- Location
- Calgary, AB
Got mine at Cabelas a few years ago. Best tumbler I have ever used. Lemishine, Dawn and hot water. Brass looks better than new.
Is the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Wet Tumbler worth purchasing? (steel pins)
- Thread starter adrenaline681
- Start date
Here are the results.
Dry Media is the Lyman Turbo Treated Corncob with a tsp of Nufinish Car Polish.
Wet Media is 2 tbsp of Dawn Platinum and 1 tbsp of Lemishine.
The Frankford Arsenal manual even says to run the brass through without the SS pins so that they're clean when you deprime, then run them through again with the pins to clean the primer pockets.
As you can see, without the pins, the insides of the case won't come out shiny like the outside. All in all, it's a nice little machine and worth the money in my opinion.
Dry Media is the Lyman Turbo Treated Corncob with a tsp of Nufinish Car Polish.
Wet Media is 2 tbsp of Dawn Platinum and 1 tbsp of Lemishine.
The Frankford Arsenal manual even says to run the brass through without the SS pins so that they're clean when you deprime, then run them through again with the pins to clean the primer pockets.
As you can see, without the pins, the insides of the case won't come out shiny like the outside. All in all, it's a nice little machine and worth the money in my opinion.
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
Nice comparison, how much 9mm brass did you clean in one batch? I deprimed 1000 dirty cases yesterday and on monday i will do my tests.
1 tbsp of lemishine seems a bit of too much for what i read. People suggest 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp, some other places ive read using a 22lr case or 1/2 9mm case of lemi shine.
Did you notice any darkening after some time for using so much lemishine? Some people have been noticing the shells blackening after some hours/days? For example like this:
1 tbsp of lemishine seems a bit of too much for what i read. People suggest 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp, some other places ive read using a 22lr case or 1/2 9mm case of lemi shine.
Did you notice any darkening after some time for using so much lemishine? Some people have been noticing the shells blackening after some hours/days? For example like this:
It was about 500 pieces, about a third full with the pins.
I haven't noticed any darkening yet but it's only been a few hours. I shook all the wet brass in a pant leg to remove the bulk of the moisture and then spread them out on newspaper and dried with a heat gun.
I haven't noticed any darkening yet but it's only been a few hours. I shook all the wet brass in a pant leg to remove the bulk of the moisture and then spread them out on newspaper and dried with a heat gun.
I have the high speed STM tumbler and from looking at the photos at Amazon it appears the body of the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Wet Tumbler is also the pin separator.
To me this would make it far easer to separate the pins vs the older rock tumbler STM wet tumbler.
So how well do the screens work with the Frankford Arsenal tumbler for separating the pins. Or do end up using a separate tumbler to separate the pins like with the STM tumbler.
NOTE, you must be a Amazon prime member to get the "prime" price and free shipping.
To me this would make it far easer to separate the pins vs the older rock tumbler STM wet tumbler.
So how well do the screens work with the Frankford Arsenal tumbler for separating the pins. Or do end up using a separate tumbler to separate the pins like with the STM tumbler.
NOTE, you must be a Amazon prime member to get the "prime" price and free shipping.
I use the separate plastic tumbler to get rid of the pins.
I have never paid for a Prime membership. I always get free shipping. In the many Amazon.com orders I have placed, I have only once encountered an item that was only available with a Prime membership.
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- Location
- Vancouver, BC
Amazon prime is the best 90 dollars I've spent ever. 90% of the stuff I order I get it the next day, If not the same day.
Las thing i bought was the "Otis Technology Elite Cleaning System" Which i ordered at 11 am, and at 4pm it was at my doorstep. Most of the gun related accessories cheaper in amazon than at a physical store. Same with house supplies.
Frankfort Arsenal Wet Tumbler here. I won't go back to a vibratory dry tumbler (as others have said) EVER. Shot of Dawn, just a bit more than a pinch of Lemishine (on the first attempt with it after purchase, I put a whole 9mm case in with the brass, and it darkened, almost turned pink! but they cleaned up nicely when I redid them the right way with 'way less Lemishine).
I picked up an FA bucket rotating separator, pins drop into the bucket - brass stays in the basket with a few turns. Dump brass into 28" X 14" aluminum roasting pans from the dollar store (but they cost $1.25 now) lined with those brown paper towels on the bottom to speed drying and reduce discolouration from contact with the aluminum, let sit overnight, and have at it.
For the pins, picked up a release magnet from the local Princess Auto, $7.99 at the time, picks up about a 1/2 pound of pins at once from the bucket, drop those onto a second same size roasting pan with the cheap paper towel liner, dries them out in about 24 hours or so. The PA magnet seems to be from the same China supplier as the $30.00 Frankfort magnet.
