Ultrasonic Cleaning - Gun Parts

[I_Am_Oz]

My CETME kit is _old_. It's easy to tell that this thing was used hard. I think they were just pouring gun oil in the thing and then setting it out in a sand storm.

Every time I touch the thing, my fingers were grimy. I dreaded getting the gun cleaner out and trying to scrub down the small parts.

I was poking around here and saw that a few have tried the ultrasonic cleaners for brass... so I headed to Harbor Freight and picked up the smaller $24 ultrasonic cleaner. I took the trigger cage assembly out, and threw it in complete with some dish washing detergent in a pretty high concentration.

What came out was nothing short of incredible. That allowed me to strip it and then put the individual parts in the cleaner.

There isn't a sign of ANY grease, grit or grime _anywhere_ on these parts! I'm blown away. The parts actually have their original soft sand-blast surfaces in some areas. That thing completely exceeded my expectations with dish washing soap. I though for sure I'd have to use some caustic thinner or mineral spirits. Not necessary at all.
Thought I'd share something that really worked.

Oz

[woofert]

Oz,

I have the same USC used for cleaning motorcycle carbs, all I use is distilled water, works great.

A little trick I found on the net is to use zip lock baggies, put your parts in the baggie, add cleaning solution and place in the USC pan then cover the baggie with tap water. Parts get clean and you aren’t filling the USC with your solution so it make for easy clean up and no cross contamination when using different solutions.

woofert

[I_Am_Oz]

Just distilled water? Wow. It's crazy to think how it could cut through the grease and oil. Thanks for the tip. I'll try the baggie method too. Sounds like a great idea.

Are you using the cleaning powder in the distilled water? I bought some of that and haven't used any yet.