US cleaning process generates heat itself. Might want to up the concentration of the cleaner if it didn't remove all the carbon, or spray some of it on there, let it sit, then throw it in the US cleaner. In any event, you will have to rinse off the parts once they come out. Waiting for pics. 
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Quoted: Thanks for the update. The tank won't get up to temperature for at least half an hour, although the US cleaning process generates heat itself. Might want to up the concentration of the cleaner if it didn't remove all the carbon, or spray some of it on there, let it sit, then throw it in the US cleaner. In any event, you will have to rinse off the parts once they come out. Waiting for pics. My tank at work takes about 30 minutes to warm up and it's only about 1.5 or 2 liter tank. |
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Damn forgot about this thread and never took pics. I will have to see if I can do something about that this week. ETA: I did finally get a barb and hose for my drain valve. Now I just need to find something large enough to store all the solution in. Does anyone just keep the tank full inbetween uses? Since I don't have anything to dump the solution in, its just been sitting in the tank.
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Quoted: Branson makes ultrasonics in all shapes and sizes. They are not guncentric, they are professional grade. I bought one for work that 'happens' to fit handguns as well. A heated tank will work much faster. While not a commercial version, mine is heated and can be turned up rather hot. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Thanks for the update. The tank won't get up to temperature for at least half an hour, although the US cleaning process generates heat itself. Might want to up the concentration of the cleaner if it didn't remove all the carbon, or spray some of it on there, let it sit, then throw it in the US cleaner. In any event, you will have to rinse off the parts once they come out. Waiting for pics. My tank at work takes about 30 minutes to warm up and it's only about 1.5 or 2 liter tank. One thing I did learn was that the heater won't run very long if the sonic part isn't on. I tried to preheat the tank without having to hear that awful whine without much luck. Guess I will just have to fire it full blast for a hour before using it. |
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Damn forgot about this thread and never took pics. I will have to see if I can do something about that this week. ETA: I did finally get a barb and hose for my drain valve. Now I just need to find something large enough to store all the solution in. Does anyone just keep the tank full inbetween uses? Since I don't have anything to dump the solution in, its just been sitting in the tank. You could use a fuel or water jug. That's what we use in our company trucks to store the solution. Just drain it in there when done and pour it back as needed. Since the new fuel jugs don't have a vent you can drill a small hole to prevent the gurgling and splashing that would result. Quoted:
One thing I did learn was that the heater won't run very long if the sonic part isn't on. I tried to preheat the tank without having to hear that awful whine without much luck. Guess I will just have to fire it full blast for a hour before using it. That's strange. In any case the US cleaning produces heat so if you have it running and the heat on it will get hot faster anyway. |
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harbor freight has two different types, i have the more expensive model which is exactly the same as the lyman cleaner which sells for more than double the price
it's legit for $50 no way it'll compare to a professional unit but i'd suggest it before you pay $100-150 for one i just use it on brass and it does a decent job at cleaning but it definitely won't be shiney. i'm under the impression it's not good enough for a can though |