Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler Lite

Slug870

Slug870

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So I just purchased the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler Lite; a scaled down version of their larger rotary tumbler that should do me quite nicely (300 pieces of .223 per load capacity). As this is my first wet tumbling venture, I’m left wondering a couple of things after reviewing the included instructions; as such I have the following questions for those with experience;

1. How much media (steel pins) should I be loading in? The instructions offer no specifics on this which surprises me. Any insight from anyone?

2. I recall reading a thread about different cleaning solution options and am wondering if I absolutely require the Frankford Arsenal bottle of solution or can I substitute? I’m thinking cheap here, but of course I don’t want to sacrifice cleaning quality. Having not ordered the actual solution with the tumbler, I’m kicking myself as I want to try this thing!

As always, I appreciate any and all input.

Cheers!
 
The full size FA wet tumbler uses 5 lbs of media, so half a bag should do, 2.5 lbs

Tried their cleaning solution once, it works but gets expensive.
My go-to recipe is almost full hot-ish water, a good solid squirt of dishsoap (don't use the ones that are orange/lemon/lime infused), rough measurements would be 1/4 cup of soap, and a 9mm case full of Lemishine powder, after 1.5 hrs you can see your reflection in the cases.

That recipe is for fullsize tumblers, so minus the water level just cyt everything else in half and you should be good to go.

Every 15 or so cycles you may need to clean your SS pins, industrial degreaser works wonders after 30 mins of sitting. Available at Home Depot, made by Zep in 3 litre jugs.
 
Slug870 said:
So I just purchased the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler Lite; a scaled down version of their larger rotary tumbler that should do me quite nicely (300 pieces of .223 per load capacity). As this is my first wet tumbling venture, I’m left wondering a couple of things after reviewing the included instructions; as such I have the following questions for those with experience;

1. How much media (steel pins) should I be loading in? The instructions offer no specifics on this which surprises me. Any insight from anyone?

2. I recall reading a thread about different cleaning solution options and am wondering if I absolutely require the Frankford Arsenal bottle of solution or can I substitute? I’m thinking cheap here, but of course I don’t want to sacrifice cleaning quality. Having not ordered the actual solution with the tumbler, I’m kicking myself as I want to try this thing!

As always, I appreciate any and all input.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

1-Use all the pins that came with the tumbler. There's no such thing as too many pins. You could clean a single brass case with all your pins.

2-Their solution is a sham. Don't bother. We all use pretty much the same solution: water, a small dash of liquid soap (most use dawn dishwashing liquid soap, but any brand will do, and most brand of liquid laundry detergent would work fine too), and optionnaly, if you want your brass to shine, a pinch of lemishine (or citric acid). Typically we use a 9mm case of lemishine, but since your tumbler is smaller, maybe half of a 9mm case. Exact measurement are not so important, a squish of this a pinch of that.
 
I prefer laundry detergent to dishwashing detergent. It cleans better and rinses off more easily. How much to use depends on the hardness of your water. If you are getting uniformly grey/black brass, you need more detergent. The pods are convenient to use.

You can omit the pins to get results that are probably 90% as good without going to the trouble of separation. Conversely, if you want your cases to look as-new and clean primer pockets, then use the pins.
 
I have the full size Frankford Arsenal tumbler,works great with a little squirt of Tide laundry detergent,a half a teaspoon of lemmishine,small amount of SS pins and hot water,1/2 hour and the brass is like factory new.

Don'l like tumbling any longer since it will peen the case mouths.
 
Instead of lemi shine I bought a bottle of citric acid from Bulk Barn. It will seem pricey, but it will last forever. You don't need much, but experiment a little. I use about half a teaspoon in the bigger FA tumbler. I also use Dawn dish soap, but only because it was almost free and I haven't had cause to try anything else. I open the bottle, let it drain for a count of three (I don't squeeze it, just let gravity have at it) and that's it.

One of the FA magnets for the media makes things easier/quicker and you could probably throw something together with a five gallon plastic bucket for media separation as the price they charge for the FA one is stupid.

