Cleaning brass in an apartment

tjhaile said:
Use a rotary rock tumbler instead of a vibratory tumbler. Lortone and Thumler both make good ones that are much quieter than the vibratory tumblers marketed for reloading.
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X2 for Thumler. I use 1mm porcelain beads instead of SS but its the same Idea.

To dry brass, I have a 14" x 14" x 8" plastic container with a lid on it. It contains about 2" of corn cob media. I just dump the wet brass in the container with the media, shake it (by hand) for a minute or so, then pick the bone dry brass out of the media. The corn cob also stays dry, don't ask me why :confused: .
 
My cheap Cabela's/Berry's Model 400 is quiet as a mouse. Been running it min 1 day a week for the last 3 years. Great bang for your buck.
 
If anyone want's the contacy info for the guy that started the whole SS media.craze send me a PM.
He's been in the biz for longer then most of us has been around and is a wealth of information.


My email is lookwhoshere37@yahoo.ca
 
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I used one of green machines for several years when I attempted to reload.It worked great and was not very loud at all.
I had it on a desk in a spare room and we are on the top floor.
The room is carpeted and it ran from 4 to 6 hours vibrating brass in crushed walnut media. If you have hard wood floors expect the vibrations and sound to travel to your neighbors and other rooms.
The down side is the price , compare the green one to the orange one in same size/capacity and you will see that you get what you pay for.
I am speaking from experience and of course your mileage may vary.
Tight Groups,
Rob
 
i got my stainless set up from stainlesstumblingmedia.com really they just bundle other peoples products and resell them but its all in one place and reasonable prices
 
I have been using a Lyman Turbo tumbler for years in my apartment, and never had a complaint. Only ever used it during the day though. Placed directly on my hard wood floor the tumbler sounded like it would eventually shake the roof down. A queen sized comforter, folded into a 3 ft square was about 12 inches thick. a 2 ft square peice of 3/4 inch plywood on top of the blanket gave the tumbler something steady to hold onto so it wouldn't tip or shift around too much, which would minimize the effectiveness of the tumbler. A 1/4 thick rubber yoga mat on top of the plywood ensured maximum traction on the plywood. Running the tumbler with a full load of media, but only 50% capacity for shells cut down on alot of the clinking of the brass.

For my new method, check out sinclair internation for CRAZY CLOTHS and the lyman universal shell holder. The shell holder allows you to spin the shell with an electric drill. The cloth will remove all dirt, residue, and return the case to a ultra high shine in about 5 rotations of the case. A variable speed drill at about 200 RPMs means about 2 seconds per case. This is how I do all my rifle cases now, and it is very quiet.
 
All very interesting ideas. Good call on the dust issue. I didn't think of that.

@Cameron SS: do you have a link for the shell holder you speak of? Would something like that work for pistol calibres as well?

Thanks everyone,
Cal.
 
Put tumbler in a fair size cardboard box on top of your bed and cover it with bed blankets.

Worked for me for quite some time,now I don't have to worry about it :)
 
Another vote for the SS tumbling media, I just got my 5lbs yesterday and I can't seem to stop cleaning brass! It really is magical, the shine is great and it cleans exceptionally well. I don't think I will ever buy another brass cleaning system.

I made my own tumbler BTW, I just purchased the media.
 
Use less brass or more media, use the tumbler on a piece of carpet, and tumble it during the day. No one will notice.
 
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