Brass Cleaning - My solution

One advantage of using very hot (or boiling) water as seems to be suggested, is that the brass should dry quickly no? Otherwise, it should be quite simple to make a drying box with a small fan it...hehehe, more fun.
 
I wonder if making a mild lye solution and using the vibratory tumbler would speed up things.

for those of you that have tried it can you post some pictures for others to see the results.
 
travellerw said:
Very very cool.. I'm feeling a double dunk happening.. First a dunk in phosphoric acid, rinse, then a dunk in Lye solution.. Should only take a couple of minutes in each.

This seems so much better than 4 hours in a tumbler/shaker..
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travellerw said:
OEM.. That is true that the brass dries fast, but I like to make sure its completely dry. If I'm not in a hurry, I leave it out overnight.
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:rolleyes:.
 
travellerw said:
Yes.. The solution is very caustic and should be treated with care. With that being said, I swirled my first batch with my hand (DON'T DO THIS) as I didn't have a spoon near. (NOTE Watch the movie Fight Club).
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You like to live dangerously, eh? :D

I'm gonna try your idea. :)
 
Working in a battery factory filling batteries with acid, we used to stick our hands into a bag of Caustic Soda after being splashed with acid. Instant heat diluting the acid to water. Caustic Soda is added to many soaps that you use everyday.
Just don't get it in your eye!!
I am going to try and find some today, My wife says no tumbler running for 4 hours, we have to find some of that.
 
I just called me mam back in England, a beautiful and wonderful woman btw. I remembered that my mam and grandmother used to use caustic soda a lot in my youth. Caustic soda was my mams favourite sink cleaner, apparently. :D

Unfortunately we got into discussing castor oil, its wound drawing properties and how she can't find it no more. Thats all I got on the caustic soda.
 
phishroy said:
I wonder if making a mild lye solution and using the vibratory tumbler would speed up things.

for those of you that have tried it can you post some pictures for others to see the results.
Click to expand...

Tumblers marketed for reloading generally aren't suitable for wet tumbling. Rock tumblers have rubberized, watertight barrels that are intended for wet tumbling and are available in vibrating or rotary configurations.
 
I use a caustic soda bath to strip the chrome off of hydraulic cylinder rods in preparation for replateing. We must remove any brass or copper alloy bushings from the part prior to the bath as it will disintegrate in the bath.
Point is, be carfull not to compromise your case strength with this method!
 
Do not use phosphoric acid and then lye. The acid drips will weaken the alkaline lye solution.
Also, wear protection or else...
220px-Sodium_hydroxide_burn.png


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lye
 
Just bought some Lie crystals from Home hardware $21.85 for 3kg.
Surprising that they don't sell it in any smaller sizes. I will give it a try tonight
and chime in with how well it worked for me tomorrow.
 
i just tried it. my brass looks like s**t, i soaked it in hot water and lye for about 10 mins stirring it every so often. the brass was still dirty so i let it sit for about an hour. my brass is still dirty and now tarnished. im not sure where i went wrong with it. maybe it depends on what type of powder your using or maybe what type of primers. i dont know. maybe others have had or will have better luck than me.
 
travellerw said:
Wow.. I didn't even think about the lead thing.. I totally forgot that primers contain lead.
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It's liquid cleaning anyway, so you can deprime your cases before cleaning them and get clean primer pockets and no lead contamination altogether.

Iosso makes a very good case cleaning solution containing phosphoric acid.
Or you could also use C.L.R.
It makes use of lactic acid and other funny ingredients but is very good at cleaning.
PP.
 
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