Tag Archives: Cleaner

Firearms Building and Gunsmithing, Fixing Stuff, Tools

Vevor 30L Ultrasonic Cleaner is Great

I’ve heard about using ultrasonic cleaners on firearms for years but never really investigated them.  Recently, I had a need to clean a bunch of HK33 grips that had cosmoline, oil, and whatever else on them.  Actually, I knew well in advance because they were part of a project and I had to figure out how to clean up a 50+ of these used grimy grips.

The HK 33 grips had cosmoline on them.

My Cleaning Options

I knew cleaning that many by hand with a solvent would take forever and be expensive.  Hot water and dish soap was an option but slow and time consuming.  An ultrasonic cleaner seemed like a perfect solution.  I talked it over with my friend Scott, who owns Michigan Gun Exchange.  Scott has one in his shop and uses it to clean firearms.  He showed me how it worked and I was impressed.  This type of cleaning would be perfect.

Ultrasonic Cleaners

An ultrasonic cleaner cleans parts three ways – the liquid bath, ultrasonic vibrations and heat all combined at once.  If you’ve every fought getting cosmoline or old grease that has set up, you know how heat is your friend.

Okay, it was time to research.  I couldn’t afford or have the space for a giant unit.  Doing some digging, the Vevor 30 liter unit got good reviews and looked like it would work for the majority of firearm parts I would need to put in it.  I considered the length, width, height and the diagonal for really long parts.   The stainless basket you put the parts in measures 18.3″ x 10.8″ x 6.7″. The diagonal is 21.25″.

Note, in terms of actual volume it holds, they say the unit is 30 liters in the title but also report that it measures between 29 and 30 liters or 7.7-7.9 gallons. They recommend the fluid be at least 75% full to protect the heating element plus you never run an ultrasonic cleaner dry or it can damage the unit.

By the way, on a larger unit like this, make sure it has a drain valve and the Vevor 30L does.

Yes, it would work so I ordered it off Amazon.

This is the Vevor 30L cleaner. The unit is simple to operate with the temperature on the left and the timer on the right,

Deciding On The Solvent To Use

Dedicated ultrasonic cleaner fluids are rediculously expensive.  What a lot of gun guys do is to use 50:50 Simple Green and water.  I started reading more on that and there was one small detail I wanted to avoid –  aluminum left in plain Simple Green for too long is apt to react and cause pitting.  The aluminum friendly formulation is Simple Green Pro HD. 

I’d recommend using Simpe Green Pro HD because it is aluminum friendly. I know guys using the regular Simple Green at a 50:50 ratio and they aren’t having problems – my suspicion is that the parts in the liquid long enough for a problem to happen.

Simple Green’s recommended ratios for their Pro HD formulation are: 

  • For heavy cleaning: 1 part Pro HD to 3 parts water
  • For medium cleaning: 1 part Pro HD to 5 parts water
  • For light cleaning: 1 part Pro HD to 10 parts water

Well, given how thick cosmoline, grease and oil can be, I went with the heavy cleaning 1:3 ratio and it worked great.

Two comments – first, I bought mine from Home Depot. They ship to a home for free in my area. Amazon is rediculously expensive due to the weight. Second, I didn’t find out until later that Simple Green also has an “Extreme Aircraft and Precision Cleaner” formula. I might try that in the future as they expressly made it to not react with plastics, composites, aluminum, etc.

Heating the Tank

One complaint of folks using the large ultrasonic cleaners is that their internal heaters take hours to heat the fluid up.  Well, I can’t wait hours so did some digging on that front and bought an immersion heater.  They all have a potential shock hazard so you do not want to put your hand in the fluid while heating it. 

I bought an immersion heater made by HAIYEATBNB off Amazon. because it has a temperature regulator and got good reviews — it’s a game changer.  Scott bought one after I told him how fast it heated the tank. 

To be clear, the immersion heater is to dramatically speed up the heating of the solvent and then it is removed. A quick summary of steps is to put the heater in the fluid, plug in the unit and set the temperature, let it heat it up, unplug the heater, let it cool off a tad before you remove it and set it in a container so it doesn’t drip. The Vevor cleaner’s internal heating unit can maintain the temperature. The immersion heater is just fast forwarding the heating process.

The recommended temperature range for ultrasonic cleaners range from  130-180 degrees Farenheit. The theortetical “best” temperature for cavitation is 158F (70C) and guys report great luck between 155 and 165. Just bear in mind that the hotter you go, the more evaporation you will have also.

This is the HAIYEATBNB immersion heater. I like having the temperature control and the actual heating element contained inside the metal shield that has the stars on it. Yeah, I am sure the shape will cause some jokes but it works quite nicely.
The immersion heater sped things up dramatically. I could bring the tank up to temperature in 30-40 minutes. The exact time depends on the volume of liquid and what the starting temperature of the fluid is.
The immersion heater’s temperature gauge will not match the ultrasonic cleaner’s temperature gauge. If you want to know the actual temperature more accurately, you use a more precise instrument such as my Fluke 62 Max+ shown here. Note, the temperatures will vary depending on where you point it. At some point you just have to say “close enough” and call it even.

