Stainless Steel Tumbling (better mix)

[apakesha]

For what its worth.......Went to tumble my 30BR brass today using my Thumbler. Instead of using Dawn dishwashing soap I used a tablespoon of GAIN Original clothes detergent with Lemishine. It cleaned just as good and rinsed easier than The Dawn mix. With the Dawn mix I had to rinse the brass about 4-5 times to get rid of the suds. With this mix I only had to rinse once. I then used compressed air to dry the brass. Mike

 

[Hal]

Cut back on the amount of Dawn to reduce the suds amount.

Hal

 

[spclark]

Yep, I've been using ALL Clear liquid laundry detergent (~ 1 tsp / gallon of water w/ 1 tsp LemiShine) since starting with the SS media, never looked back. Cheaper per 'dose' & doesn't foam excessively, rinses off quick.

 

[bigedp51]

Your forgetting something....................

Dawn is what they washed the oil spill animals in.................

Don't you love your brass? Read below "Its tough, but gentle". ;D

How many baby cartridge cases have you killed today?

Instructions for Thumler's Model B Tumbler

1. Add 5 Lbs (2.27 kg) of SS media into the drum
2. Next fill with 1 gallon (3.78 Liters) of cold water. (One gallon)=8 Lbs/3.63 kg
3. Add your brass into the drum (2 Lbs/907g of brass)
4. Add dish soap. 1 -2 Tbs (15-30 mL) of either Dawn, Ivory, or Joy dish soap
(if there are no soap bubbles in the water after you tumble, you need more soap)
(NOTE:My comment, these three dish washing soaps hold MORE dirt in suspension and this is WHY they are recomended)
5. Add 1/4 Tsp. (1.25 mL) of Lemishine. This is the key to the shine. (Not too much)
6. Tumble 3-4 hours with the Model B High Speed Thumler’s Tumbler
7. Pour out as much water as you can without losing any brass or pins
(The more you rinse the brass and pins the better your results will be next time)
8. Fill drum with water, and separate brass by hand or use an STM Media Separator with water.
9. Rinse your brass off really good with some warm water. (Not getting a good rinse can leave water spots on the brass)
10. Dump brass onto a towel and let dry. If any pins get stuck in the neck of the brass throw those pins away
11. Store Stainless Steel Media either wet or dry in drum

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/tips

 

[1shot]

Along those same lines, I have an old food dehydrator with 7-8 framed plastic screens in it. After my brass comes out of the water after the rinse, I just put them on several of the screens. In 20-30 min. they are totally dry and any pins that I may have missed are lying on the plastic screens to get picked up with a magnet. I'm still amazed at how new the brass looks.
Lloyd

 

[hoverp]

HOT water works much better than cold, and when using HOT. Water you can significantly cut down the tumbling time. This helps reduce the peening of the case mouths as well from hour of tumbling.

I only need to run 45 minutes max, post decapping.

Just give it a try!

 

[XXPER]

Has anyone used the RCBS sidewinder to wet tumble their brass? If you have how much water and Dawn do you use.

Thank you,
xxper

 

[spclark]

Has anyone used the RCBS sidewinder to wet tumble their brass? If you have how much water and Dawn do you use.

That's what I've used since I switched methods.

Bought the thing used w/2 drums when I was still moly-coating. Biggest issue was how they secure/seal the black plastic bottom of the drums. After a few uses the seam started leaking so I popped the base out & re-glued it back using a urethane adhesive. No more problems.

I run 100- 150 308 cases in a batch (I think 200 223's'd work too) with maybe 1/3 gallon of solution & ~ 3 lbs. of SS pins for 2 hours. Then use a Midway basket separator, rinse cases twice then a denatured alcohol bath that speeds drying & eliminates hard water deposits from my unsoftened well water.

Feel free to contact me via PM if you have more questions, or post 'em here.

 

[Juma]

Along those same lines, I have an old food dehydrator with 7-8 framed plastic screens in it. After my brass comes out of the water after the rinse, I just put them on several of the screens. In 20-30 min. they are totally dry and any pins that I may have missed are lying on the plastic screens to get picked up with a magnet. I'm still amazed at how new the brass looks.
Lloyd

That is a great idea as we have an old Harvest Maid one. Normally put them in the oven on fan bake @100 for about 1/2 hour.

 

[Bradley Walker]

I doubled my pins to 10 lbs and it cleans way better and way faster... I can do in one hour what used to take 3 hours. Like 200 rounds of 223 jewelry clean in one hour.

I did make one mod to the tumbler. I use the Thumbler. I got tired of every time the stupid thing got wet or got soap on it it would slip. So I added safety grip tape to the drum edges. Now it can be covered in soap and water and not slip.

I have also gone to alcohol rinse. I can have dry brass in half an hour. Like completely dry. I am trying different alcohols right now, but you need very little and can re use the rinse alcohol over and over again.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Does the extra media reduce the peening on the case mouths?

 

[1shot]

Juma,
110V vs 220V same time frame. Call me cheap, but it sure works for me!
Lloyd

 

[Bradley Walker]

Does the extra media reduce the peening on the case mouths?

The extra media cleans better if you are trying to clean a higher number of cases in the drum. So, it cleans faster with a high number of cases. The cycle time is shorter. Hence less peening.

