Tumbler and media

[10XSHOOTER]

I bought a plastic barreled cement mixer from Lowe's. 50 lb bag of walnut shells and tumble for an hour or two. you can add any polish cream you like. Brass comes out clean .
built a seive with 1/4" window screen and dump into a plastic barrel. do use SS pins in a thumbler B at the end of the year to super clean match brass.

 

[ToddKS]

How did you modify a cement mixer? Did you remove the "paddle things" inside?

Danny

My mixers have no paddles and are lined with a kit that I cut out of the black rubber stable mat that you find in front of Tractor Supply, Atwoods, etc. This is combined with additional notches in the angle adjustment which allow me to run at shallower angles than the mixer would otherwise.

 

[ToddKS]

I have found Simple Green to be a key ingredient if you are tumbling cases that are sized using Lanolin oil as lube. I have heard that their Pro HD product is even better but I did not find that at my local Walmart when I looked.

 

[danny]

My mixers have no paddles and are lined with a kit that I cut out of the black rubber stable mat that you find in front of Tractor Supply, Atwoods, etc. This is combined with additional notches in the angle adjustment which allow me to run at shallower angles than the mixer would otherwise.

Thanks for the help. I THINK but am not sure that some cement mixers might have paddles inside the drum, but to be honest, when I did look, it was long ago and I did not look at a lot. I have been looking to up my tumbling/vibratory capacaty and have considered the big Harbor Freight Vibratory bowl, or one of their Cement Mixers. Your experience with the mixer is helpful.

Danny

 

[rwj]

I agree wet tumbling does a phenomenal job of cleaning brass, (TOO good of a job), but I do not like how it cleans the inside of the necks of ALL carbon. I've been using corncob media in a vibra tumbler for 38 yrs, and have no reason to change.

Try limiting tumbling time so that a carbon layer remains on the neck ID, this takes less than an hour for my 6BR cases and the OD surfaces (including primer pockets) are clean... best of both worlds!

 

[fatelvis]

Try limiting tumbling time so that a carbon layer remains on the neck ID, this takes less than an hour for my 6BR cases and the OD surfaces (including primer pockets) are clean... best of both worlds!

I routinely put cases in my Tumbler with corncob media, and let it run for five hours or more. Just because I forget about it! LOL
But even with all that tumbling, the carbon layer remains in the neck.

 

[Bill K]

Wet tumble with SS and liquid soap.. To get away from stuck SS pins, etc. in your cases, check out the small SS variety sold by Sleeping Giant Brass. You will not find any better and at that price.

 

[JMayo]

Lizard media in a vibrator from harbor freight. Timer on it. 4 hrs

 

[redrockranger]

Lyman Turbo 1200, Petco lizard litter for media and a plug in wall timer.Most brass clean in 1 hour. Works fine for me.

 

[rwj]

Does lizard media clean the primer pockets well? The corn cob and walnut media I used in vibratory cleaning machines did not compare to stainless steel pins in a wet tumbler...

 

[LVLAaron]

I wet tumble with SS pins. I'll never go back to vibe cleaning. It's so fast. I know a lot of guys like to use dish soap or some other concoction of cheap stuff, but do yourself a favor and use something like RCBS solution. You can have clean brass in 30 minutes vs 3-4 hours with soap and whatever else. Wet tumbling does harden your brass so the less time in the tank, the better.

 

[Rsadams]

The one Cabela's sells under their name , dry tumbler comes with corn Cobb media and polish included on sale or even normal price works very well , or at least the one I bought 6 years ago does and I use it alot.... I think they used to be made by Berry's for them but not 100% sure on that.... I would definitely buy another one.... I have both wet and dry systems but I use the dry a ton more than wet..

Edit , plus you can buy the walnut media from harbor freight for $25 for $25 pounds of it... Both great deals.....

 

[redrockranger]

Does lizard media clean the primer pockets well? The corn cob and walnut media I used in vibratory cleaning machines did not compare to stainless steel pins in a wet tumbler...

I clean primer pockets with a Sinclair primer pocket uniforming tool, before any adept in the tumbler. Most times steel wool on the necks.

Tumbling in Stainless Steel media in my thoughts will work harden the brass. Your ideas may vary.

 

[danny]

Does lizard media clean the primer pockets well? The corn cob and walnut media I used in vibratory cleaning machines did not compare to stainless steel pins in a wet tumbler...

It doesn't, but you should be uniforming your primer pockets anyway, to keep them at the proper dimension to correctly fit primers, which as a side benefit, cleans your primer pocket.

Danny

 

[rwj]

It doesn't, but you should be uniforming your primer pockets anyway, to keep them at the proper dimension to correctly fit primers, which as a side benefit, cleans your primer pocket.

Danny

I do uniform primer pockets, but just one time. I’ve had them get larger with multiple firings, not yet experienced them getting smaller...

 

[Toddmack]

If you go the S/S method make sure you check your cases for stuck pins. My pins get stuck sideways in a 6.5 neck.

It happens with 6.8SPC cases too. My brother used to clean my brass and slowly but surely I was going to get all of his SS pins until i bought my own set-up.

 

[misser]

Buy the Tumbler's Tumbler and tumble with seven parts water and one part Simple Green. Then try to beat that with anything else. Forty years from now you will still be using this combination.

have used my Tumbler's Tumbler for a number of years ,works great . have never used simple green in the Tumbler but have thought about it.

 

[Shooter13]

I routinely put cases in my Tumbler with corncob media, and let it run for five hours or more. Just because I forget about it! LOL
But even with all that tumbling, the carbon layer remains in the neck.

I use a timer (my wife purchased for our Christmas tree) that has dusk/dawn 2 hrs 4 hrs on it and I just set it and forget it! Works great.

 

[Gun Smith]

I de-prime and wet tumble with SS pins for really grungy stuff, dry in the kitchen oven. If not real nasty, I just use the vibratory with Flitz liquid for a shine, otherwise just dry them at low heat in the kitchen oven.

It seems to me that the SS pins must remove some brass too, as the waste water always looks to have a lot of brass color as well as grunge.

Also have the RCBS green basket shaker / twirler with bucket for getting the pins or corncob out. Had a few instances of the pins bridging in some .25/06 cases. Pain to get out. The Sleeping Giant SS chips look better; haven't tried them yet.

 

[dickn52]

Live in Florida...If I do the wet and SS media cleaning I put the brass on a towel, place on my patio table and wait. In 2 hours everything is dry and you need a kitchen mitt to handle the brass.