School me on wet tumbling
- Thread starter cjclemens
- Start date
lovesmausers
New member
I used corn cob for many years until I learned about wet tumbling. I got some stainless media from Southern Shine and built my own tumbler from a blower fan motor and parts I had laying around my shop from years of scrounging. I did have to buy one sheave and belts. I use plastic jars from great value apple sauce. The handles on the jars act as an agitator. I use dawn and lemishine in the water. Brass comes out looking better than new. I once found some really old 06 brass that was green inside and out and threw it in to see what would happen. It came out very clean but was to pitted to be shiny.
Last edited:
Plant.One
Well-known member
Originally Posted By: pyscodogI don't even own 2500 pieces of brass. I have several calibers and a couple hundred pieces for each. I'm not a high volume shooter so I get by with my old methods.
well that makes a lot more sense.
i have piles of brass. probably 4k 300 blk, 5 or 6k of 223, more 40 than i can count, around 3k of 38 special & around 2500 308 or so.
but by having lots, it allows me to shoot all summer, pile the brass up, and then one snowy winter weekend - i have a brass washing festivus. Winter is my brass prep time. Summer is my load it and shoot it time. Works well for me
well that makes a lot more sense.
i have piles of brass. probably 4k 300 blk, 5 or 6k of 223, more 40 than i can count, around 3k of 38 special & around 2500 308 or so.
but by having lots, it allows me to shoot all summer, pile the brass up, and then one snowy winter weekend - i have a brass washing festivus. Winter is my brass prep time. Summer is my load it and shoot it time. Works well for me
Plant.One
Well-known member
i picked mine up el-cheapo style at a yard sale for $5. its a Ronco (or similar knockoff)
(web image)
it takes about 2 hours for ready to load brass. i do roll them in a towel first to help minimize the big droplets externally. this unit moves air via convection. i did have to add some tray liners to keep small pistol brass from occassionally falling thru some of the tray holes (not all the same size). rifle brass does not fall thru at all due to case length fwiw.
i spread 5 lbs of brass over two trays, put them on the bottom two spots, and then run another batch of brass thru the tumbler. when they come out an hour-ish later, they go into the bottom two trays, and the older two move up to the top two positions. when the 3rd batch of brass comes out of the tumbler, the first batch i put in 2 hours previous are done.
Frankford, Hornady and Lyman all now make sell units that have a circulation fan built into them that they claim to help speed up the process. however they're saying 1.5-2hrs dry time so.... maybe a bit of time savings i guess.
https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/202879/lyman-cyclone-case-dryer-115-volt
https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/304424/frankford-arsenal-platinum-series-brass-dryer
https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/100809/hornady-case-and-parts-dryer
kinda looks like this, with a different color fan module on top
http://a.co/cT8Eetv
other options with built in fans for about $40 or less
http://a.co/8HZnWsB
http://a.co/2SdqCYr
http://a.co/ekdT66J
hth
(web image)
it takes about 2 hours for ready to load brass. i do roll them in a towel first to help minimize the big droplets externally. this unit moves air via convection. i did have to add some tray liners to keep small pistol brass from occassionally falling thru some of the tray holes (not all the same size). rifle brass does not fall thru at all due to case length fwiw.
i spread 5 lbs of brass over two trays, put them on the bottom two spots, and then run another batch of brass thru the tumbler. when they come out an hour-ish later, they go into the bottom two trays, and the older two move up to the top two positions. when the 3rd batch of brass comes out of the tumbler, the first batch i put in 2 hours previous are done.
Frankford, Hornady and Lyman all now make sell units that have a circulation fan built into them that they claim to help speed up the process. however they're saying 1.5-2hrs dry time so.... maybe a bit of time savings i guess.
https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/202879/lyman-cyclone-case-dryer-115-volt
https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/304424/frankford-arsenal-platinum-series-brass-dryer
https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/100809/hornady-case-and-parts-dryer
kinda looks like this, with a different color fan module on top
http://a.co/cT8Eetv
other options with built in fans for about $40 or less
http://a.co/8HZnWsB
http://a.co/2SdqCYr
http://a.co/ekdT66J
hth
Well, my order of pins should be arriving today, and I'm excited to run my first batch this evening. I did end up getting the cheap HF tumbler - the local HF store was having some kinda sale, and I got the cashier to run the 20% off coupon, too. My inner cheapskate always seems to win. I do actually like that it has 2 separate drums on it, so I can run small batches of different calibers at the same time. We'll see how well it holds up in the long run. If I end up really liking the results, I'll probably upgrade to a larger polisher, anyway. As I mentioned before, my reloading bench is in a room that always has low humidity, so I'm gonna try laying them out on a table to dry. If that doesn't work, I'll start looking for a used food dehydrator.