I'm very pleased with the SS tumbling system, it's a lot less work overall, with much better results in terms of clean brass. And my sizing dies are like brand-new inside after thousands of rounds as well, since there is no residue or abrasive particles left after cleaning.
I ordered mine on a Black Friday special from Natchez in 2015, sent to my U.S. Employer's office on the free freight deal, $129 USD at the time (about $150 CA at the exchange rate then), no tax. I took one suitcase with me pretty much empty, took it out of the box, put the pieces in the suitcase, flew home. It isn't an ITAR item, so no problems that way.
O.N.G.
I picked up an FA bucket rotating separator, pins drop into the bucket - brass stays in the basket with a few turns. Dump brass into 28" X 14" aluminum roasting pans from the dollar store (but they cost $1.25 now) lined with those brown paper towels on the bottom to speed drying and reduce discolouration from contact with the aluminum, let sit overnight, and have at it.
For the pins, picked up a release magnet from the local Princess Auto, $7.99 at the time, picks up about a 1/2 pound of pins at once from the bucket, drop those onto a second same size roasting pan with the cheap paper towel liner, dries them out in about 24 hours or so. The PA magnet seems to be from the same China supplier as the $30.00 Frankfort magnet.
I'm very pleased with the SS tumbling system, it's a lot less work overall, with much better results in terms of clean brass. And my sizing dies are like brand-new inside after thousands of rounds as well, since there is no residue or abrasive particles left after cleaning.
I ordered mine on a Black Friday special from Natchez in 2015, sent to my U.S. Employer's office on the free freight deal, $129 USD at the time (about $150 CA at the exchange rate then), no tax. I took one suitcase with me pretty much empty, took it out of the box, put the pieces in the suitcase, flew home. It isn't an ITAR item, so no problems that way.
O.N.G.
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I found that the separating screens that screw onto the body of the tumbler are pretty much useless if you're doing a full load of brass. Perhaps they'd be OK with just a hundred or so, say, 9mm. But if the tumbler body is filled to close to recommended capacity (not to the brim - leave enough room to have tumbling/mixing action) I could never get more than about 40% to 50% of the pins out through the separator. That's why I picked up the rotating basket/bucket system, it wasn't all that expensive and it sure reduced the frustration level.
- Location
- Calgary, AB
$30 food dehydrator from Walmart dries them very well.
I started out with a vibratory cleaner. I used it once. After I read about wet tumbling with SS pins I switched over. Eventually sold the vibratory cleaner and media.
Just to be difficult, I built my own wet tumbler after seeing some diy tumblers online. I can do at least 10-15lbs of brass at a time.
I deprime all cases and sort into like calibres. I run 9mm with .38/.357. Separate pins/cases in a sieve and dry outside in the sun.
OP get the wet tumbler if you already haven't. Wet tumbling isn't that much more work and you get nice clean brass. Up front costs are higher but if you don't like it you could get your money back.
Just to be difficult, I built my own wet tumbler after seeing some diy tumblers online. I can do at least 10-15lbs of brass at a time.
I deprime all cases and sort into like calibres. I run 9mm with .38/.357. Separate pins/cases in a sieve and dry outside in the sun.
OP get the wet tumbler if you already haven't. Wet tumbling isn't that much more work and you get nice clean brass. Up front costs are higher but if you don't like it you could get your money back.
Just another step, and another piece of equipment I could do without.
I add Jet Dry to the mix and the cases dry just fine in an hour with no water spots. I also have an RCBS media separator and the pins fall out very easily. To drain the barrel, I grabbed an old set of Momma Bears heavy weight nylons and cut the ends off so I can put the grill cap inside them. keeps all the pins in the tumbler and I can rinse them quite well and the water drains straight down the sink.
I find that more brass is better than less to reduce the nicks on the mouth of the case. A better way to clean cases may exist but I have not found it.
I find that more brass is better than less to reduce the nicks on the mouth of the case. A better way to clean cases may exist but I have not found it.
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
Im running 2 batches today, im testing with more and less lemishine, soaking on lemishine after rinsing and not, and air drying and oven drying and any combination of those 3 variables. I will have a total of 8 sub-batches. I will show some pictures of comparison probably tomorrow.
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
Okay so here are my results:
Batch 1:
-Frankford Arsenal Platinum Rotary Brass Tumbler
-Hot water
-3 squirts of Dawn Ultra x3
- One 9mm brass full of Lemishine
-750 9mm brass deprimed
-2 hours tumbling
After tumbling and rinsing this batch was split up into 2 batches:
Batch 1a) was soaked in a bucket half full of hot water (3 1/2 gallon bucket) and 1 9mm brass full of Lemishine for 20 minutes
Batch 1b) was not soaked with Lemishine
This 2 batches where split again into 2sub batches one been dried in the oven for 1 hour at 200F, the other one was left out to air dry over night.