Safety comment: There is the potential for electric shock with any immersion heater. We used them on our farm growing up and survived. I’m not too sure I would worry about any freaked out electric shock comments you see in all of the reviews on Amazon across most of the heaters I looked at. Simply put, avoid sticking your hand in there while it is heating. Standing barefoot in a puddle of water that has an earth ground while putting your hand in the solvent during operation of the immersion heater will get you shocked so don’t do that!! Sheesh.

Testing

I timed the ordering with everything arriving so I could immediately put the unit into use. If it was going to fail, I wanted to know as soon as possible so I could return it.

In terms of fluid, Vevor recommends you have at least three quarters full or you may damage the unit.  If the fluid capacity is about 7.7 gallons then this puts it at 5.8 gallons of fluid. (The above photos do not reflect this just to be clear – I had about three to four gallons in when I snapped them.)

I then put in the immersion heater and watched the temperatures climb both on the heater and cleaner’s gauges and they didn’t match.  That really wasn’t surprising to me.  It’s hard to say which is more accurate but I decided to go with the temperature measurement from the Vevor cleaner. They claim their temperature reading is within +/- 5 degrees celsius which would be about +/- 9 degress Farenheit if I am doing my math right.

Given the size of the unit I could easily put two grip modules in side by side and that’s what I did.  I didn’t try stacking them as that might reduce the cleaning effectiveness.  I put the unit’s timer at five minutes and let it run.  It was fascinating to watch the crud come off – even the red and white paint filler in the S-U-O symbols on the grip were dissolving.

The cleaner was fascinating to watch operate. I took this photo because you caan see the paint dissolving from the selector position marks.

I read a few complaints about the noise these things generate.  The Vevor makes a buzzing sound for sure.  Maybe it’s just me but it really didn’t bother me.  I didn’t need it to be quiet – I needed it to clean stuff.

The timer went off, I then removed the units, sprayed them down with water to remove the cleaner and then used an air line to blow all of the water out. 

The results were amazing.  Scott had warned me that everything comes off – including the “sheen” of the black plastic resulting in a dull charcoal color.  I then went on to do about a dozen more.  In two or threee cases there was still some caked on cosmoline inside the grips that a second pass got rid of.

The results were very impressive. In just a few cases did I run a grip through a second time.

Have A Plan to Avoid Rusting Afterwards

I should tell you to have a game plan to avoid flash rust forming on steel items you clean.  Ultrasonic cleaners will strip all the oil and grease off so that means untreated steel can form rust when exposed to moisture in the air.  “Flash rusting” is a term for when bare steel is exposed to moisture in the air and starts to show visible rust within minutes of exposure.

Spraying WD-40 can help displace water – another option is to use compressed air if you have access to all surfaces – first but then you need something to prevent rust such as a light spray oil or whatever your preference is.  My point is to think it through to avoid flash rusting after you clean.

Summary

At this point, I am very happy with the Vevor 30L ultrasonic cleaner.  If you have ever wanted to get into ultrasonic cleaning for whatever you are working on, the Vevor units are cost effective and you just need to decide on what size works for you. Click here for a listing of Vevor cleaners on Amazon and here for all brands.

I hope this helps you out.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

General, Miscellaneous, Tools

Hoover Carpet Shampooers are Totally Worth It!!

I bet you did not expect to see me do a post about carpet shampooers or as some call them “carpet cleaners” or “carpet cleaning machines”.  We’ve owned dogs and had kids for years plus we have light colored carpets.  Keeping them clean is no easy matter and maybe 4-6 times per year we shampoo them – plus occasional touch ups if something gets spilled, etc.  It makes a HUGE difference.

We used to rent Rug Doctor carpet cleaners and while they do the job you have the expense and hassle of having to rent one.  Back in the early 2000s we bought our first Hoover.  We went with one from Sam’s Club if I recall right.   One of the big selling points over the competition at the time was that the clean water reservoir was built right into the unit whereas some models make you run a hose way back to a bathroom, utility or kitchen sink.  That just would not work the way our house was laid out.

We wore out our first unit in probably 5-6 years — it last quite a while and did a ton of cleaning with it.  We then bought a newer model that we are still using and just got a brand new model to do my mother-in-law’s home after it flooded.  It is a FH50258 “Hoover Professional Series Power Scrub Elite Pet Plus Upright Carpet Cleaner”.  That is a mile long model name but it really did a fantastic job.

Why Did We Get It?

Thus summer we had a crazy storm that just parked over our town and dumped a ton of rain for two days,  Pretty much everybody had problems with water coming into their basements including my mother-in-law.  We were super busy and other than helping move stuff out of the way and putting a dehumidifier down there, we had to wait a bit to do the cleaning and restoration.