Anyway, I have a nice big batch of filthy range pickup brass that was given to me. I'll be sure to post results.
Anyway, I have a nice big batch of filthy range pickup brass that was given to me. I'll be sure to post results.
Plant.One
Well-known member
with that small volume unit, you'll only need a very very small pinch of lemishine. use sparingly or you will get spots/tarnish upon drying.
if you're gonna air dry, i might recommend a fan blowing over the area where the brass is sitting as well to help speed up evaporation.
if you're gonna air dry, i might recommend a fan blowing over the area where the brass is sitting as well to help speed up evaporation.
Vect0rstar
Member
I just use a harbor freight rock tumbler, and about a pound and a half of as pins. Fill it up past the brass with the hottest tap water you can get. Then I like to put a squirt of dawn and just a tiny pinch of lemon shine. You don't really need a whole lot. I used to use a lot more but the brass would get spotty. I think the best way to avoid spotty brass is to rinse it well and dry quickly. Like mentioned before, the food dehydrater works pretty well. If you let the wet brass sit around it can take quite a while to dry out and usually spots.
Well, my first trial run was a mixed bag. I have the dual drum tumbler. For each container, I added 1# stainless pins, ~90 .223 cases, hot water, a couple drops of dish soap, and a literal pinch of Lemishine. Run time was about 2 hours. The first container I opened came out looking OK. Cleaner than before, but I wasn't impressed. The second container looked absolutely disgusting. Everything was still covered in gunk. I went ahead and dumped the water and refilled it - this time using a squirt of dish detergent and a light shake of lemishine straight from the container. It was almost bedtime, so I only ran it for an additional 30 minutes. The second run came out looking spectacular! All cases were shiny and clean inside and out. Primer pockets weren't perfect, but I've never worried about them much.
Anyway, I'm gonna run another batch after work today. I think I was being too stingy on the dish soap. I'm also gonna try backing down to about 75 cases per drum. I think the primer pockets might look better if I leave a little more room for cases and pins to move about. Once I get my method tweaked a little, I think the results are gonna be much better. Plus, its extra satisfying to see the shiny new-looking brass appear, as the dirty water drains away.
Thanks again for all the suggestions. They definitely made this process a lot easier!
Anyway, I'm gonna run another batch after work today. I think I was being too stingy on the dish soap. I'm also gonna try backing down to about 75 cases per drum. I think the primer pockets might look better if I leave a little more room for cases and pins to move about. Once I get my method tweaked a little, I think the results are gonna be much better. Plus, its extra satisfying to see the shiny new-looking brass appear, as the dirty water drains away.
Thanks again for all the suggestions. They definitely made this process a lot easier!
LARUEminati
New member
Originally Posted By: cjclemensWell, my first trial run was a mixed bag. I have the dual drum tumbler. For each container, I added 1# stainless pins, ~90 .223 cases, hot water, a couple drops of dish soap, and a literal pinch of Lemishine. Run time was about 2 hours. The first container I opened came out looking OK. Cleaner than before, but I wasn't impressed. The second container looked absolutely disgusting. Everything was still covered in gunk. I went ahead and dumped the water and refilled it - this time using a squirt of dish detergent and a light shake of lemishine straight from the container. It was almost bedtime, so I only ran it for an additional 30 minutes. The second run came out looking spectacular! All cases were shiny and clean inside and out. Primer pockets weren't perfect, but I've never worried about them much.
Anyway, I'm gonna run another batch after work today. I think I was being too stingy on the dish soap. I'm also gonna try backing down to about 75 cases per drum. I think the primer pockets might look better if I leave a little more room for cases and pins to move about. Once I get my method tweaked a little, I think the results are gonna be much better. Plus, its extra satisfying to see the shiny new-looking brass appear, as the dirty water drains away.
Thanks again for all the suggestions. They definitely made this process a lot easier!
For what it's worth I use the Dawn Ultra concentrate from Home Depot, if your using non-concentrate you might have to use alot more.
Anyway, I'm gonna run another batch after work today. I think I was being too stingy on the dish soap. I'm also gonna try backing down to about 75 cases per drum. I think the primer pockets might look better if I leave a little more room for cases and pins to move about. Once I get my method tweaked a little, I think the results are gonna be much better. Plus, its extra satisfying to see the shiny new-looking brass appear, as the dirty water drains away.
Thanks again for all the suggestions. They definitely made this process a lot easier!
For what it's worth I use the Dawn Ultra concentrate from Home Depot, if your using non-concentrate you might have to use alot more.
Originally Posted By: LARUEminatiFor what it's worth I use the Dawn Ultra concentrate from Home Depot, if your using non-concentrate you might have to use alot more.
