Best SS Pin Tumbler?

[rotts4u]

I have been noticing that the Frankfurt unit is causing me to have a slight edge on the outside of the case mouth. I have gone back to dry for now. Hopefully someone has a way or trick to help me stop it from rolling the edge that way

 

[SmokinJoe]

How long are you tumbling and how well filled is the drum?

 

[EdHarley]

I’ve used the same larger Franklin tumbler for years. They make it easy to separate the pins. Question on the lemishine. All I can find in my area is the packets made for dishwashing. Anyone ever try those and are they as good as the liquid?

 

[PDS]

Lemi-Shine is basically just citric acid. You might find citric acid in the home canning section of a bigger grocery store. You don't need much.
I think using a powdered detergent in a tumbler could get a little messy.

 

[SmokinJoe]

I have found citric acid at health food store also.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I use the FA, still haven't added pins. 100 brass, 1 cap of Jungle jake cleaner/degreaser, fill with HOT water. 45-60 minutes, rinse with hot water,clean and shiny enough for me. Going to try car wash/shine sometime.

 

[danny]

Did you search under "rock tumblers"?

As a very old rockhound and doing lapidary work as a hobby , I've found that many of the "cheap" tumblers work as well as the very expensive ones and last quite a while too.

Maybe this might suit your criteria:

Rocks, Gemstones, Minerals, Rock Tumblers, Lapidary Equipment, and Educational Supplies For Sale - The Rock Shed

The Rock Shed features rock tumblers, polished rocks, minerals, spheres, gemstone beads, amber beads and gold specimens as well as crushed rocks, agate bookends and tumbling grit.

www.therockshed.com

View attachment 1229187

Excellent unit. We have had one at work that has been used heavily for about 40 years, and the only service it needed was replacement shafts and probably a belt or two.

Danny

 

[Webster]

I’m sorry for the question that I’m certain has been probably beat to death but I searched and couldn't find a thread pertaining to the highest quality wet media tumbler for using the SS pins in. I want to give it a shot to clean up some older brass I use in a few of our hunting rifles and other than the cheap plastic tumblers I cant seem to find anything of higher quality meaning something that will last longer than a year before falling apart from cheap Chinese made junk. Are these the only options available now? A local friend has a heavy duty metal framed unit but it’s old and the stickers are long gone on it so we can’t figure out who made it. Any insight would be greatly appreciated...

I have been using the $39 Harbor Freight rock tumbler for a little over 5 years . Never had a problem. It will hold 50-70 6BR cases. The only problem is gettin the end cap on. With a little practice it is not a problem. I only tumbler a couple times a year. I would say it's not the one for cleaning a lot of cases every year. It should work for no more than 50 30-06 cases at a time.

 

[jpx2rk]

I bought the large FA wet tumbler a couple yrs ago, stated capacity is 1000 223 cases. Does a good job but 1000 cases at at time is a bit much for me to deal with at one time, so I got the smaller version which hold 2-300 223 cases, and uses 2.5# of pins. Works as good as the big one. I have found if I give the primer pockets a quick cleaning with a hand held pocket cleaning tool, the pockets come out much cleaner. Before, it was kind of hit or miss on the pockets, and the residue was much harder to remove after washing and drying the brass. I give the pockets a twist with the handheld tool when I deprime the cases, and then dump 'em into the dirty bucket for tumbling at a later time.

I use the FA wet/dry media separator for removing the pins and rinsing the brass, changing the water several times, and I rotate the basket in a back & forth motion with sudden stops to help shake the pins out while under water. I have never found a pin in a case when starting to load some up. Use hot water with Dawn, and lemishine, cold water from the garden hose to rinse. Wally world dehydrator to dry the brass in the winter, hot driveway in the summer time.

 

[servant403]

Thumlers is good. I do very strongly suggest pulling the rubberish drum liner and painting the inside of the metal drum with a good rust resistant coating. Then again what's best depends on a variety of criteria. I started with the Thumlers and added a larger one from Frankford with accessory end caps as well as kept the Thumlers. As noted sometimes bigger is better - I have an ultrasonic cleaner big enough for a carbine upper but I can't say it's good for cleaning dies or moulds or jewelry - and often smaller is better.

Good suggestion! Thanks I never thought of that.
I just pulled the barrel liner on mine. And there was rust starting. Ive had this tumbler for a very long time. I used it with wet ceramic when I owned a BPCR rifle. After I sold the rifle I used it with dry media. Recently I started using Stainless steel pins and have only ran it about 15-20 times wet. But i sanded the spots out because they werent bad at all. I just sprayed the spots with rust converter and am going to put a coat or 2 of Penetrol on it and check it once a year.

 

[EdHarley]

Update on the lemishine dishwasher packets. They worked great. I packet and a squirt of Dawn. Had trouble telling the new brass from cleaned brass.

 

[Webster]

With the situation on primers and powder being what it is, this smaller, cheaper tumbler suits me just fine.

Also use the Harbor Freight $39 rock tumble. Works great five years. Need to check if your PVC end cap will seal a HF drum.