Interested in hearing if others have had any adverse effects from starting a batch of brass in their wet tumbler and leaving it until the next morning. I have been steading working through processing a large amount of brass. Ive now tumled 12k pistol cases in the last couple weeks 3 hours at a time during the day. It would be nice to stsrt a batch and leave it to run the timer out and then just catch it the next day. I use water, lemis shine and dawn with stainless pins. Anyone do this and have issues from it sitting in the water for 8 or so hours from the time it finishes its cycle?
Brass in wet tumbler over night?
- Thread starter sksshooter
- Start date
RegionRat
Gold $$ Contributor
This isn't recommended because it is another one of those "it depends" situations.
Depending on what "dirt" is in your sediments, and the pH of your water, etc., your brass could be sitting up against reactive or ionic material for much longer than it would in a "normal" context. That dwell time against "dirt" is the problem.
As an example. Once upon a time, there was an explosion accident in a plant and everyone evacuated as quickly as possible. Work in process that was sitting in baths etc., was affected by sitting in the "dirty bathwater" and it took some fuss to salvage what we could and other material was deemed scrapped.
YMMV
Depending on what "dirt" is in your sediments, and the pH of your water, etc., your brass could be sitting up against reactive or ionic material for much longer than it would in a "normal" context. That dwell time against "dirt" is the problem.
As an example. Once upon a time, there was an explosion accident in a plant and everyone evacuated as quickly as possible. Work in process that was sitting in baths etc., was affected by sitting in the "dirty bathwater" and it took some fuss to salvage what we could and other material was deemed scrapped.
YMMV
Sitting in a solution of citric acid (water with Lemi Shine) for that a long period of time will not be good for the brass and very likely will not come out shiny. You can do that whiteout the Lemi Shine and get nice clean brass, but the surface of the brass will may look a little matted due to the cases having been subject to banging against each other for so long. With your mixture of water, Lemi Shine and Dawn, going more than an hour is really fruitless and can be done in even a shorter period of time if you use hot water.
Thats along the lines of what i was imagining. Was just hoping someone could convince me otherwise....
I have ran them for shorter periods 1.5-2 hours and it just comes up short of where i want it. While it is pretty clean but it isnt clean like in the picture below. This is some pretty grimmy once fired 9mm that was dirty but then got wet due to a flood so it was pretty ugly. This was actually about 2.75 hours with that mixture and this is the results. 2 hours or less doesnt get it. Ive also found that adding water a couple inches over the brass makes a huge difference vs just covering the brass.
Attachments
Pretty sure the standard is to fill the tumbler all the way up. Not sure where you heard to use less water.
Also, for really grimy brass as you describe, it helps to first tumble for 30-60 min in plain soap water, then drain the gunk out. Then refill with fresh water and tumble another 60 min with whatever cleaning solution you choose (LemiShine, Brass Juice, etc).
How much soap are you using?
Negative, even the owners manual says to fill with water to the bottom of the neck which i assume/interpret to be where the end begins to taper down to the treaded area. Ive seen many reviews though state to fill just above the brass and media level. Somewhere in the middle seems optimal. As for running a pre wash what are you saving? By the time you drain it rinse it and refill etc you may as well just let it run 3 hours and get the same results. None the less its much more effective and quicker than my vibratory ever was. Down side is i could just turn the vibratory on outside and let it run or put on a timer either way the brass could sit over night without issue.
Not so much measuring it. Im probably putting a 45acp case of lemi shine and i solid squeeze of dawn in it. I have little doubt that after this cleaning the cycles will take far less time. But this brass was grimmy
The instructions say fill it the mouth opening, then add 4 capfulls of cleaning liquid. That's essentially "full". Maybe 95% full? Nowhere does the instructions say to just fill to cover the cases or "somewhere in the middle". It's supposed to be basically "full" with very little air.
Rick300
Gold $$ Contributor
Yep, if you don't fill it up with water you beat the hell out of the cases. The longest I have ever run a wet tumbler was 1 1/2 hours, and that was for some nasty range brass. For brass out of my bolt guns, 30 - 45 min is plenty for jewelry clean.The instructions say fill it the mouth opening, then add 4 capfulls of cleaning liquid. That's essentially "full". Maybe 95% full? Nowhere does the instructions say to just fill to cover the cases or "somewhere in the middle". It's supposed to be basically "full" with very little air.
Just don't leave it in too long if there is some acid, like lemishine. You will end up with pink brass if left too long. If all you use is soap, then it's probably safe.
Why the delay. Tumble as much time as needed based on experience. Dump the solution and rinse in tap water. I don't think sitting in tap water overnite would hurt.
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Mine did not have those lines depicting where to fill. I read the instructions as fill to the bottom of the neck meaning where the barrel begins to taper down. Non the less more water does seam to help.The instructions say fill it the mouth opening, then add 4 capfulls of cleaning liquid. That's essentially "full". Maybe 95% full? Nowhere does the instructions say to just fill to cover the cases or "somewhere in the middle". It's supposed to be basically "full" with very little air.
Reading in the latest copy of instructions it stays 1-2 hours is sufficent for 500 and under cases. And 2-3 hours if 500 or more. Maybe thats where some of yalls posted times are coming from. Im tumbling in 1000 case batches. Are you gettjng these results with that many cases?
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
In a thumlers tumbler i put as much water as possible, squirt of dawn and let em go for a long time, like 6-8hrs if i feel like it. Im talking 100 cases. If you dont use lemishine or any other citrus it can sit as long as you want. I have 250 357mag cases in mine thats been in there a few months just from being lazy. Every single case has a pin sideways in the primer pocket. When i leave them in there for months like that all they need is another hour tumble and they look like new
drop_point
Silver $$ Contributor
As stated above, you risk finding tarnished, pink brass leaving it in overnight. If that bothers you, run it 1.5-2hours and rinse.
You need to stop skimping on the soap. Tablespoons of the stuff. Not a small squirt.
Def not a small squirt if i had to estimate its more than 1 tablespoon but probably not more than 2. Im not having any issue with my brass getting clean. Only issue i have had is if i try to shorten the cycle to 2 hours or less on the really grimmy stuff.
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