Wet tumbling trick

[Bayou]

Bayou, could you post a photo of your setup as I can't envision it.

Thanks.

Sure, stubbicat -

Here is the exact set up I bought from STM last year. It included the Thumler's tumbler, the standard pins which I replaced with larger pins, and the rotary media separator with the inside squirrel cage.

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/catalog/product/gallery/id/13/image/34/

I hope this helps.....

 

[Nalgi]

I put them on a bath towel and holding each side roll them back and forth like a shoe shine. That gets the majority but then I dump them on a cookie sheet and give them about 5 min in the oven! clean and warm!

 

[gmorganal]

Bayou, I'm curious. What benefit did you get from the larger pins? I like my original kit that I bought just like yours except for peening or denting of the case mouth. Do you know anything that will help that?

 

[devildogandboy]

what he said in Florida in Arizona in 10 min 8)

yep, this is what I do, place them in the Arizona sun and get them burning hot. brass is dry in a matter of minutes!!

 

[amlevin]

I put them on a bath towel and holding each side roll them back and forth like a shoe shine.

I do the same here but don't waste time in the oven. Next step is annealing and that insures a very dry case.


For those that have extremely "gunky" water, consider just using some of the bottled water dispensed at the grocery store for the final rinse. One 5 gal jug will rinse a lot of brass. Put in a bowl, cover with water, shake around, drain and then go for the towel.

 

[Webster]

I found I can get the kitchen stove as low as 170F. I shake each case then put them mouth up on a paper towel, then in a pyrex dish in the oven for a couple hours. I get mineral water spots because I don't rinse with distilled water. Where did you ever get the idea from that water spots hurt accuracy. I worked in a lab where we measured chemical films that were in the millionths of an inch thick. A mineral stain on a surface is well under 1/100,000" thick.

 

[M99]

I just put them on a pie plate in the oven at 225 for about 30 minutes. High enough temps to cook any residual water out of them, but not hot enough to affect the brass itself.

 

[bigedp51]

Bayou, I'm curious. What benefit did you get from the larger pins?

The smaller diameter pins can double up and get stuck in the flash hole, the larger diameter pins will not do this.

I like my original kit that I bought just like yours except for peening or denting of the case mouth. Do you know anything that will help that?

The peening of the case mouth is caused by the cases hitting each other, if you put more cases in the tumbler the cases will not hit each other as hard and greatly reduce case mouth peening.

Below case mouth peening caused by too few cases in the tumbler, or just don't take closeup macro photos of the case mouth and blow them up in size and find out you have peening.

 

[9at6oclock]

I dry them with a towel, then vacuum both ends with a shop vac and stand them on end for a day. Vacuum sucks most of the water out but not all.

 

[amlevin]

Below case mouth peening caused by too few cases in the tumbler, or just don't take closeup macro photos of the case mouth and blow them up in size and find out you have peening.

I've found that "peening" can be minimized by using more pins if you have to do a small batch.

I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it as I trim after the cases are cleaned. Squares them up in no time but I doubt that it really matters to performance.

 

[gloverxoh]

I also like using methanol or isopropyl alcohol to aid the drying. I dump them into a wire screen to let the alcohol drain into the tub and then toss them on a cotton towel to dry with a quick roll of the towel to dry off most of it from the outside.


A question. The black powder cartridge guys use ceramic media. Shiloh sells it. Anyone try ceramic instead of the pins? Does it clean the primer pockets as well?

 

[memilanuk]

In the past I used a cookie sheet in the oven, or else some MTM loading blocks with drain holes drilled in the bottom of each cavity. Worked great - until someone else in the house decided to pre-heat the oven without stopping to wonder why it was already *on* low heat...

I found that a stainless mesh collander full of brass cases over a heat pump outdoors in the summer makes a damn fine brass dryer... but mine cost upwards of $9k and doesn't work so well in cooler weather :

I've seen people rig up home-made dryer boxes using ammo cans, computer fans and heat lamps... but mine never seemed to work that well. What *does* work well is getting a food dehydrator like the ones that ss tumbling media place sells. No more tying up the oven in the kitchen, and I can just keep adding brass (up to ~400 pcs of .308 Win) on the next level and leave it overnight to dry with no worries. If the brass were 'well shaken' to get rid of any loose water droplets hiding in random cases, maybe a couple hours if you were in a hurry. It may not be the fastest rig in town, but it is pretty stone-cold simple to use - nearly impossible to screw up and it just works.

 

[Bogusname]

Blow them out with an air hose and let them sit for a while. If you need to load them ASAP , put them in your old vibratory corn cob tumbler for twenty minutes or so. They will also look prettier than you have ever seen them.

 

[Bayou]

Use a rotary media separator. Put a dry towel in the squirrel cage with the wet brass and rotate. The dry towei captures 90 +% of the moisture. Then simply lay out the brass to dry for 10-15 minutes.

No dryers, heaters, dehydrators, or blowers needed - ever!

Bayou

 

[JMUPT]

I use a rotary media separator to get the remaining pins out, then take a towel and put a handful of brass on it, fold the towel over the brass. I run my hand across the brass, rolling the brass between the 2 towels. I then place the brass on one of these
http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/81/37/41/01/0081374101104_AV_60X60.gif
and let them air dry. The rack holds a 100-200 pieces of brass.

 

[JMUPT]

Sorry about that try this link :
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Boon-Countertop-Bottle-Drying-Rack-Green-Grass-Design-Large/16402567

It measures 13"X11"

 

[CJ6]

I use moms old "hood" style hair dryer with a mesh bag attached to hold the brass.

 

[AR Shooter]

Like everyone, I've got too many old t-shirts (unlike shox, they seem to multiple). Line a colander with a single layer of t-shirt and slowly pour the brass into same. My colander fits perfectly on one of those plastic 2 1/2 gallon paint buckets that Home Depot sells for a couple of bucks. I usually tip the drum slowly into the colander to minimize how much of the tumbling media spills out. Let it set for 10 minutes to drain thoroughly. I then tap each case mouth against rubber wall on the inside of the tumbler drum to knock out any media and drop into a second colander. Take to the kitchen sink where I rinse each case with hot water and place onto aluminum foil on a cookie sheet. Dry in the convection oven for 30 minutes at 235F and they are ready to process/load. Have yet to have any pins stuck in the primer hole on any size case from .223 up through 40-65. Have had a few pieces of ceramic stick inside a couple of 6.5x47L cases, but easy enough to get out.

As mentioned in the other tumbler thread, more media, more water and fewer cases will stop the case-mouth peening. Have never experienced peening like shown above.

 

[dickn52]

Anyone got a source for ceramic media at or near #2? Would prefer the triangle cut regular grit for polishing and cleaning. Need enough for a tumbler, which is what, 5-6 lbs.?

 

[AR Shooter]

Am using the small ceramic from Arizona Sharpshooters and it works well in everything 6.5mm and larger. I use the entire bag in the thumbler. Never bothered to weigh it, but am guessing it is 3-4#.
The smaller stuff is quite expensive in small lots. A couple of us over on the ASSRA forum were thinking of going together to order 10# and splitting it up, but never happened.
http://www.kramerdepot.com/ for the media.
If you purchase and use, please keep us posted on the results.