I got one for Christmas. If I want to clean my pistols in it, what's the usual procedure? Take the slide assembly apart and drop the frame in with everything in place? How long? And do you have to flush it out with water afterwards?
Ultrasonic cleaners - your input?
- Thread starter AirOpsMgr
- Start date
I take any plastic or wood off. Take larger parts apart. Then place them in the cleaner with the open sides of the parts downward so the dirt can fall out.
Run it for 15 minutes or so
Then I take it out, wash it, heat it up, and oil it
So I can drop the frame in without detail stripping it, right? If so, I'm pretty pumped. My M&P gets nasty after a few hundred rounds with the suppressor.
That's good to knowWell, whatever Apex uses to coat the FSS trigger shoe, isn't strong enough to withstand the ultrasonic cleaner and 50% purple power. But the rest of the gun cleaned up pretty well.
Any idea what the coating is?Well, whatever Apex uses to coat the FSS trigger shoe, isn't strong enough to withstand the ultrasonic cleaner and 50% purple power. But the rest of the gun cleaned up pretty well.
If the sonic cleaning takes it off, it shouldn't have been on there in the first place.
No, but I've got an email into Apex to find out.
The trigger shoe is aluminum, so I'm guessing it was some sort of paint and not anodized.
were their any other metal parts contacting it while it ran? those vibrations with metal on metal can wear away finish.
Plastic tray in your USC?
In a lifetime of automotive refinishing I've seen many aluminum parts that look exactly like that. Not many coatings will adhere to bare metal, especially aluminum. There's really only two in our industry. Epoxy primer and self etching primers that contain an acid to etch themselves into the metal. When an aluminum part is painted without being thoroughly cleaned and applying one of those two primers it will look exactly like that trigger after you hit it with a pressure washer.
They really should anodize those.
They really should anodize those.
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No contact with other parts. I had them all spread out, with the tray in place.
Are there issues with metal trays?
I've never used a cheap one and I've never owned one until now. I've had access to really nice ones in the past. The one my buddy has at his shop he uses for cleaning carburetors for race cars. It's like 1100 watts and has a metal basket. My new one also has a metal basket. I haven't used them that much but have never seen issues from the metal basket, but I guess I could see how there could be.
I've heard, never seen, that metal baskets can cause the same effect as metal parts touching during vibration, leaving marks from the contact.
Mine is plastic. But it's a tray, not a basket. Basically just lifts the part off of the bottom and allows the crud to settle out.
Hmm. I can see where that might happen, but I've never really thought about it. Makes me wonder if I should do something different. Maybe have the basket powder coated or something.
Well, the initial response from Apex wasn't what I had hoped for. Not covered under warranty. Crap.