jug for brass tumbling

dearslayer

dearslayer

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Hey folks... I've alreay made a home made tumbler for cleaning brass but with dry media so the snap on lid of the small buckets I'm using dont have to be water tight. I want to try wet tumbling but unfortunately these lids won't seal tight enough to allow that. I guess I could try to make some sort of gasket so when the buckt lid snaps down it will seal tight enough but not sure I want to go through the extra work and it possibilly not work still.
I'd rather find a proper size plastic jug with a screw on watertight lid but I haven't seen anything suitable....does anyone know where I can source something similar to the one in the attached photo? Also attached is my current set up... it's pretty basic so don't laugh it does the job somewhat. Not sure how many liters the current setup is and they look bigger in the photo than they actually are but I'm guessing about 4.5 liters maybe??
 

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Snider shooter said:
Lee valley had some tops that fit a 2 1/2 or 5 gallon bucket. Snapped onto the bucket then have a screw top with a rubber gasket. Been about 4 years since I bought any so hopefully they still have them.
Click to expand...

their website shows they still have them but for 12" diameter. Don't think mine are that big but will measure when I get home from work this morning.
 
I might have been doing something wrong with my tumbler from Frankford, but I found it leaks. Seems as if the warm water added makes the plastic relax a bit - even with the rubber gaskets. I ended up buying a strap wrench just for the purpose of snugging up those ends after I have added the warm water, soap, Lemi-shine, etc., and that seemed to be the little bit more tightening that it needed. So whatever you end up with as a cap, needs to be TIGHT, if you do not want it to leak.
 
Potashminer said:
I might have been doing something wrong with my tumbler from Frankford, but I found it leaks. Seems as if the warm water added makes the plastic relax a bit - even with the rubber gaskets. I ended up buying a strap wrench just for the purpose of snugging up those ends after I have added the warm water, soap, Lemi-shine, etc., and that seemed to be the little bit more tightening that it needed. So whatever you end up with as a cap, needs to be TIGHT, if you do not want it to leak.
Click to expand...

I have this problem with my Frankford as well.
It only leaks with warm water -but that is moot as I discovered that I prefer the "paler shade" that I get from using cold distilled water in the wash as well as the rinse. I find warm/hot water makes the brass more "orangey" which I don't like.
 
Potashminer said:
I might have been doing something wrong with my tumbler from Frankford, but I found it leaks. Seems as if the warm water added makes the plastic relax a bit - even with the rubber gaskets. I ended up buying a strap wrench just for the purpose of snugging up those ends after I have added the warm water, soap, Lemi-shine, etc., and that seemed to be the little bit more tightening that it needed. So whatever you end up with as a cap, needs to be TIGHT, if you do not want it to leak.
Click to expand...
I bought the Frankford first and found the same thing. It leaked until I cinched it on hard with a strap wrench. The Lyman version came on sale about a year later so I bought it as well. Much better overall. I can screw the lid on just hand tight and it does not leak. The difference seems to be that the Frankford gasket is much stiffer than the Lyman so i suspect it needs more pressure to compress before it seals. I am going to try & find softer rubber gasket material and cut out a replacement to see if that makes a difference. The other thing i didn't like about the Frankford was that because it opens at both ends there is twice the chance of leaks. I'm going to seal one end permanently with silicone. it's not a bad tumbler and does a good job but the leaking issue is a bit of a pain.
 
Munkey1973 said:
I have this problem with my Frankford as well.
It only leaks with warm water -but that is moot as I discovered that I prefer the "paler shade" that I get from using cold distilled water in the wash as well as the rinse. I find warm/hot water makes the brass more "orangey" which I don't like.
Click to expand...