One of the reasons we bought a cleaner for her house was to leave it there in case of future problems plus we can use it for shampooing.  Something we found out many years ago is that a shampooer can suck up water from a carpet like there’s no tomorrow.  If you have water come in and get  carpet wet, a heavy shampooer will suck a ton of water our compared to a light Ship-Vac wand and hose.

This new unit is lighter than our old one plus the tank appears much more ruggedly made.  We busted the tank on both previous units – the “ears” that would clamp the lid to the tank would bust off way too easily – they fixed that design flaw with this model.  They also say the unit is blowing heated air to help with cleaning and drying – I can’t speak to that.  We use hot water from the tap to begin with.

Here are some photos of the new unit:

In the next photo, you can see the reservoirs pretty clearly.  The main reservoir on the top is for the clean water – again, we always use hot water to help clean and dry faster.  The smaller top right reservoir holds the soap.  The big tank under the black bar with “ELITE” on it holds the waste water.  It is easily detached and you can pour the filthy waste water down the toilet.

Our Approach

At any rate, mama had lived there for about 10 years and it had never shampooed her basement so it was worn to begin with.  Add in the water and she had stains all over the place.  My wife used hot water and plenty of carpet shampoo to clean the carpet.

In the above photos, you can see where she already cleaned and what was still dirty pretty clearly.  We tend to use either Rug Doctor or Bissell shampoo.  For the above we were using Rug Doctor shampoo.  My wife has worked out a method that works well – she shampoos the carpet twice and then does a third pass just rinsing.  We’ve found that carpets seem to attract dirt less if we rinse them and make sure no sticky/gummy residue remains.

Look at the example area below.  We had shampooed the lighter areas already but you can see the dirty carpet pretty clearly:

This is during shampooing:

And this is the end result

After we shampooed the carpets, we ran fans a dehumidifier to dry things out.  The shampooer did a great job and I figured it would be worth it to pass along the word.  We bought the exact model above at Home Depot for $149.  We did mama’s house and were so impressed that we bought a unit for ourselves.  I’d say we get at least five years from our older models so you can do the math as whether you want to continue to rent or buy a shampooer.

For us, the shampooers have been very worthwhile.  We have always liked the quality of the results and we don’t have to rush and rent a unit if family is coming over, we need to clean up an accident or even clean in general – we can just do it whenever we want.

As mentioned, this is the third Hoover we have owned/used and were very impressed.  If you are interested, check the various Hoover models and see what is getting good review on Amazon, Home Depot, etc. and also falls in your budget.

I hope this helps you out.

 

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

AKBuilds, ARBuilds, Blades and Edged Weapons Including Khukuris, Sten, Uzi Builds

How to Remove Old Cosmoline and Grease or Even Free Up Rusty Parts The Easy Way

2 Comments

We’ve all had parts come in with really dried out preservative on it such as grease or cosmoline.  I bought some 100 year old khukuri blades that were coated in dried out grease and realized this was a great time to take some photos.  There’s a way to get all this crud off very easily – most will practically wipe off!

I learned the following trick years ago after a friend was worried I would blow myself up using gas, brake cleaner, etc.  In hindsight I must admit it was risky but I rationalized it because I needed to get the parts clean – this is not only effective but also way safer.

Take a 5 gallon pail with a sealable lid on it.  In the photos you see a basic Ace Hardware plastic bucket with it’s lid that has a waterproof gasket.

I first learned about this years ago for firearms and it is a cleaner known as Ed’s Red and I’ve used it ever since.  The formula was developed and shared by a gentleman named “Ed Harris” and it works great for dissolving grease, cosmoline and even penetrating rusty parts.

The basic formula is:

  • 1 part Dexron III or better
  • 1 part deodorized kerosene
  • 1 part mineral spirits
  • 1 part acetone

I use it over and over, which is why I recommended the lid.  I’ve been using this bucket for probably 3-5 years now.  If it gets really gross or seems to stop working then I will change it but it’s fine so far.

So, I set the blades in the ATF and liberally coated the sides and let it sit.  I periodically would reverse the blades so they could be immersed.  If they were smaller parts, I’d drop them in there and let them sit for a few days.

What I wold so each time when I turned them was to rub the blades down and try and get the softened/dissolved grease off.  A lot of it would wipe right off with no scrubbing.

So here they are a couple of days later simply wiped down.  I left a thin film of ATF on them to reduce the odds of rust but all the old dried grease is gone.

When I am done, I put the lid back on and move the pail out of the way.  I do keep wet parts out of the cleaner as I don’t want to contaminate it with water but other than that, I’ve soaked all kinds of greasy, oily, rusty, dirty parts in this.  The crud settles to the bottom of the pail over time.  I’ve learned that if I stir it up there is a lot of debris.  If it gets too bad, it will be time for a new batch.

I mentioned it in passing but this is also great for penetrating rusty parts so you can take them apart.  I can’t begin to guess what all I have soaked in this bucket over the years but it sure includes gun parts, blades, rusty car parts, etc.  It’s a huge time saver and I hope it helps you out as well.

P.S.  If you want to read more on Ed’s formula, click here for his original article that is in the public domain.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.