Stainless pins arrived, now I need a little help

D

double gun

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
351   0   1
Location
Alberta
Yes I tried the search function but it seems there are many versions, and I am looking for the best - or at least the standard. My tumbler is pretty much done, my stainless pins arrived, picked up some lemishine, but now need help with the receipe and operation. Do I fill the drum with water? hot or cold? Do I only need lemishine or do I need soap aswell? how much brass can I add? how long to run it? The drum turns at 45rpm. Thanks for the help.

Tumbler_zpsb6d6bfea.jpg
 
I add the pins, the brass, then fill to about 3/4 or more with cold water. Add a tablespoon or more of preferred dish soap and tumble. The lemishine helps to soften the water, if you use chlorinated water, use lemishine, if you have softened water from a well, it's not as useful. You will only need 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of lemishine per batch. Once you have done a few batches you will come up with a formula that works best with your water.

The fuller your tumbler is, the less peening of your brass. I now use about 8 lbs of pins, add my brass, then fill with water til almost full. This seems to work the best for me to get very clean and shiny brass without peening the case mouth.

PS: if you don't have fins or something in your drum it might not agitate enough and the contents will just slide on one side. My thumblers runs at about 30 rpm and takes at least 2 hours, usually 3.
 
This is a VERY nice looking tumbler. 45 rpm should be fine, you just do not want to spin it too fast. I have way simpler and cheap setup ( made from old printer) and it work just fine with cold water, some soap ( 1 -2 teaspoons) and a little bit of lemon shine. If it doesn't work, add more time ( I have a good result in 3-4 hours)
 
Thanks guys.
Yes there are 4 paddles inside, and i read 40 or 45rpm was the speed of the fast store bought so thats what i aimed for. The drum is made of some scrap pipe I had given to me. My drum is about 11" diameter, 10" long with a 1.25" wall thickness (shouldn't wear out too soon I hope :) ) The ends are made of the same stuff that I heated in the oven for several hours, and clamped flat until they rehardened. Problem is none of the plastic glues/cement will work on this stuff, so I counter bored the pipe ends on my lathe, And machined the caps for a press fit, that didn leak, but just to be sure i added a silicone gasket between the flange and pipe edge where the screws are. Then I threaded the ends for a common 6" pipe cap. Hardest part was finding the 12" pulley.... In my town a pulley over 8" is like hens teeth.

Reloader, my tub empty probably weighs 15 or 20 lbs. :)

Cleftwynd, when you say the fuller the better, are we talking water , brass or both? Is there a limit to how much brass I can add?
 
Last edited:
I have found that when the drum is 50% or more full with the pins and brass, and 90% or so full with water it did the best job. It cleaned well with less brass and pins, but peened more. I added the extra 3 lbs of pins to my thumblers and it made a big difference. Although I now run it over the recommended weight limit.

It seems the more it is like a slurry, the better it works.
 
The peening is caused by the cases striking the case mouth, therefore the more cases the better within reason. I have a standard Thumler's Tumbler Model B High Speed model with a 15 pound capacity and this tumbler is rubber lined. The LemiShine contains citric acid and cleans and adds shine and bling to the cases, the dish soap helps clean and also holds the dirt in suspension. Meaning if you do not use enough soap it takes longer to clean the cases (see note below in instructions)

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/thumler-s-tumbler-model-b-high-speed-7.html

Instructions for Thumler's Model B Tumbler
Notice. It takes a few times to get the media broke in. The media is dirty from manufacturing process and has a few burs. Media does not work in a vibratory cleaner

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)
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
 
Last edited:
Interesting...

I bought a thumbler last year for 45 70 BPCR.
SS pins too.

I called thumbler and spoke to the guy who designed it.
He fills with water just above the brass, and uses dish washer soap.
The real advantage is de priming 1st.
Primer pockets come out perfect.

Guess there is just more than one way to do it...
 
I pretty much follow the instructions bigedp51 outlined. However, I have recently begun to rinse my brass in isopropyl alcohol to displace any water just prior to drying, no more water spots and the alcohol can be re-used numerous times.

It goes without saying but make sure to give all the brass a good inspection once dry. More so in the beginning but still to this day (after +50 batches) it's not uncommon to find pins wedged into the primer pocket, flash hole and/or case mouth.
 
double gun said:
Yes I tried the search function but it seems there are many versions, and I am looking for the best - or at least the standard. My tumbler is pretty much done, my stainless pins arrived, picked up some lemishine, but now need help with the receipe and operation. Do I fill the drum with water? hot or cold? Do I only need lemishine or do I need soap aswell? how much brass can I add? how long to run it? The drum turns at 45rpm. Thanks for the help.

Tumbler_zpsb6d6bfea.jpg
Click to expand...

I need too make a tumbler like that,how did you go about doing it
 
I had maybe 4 brass with pins in the primer pocket when I first started using it, haven't had one since. I tumbled my pins when new for 12 hours with just a bit of water in them, then another half a day with fine hardwood sawdust.

As I stated before the more full the timber is with a "slurry" the cleaner the brass and less peening. I found having 10 lbs of pins to be handy as I add more pins when doing smaller batches of brass.
 
I dumped my 5lbs of pins in the drum and about 200 (308, 260, 6.5x55) empties in. Drum doesn't look too full, maybe 1/3 full if that. Maybe I should add more brass? Might have to order more pins.

Thanks again to all helping me out, I will try this thing out tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
skoal said:
I need too make a tumbler like that,how did you go about doing it
Click to expand...

I started mine because I am cheap, but by the time the dust settles I bet I spent more building it than I would have going store bought. :( However if you like a project like myself, build your drum first then build the base to suit. There are lots of home builts on here to look at....
 
i like how you used the motors weight to put tension on the belt, although it may slip on start up with a full drum. i'm curious as to why you put the top on an angle like that? the only reason i can see is you so didn't have to buy 2 more pillow block bearings.

i assume that's 1" square tubing?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom