Tumbler and media

[Dagwood99]

I never used one, but I’ve been debating on buying one. Wanted to know what your thoughts are and which one you would recommend. Then what media to use. Thanks

 

[Lone Hunter]

I like the S/S wet media system. To me it cleans better and doesn't take long. Once you have the tumbler and S/S pins you have the media you need. Dawn and Lemishine last a long tome too. I don't use my walnut/corncob media anymore.

 

[jr600yd]

I use them both. For range pickup brass, really dirty cruddy stuff, I use the SS pin method. For my regular brass that isn’t full of crap and turning green I use some 4-O steel wool on the necks to get the carbon off then after FL sizing toss them in the vibrator. Mainly to remove the sizing lubricant. I use crushed corncob and a dash of car wax for polish. Run it for an hour and separate the brass from the media. Check primer pockets for anything stuck in there. Your good to go.

I’ve used Lyman 1200’s, Frankford Arsenal for years, never had a problem.

 

[dickn52]

I have the Thumbler Tumbler and 2 cans. One is dedicated to a wet cleaning and one is dry. As stated, for range pick up cr@p I use the wet, and my cases go dry in a walnut and porcelain mix.

 

[misser]

I do wet and dry . mostly it depends on where the brass came from .my brass mostly dry in a Lyman 1200

 

[Termite I]

If you go the S/S method make sure you check your cases for stuck pins. My pins get stuck sideways in a 6.5 neck. I went to S/S chips. The chips seem to take less tumbler time and I think they get into the nooks and crannies better. Several places sell them, I bought mine from Sleeping Giant Brass. They sell it by the pound. Warning on the chips, they have a small amount of steel chips that rust. As far as I can tell the steel doesn't hurt anything, I store the chips wet and pour off the water before using them. I also dunk the cleaned brass in a bucket of diluted car wash & wax for about 5 minutes then rinse with water and dry. The brass stays shiny longer since I started doing the wash & wax step.

 

[F Class John]

I use the Lonestar Stainless pin tumbler. I can do 450 .284 at one time. 25lbs of pins and 2 gallons of water.

FWIW the stuck pin in the neck issue is really only an issue with 6.5 because of dimensions. Any other caliber you just need to ensure the pins come out of the inside (and flash hole) of the brass but as long as you spin them in a basket that’s partially submerged it’s pretty rare to get one left behind in my experience. Here’s my process in action if anyone cares.

And yes I screwed up with portrait mode so please forgive me.

 

[Straightshooter1]

I have a rotating tumbler I used with SS pins to clean really dirty brass (like what might be picked up as a range) or to clean out my brass that has been fired a number of times to keep keep the carbon build up inside down a bit. A little Dawn and Lemishing helps make them look like new. The only thing with using such a tumbler with SS pins is that the edges of case mouth get peened and so I do trimming afterwards to take care of that.

Otherwise, I use a vibrating tumbler using rice as the media (not long grain rice, as they clog up the flash holes . . . so I used the fatter medium grain rice). The rice is good at cleaning the case and leaving some carbon and very light amount of rice fine dust that acts as a lubricant, which helps with good seating; is great at absorbing any lube one has on the case. The action of the vibrating tumbler doesn't peen the cases like the rotary type does. And I like rice over the other types of media used in vibrating tumblers as it's a LOT less dust to have to deal with.

 

[T-shooter]

For a dry tumbler, the RCBS walnut media is the best I've used.

 

[ToddKS]

My personal fleet of brass tumbling devices includes 2 modified cement mixers, 2 Thumlers UV-45 dry tumblers, 1 Thumblers UV-18 dry tumber, and a Thumlers Model B wet tumbler. I clean a lot of brass.

For someone starting out I would recommend the UV-18 and corn media for dry tumbling or the Model B for wet tumbling. If you decide to wet tumble I recommend the Southern Shine chip media. In my experience it cleans the case faster and eliminates any issues with stuck pins.

I am a fan of the Thumlers products. I have been using them for years and they do a great job. You can also call Thumlers, talk to a real person, and get parts if you ever have an issue. My UV-45 tumblers run up to 12 hours a day with no issues.

That said, that Lone Star tumbler looks like it is relevant to my interests. Had I not just spent a lot of money fixing my truck I would probably be ordering one of those right now.

 

[powderbrake]

I have a Midway vibratory cleaner, and I use corn cob, which I buy in 30 or 50 pound bags from a sandblast supplier. I also use Dillon's Rapid Polish, as it contains NO ammonia. I use the Dillon Media Separator to get the corn cob off and out of the cases. It leaves the cases clean, shiny and slick. I highly recommend these items.

