Sleeping Giant Stainless Media

[danny]

I am considering going to wet cleaning of my brass. Years ago I looked into SS media and the Sleeping Giant media seemed to be good. I have NO experience with mechanized methods of wet cleaning. In the past, I just sometimes washed brass in hot water and dish soap (I soaked it, too). One problem. Sleeping Giant's website says to use a tumbler. All I have is a big Harbor Freight vibratory bowel. Is wet cleaning not at all possible in a vibratory bowl, or is that not correct?

Danny

 

[GLShooter]

SS media must be used in a tumbler. A vibrating type cannot be used with it.

 

[Straightshooter1]

I am considering going to wet cleaning of my brass. Years ago I looked into SS media and the Sleeping Giant media seemed to be good. I have NO experience with mechanized methods of wet cleaning. In the past, I just sometimes washed brass in hot water and dish soap (I soaked it, too). One problem. Sleeping Giant's website says to use a tumbler. All I have is a big Harbor Freight vibratory bowel. Is wet cleaning not at all possible in a vibratory bowl, or is that not correct?

Danny

Some vibrator (bowl) tumblers are designed for wet tumbling . . . typically for lapidary tumbling. Not all tumblers are designed for wet tumbling, especially those for tumbling brass.

For example, Thumler made some with a red stripe what was not designed for wet tumbling and the one with blue stripe was:

Thumler's UV-10 Vibratory Rock Tumblers

The Thumler's Model UV-10 Vibratory Tumbler (the Ultra-Vibe) will quickly polish a large load of rocks or brass cases.

rocktumbler.com

 

[ebb]

I eventually bought a Rebel 17, been very happy with it. Only issue was the belt, get an big O ring instead of the one the factory makes, they seem to last longer.

 

[D-4297]

About six years ago ; I went to Wet Cleaning my brass after doing a lot of research on "How To" . Went to Harbor Freight and got one of their two Drum Tumblers , and it will hold about 35 .308 cases without over-loading it weight-wise .
Place the cases in the Drum . Add filtered or distilled water to cover the cases , at least a inch over the cases . Add about a teaspoon of Dawn or Dawn Ultra to each drum , and a good squirt of Lemmi-shine .
Install the caps , and place on the machine .
I run mine for three and a half hours , and some may say that's over-kill , but it gets the result I want .
Rinse cases with Hot water , to remove as much of the soap & water as possible , and spread on towel . Use the towel to roll the cases to remove excess water .
I then place the cases in a plastic container and put them on a cinder block in my side driveway for about five hours in the Sun . Fully dry , inside and out , since it does get "warm" in Arizona .
Cases then get annealed , Lubed , Resized , WASHED a second time , Primed , Necks get the attention they need , Expanded , and loaded .
Yes I probably take to many OCD steps , and yes I will have some "Flaming Me" for it , but it gives me clean consistent Match ammo , and my Practice Brass works as good as my Match Brass does . If it ain't broke , DON'T FIX IT !

 

[jpx2rk]

I use the FA tumblers, have the large and small one's. I prefer the smaller one just because of the smaller batches of brass I do. I also use the FA SS pins on 223 and 20 cal brass, no issues with stuck pins since I use the FA wet/dry media separator.

 

[Walt Krafft]

Forget the wet tumbling with stainless. Wash with Brass Juice if you must wet wash.

 

[SSchnd]

Walt tells it like it is, Brass Juice does work if not wanting to use SS media. Stuff is good. Off facebook IIRC. I have a jug. I will even reuse the solution on another batch if I can doing larger lots in my Thumblers Model B High Speed

 

[Fire Dog]

