Brass tumbler upgrade

Brian James

Brian James

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I’m looking to upgrade my vibratory cleaner to either a rotary for wet tumbling or an ultrasonic. I will be using this only for straight wall pistol cases 32SW long, 38 special, and 45 acp). My goal is to minimize dust and may be something less noisy. All this to say, what do people recommend/ using?

Thanks

Brian
 
Build one, they are easy to make, all the parts can be had at Princess Auto, and you can build it large enough to suit your needs. Tons of how to's available online.
 
Magellann said:
Build one, they are easy to make, all the parts can be had at Princess Auto, and you can build it large enough to suit your needs. Tons of how to's available online.
Click to expand...

I tried a DIY, Till the dish soap, lemi shine mixture somehow pressurized and popped the top off the 2 gal bucket. ALL over my bench. But it still gonna cost you 1/2 price of just buying one. If you don't have the casters, a motor etc.

I picked up a Lyman Cyclone Wet tumbler on Amazon for 260$. Came with 5lbs of pins, 2 sifters.

I have a Dry tumbler in the garage and a ultra sonic. Wet tumbler FTW.
 
Cabelas had the Frankford Arsenal products on sale until Jan 8,2020. The small one is $150, the big one for $248. I have the big one and it works great, it's a buy once, cry once purchase.
 
Try soaking the brass in hot water overnight. A dash of Lemishine and Tide(laundry detergent). That might get the brass clean enough for your needs. PP won’t be spotless but might not be an issue.

There are commercial wet tumblers but I built mine. 6” PVC, an old motor, stuff from Princess Auto.

I soak overnight and tumble for 1 hour. Spin the brass in an old salad spinner to get the water out. Air dry on some homemade mesh racks.
 
OkayShooter said:
I tried a DIY, Till the dish soap, lemi shine mixture somehow pressurized and popped the top off the 2 gal bucket. ALL over my bench. But it still gonna cost you 1/2 price of just buying one. If you don't have the casters, a motor etc.

I picked up a Lyman Cyclone Wet tumbler on Amazon for 260$. Came with 5lbs of pins, 2 sifters.

I have a Dry tumbler in the garage and a ultra sonic. Wet tumbler FTW.
Click to expand...

You probably used hot water.
Better to use a screw cap. Mine has a 4 inch PVC clean out cap and never had issues.
 
Thumlers B. Bought a used one, no regrets.
Handles 300 38spl at a time with ease.
Thick rubber drum liner and lid seal make it very quite.

Used a RCBS Sidewinder for a few years, until it started leaking, two drums. No further replacement drums available now.
 
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I recently bought an ultrasonic cleaner from amazon for a shade over $100. I have used it to clean some blackpowder 45-70 cases which were soiled BAD. Worked like a charm.
 
diopter said:
Thumlers B. Bought a used one, no regrets.
Handles 300 38spl at a time with ease.
Thick rubber drum liner and lid seal make it very quite.
Click to expand...

Yep, Thumlers Model B for the win. Stainless pins, cold water, a small amount of Joy and a dash of Lemishine. Two hours later your old grimy black powder cases look like new.
 
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