cubix Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 Sorry no photos! But I spent yesterday experimenting with different things to clean dirty cases. This was using warm water, for an hour, stirring every 10 minutes. Here is what I found : Cillit Bang Powder - turned everything blue. Cillit Bang Powder + Soap Powder - turned everything blue. Soda Crystals - no effect. Vanish Oxy Action Powder + Fairy Liquid - fair result. Vanish Oxy Action Powder + Soap Powder - fair result. Soap Power alone - no effect. Vanish Oxy Action Powder - great result. Hand polishing with fine wire wool afterwards produced the best finish, as another poster suggested on the other thread. From a fun point of view, I found that adding the Soap Powder to the water first, then the Vanish Oxy Action produced the best over the top beserk foaming effect. Something I gleefully demostrated to the kids, they just looked at me with that 'What's daddy up to now?' look. Next I may experiment with electrolysis and see what a small current can do, but need to look into the chemistry of brass first. School was 20 years ago and I didnt pay attention to chemistry even then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2shots Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 Hi cubix Harpic works well but then you need a hair drier before you put powder in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radio1ham Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 how about vineger i used to use that to clean old pennys when i was young Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter_HMR Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 Be careful with the electrolysis i dont know to much about it but from what i remember you have an anode and cathode and your brass wil probably be your anode and the current will cause atoms to come off the brass thus removing the impuritys or whatever. My concern would be it would weaken the caseing which wouldnt be good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob300w Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 how about vineger i used to use that to clean old pennys when i was young Yeah, but it's a pig getting the primers in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob300w Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 Sorry no photos! But I spent yesterday experimenting with different things to clean dirty cases. This was using warm water, for an hour, stirring every 10 minutes. Here is what I found : Cillit Bang Powder - turned everything blue. Cillit Bang Powder + Soap Powder - turned everything blue. B) Soda Crystals - no effect. Vanish Oxy Action Powder + Fairy Liquid - fair result. Vanish Oxy Action Powder + Soap Powder - fair result. Soap Power alone - no effect. Vanish Oxy Action Powder - great result. Hand polishing with fine wire wool afterwards produced the best finish, as another poster suggested on the other thread. From a fun point of view, I found that adding the Soap Powder to the water first, then the Vanish Oxy Action produced the best over the top beserk foaming effect. Something I gleefully demostrated to the kids, they just looked at me with that 'What's daddy up to now?' look. Next I may experiment with electrolysis and see what a small current can do, but need to look into the chemistry of brass first. School was 20 years ago and I didnt pay attention to chemistry even then. It's not so much the chemistry of brass that you need to look into, you dont want to remove brass, you want to remove copper oxide and carbon. if you try electrolosis, you will remove the zinc from the brass, weakening it. Interesting to se the effect of Vanish on crud though, might give that a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casts_by_fly Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 If you want shiny brass, why not polish with brasso? Might take a little while though... Thanks, Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codling99 Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 coke in a glass will clean most things,especially coins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubix Posted April 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 This got me thinking. I did a quick search on the net to refesh my A level chemistry and rigged this up just now with a battery charger. The part to be cleaned connects to the cathode (neg terminal) Use a soda crystal medium. You are only talking about a few layers of molcules, brass is a heavy metal and can be left for hours or days - but it's the anode which is destroyed. A vernier calliper after 24 hours soaking might tell, plus weight? There is a two way particle exchange - using a steel bolt as an anode will produce a few molecules thick layer of steel on the part being cleaned - effectively plating it. So use a brass anode, another cartridge? Industrial platers use huge amounts of power, we use 12v, maybe 2 amps? I used a strong solution of electrolyte and what you see was after 5 minutes, the bolt started out as shiny galvanised! Here are some pics - the final one is before and after - it came out silver coloured from the steel anode - but I gave it a few wipes with a scotch pad and the brass came back through. Very cheap and cheerful, needs a rationale from some one who knows what's going on chemically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubix Posted April 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 I know - but can you tell I'm bored and have time on my hands ? The kids are off so I'm just messing about today. 2shots, your rotating doowhacky is just the thing for an ultra quick high speed polish with wire wool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2shots Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 Pleased its ok but use the milder scott pad nylony things theyre not as coarse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeye Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 As Winchester said TUMBLER nice and easy can be cleaning when I'm out shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob300w Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 "Here are some pics - the final one is before and after - it came out silver coloured from the steel anode - but I gave it a few wipes with a scotch pad and the brass came back through. " In which case, I would suggest that you reverse the polarity, you are supposed to be cleaning not plating! Sorry, but I can see no way that this will work without de-zincification of the brass case. You would probably have achieved as much just using the soda crystal mix, and no electricity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubix Posted April 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 In which case, I would suggest that you reverse the polarity, you are supposed to be cleaning not plating! Sorry, but I can see no way that this will work without de-zincification of the brass case. You would probably have achieved as much just using the soda crystal mix, and no electricity. Reversing the polarity produces the effect you see on the nut and bolt above, basically destroys it, the cleaned part always goes the negative. That's the way it works, it's a two way thing. I subsequently tried it with another case on the anode, and it actually produced a nice finish on the cathode case. A few atoms are making their way back over donated by the sacrificial case, problem now might be adding thickness. I did try the soda cystals alone - in my first post I said it didn't work at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griff36 Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 HP Brown Sauce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispti Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 Brasso Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobt Posted April 11, 2008 Report Share Posted April 11, 2008 I bought a sonic cleaner from Aldi the other week for about £15 I think. will try that wonder if I should add something to the water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob300w Posted April 12, 2008 Report Share Posted April 12, 2008 "I bought a sonic cleaner from Aldi the other week for about £15 I think. will try that wonder if I should add something to the water?" Accordint to this site, you mix vinegar and baking soda with the water, and sonic cleaning works well. http://www.mp40modelguns.com/cleaning_model_guns.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted April 12, 2008 Report Share Posted April 12, 2008 Trust me 50/50 mix of Tesco value vinegar and water just left alone will clean the insides and outsides 'till they shine. Then just stand them on on some kitchen paper in a warm oven (not hot obviously) and they dry out perfectly. If you are that fussy you can have a quick wipe round the insides with a cotton bud as well. I did a bit of a write of this on here a while ago, you may find it if you search, I am fairly sure I cut a cleaned cartridge case in half as well. [i was bored ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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