Probably the best thing I can tell you is tweak your amounts until you find what works for you and as mentioned above, more pins is better than less pins.

Sadly, you just missed a good sale on FA products at Cabela's, keep an eye on them for sales but don't pay full pop as they are a little heavy with pricing.
 
Sorry fellas, guess I never updated this post.

I ended up pulling the trigger and picking up the FA Rotary Tumbler Lite and man am I happy I did! I've cleaned about 1800 5.56 so far and the results are incredible. I use a squeeze of regular Dawn and about a 1/4 teaspoon of Lemi-Shine with about 3lbs of pins and the brass come out ridiculously nice.

A point to note, use COLD water! I used warm/hot water on the first batch (146 .308 casings) and while they came out nice, they had a more golden hue to them. Same with the next batch (200 5.56 casings). I then switched to cold water and the results were incredible.

Now just to figure out how to properly set up my Dillon Super Swage (OCD and want perfect swaging, lol) and add that step to the routine!
 
Zee705 said:
I did this mod with a rubber band...works great.

I find with swaging less is more.

Click to expand...

Great little modification there!

My issue is that there is no definitive direction on how to set up the Super Swage which would prevent the "over swaging" and do permanent damage to the brass (ie loose primer pockets when reloading). As I said, I am a little OCD and want to ensure that I don't mess up thousands of casings because of an oversight on my part during setup. Unfortunately, it looks as though trial and error is the only approach for me to take...
 
Slug870 said:
Great little modification there!

My issue is that there is no definitive direction on how to set up the Super Swage which would prevent the "over swaging" and do permanent damage to the brass (ie loose primer pockets when reloading). As I said, I am a little OCD and want to ensure that I don't mess up thousands of casings because of an oversight on my part during setup. Unfortunately, it looks as though trial and error is the only approach for me to take...
Click to expand...

You should start to feel a bit of resistance near the midpoint of the stroke, that's the best way to describe it.
 
Slug870 said:
So I just purchased the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler Lite; a scaled down version of their larger rotary tumbler that should do me quite nicely (300 pieces of .223 per load capacity). As this is my first wet tumbling venture, I’m left wondering a couple of things after reviewing the included instructions; as such I have the following questions for those with experience;

1. How much media (steel pins) should I be loading in? The instructions offer no specifics on this which surprises me. Any insight from anyone?

2. I recall reading a thread about different cleaning solution options and am wondering if I absolutely require the Frankford Arsenal bottle of solution or can I substitute? I’m thinking cheap here, but of course I don’t want to sacrifice cleaning quality. Having not ordered the actual solution with the tumbler, I’m kicking myself as I want to try this thing!

As always, I appreciate any and all input.

Cheers!
Click to expand...



In case anybody is interested, here some tips from me:

- I found it works better witch a full load as too little brass doesnt spin properly. This may be because you can only really see the cases by the lid which dont spin properly. It works great with a full load. For small loads I have some range brass that I dont reload like .223 and 9mm that I throw in to make the load bigger

- I leave some air in the container as it creates foam and air bubbles which I think is good for the cleaning effect

- I used 2 lbs of pins at the beginning and went to 4 lbs now as it helps spin smaller loads better

- I use Car wash and wax as I think the wax will keep the cases from oxidizing a bit longer

- I also use lemmi shine based on word on the interwebz but dont think it it needs it. So roughly 2-3 Teaspoons wash and wax and 0.5-1 teaspoon lemmi shine

- For very dirty brass I do a 15min pre wash with a small bit of soap and then dump the water and do a 2.5h wash

- To separate pins and water from brass I use the FA spinner which works great

- I dry the brass on a towel and then in the oven at 200F. It is hard to dry brass with primers so I always tumble de primed

- dont tumble sizes of brass together that fit into each other as they will go inside the other and then be harder to clean and harder to dry

- I store brass in zip lock bags after squishing the air out and pop a few dry pads in there for good measure
 
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