Batch 2:
This batch had the same things that Batch 1 except instead of one 9mm brass of lemishine I used 1 tsp of lemishine.
The batch was split up the same way into sub batches just like the first one.
Here is a picture of all the sub batches. We can tell already a different in color between some of them.
Its hard to tell the difference between them so i grabbed 5 brass from each batch and took pictures using the same lighting.
Here are the picture organized by 2 categories. By comparing the top row with the bottom row, we can tell what variables are most important to get the right brass color:
Organized by amount of lemishine used (top more lemishine, bottom less lemishine)
As we can see here there is a big difference in color between the top and bottom row. With 1 tsp of Lemishine we get a lot more orange in our brass compared to one 9mm cap of Lemi.
The exception here is that if we soak them in lemishine (1nd and 3rd column) after the wash, they return back to a brighter color.
So the conclusion here is that too much Lemishine will turn your brass orange.
Organized how they were dried (topair, bottom oven)
Here we can see there is not much difference between the top row compared to the bottom, meaning it doesnt really matter how you dry the brass.
My conclusion is that one 9mm cap of lemishine is more than enough to make them super bright, too much will turn them orange.
The drying method doesnt affect the color of the brass if you dry them in the oven at 200F (maybe at higher temperatures we would start seen a difference in color)
Soaking the brass in hot water and lemishine for 20-30 min will make your brass brighter/whiter but is not a huge big difference (as long as you didnt put too much lemishine, if you did you can soak them to remove the orange color).
One thing that ive read is that soaking them will help keep the brightness of the brass over months/years. So i will keep some brass out (soaked and non-soaked) and compare over a few weeks and months if i see a big difference between how the brass color has changed over time.
I hope this helps someone.
Cheers!!!!
Batch 1:
-Frankford Arsenal Platinum Rotary Brass Tumbler
-Hot water
-3 squirts of Dawn Ultra x3
- One 9mm brass full of Lemishine
-750 9mm brass deprimed
-2 hours tumbling
After tumbling and rinsing this batch was split up into 2 batches:
Batch 1a) was soaked in a bucket half full of hot water (3 1/2 gallon bucket) and 1 9mm brass full of Lemishine for 20 minutes
Batch 1b) was not soaked with Lemishine
This 2 batches where split again into 2sub batches one been dried in the oven for 1 hour at 200F, the other one was left out to air dry over night.
Batch 2:
This batch had the same things that Batch 1 except instead of one 9mm brass of lemishine I used 1 tsp of lemishine.
The batch was split up the same way into sub batches just like the first one.
Here is a picture of all the sub batches. We can tell already a different in color between some of them.
Its hard to tell the difference between them so i grabbed 5 brass from each batch and took pictures using the same lighting.
Here are the picture organized by 2 categories. By comparing the top row with the bottom row, we can tell what variables are most important to get the right brass color:
Organized by amount of lemishine used (top more lemishine, bottom less lemishine)
As we can see here there is a big difference in color between the top and bottom row. With 1 tsp of Lemishine we get a lot more orange in our brass compared to one 9mm cap of Lemi.
The exception here is that if we soak them in lemishine (1nd and 3rd column) after the wash, they return back to a brighter color.
So the conclusion here is that too much Lemishine will turn your brass orange.
Organized how they were dried (topair, bottom oven)
Here we can see there is not much difference between the top row compared to the bottom, meaning it doesnt really matter how you dry the brass.
My conclusion is that one 9mm cap of lemishine is more than enough to make them super bright, too much will turn them orange.
The drying method doesnt affect the color of the brass if you dry them in the oven at 200F (maybe at higher temperatures we would start seen a difference in color)
Soaking the brass in hot water and lemishine for 20-30 min will make your brass brighter/whiter but is not a huge big difference (as long as you didnt put too much lemishine, if you did you can soak them to remove the orange color).
One thing that ive read is that soaking them will help keep the brightness of the brass over months/years. So i will keep some brass out (soaked and non-soaked) and compare over a few weeks and months if i see a big difference between how the brass color has changed over time.
I hope this helps someone.
Cheers!!!!
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Gabriel S.
Member
- Location
- Calgary, AB
How did you manage to ship it to Canada?
Canadianbosco
Member
- Location
- Abbotsford, BC
Probably shipped to a PO box in the states and picked it up or used a company that forwards parcels.