NOTE: The corn cob media will stick in the flash hole, so I always size after cleaning.

 

[cw308]

After using dry media corn and walnut for 25+ years I switched to wet tumbling with SS Pins . The dry system doesn't clean the inside carbon buildup , the brass comes out looking brand new. Gave the vibrator and media to a friend , will never do the dry system again . I have the single drum rock tumbler from Harbor Freight for small cleaning and the tumblers B Tumbler for larger amounts . . SS Pins , water , LemiShine if you have hard water in your area if not just 1 or 2 tbl. spoons of liquid dish detergent , that's it , let it run for two hours .

 

[dickn52]

After using dry media corn and walnut for 25+ years I switched to wet tumbling with SS Pins . The dry system doesn't clean the inside carbon buildup , the brass comes out looking brand new. Gave the vibrator and media to a friend , will never do the dry system again . I have the single drum rock tumbler from Harbor Freight for small cleaning and the tumblers B Tumbler for larger amounts . . SS Pins , water , LemiShine if you have hard water in your area if not just 1 or 2 tbl. spoons of liquid dish detergent , that's it , let it run for two hours .

Get a spare drum from Thumler and use dry in it with polish etc. Works twice as good as a vibrator. Some of my range picks will need SS and others simple walnut.

 

[danny]

My personal fleet of brass tumbling devices includes 2 modified cement mixers, 2 Thumlers UV-45 dry tumblers, 1 Thumblers UV-18 dry tumber, and a Thumlers Model B wet tumbler. I clean a lot of brass.

For someone starting out I would recommend the UV-18 and corn media for dry tumbling or the Model B for wet tumbling. If you decide to wet tumble I recommend the Southern Shine chip media. In my experience it cleans the case faster and eliminates any issues with stuck pins.

I am a fan of the Thumlers products. I have been using them for years and they do a great job. You can also call Thumlers, talk to a real person, and get parts if you ever have an issue. My UV-45 tumblers run up to 12 hours a day with no issues.

That said, that Lone Star tumbler looks like it is relevant to my interests. Had I not just spent a lot of money fixing my truck I would probably be ordering one of those right now.

How did you modify a cement mixer? Did you remove the "paddle things" inside?

Danny

 

[Texas10]

I switched to SS chips after so many frustrating hours spent taking the jammed pins out of 6.5 CM necks. Then I tried some RCBS Rotary case cleaning solution and that really cut down on the work. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IC3OHOQ/?tag=accuratescom-20

It has a preservative that maintains the brass shine much longer, in fact it recommends not rinsing the brass after tumbling, but I do anyway. Still leaves it shiny longer.

I do small batches of 50 or so in a Harbor Freight rock tumbler, about $40 and if you want to do more, they sell a double unit . https://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html
Sleeping Giant for brass and tumbling media, you can get started fairly cheap.

 

[ptf18]

I switched to the SS chips after having to dig/worry about pins getting stuck in .223 cases. The chips are small enough to get inside the cases to clean out residue yet they still "flow" out of the cases when removing the cleaned cases from the tumbler.

 

[chkunz]

Buy the Tumbler's Tumbler and tumble with seven parts water and one part Simple Green. Then try to beat that with anything else. Forty years from now you will still be using this combination.

 

[Termite I]

I started out with a Thumbler Model B using 0.041" diameter pins and loved the results except for the pins stuck in the flash hole of 223 brass. I bought 0.047" diameter pins and the stuck pins in the flash hole went away but they still get stuck sideways in the neck of 6.5 Grendel brass. I imagine it'd be the same with 6.5 Creedmore. I use a RCBS media separator to remove the pins from the brass but I usually find a few pins in the bottom of the Akro bin after drying them so I check every case before priming them just to be safe. I read a post on AR15.com written by Big Dawg about building your own tumbler so I built my own tumbler with different size drums for varying lot sizes. Now I can do 1k 223 cases at once using 50 lbs of pins or chips. I now use chips almost all of the time. They seem to cut down on the run time and I've never seen any chips in the bottom of the Akro bins before priming like I did with the pins. I still check every case before priming for media but I've never had any chips in the cases - yet. I'll have to try the Simple Green like chkunz suggested. Here are a couple of pictures of my home built tumbler.

 

[cw308]

chkunz
I use Simple Green to clean the pins and drum after each season will give it a try with the brass . I use water and Sun liquid detergent also works great ..

 

[fatelvis]

I agree wet tumbling does a phenomenal job of cleaning brass, (TOO good of a job), but I do not like how it cleans the inside of the necks of ALL carbon. I've been using corncob media in a vibra tumbler for 38 yrs, and have no reason to change.