New at range brass cleaning!!! Dry Tumbler vs Wet Tumbler

cokelon said:
So I decided to give the wet tumbler a go, and I did a batch earlier today with some dawn and SS pins and man the brass is so tarnished that is not funny. It has a dark greasy film I cant get rid off. Any suggestions?
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I started wet tumbling about 6 years ago using Dawn and a bit of Lemmishine as well.had several sessions where the cases were badly discolored.
Switched to Tide laundry detergent and a bit of lemmishine, soft,hot water and just a small amount of steel pins, one hour max and the brass comes out like factory new.
 
Franklin wet tumbler! much nicer then dry tumbling. I don't use the ss pins. I never found a need for them, brass comes out just fine with soap water and a cheap lemon shine from the dollar store. I do re tumble my brass after I drain the cylinder of water. I just add a couple terry cloth type towels into the tumbler let it spin for 30 seconds or so that seems to remove most of the water from inside the cases. Then I just stand them up neck down in a shell holder to dry further. I did take a piece of wood and hammered in a bunch of finishing nails (100) spaced out, so you can stand each case on a nail, if you wanted to go the extra mile? to be sure they are dry.

For those really tarnished cases you mentioned. A 3/8" drill with a shell holder like 21st. Century or Lee makes. Chuck it into your drill, load a case and turn the brass with the drill as you pinch the case between 0000# steel wool and your fingers. you will be amazed how shiny, and even more surprised, by the natural oils that comes out of the brass (It will stay shiny for many many years) but it is slow and a labor of love.
 
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Thanks guys!! So I threw the brass back in again with lemishine and dawn for 4hrs and the brass came out shiny!.. what a pain it is to remove the pins and make sure there's none inside the brass lol

But so far so good definitely a lot shinier than with corn cob. I do IPSC so the shine really doesn't bug me at all if I lose the brass anyways.

But very happy with the results.
 
cokelon said:
Thanks guys!! So I threw the brass back in again with lemishine and dawn for 4hrs and the brass came out shiny!.. what a pain it is to remove the pins and make sure there's none inside the brass lol

But so far so good definitely a lot shinier than with corn cob. I do IPSC so the shine really doesn't bug me at all if I lose the brass anyways.

But very happy with the results.
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Good to hear.

As a rule of thumb I always set a timer for when it finishes so I can rush down and rinse it off. If the brass sits in the dirty water the crap in the water will reattach itself to the brass and make it dull. Another rule of thumb is that I run it for 3 hours (max my Lyman Cyclone will go) and then if it's still not shiny (usually because the water's saturated) I'll run it again for another hour.
 
cokelon said:
Thanks guys!! So I threw the brass back in again with lemishine and dawn for 4hrs and the brass came out shiny!.. what a pain it is to remove the pins and make sure there's none inside the brass lol
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You have to turn the cases upside down while they are underwater, to allow the pins to fall out easily. Try to do this under as hot water as you hands can stand. Then shake off the cases and throw them on a clean towel. Once the batch is on the towel, grab the ends and run them back and forth in the towel a few times. That gets all the water droplets off and the warm cases will dry fairly fast without any effort.



.30/06 FTW said:
Good to hear.

As a rule of thumb I always set a timer for when it finishes so I can rush down and rinse it off. If the brass sits in the dirty water the crap in the water will reattach itself to the brass and make it dull. Another rule of thumb is that I run it for 3 hours (max my Lyman Cyclone will go) and then if it's still not shiny (usually because the water's saturated) I'll run it again for another hour.
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True. Can't leave the batch sitting for any length of time or it will require 5 minutes of additional tumbling to clean the crud off.
 
Dry tumble here. Set it and forget it. No drying, or extra rinse, no pins ( if you use them ) no dry water spots, If the brass is too dirty for a dry tumbler then I toss it.
 
Lead hammer said:
Dry tumble here. Set it and forget it. No drying, or extra rinse, no pins ( if you use them ) no dry water spots, If the brass is too dirty for a dry tumbler then I toss it.
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Cover house in lead dust ..... what's not to like about that?

You are tossing a lot of perfectly good brass. Send it to me and I'll clean it up w my steel pin tumbler.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
Cover house in lead dust ..... what's not to like about that?

You are tossing a lot of perfectly good brass. Send it to me and I'll clean it up w my steel pin tumbler.
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Lol. The unit runs in the garage. I dump the tumbler into the sifter with the garage door open. Not everything has to be complicated to work. I don’t toss any dirty brass if I don’t pick it up. Life is too short to pick up black mud covered brass, that was never mine.
 
For dry tumblers, get some Flitz metal polish, throw some in with the media - about an inch. If you use the anti-tarnish version, you won't get any discoloration over time, it also helps reduce the dust in the tumbler, and makes cleaning next time easier.
 
UPDATE!

So I found that everything comes out nicer if I start the wet tumbler for an hour, drain that water add dawn and limeshine and tumble for another 2-3 hours. So far that's what's been working pretty good for me except 1 batch that they didn't come out as shinny as other. They were shinny but a darker brass colour.
 
cokelon said:
UPDATE!

So I found that everything comes out nicer if I start the wet tumbler for an hour, drain that water add dawn and limeshine and tumble for another 2-3 hours. So far that's what's been working pretty good for me except 1 batch that they didn't come out as shinny as other. They were shinny but a darker brass colour.
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How much water are you using? Should be just enough to cover the cases.

I've never bothered to drain and refill the tumbler. Just water, dawn and lemmyshine, run for 4 hours and everything comes out sparkly clean. Rinse under hot water, then throw on a towel, shake and spread out to let dry.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
How much water are you using? Should be just enough to cover the cases.

I've never bothered to drain and refill the tumbler. Just water, dawn and lemmyshine, run for 4 hours and everything comes out sparkly clean. Rinse under hot water, then throw on a towel, shake and spread out to let dry.
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I'm doing just a bit over the brass, I've also tried even more almost full without spilling when putting the lid on. I guess some brass is dirtier than other who knows.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
How much water are you using? Should be just enough to cover the cases.
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