On my Frankford wet tumbler I found lids are slightly tilted when they are screwed on. I guess the molded threads are a bit off, so no matter how tightly you screw the lid, it will apply more pressure on one side of the gasket. You have to tighten it really hard to squish one side of the gasket so the weaker side gets enough pressure. Might so cut beefier and softer gaskets at some point to resolve this. Since it is molded plastic bucket, I guess a big batch of these have been produced, which explains why so many people have this issue. Frankford, are you listening?
 
serg777 said:
On my Frankford wet tumbler I found lids are slightly tilted when they are screwed on. I guess the molded threads are a bit off, so no matter how tightly you screw the lid, it will apply more pressure on one side of the gasket. You have to tighten it really hard to squish one side of the gasket so the weaker side gets enough pressure. Might so cut beefier and softer gaskets at some point to resolve this. Since it is molded plastic bucket, I guess a big batch of these have been produced, which explains why so many people have this issue. Frankford, are you listening?
Click to expand...

I just took a quick peek at mine. The threads appear to be straight as the gaps from the cap to the drum appear to be uniform.
I guess, another slight qweerk with mine is... that if I have a heavier load in the drum and if the surface is not well leveled, then the drive wheels will sometime spin/slip quite a bit.

Despite the Frankford's minor design flaws, I still like it.
I can't remember the name of the maker, but a friend of mine bought a wet tumbler that had about 6 (maybe 8?) wingnuts that you had to place over the cap.... it did not have a built in timer (he had to buy one separately), and it cost him more than the Frankford.
 
serg777 said:
On my Frankford wet tumbler I found lids are slightly tilted when they are screwed on. I guess the molded threads are a bit off, so no matter how tightly you screw the lid, it will apply more pressure on one side of the gasket. You have to tighten it really hard to squish one side of the gasket so the weaker side gets enough pressure. Might so cut beefier and softer gaskets at some point to resolve this. Since it is molded plastic bucket, I guess a big batch of these have been produced, which explains why so many people have this issue. Frankford, are you listening?
Click to expand...

My Frankford wet tumbler is a couple years old, but it has the same problem. On mine, one end of the drum is not cut squarely with the threads. I had to come up with a makeshift tapered gasket for that end of the drum and then reefed the lid really tight . . . that was the only way I could stop the leaking. Frankford sells a lot of those units, it's very disappointing to know that this seems to be a common problem.
 
I wet the gasket first for a better seal, place it back and then screw on the lid hand tight. Haven't had a leakage so far.
 
Try some of the health food stores. They sell good stuff that I’d never eat in nice big plastic jars with tight lids. I asked a friend that works in one to ask customers to bring back empty containers instead of tossing them.
 
I use a 6inch pvc pipe drum with reducer to 4 inch and a pvc 4 inch screw on cleanout cap.
Holds 4.5 liter and that is a good size for using 5 lb of pins and is still easy to handle.

As mentioned by others, do not use warm or hot water.
It will build up pressure with the soap and citric acid.
Also the temperature changes the ph I think and it will eat away the zinc in the alloy and you will end up with pinkish or pink spotted brass.
 
Look for food safe pails, most restaurants or bulk food stores should have something. Like the big 2-5 gal pails pickles or salad dressing comes in, they should have a leak proof lid. Alternatively if you take a regular 5 gal pail lid, try running a bead of silicone into the grove of the lid.
 
bertn said:
I use a 6inch pvc pipe drum with reducer to 4 inch and a pvc 4 inch screw on cleanout cap.
Holds 4.5 liter and that is a good size for using 5 lb of pins and is still easy to handle.

As mentioned by others, do not use warm or hot water.
It will build up pressure with the soap and citric acid.
Also the temperature changes the ph I think and it will eat away the zinc in the alloy and you will end up with pinkish or pink spotted brass.
Click to expand...

What length is the drum overall length? Pics maybe?
 
bertn said:
I use a 6inch pvc pipe drum with reducer to 4 inch and a pvc 4 inch screw on cleanout cap.
Holds 4.5 liter and that is a good size for using 5 lb of pins and is still easy to handle.

As mentioned by others, do not use warm or hot water.
It will build up pressure with the soap and citric acid.
Also the temperature changes the ph I think and it will eat away the zinc in the alloy and you will end up with pinkish or pink spotted brass.
Click to expand...

What length is the drum overall length?
 
Just took a look at the lids off of an empty 5g paint pail, they have a rubber gasket in the locking groove. Shouldn’t be too hard to get one from a paint dealer and try out with your current setup.
 
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