I put togeather a wet tumbler but I cannot seem to find the right mix to get my brass shiny. I use a 6" pvc pipe roughly 20" long, filled 1/2 brass and water, small SS chips, couple dabs of dawn, small dab of lemon squeeze and my brass comes out really dull. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Wet tumbling
- Thread starter tplace
- Start date
You may not be getting the tumbling action you need if you're just using a plane piece of PVC pipe as things just slide inside instead of tumbling. If you haven't already, you need to install some kind of baffling so that everything inside actually tumbles.
Below the instructions for a STM wet tumbler, the speed of the drum, how far they tumble and the scrubbing action of the media control cleaning. The amount of dishwashing soap and the acidic acid in the LemiShine control the bling. If the water is not sudsy at the end of the tumbling time you need more soap. The soap holds the dirt in suspension and off the brass. It's just like washing dishes, if the soap wears out the dishes do not get clean.
I also have a sonic cleaner and use the same amount of soap and LemiShine as below. The cases may not have the same amount of bling but they come out clean and I have no case mouth peening.
I also have a sonic cleaner and use the same amount of soap and LemiShine as below. The cases may not have the same amount of bling but they come out clean and I have no case mouth peening.
If you are using well water. The minerals could cause your brass to come out dull and will tarnish rite before your eyes. I use citric acid (about a 45acp case full) and 3 drops of Dawn dish soap. To my dismay every time I cleaned my brass they would tarnish in minuets of draining the water off of them. So, I bought a Brita water filter pitcher from Walmart for about $30.00. I filter out about 3 gallons of water for the rinsing of the brass and now I have shiny bright clean brass.
SS pins works very well. Any detergent will not do it alone. I don't like the pins... they are a pain to deal with, but they do a great job. I made a homemade tumbler out of a 5 gallon bucket and contrapted a base to run my cordless drill. The pins in the bucket ain't bad, but pins in the brass is the thing, then spreading out the pins to dry. I run corn cob media to dry out the cases. My wet tumbler is only for large batches. I like my Hornady sonic for small stuff. But if the brass is clean from multiple loading I usually just corn cob them.
Last edited:
Be sure to use hot water and when they’re done rinse once or possibly even twice with hot water again then if that is not to your liking I also run mine through the vibratory Tumblr using Walnut Hull
media and a little bit of white diamond metal polishI do have 2 baffles, aluminum angle.
I have a frankford wet tumbler, soap was terrible maybe I didn't use enough, so I use ultra sonic cleaner hornady shine better than new
If after trying all of the suggestions above, if you are still having trouble you might want to replace the Aluminum baffles. I'm no chemist but citric acid + brass +aluminum sounds like there maybe some transfer happening. Maybe not, but just a thought. Stainless or plastic might be better.
divingin
Gold $$ Contributor
No reason to dry pins. I either drain the water from them and allow to dry in the separator bucket, or leave them in the bucket full of water. Makes no difference either way, as far as I can tell.
I've had Hornadys sonic cleaner for quite some time..... and not adding enough of their solution, which has citric acid in it. They say 40:1 or 1/2 ounce to 20 ounces of water. They recommend distilled water. Primer pockets have always been an issue. Last night I mixed the right amount of their solution to the water.... The minimum water line (40 ounces of water) took 1 ounce. Primer pockets came clean.
And they taste great also. LOL
For the life of me, I can't figure out the Cream of Tarter in the Recipe. Yes I know what it is,, My wife uses it in her Snicker Doodle cookie recipe. Maybe one of our Chem Genies will chime in, on that one, and enlighten us. I'm not proud, and I'll admit,, I just can't figure that one out. If it's working for you great, I just can't figure out how it help's. I use 3 drops of dawn dish soap and about a 45acp case full of Citric acid (Lemon Shine) and that works great by it self. For fun, I'll have to add a little bit of COT to the mix also. I don't see where it can hurt anything. JM2CWEdittteeeddd. 1minuet after hitting POST.,,,, You Got me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, After I hit post and was doing a last minuet proof I see why your using Cream of Tarter. Your using Dish SOUP. OTFR. HaHaHa
Last edited:
jepp2
Gold $$ Contributor
Potassium bitartrate, also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate, with formula KC₄H₅O₆, is a byproduct of winemaking. In cooking it is known as cream of tartar. It is processed from the potassium acid salt of tartaric acid. The resulting powdery acid can be used in baking or as a cleaning solution. Wikipedia
Thank You, Now I understand the chemical break down, and why it's adding to the recipe. The funny thing about his post was, after reading it 4 times, and I still did not catch the part about Dish soup. Not Dish SOAP. LOL.
I don't use mine on a regular basis, so I'm concerned of them rusting, even though they are stainless, they can still rust if left wet eventually.
Thanks Jepp, didnt even think about just googling it!
Good catch! I like soup! lol
Upgrades & Donations
This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.