You might be on to something here. I was too lazy to run upstairs and get a bottle of Dawn from the kitchen. What I ended up using was a 79 cent bottle of Ajax that's been sitting next to the basement sink for over a year. I can confirm that it does work - you just gotta use a good squirt of it. I ran a second batch last night that came out looking pretty good after just an hour of runtime. I should be able to run a couple batches today for a full 2 hours, uninterrupted. I'd like to see if that makes any difference. I am pretty impressed, so far. This method does a heck of a job removing carbon - even inside the case.
You might be on to something here. I was too lazy to run upstairs and get a bottle of Dawn from the kitchen. What I ended up using was a 79 cent bottle of Ajax that's been sitting next to the basement sink for over a year. I can confirm that it does work - you just gotta use a good squirt of it. I ran a second batch last night that came out looking pretty good after just an hour of runtime. I should be able to run a couple batches today for a full 2 hours, uninterrupted. I'd like to see if that makes any difference. I am pretty impressed, so far. This method does a heck of a job removing carbon - even inside the case.
Plant.One
Well-known member
its not about what kind of dish soap you use - its that you use enough. 1-1.5 hours in my experience (with my tumbler anyway) is usually more than sufficient to get even really grody brass clean.
the key is adding enough soap so that when all the schmoo - yes thats a technical term - comes off the brass, there is still enough soap to keep it all emulsified. There needs to be lots of soapy bubbles left inside the container at the end of the tumbling process. Otherwise everything you cleaned off goes right back onto the brass for the most part. I learned this the hard way when i got the soap wrong and got a batch that came out gunmetal grey.
i thought i had ruined my brass. Gave it a quick rinse, put it back in for an hour with more soap the 2nd time and it came out flawless.
your success in the 2nd round was pretty much 100% directly related to the soap quantity - not the lemi-shine change, or the added time in the tumbler.
i have a thumblers tumbler - with 2 quarts of water i'm using 1/10th of a tsp (0.5cc lee powder scoop) of lemi shine. your little HF probably needs half of that, or less. I also use a VERY generous squirt of dish soap in there (at least a teaspoon, probably more)
using too much lemishine WILL cause post cleaning tarnish. The way to dial this in for your setup is as follows
put in a measured amount of lemi shine. probably start around 1/4 - 1/8 tsp or so. that should be WAY more than enough for the volume you're working with to ensure success.
every future batch - reduce the quantity of lemi-shine by half until you get unsatisfactory results. Once you get to that minimum number, go back one step to the previous quantity that worked. You now have your magic recipe figured out.
this $6 measuring spoon set from amazon should do you just fine - make sure you use nice level scoops for accuracy.
http://a.co/3JTuuWM
Quote:Tad is 1/4 of a tsp, dash is 1/8 of a tsp, pinch is 1/16 of a tsp, smidgen is 1/32 of a tsp, drop is 1/64 of a tsp
hth
the key is adding enough soap so that when all the schmoo - yes thats a technical term - comes off the brass, there is still enough soap to keep it all emulsified. There needs to be lots of soapy bubbles left inside the container at the end of the tumbling process. Otherwise everything you cleaned off goes right back onto the brass for the most part. I learned this the hard way when i got the soap wrong and got a batch that came out gunmetal grey.
your success in the 2nd round was pretty much 100% directly related to the soap quantity - not the lemi-shine change, or the added time in the tumbler.
i have a thumblers tumbler - with 2 quarts of water i'm using 1/10th of a tsp (0.5cc lee powder scoop) of lemi shine. your little HF probably needs half of that, or less. I also use a VERY generous squirt of dish soap in there (at least a teaspoon, probably more)
using too much lemishine WILL cause post cleaning tarnish. The way to dial this in for your setup is as follows
put in a measured amount of lemi shine. probably start around 1/4 - 1/8 tsp or so. that should be WAY more than enough for the volume you're working with to ensure success.
every future batch - reduce the quantity of lemi-shine by half until you get unsatisfactory results. Once you get to that minimum number, go back one step to the previous quantity that worked. You now have your magic recipe figured out.
this $6 measuring spoon set from amazon should do you just fine - make sure you use nice level scoops for accuracy.
http://a.co/3JTuuWM
Quote:Tad is 1/4 of a tsp, dash is 1/8 of a tsp, pinch is 1/16 of a tsp, smidgen is 1/32 of a tsp, drop is 1/64 of a tsp
hth
My $0.02
I have hard water and to prevent hard water spots I add a dash of Lemi Shine to my last rinse of the brass. That's the intended use of that stuff after all. In my opinion the hard spots create additional friction when sizing. Granted I'm sure it's marginal but I swear I can feel a difference.
