Stainless Steel Media Question

[dean253]

I am needing some advice or brainstorming ideas.

I am wanting to start using the Stainless Steel media to clean my brass but I have my brass weight sorted into 50 round count boxes. I am not willing to mix up my already sorted brass into 100 - 200 piece batches to go into the Thumbler for cleaning. I would be cleaning 6.5x47 & .284 brass. I will really be cleaning them in preperation for annealing them so I will usually do most of the brass when I set up the Annealer. So here is the million dollar question:

How do I tumble my brass and keep them sorted in the 50 round count boxes without it taking FOREVER!?

If it takes 4 hours of tumbling & I can only do 50 at a time because of my weight sort criteria then I can't see where this could be better for me than Ultrasonic cleaning. I think I could clean 50 to a 100 at a time in about 30 minutes with the right ultrasonic cleaner that I could seperate them in the basket.

I do know I could go back to 100 round count boxes but I really don't want to. The 50 round count boxes have worked best for me.

All help and ideas are appreciated. Thanks, Dean-o

 

[jlmurphy]

I have followed the case cleaning discussion with some interest. I have a large industrial ultrasonic cleaner, multiple blast cabinets with different media, large and small vibratory tumblers,rotary tumblers, a full machine shop to fabricate any tools necessary, and a bore scope to inspect each case. The problem is that the carbon coating the case interior is harder than the brass case and chemically almost inert, and any solvents for carbon will also attack the brass. The ultrasonic has been unable to clean the carbon from the inside of case. Ceramic media in both types of tumblers will cut the carbon, but also cuts the brass. The stainless media in the rotary tumbler seems to peen the brittle carbon from the case interior without harming the brass. Larger cases with wide mouths clean faster. As far as your 50 count brass lots, you run 50 .284 with 50 6.5 and separate later.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Everybody thinks the SS media "peens" the brass but in fact all it does in roll around and remove any carbon. The brass comes out looking like new.
You don't need to use a full load of media. Couple of pounds at most will work fine. Add the media, brass and soapy water. Let it do it's thing. Wash off the black crud that the media cleans off, dry and you're ready to do whatever else you have in mind. Really pretty simple operation.

 

[in2deep]

As to the question of keeping your 2 lots of brass separated after cleaning I bet taking a black sharpie pen and making a ring around each piece of brass in one group near the base would last thru a few rounds of cleaning enough to be able to cull them apart. Maybe the marker would stain enough into the brass that it may be visible after cleaning but you would have to test it.

 

[jlmurphy]

The stainless media does peen the brass to a certain degree. We have a stereo microscope and you can see tiny marks on the case mouths and outside surfaces. This is probably from large movements in the tumbler when the media is trapped between cases. The interior of the cases doesn't show any marks and isn't cleaned as well.

 

[HolyMeekrob]

My knee jerk reaction is to say try mesh bags with pore sizes large enough for the SS media to slip through. If those can't be found then add the media in the bags, it would just need to be large enough for everything to move.
This is also providing you're not using any caustic chemicals that react with the bag.

 

[DoubleUp]

As stated, doing 50 of each caliber at the same time is one option.

Mesh bags might even be an option as suggested.

I don't believe marking the cases with a sharpie will work.

If you haven't bought the tumbler yet, they do come in models where you have two smaller tumblers running at once which would accomodate 50 of each.

 

[ar15topgun]

As to the question of keeping your 2 lots of brass separated after cleaning I bet taking a black sharpie pen and making a ring around each piece of brass in one group near the base would last thru a few rounds of cleaning enough to be able to cull them apart. Maybe the marker would stain enough into the brass that it may be visible after cleaning but you would have to test it.

The media will remove the sharpie marking. All my cases are marked with red for Id'ing on the line and come out of the media without marking. Using different size brass is the best answer. Easily seperated after cleaning.