My Stainless Steel Media Thumbler Case cleaning findings

[Bradley Walker]

Third solution. Clean, dry, load, shoot, all in quick succession. No time for water spots to form. 8) 8)

I have hard water and this is the solution.

 

[bigedp51]

I also use the large beach towel method and roll up the ends and hold in each hand and tilt back and forth. The tilting helps remove excess water inside the case and dries the outside of the case.

Check tumbler soap condition frequently, when the water gets too dirty the soap will not hold the carbon/dirt in suspension and slow down the cleaning process.

 

[Bradley Walker]

I also use the large beach towel method and roll up the ends and hold in each hand and tilt back and forth. The tilting helps remove excess water inside the case and dries the outside of the case.

Check tumbler soap condition frequently, when the water gets too dirty the soap will not hold the carbon/dirt in suspension and slow down the cleaning process.

A cotton clothes bag would be the best solution, but I use an old towel. More shaking and patience will pay dividends at this stage. Shake out that water...

Then place all the cases on a paper towel covered cookie sheet loose. I then heat the oven to 180 degrees, turn off the oven, place the sheet in the oven and go to bed. The oven will stay warm for hours and then cool naturally. The cases will be bone dry in the morning.

 

[Leaddog]

After rinsing with water, do a final rinse with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol. They dry within minutes and no water spots. Anneal after each firing for best results.

 

[Bradley Walker]

After rinsing with water, do a final rinse with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol. They dry within minutes and no water spots. Anneal after each firing for best results.

That is a good idea...

 

[amlevin]

After rinsing with water, do a final rinse with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol. They dry within minutes and no water spots. Anneal after each firing for best results.

If you're annealing after every firing, then why waste time or money with the alcohol? The heat from annealing will dry the case in no time at all. When they're cool enough to handle, they'll also be dry.

 

[hedditch]

I found that annealing does not completely dry out the case. I normally roll my cases over a towel then put them under a heat lamp for a couple of hours or so then anneal. The alcohol method works too, if I am in a hurry to get the cases loaded. Eliminates the two hours under the heat lamp.

 

[jlow]

One thing you got to do after rinsing out the case is to flick it with the neck pointing down. This eliminates more than 95% of the water inside the case. What is left dries easily. If you don't do this, you could have a significant volume of water inside especially in smaller cases and that can cause you problems down the road unless you do an active dry cycle of some sort.

 

[NCFrank]

I've used two methods for drying after rinse.
1. I have a rack for the clothes dryer that is used for placing athletic shoes on. Leaving brass on the towel, I place on this rack in the dryer, run for 1/2 hour and typically that's enough. If not, run a little more. Never have gone a full hour.

2. On warm sunny days, again, leaving on towel, I place in the bed of my pick-em-up truck, Toyota with that black polymer type bed, gets pretty warm in sunlight. They get dry.

 

[amlevin]

2. On warm sunny days, again, leaving on towel, I place in the bed of my pick-em-up truck, Toyota with that black polymer type bed, gets pretty warm in sunlight. They get dry.

What's a "warm sunny day?" Up here where I live that's pretty much something other parts of the country see. The green in my lawn is merely Moss.

 

[NCFrank]

I got ya. I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina. Warm sunny days, hot humid days and sometimes, very hot and sticky humid days. Brass dries outside. 8)

I welcome the winter here. We do have a cold season just not like the north I realize. But it does get cold here. Brass goes in the dryer.

I have some moss also. Areas with little to no sun exposure. Look at the bright side though, you don't have to mow it. ;D More trigger time! ;D Or brass cleaning. ???

 

[Bradley Walker]

Rinsing in denatured alcohol fixes all rinse problems and shortens drying time to half an hour.

 

[cfreeman]

Did anyone ever end up trying more pins? If so, did you find that you could do a little more brass? The stainless tumbling media guys recommend 180 223 per five pounds of media. I was hoping to get a few more than that in.

Warren Freeman

 

[Bradley Walker]

Did anyone ever end up trying more pins? If so, did you find that you could do a little more brass? The stainless tumbling media guys recommend 180 223 per five pounds of media. I was hoping to get a few more than that in.

Warren Freeman

I doubled my pins to 10 pounds.

It is definitely more effective. Period. Small batches take less time and the peening is reduced significantly. Primer pockets clean much faster.

I am cleaning 223 from the ground to like new in one hour. I fill the Thumbler 2/3 full. About 200 or so??? Maybe 250?? But the brass is clean is one hour. Very clean.

I did add abrasive tape to my drum where the drum rides on the pads. Now I don't have to worry about getting soap on the drum and it slipping.

 

[nhm16]

I doubled my pins to 10 pounds.

It is definitely more effective. Period. Small batches take less time and the peening is reduced significantly. Primer pockets clean much faster.

I am cleaning 223 from the ground to like new in one hour. I fill the Thumbler 2/3 full. About 200 or so??? Maybe 250?? But the brass is clean is one hour. Very clean.

I did add abrasive tape to my drum where the drum rides on the pads. Now I don't have to worry about getting soap on the drum and it slipping.

So you fit 10lbs of pins and about ~200 pieces of 223 brass in a Thumbler?

If that works I'm going to give it a try. I use 5lbs right now and just tumble 45min-1hr. The brass isn't "like new" clean in all the nooks and crannies but it's clean enough for me.

I live in Texas so I just dump the brass into a mesh wire colander and stick it on top of my AC. Bone dry in less than an hour. When it's cold outside I just shake the case as I remove it from the water, put it on a towel, roll all the cases in the towel to dry off the outside and stick all the cases standing up in an old cookie sheet in the oven at 150deg. for about an hour.

 

[Bradley Walker]

So you fit 10lbs of pins and about ~200 pieces of 223 brass in a Thumbler?

Yes I do.

try this...

Put 100 223 cases in your five pounds and tumble one hour. Look and see what you see.

 

[jlow]

Interesting report Bradley! I would be very interested in hearing how heavy your tank ends up being with the 10lb of media and 200 pieces of 223 brass.

 

[nhm16]

Interesting report Bradley! I would be very interested in hearing how heavy your tank ends up being with the 10lb of media and 200 pieces of 223 brass.

That's my only real concern, to be honest.

 

[Bradley Walker]

Interesting report Bradley! I would be very interested in hearing how heavy your tank ends up being with the 10lb of media and 200 pieces of 223 brass.

Well, it's 5 lbs heavier than it was with five pounds...

 

[jlow]

Hi Bradley,

I am pretty sure it is not.

My question was not a trick question but one of genuine interest. The reason being is that the volume of the tumbler is fixed and so if you put 10lb os media in instead of 5lb and the same amount of brass, you are going to have less volume of water in it assuming you fill to the same level. Now it is going to be heavier since SS is denser than water but the question is how much?