Ultra sonic cleaners, Hornady vs Grafs vs Harbor freight

[silvercorvette]

What makes this $220 Hornady cleaner

HORNADY

cost twice as much as this $115 Grafs one

Just looking at the pictures and reading the specs the Hornady holds more fluid and the Graf and Harbor freight is plastic while the Hornady looks like it is aluminum

GRAFS

and this $70 one at Harbor freight looks like it is the same one as the one selling for $115 at Grafs

HARBOR FREIGHT

I am thinking of getting the $70 one unless I am missing some kind of special feature that makes the Hornady cost over 3 times as much, I wonder what makes it worth all that extra money

[DyNo!]

How well do these clean brass compared to stainless media?

My tumbler is going to die soon and I'm thinking of going with a cheap ultrasonic or stainless cleaning rig.

[JakeMartens]

Try out the $70 and let us know how it works

I have had my dillon for 11 years now, but these look interesting

[Graham Smith]

I bought a jewelry cleaner that is identical to the Hornady and for doing a final cleaning on a small volume of brass (like for my bolt action) after it has been deprimed and resized, it works. But it's just not worth the bother for any kind of volume cleaning.

Your mileage may vary.

[Mattog22]

Aren't these sometimes used for cleaning pistol parts or is there something special with the gun cleaning ones?

[sperman]

I've had a couple of the Harbor freight units. They do a job cleaning pistol parts, but they don't last that long. I'm going to upgrade to one of the units that is about $300 when my current HF cleaner finally dies (it's on it's last leg now.)

[Vlad]

The smaller/plastic Hornady one on sale at Cabelas for $79.

[silvercorvette]

The smaller/plastic Hornady one on sale at Cabelas for $79.

As long as I am spending all that much money I want to be able to use it on other things such as gun parts therefore I want the big one

=================================================================

I just got off the phone with Hornady

I called Hornady to ask them why their cleaner cost more that Harbor freight, and I asked them for some thing to compare them by.

The only number he was able to give me was that Hornady was 120 watts. He also mentioned it was made of stainless steel and it had 2 transducers

I also asked about the warrantee and was told it is a 2 year warrantee.

I went to the Harbor freight site. The site lists the power of their cleaner as 160 watts, but this part is important to me because it is an indication of quality, it does not specify the number of transducers. The Hornady warrantee is 2 years and the Harbor freight is 30 days.

I am also going to do some more research to learn if there are other factors to consider such as how many pulses or cycles per second the cleaner operates at

[Mike_Kerr]

This is good information. I have started my own research on this type of cleaner and had reached a tenative conclusion that the Harbor Freight unit was "light" for heavy duty use. However, the Hornady seems way overpriced.

Regards,

[bobbleeye]

Check with you local Dentist to see if he is about to upgrade his ultrasonic instrument cleaner the one I got was all stainless, works like a charm and best of all 25.00.

[rsrocket1]

I just got off the phone with Hornady

The only number he was able to give me was that Hornady was 120 watts. He also mentioned it was made of stainless steel and it had 2 transducers

I also asked about the warrantee and was told it is a 2 year warrantee.

I went to the Harbor freight site. The site lists the power of their cleaner as 160 watts, but this part is important to me because it is an indication of quality, it does not specify the number of transducers. The Hornady warrantee is 2 years and the Harbor freight is 30 days.

I am also going to do some more research to learn if there are other factors to consider such as how many pulses or cycles per second the cleaner operates at

The cheaper Hornady and the 2.5 qt HF cleaners use a 60 Watt ultrasonic transducer. The 160 Watt rating of the HF cleaner includes the 100 Watt heater. You can buy a 1 year no questions asked warranty for the HF for about $10. You can also buy the HF cleaner for $56 before tax when it goes on sale and with a 20% off coupon. The HF cleaner is OK for about 20 cases of .308 or 30 cases of 45ACP and four 8 minute cycles if you don't use additional cleaning solutions. Primer pockets come out very clean. With a cleaning solution or dilute citric acid, you can clean a lot more and they come out almost as shiny as a vibratory tumbler with walnut. Don't use vinegar unless you keep the cleaning time to a minimum and are sure to neutralize with a baking soda solution. Otherwise the cases will eventually turn pink and oxidize.

The US cleaners are great for cleaning out 1911 barrels and frames and AR bolt carriers. I prefer to use it for that purpose and simply use the vibratory tumbler for cleaning brass.

[mleeber]

I have the original Hornady small sonic cleaner. It does a good job on brass but like Graham said, it works great on small volumes of brass but would be a PITA for any large quantity. I use it on my 7mm Mag and 300 Mag brass using the Hornady brass solution and letting it sit overnight after 3-4 480 second cycles and primer pockets are new and shiny. I also used it on an AR bolt and carrier with the Hornady parts solution and was actually amazed that all the carbon was gone after the 480 second cycle. Downside is that these solutions are water based so be careful to thoroughly dry the gun parts. Cleaning the unit is also a bit of a PITA because of the shape and the lack of any right angles at the corners means it does not pour out without dribbling down the side of the unit. The new Stainless Hornady one os probably better with that.

Wish I had known about the HF unit cause I am a cheap bastard at heart.