Like many others I am happy with my FA wet tumbler and deprime before. I haven't got a garage sale food dehydrator YET so I roll mine in a towel then use a fan to blow them dry.
I have hard water and to prevent hard water spots I add a dash of Lemi Shine to my last rinse of the brass. That's the intended use of that stuff after all. In my opinion the hard spots create additional friction when sizing. Granted I'm sure it's marginal but I swear I can feel a difference.
Like many others I am happy with my FA wet tumbler and deprime before. I haven't got a garage sale food dehydrator YET so I roll mine in a towel then use a fan to blow them dry.
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Plant.Oneits not about what kind of dish soap you use - its that you use enough. 1-1.5 hours in my experience (with my tumbler anyway) is usually more than sufficient to get even really grody brass clean.
the key is adding enough soap so that when all the schmoo - yes thats a technical term - comes off the brass, there is still enough soap to keep it all emulsified. There needs to be lots of soapy bubbles left inside the container at the end of the tumbling process. Otherwise everything you cleaned off goes right back onto the brass for the most part. I learned this the hard way when i got the soap wrong and got a batch that came out gunmetal grey.
i thought i had ruined my brass. Gave it a quick rinse, put it back in for an hour with more soap the 2nd time and it came out flawless.
your success in the 2nd round was pretty much 100% directly related to the soap quantity - not the lemi-shine change, or the added time in the tumbler.
i have a thumblers tumbler - with 2 quarts of water i'm using 1/10th of a tsp (0.5cc lee powder scoop) of lemi shine. your little HF probably needs half of that, or less. I also use a VERY generous squirt of dish soap in there (at least a teaspoon, probably more)
using too much lemishine WILL cause post cleaning tarnish. The way to dial this in for your setup is as follows
put in a measured amount of lemi shine. probably start around 1/4 - 1/8 tsp or so. that should be WAY more than enough for the volume you're working with to ensure success.
every future batch - reduce the quantity of lemi-shine by half until you get unsatisfactory results. Once you get to that minimum number, go back one step to the previous quantity that worked. You now have your magic recipe figured out.
You're absolutely right. I just picked up an el-cheapo measuring spoon set, so I can measure the lemi shine. I haven't had any tarnishing or spotting issues as of yet but, now that I've done ~750 cases in several different batches, I can see some inconsistency. They all look shiny when I lay them out to dry on the bench but, when I put brass from different batches next to each other, I can see slight differences in how they look.
The brass I'm working on is one big batch of range pick-ups, with a lot of different headstamps. I suppose some of the variation could come from different types of brass, but I'll see if using consistent amount of lemi shine helps mitigate that.
I'm actually pretty impressed with the little HF tumbler. Crude though it may be, it can turn out a fair bit of clean/shiny brass, if you just run a batch a day.
the key is adding enough soap so that when all the schmoo - yes thats a technical term - comes off the brass, there is still enough soap to keep it all emulsified. There needs to be lots of soapy bubbles left inside the container at the end of the tumbling process. Otherwise everything you cleaned off goes right back onto the brass for the most part. I learned this the hard way when i got the soap wrong and got a batch that came out gunmetal grey.
your success in the 2nd round was pretty much 100% directly related to the soap quantity - not the lemi-shine change, or the added time in the tumbler.
i have a thumblers tumbler - with 2 quarts of water i'm using 1/10th of a tsp (0.5cc lee powder scoop) of lemi shine. your little HF probably needs half of that, or less. I also use a VERY generous squirt of dish soap in there (at least a teaspoon, probably more)
using too much lemishine WILL cause post cleaning tarnish. The way to dial this in for your setup is as follows
put in a measured amount of lemi shine. probably start around 1/4 - 1/8 tsp or so. that should be WAY more than enough for the volume you're working with to ensure success.
every future batch - reduce the quantity of lemi-shine by half until you get unsatisfactory results. Once you get to that minimum number, go back one step to the previous quantity that worked. You now have your magic recipe figured out.
You're absolutely right. I just picked up an el-cheapo measuring spoon set, so I can measure the lemi shine. I haven't had any tarnishing or spotting issues as of yet but, now that I've done ~750 cases in several different batches, I can see some inconsistency. They all look shiny when I lay them out to dry on the bench but, when I put brass from different batches next to each other, I can see slight differences in how they look.
The brass I'm working on is one big batch of range pick-ups, with a lot of different headstamps. I suppose some of the variation could come from different types of brass, but I'll see if using consistent amount of lemi shine helps mitigate that.
I'm actually pretty impressed with the little HF tumbler. Crude though it may be, it can turn out a fair bit of clean/shiny brass, if you just run a batch a day.