Thumblers Tumbler Tell me About yours

[jghoghunter]

I have a Thumblers Tumbler and have not used it yet. I would like to clean some 30-06 that are not real dirty but want to try it. I know what to do and how they turn out in an ultrasonic cleaner.
Tell me what you do to clean your brass in a tumbler.

 

[BW64]

1 pound pins, 2 drops lemmie shine, 2 drops dawn. 3 hours spin. Clean as a whistle! Blow out with air hose set in sun to dry for an hour. Load & shoot.

 

[chkunz]

I cover the brass with water and add one cup or less of simple green and tumble for two hours. I have tried the pins but do not find them necessary. After tumbling I rinse in plain water and then I put them in the toaster oven on warm for 30 minutes to dry them.

I have tried it all over the years and a lot of things will work but this method is simple and easy.

 

[mike mccormick]

I also use water, a splash of simple green, and a couple drops of Dawn. This is with pins. I decap my brass first. They come out very clean. I then dry the brass in a lyman brass drier.

 

[jghoghunter]

1 pound pins, 2 drops lemmie shine, 2 drops dawn. 3 hours spin. Clean as a whistle! Blow out with air hose set in sun to dry for an hour. Load & shoot.

I cover the brass with water and add one cup or less of simple green and tumble for two hours. I have tried the pins but do not find them necessary. After tumbling I rinse in plain water and then I put them in the toaster oven on warm for 30 minutes to dry them.

I have tried it all over the years and a lot of things will work but this method is simple and easy.

I also use water, a splash of simple green, and a couple drops of Dawn. This is with pins. I decap my brass first. They come out very clean. I then dry the brass in a lyman brass drier.

I also use simple green in my ultrasonic cleaner and it works well. I do not care about "shiny brass" but I'm curious. How does your brass "look" when you are done with it?

 

[chkunz]

I also use simple green in my ultrasonic cleaner and it works well. I do not care about "shiny brass" but I'm curious. How does your brass "look" when you are done with it?

It looks very clean and shiny after about an hour but less shiny after two hours. If you go more than two hours it starts to loose some of the shiny.

 

[jepp2]

Tell me what you do to clean your brass in a tumbler.

The capacity of your tumbler is 15 pounds. I have the STM unit that has a 17 pound capacity. Reduce these amounts slightly for the less capacity you have. Much different that most other folks recommended already. You decide which to try.

 

[Longtrain]

Brass about 50% full, a bunch of stainless chips, not pins (the pins I had fit perfectly in a 6mm neck, PITA to get out) squirt of Dawn, shake of Lemishine, hot water to 3/4 full. About 45 minutes is all you need for clean shiny brass.

 

[Twicepop]

I started with a Thumblers, the thing "only" lasted 37-38 years before a piece of the frame broke off right in the middle of where one of the rollers sits in it's recess. My only issue with these is the number of wing nuts that have to be twisted on and twisted off when using it (flimsy excuse on my part). It did an outstanding job of case polishing with either wet or dry media. I should have replaced it with another Thumbler's, but went with an RCBS wet tumbler as a replacement.

 

[MikeMcCasland]

Motor burned up in my Model B last week. I think I'd had it since ~2013? They work well, but I think the design could be improved pretty easily.

 

[snert]

ive had my (used) model for two years. I used it several times and now I am only doing small numbers at a time, so I use my FA vibrator and corncob. Easier to go from cleaning to loading without drying.

 

[jghoghunter]

Thanks everyone let's hear more!

 

[Rsadams]

I got mine awhile back at a hobby store that was closing very cheap.... It works good but to be honest 99% of my brass goes in a vibration tumbler.... If it's super nasty I use the wet tumbler...

 

[Ned Ludd]

5 lb SS pins, ~125 x .223 Rem OR 100 x .308 Win cases, hot tap water, several tablespoons of Dawn and about half a tablespoon of Lemishine (a little Lemishine goes a long way), then 30-45 min tumbling. There is no need to tumble cases for hours. In fact, the risk of damage around the case mouths is greater (peening) the longer you tumble. That is because even with 5 lb of SS pins in the drum, the cases bang into each other during the tumbling process.

After tumbling, pick out the cases, carefully shaking them case mouth down to remove any remaining pins, and rinse several times in hot water. I then briefly roll cases across a dry towel to remove excess water from the exterior so as to minimize spotting, and immediately dry them for 30-40 minutes in a food evaporator [case dryer]. Any minor specs of carbon/fouling that might remain at the bottom corner of the primer pockets can easily be removed with a uniforming tool.

 

[cem]

I pulled the liner and painted the inside of the drum before getting anything wet in the Thumblers. I like steel pin for the results and for the price over paying repeatedly for small quantities of rouged walnut that powder quickly. I use a Thumblers Model B bought on sale. The first purchase was speculation knowing I might send it down the road. I call such purchases renting to buy. So a Thumblers then a larger capacity cheaper tumbler. If I had a place to keep it and to hide the noise I'd use a small - Harbour Freight size - cement mixer with pet shop tumbling media.

My practice is to decap as a separate operation and hit the primer pocket briefly with a Lee Yankee screw driver pattern cleaner. Just starting the primer pocket cleaning is the difference between coming out of the tumbler as shiny as the rest of the case and coming out blackened. I doubt that cleaning the primer pocket all the way makes a difference in the group but some of my brass goes into long term storage and I want it all clean when I take it down years from now.

 

[rox]

I pulled the liner and painted the inside of the drum before getting anything wet in the Thumblers.

I wish I'd known to do this. Mine had rust coming through the exterior paint after the very first use (the interior was unfinished!). After using the Thumler for a few years I made a stainless media tumbler from a $30 eBay treadmill (a treadmill is a tumbler parts-kit - this took 2 cuts and 2 welds to make).

 

[itchyTF]

Most of the replies refer to a wet tumbler. I have a Thumblers but it’s a vibratory. To the OP, which is yours?

 

[jghoghunter]

Most of the replies refer to a wet tumbler. I have a Thumblers but it’s a vibratory. To the OP, which is yours?

tumbler

 

[M-61]

Brass in. Walnut media. Turn it on.

 

[skeeljc]

A 2# deli container full of brass, 1# SS pins, 1/2 teaspoon of Lemi Shine, a couple of good squirts of Dawn dish detergent. Run it for one hour. I use warm water, not hot. Rinse in warm water. Moving the case under water helps get the pins out of rifle cases. Allow to air dry for a couple of days (longer in high humidity) otherwise place on a tray and put them in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour.