How to properly use a tumbler for cleaning brass

Bigbore 35

Bigbore 35

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Mont Nebo. SASK.
I have a large home made tumbler I got from an auction and don't know how to use it:confused:
Can anyone tell me the proper method for doing this? I didn't know that water was a component, I thought you just tumbled the brass dry?:eek:
 
Bigbore 35 said:
I have a large home made tumbler I got from an auction and don't know how to use it:confused:
Can anyone tell me the proper method for doing this? I didn't know that water was a component, I thought you just tumbled the brass dry?:eek:
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I tumble my brass dry with a little bit of polish. It takes me about 2-4 hours on average per batch of brass.

For me the steps are...

1) add new media
2) add polish
3) turn tumbler on to mix media and polish for about 15 minutes
4) add brass to tumbler for desired time

I'm sure someone more knowledgable than I will add to this as well.
 
I always Wash my brass first,...otherwise the Media gets black and dirty. Just throw the brass in a pale,.. use dish soap, or spray-9, basically any thing you have handy. most of my brass is "range brass" and can be full of sand , spiders, bugs or dirt.
 
It is a larg plastic pipe with one end cap removable, it has two rods that it sits on and electric motor turns the rods and the drum. The drum has paddles inside to get things moving. I don't think I should use water inside. It is not sealed.
Canadian_Zuk said:
Describe the tumbler. There are wet systems that generally use stainless steel pins and detergent for media or vibratory units that use corn cob or walnut media with polish.
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Bigbore 35 said:
It is a larg plastic pipe with one end cap removable, it has two rods that it sits on and electric motor turns the rods and the drum. The drum has paddles inside to get things moving. I don't think I should use water inside. It is not sealed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you have a dry setup. Which means walnut or corn cob media, with a touch of polish. No water required.
 
Canadian_Zuk said:
There you go! If you are frugal(cheap) like me, you can buy your cob/walnut media in the pet store, sold as reptile bedding.
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Or get a bag of sand blasting media. Its a finer crush than pet bedding I hear. And comes in a big-ass bag for pretty cheap (so Im told.)

edit - That is, crushed walnut sand blasting media, not glass beads...
 
Suther said:
Or get a bag of sand blasting media. Its a finer crush than pet bedding I hear. And comes in a big-ass bag for pretty cheap (so Im told.)

edit - That is, crushed walnut sand blasting media, not glass beads...
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I think it's like $25 for 50lbs at Princess Auto. Don't overdo it with the polish or you'll just make a mess so in this instance, less is better. You just need about a tablespoon (depending on the size of the tumbler) every once in a while to recharge it.

Media doesn't last forever so I don't see the reason to do extra work by pre-washing the brass. You're defeating the purpose of the tumbler. When it media is dirty, just dump it out and start fresh. If you're trying to skim by trying to prolong the life of your cleaning media, you're better off going to SS wet tumbling. That's just my 2cents.
 
Bigbore 35 said:
It is a larg plastic pipe with one end cap removable, it has two rods that it sits on and electric motor turns the rods and the drum. The drum has paddles inside to get things moving. I don't think I should use water inside. It is not sealed.
Click to expand...

I missed this post. Sounds like a wet tumbler. You can always fill the drum with water and see if it leaks. If it doesn't, you got yourself a wet tumbler. If not, well I guess it's a media tumbler. There's a member by the name of Rooky who sold SS media in the EE. I don't see his ads anymore though.

Post pics.
 
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Trinimon said:
I missed this post. Sounds like a wet tumbler. You can always fill the drum with water and see if it leaks. If it doesn't, you got yourself a wet tumbler. If not, well I guess it's a media tumbler. There's a member by the name of Rocky who sold SS media in the EE. I don't see his ads anymore though.

Post pics.
Click to expand...

site sponsor/member select shooting supplies has ss media.
 
Trinimon said:
I missed this post. Sounds like a wet tumbler. You can always fill the drum with water and see if it leaks. If it doesn't, you got yourself a wet tumbler. If not, well I guess it's a media tumbler. There's a member by the name of Rocky who sold SS media in the EE. I don't see his ads anymore though.

Post pics.
Click to expand...

Rooky :)
 
Bigbore 35 said:
I would put up pic's but don't know how to upload them from photo bucket.
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Click edit in photobucket and find the 3 strings of charters are shown, pick the lowest set and it will copy the link to your PC memory..then paste in the fourth box from right "Insert Image: in the Go advanced tab edit out the [[]]] funny characters ..DONE
 
Bigbore 35 said:
It is a larg plastic pipe with one end cap removable, it has two rods that it sits on and electric motor turns the rods and the drum. The drum has paddles inside to get things moving. I don't think I should use water inside. It is not sealed.
Click to expand...


That is likely a wet system
Add stainless steel pins, water, dishsoap and a little lemishine and of course brass.
[Youtube]YmTjfo4H4cA[/youtube]
 
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