I started at tumbling about 6 months ago,I bought the harbor freight dual drum rock tumbler,I use stainless chips from southern shine. To separate chips from brass I pour everything out into a colander over a bucker,ice cream bucket to be exact, run water over it all and shake. The media falls right out. Simple easy cheap set up for small batches. Time dry I lay the brass out on a towel on the dryer while the misses dries clothes.
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Finally got all my components to start wet tumbling.
Next question is regarding the cases.
Do you follow the same rule of only tumbling similar brass as with the vibratory tumbler?
I assume that would be the case but wasn't sure since the media is different.
Hi, I use the FA wet tumbler too. The best process improvement I made was buying these sifters from Amazon to remove the pins. They stack on each other and fit right in a 5 gallon bucket which catches any water. I use them in the sink to rinse first, then set it on the bucket as I transport back to the gun room. That third image shows nearly 500 .223 brass just recently rinsed.
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Last edited by Donewright; 09-18-2018 at 11:32 AM.
Thanks, but are you tumbling 9mm with 40S&W with 45ACP?
I know that in the vibratory tumbler they 9mm brass would fit in the 45ACP and get stuck so they wouldn't clean properly.
Same situation with the rotary tumbler?
Absolutely cannot tumble together, they will get stuck and are hard to get separated again. Maybe not as bad with pins, I use SS chips from Southern Shine and they are the best!
Perfect. That's what I needed to know!Originally Posted by Flyeralan
So I did my first batch of rotary tumbled .223 and I'm mixed on the results.
When I used my vibratory tumbler with Corn Cob media, it was pretty simple.
- Add some Nu-Finish car wax, used dryer sheets and then the brass.
- Spin for about 3-4 hours, depending on the condition of the corn cob media.
- Pour out into the sifter, spin and all done.
But with the rotary tumbler, there seems to be so many more steps involved and is a little messier.
- Add the brass, and stainless steel pins to the rotary bin.
- Add water, soap and Lemishine
- Spin for 3 hours or until brass looks good
- Pour into sifter to separate dirty water and pins from brass
- Rinse off the brass
- Pour out the dirty water, collect the pins and then lay out to dry
- Place brass in a drying mechanism to evaporate the water that may exist in the brass
The corn cob media seemed to clean just fine for me and has worked for the past 3 years.
Am I doing too much in the rotary method or does this seem about right?
I can't really tell the difference between the two methods when it comes to the appearance of the brass.
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