I was able to to do 223 cases with the drum 2/3 full (guessing about 300) in one hour and they came out looking like jewelry from range pickup. I think I can safely say that the greater the pins/case surface area ratio, the faster it cleans. The shorter the cycle the less abuse of the brass. Plain and simple. You can get exactly the same effect as more pins by doing smaller batches of brass. If you do say, 100 or less 223 cases in 5 lbs of pins they will be spotless in one hour and will show no signs of peening.

I am not seeing any significant peening now... Not like when I was running 2-3 hour cycles... Which I will never, ever, do again. I nearly ruined my Lapua 6BR brass...

Also, since I am only tumbling one hour or less , and I am not worried about burning the brass, I upped the Lemishine to about a teaspoon. Which really kicks the cleaning into high gear.

 

[Bradley Walker]

Man I switched to denatured alcohol for my final rinse...

OMG... You must try this...

I bought a two gallon bucket with a lid to keep it in (it can be reused over and over). Like a five gallon bucket but smaller.

I put my cases in the media separator from the soap and removed all the water that is practical (and the pins of course). Dumped the cases in the DA in the bucket, closed the lid, shake. Clean out the media separator bucket with a quick wipe of the paper towel. Dump the cases in media separator from the DA. Spin until drained. Plop the cases onto a paper towel covered cookie sheet. Pop in the oven (turn the broiler on, let it heat up, then turn it off before you put in the cases).

The cases flashed off in about two minutes. Bone friggin dry...

Pour the DA back in the bucket and seal to be reused again and again.

 

[jcline]

Simple Green works great also.

 

[spclark]

Man I switched to denatured alcohol for my final rinse...

OMG... You must try this...

Hey I told ya it works, didn't I?

I buy a gallon of denatured alcohol about this time every year, use last year's leftovers for starting the charcoal grill when it warms up enuf to cook outside.

Can get 2 gal. plastic buckets w/lids @ Dunkin' Donuts for free (usually Strawberry flavor, sometimes butterscotch!) though they need a good washing.

If yours picks up sediment from wherever over time, filter it out using paper towel and a big sieve or collander (if'n you use your wife's & get caught, tell her it sterilizes it ;-) ) over another clean bucket.

Mine seems to pick up some kinda white stuff over time which I think is the Calcium Carbonate out of my well water precipitating from the last rinse....

 

[6Dasher]

@zfastmalibu: More or less media does not improve the peening, nor does slowing the tumbler down a bit. It's the mass of the cases filled with stainless steel that causes the peening. I have the same problems with it, tight-necks will not even chamber anymore after using the Stainless tumbler, I have to trim or heavily chamfer the in- and outside of the neck to be able to use it again. I only ever use it anymore if I want to anneal and need clean cases.

 

[jlow]

Man I switched to denatured alcohol for my final rinse...

OMG... You must try this...

I bought a two gallon bucket with a lid to keep it in (it can be reused over and over). Like a five gallon bucket but smaller.

I put my cases in the media separator from the soap and removed all the water that is practical (and the pins of course). Dumped the cases in the DA in the bucket, closed the lid, shake. Clean out the media separator bucket with a quick wipe of the paper towel. Dump the cases in media separator from the DA. Spin until drained. Plop the cases onto a paper towel covered cookie sheet. Pop in the oven (turn the broiler on, let it heat up, then turn it off before you put in the cases).

The cases flashed off in about two minutes. Bone friggin dry...

Pour the DA back in the bucket and seal to be reused again and again.

Bradley, this generally does work well but keep in mind that unlike the SS media itself (which last forever), every time you do this you put more water into the denature alcohol and in addition since the alcohol tends to evaporte slower than the water you will need to take this into account as you use it more in terms of how long it will take to dry and whether it will tarnish your brass.

 

[Bradley Walker]

@zfastmalibu: More or less media does not improve the peening, nor does slowing the tumbler down a bit. It's the mass of the cases filled with stainless steel that causes the peening. I have the same problems with it, tight-necks will not even chamber anymore after using the Stainless tumbler, I have to trim or heavily champfer the in- and outside of the neck to be able to use it again. I only ever use it anymore if I want to anneal and need clean cases.

K... Seriously... How long are you tumbling?? Are you saying that a 20-30 minute tumble ruined your brass??? Because I know for a fact that a tumble any time under 45 minutes with any reasonable amount of brass does not require a new champfer...

Are you seriously saying that if you tumbled one case it will peen that same as 200???

I am going to have respectfully disagree with the statements you made. They were both blanket statements and do not in any way correlate to my findings.

My guess is that you did a lot of cases for way too long. I have done this before... and the effect is real. But there are several remedies....

 

[spclark]

...every time you do this you put more water into the denature alcohol...

Yes that's true enough but if one is careful to 'spin off' or otherwise remove as much water as possible each time, the amount of water is a minor percentage (1.0 gal = 3,800 ml) until mid-season (assuming a fresh gallon starts each year) AND what water remains behind once the alcohol's evaporated is evenly distributed over a much larger surface area rather than puddled inside or trapped in primer pockets and/or flash holes.

...and in addition since the alcohol tends to evaporte slower than the water....

- erm, you meant to say 'water' then 'alcohol' didn't you? After all, using alcohol for a final, quick-drying rinse is the whole point of this suggestion.