Having wet tumbled brass for years now {for myself and others} and having tried Sleeping Giant’s media I can tell you “Don’t use it”…
It is very fine, pointed clips of SS and is a nightmare to clean up after tumbling as opposed to the pins. It will cling to everything when wet!
It will stipple and abrade your brass and leave corse texture to the case that looks like sandblasting.
Here is a recipe that I use:
Hot wash in a bucket with a bit of dish soap first to remove dirt and debris, agitate and dump. Refill bucket with enough hot to boiling water to cover 1”-2”, another squirt of dish soap, dash of Lemi-Shine & 10ml of Bore Tec Sonic cleaner give a good stir and let sit about 24 hrs.
Dump out the wash, then fill rotary tumbler with SS pins, brass, HOT water, squirt of dish soap, dash {1/8tsp} Lemi-Shine, 10ml of Bore Tec Sonic cleaner and from a lapidary supply, 2 Table spoons of “burnishing compound”.
{The “secret ingredient “ for a brilliant finish}
Tumble for no more than 90 minutes {any longer and small brass in particular will accumulate significant peening of the case mouth} brass will come out immaculate and be ready for annealing {AMP} than a light touch inside/outside of case neck with chamfering stations on a case prep tool and well as the rotary brush in the neck to smooth any roughing from cleaning.
The sonic cleaner leaves a bit of tarnish resistance to the brass and the pre soak means that the rubbish in the primer pockets will come out without having to over tumble your brass to get the job done.
I might add, clean your tumbling drum and media every 3-5 loads as residue will build up from the crud that has come off the brass and after a while you will notice your brass is not cleaning up as well as it used to…
Some hot water and a teaspoon of laundry Pre-Soak product and tumble for about 5 minutes then dump and wash out the drum and pins.

 

[dave7mm]

I am considering going to wet cleaning of my brass. Years ago I looked into SS media and the Sleeping Giant media seemed to be good. I have NO experience with mechanized methods of wet cleaning. In the past, I just sometimes washed brass in hot water and dish soap (I soaked it, too). One problem. Sleeping Giant's website says to use a tumbler. All I have is a big Harbor Freight vibratory bowel. Is wet cleaning not at all possible in a vibratory bowl, or is that not correct?

Danny

STM Media Separator

The STM Media Separator is the ideal tool to quickly separate brass from media with a simple turn of a handle. Brass is caught in the separator while the media falls into the bottom of the separator kit. Fill lower container with water to separate Stainless Steel Media. Comes with a Lifetime...

www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com

I bought the pins and separator from these guys years ago.
Run the red thumbler tumbler.
A shot of Dawn and a shake of lemshine for 45 minutes to an hour.
In hot tap water.
If you forget the dawn and lemshine it doesn’t matter…..
Dump the drum out into the separator cage.
Close the lid crank the handle.
While there still in the cage I rinse them in a utility sink.
Blow them out with an air line.
Anneal. Benchsource.
Done.
You’re going to get a certain amount of peening.
Trimmer takes care of it.
Pretty much my SOP for cases every time.
Since 2011 I’ve replaced the belt on the thumbler tumbler once.
Bought a 2 pound bag of extra pins couple years ago.
GTG.



dave

 

[ditter]

Brass chips for me. Hot water, one squirt of dawn, pinch of lemishne. wash for 1hr, pour out the water, refill with fresh water. one more hour. done.Maybe two hours if they are nasty.

Used to wash every firing. Now it's every fifth time.

 

[rjs1230]

Brass chips for me. Hot water, one squirt of dawn, pinch of lemishne. wash for 1hr, pour out the water, refill with fresh water. one more hour. done.Maybe two hours if they are nasty.

Used to wash every firing. Now it's every fifth time.

Chips work way better than the pins .

 

[SSchnd]

Chips and pins for me most of the time, I use the STM pins, for a decade. then have added chips from Southern Shine I think.

Secret to ease of use:
Make sure the case are immerse in water when you are doing the separation. The water immersion lets the media float or fall it I may instead of clinging to the case interior. If you just pull them was the wash, rinse and such those case will be full of media.

I use a F/A Dry/Wet separator that has the screen on the top and the non drain bottom (depending on how you use them).

Fill non draining tub portion with cold water, put the basket into said tub, it fitted for the handles on the basket, and the media falls right out in the water to the bottom of the tub.

I call it stiction, the lack of immersion is your enemy. But as we talked above, clean brass can be had with Dawn/Lemishine and or Brass Juice solution by itself without media. you will be shocked how clean it can be.