Question about my brass

I did my research for a tumbler and SS media about 7 year's ago. I found what I wanted and started to put away my loonie's and twoonie's. Took maybe 6 week's to get to the $300 mark
 
Never designed it for wet use, but if one sealed it properly.

A bowl a funnel a small motor. Attached everything to a platform. Platform on 4 springs. Offset weight on motor shafts. Threaded road to hold bowl to platform.

The bowl is removable which is great for emptying
 
bigedp51 said:
If you have a Lee case trimmer and attach it to a drill your fingers will not get sore. But for years all I did was hold the case in one hand and the steel wool in the other and twist.

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When your fingers get really sore and start to bleed "STOP" and start thinking about buying a tumbler. :cheers:
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I do have this case trimmer. I measure the length and keep them under the recommended length. I have never had sore or bleeding fingers though.
 
I really appreciate the offers to do it for me however I do not want to rely on other people for stuff. Not that any of the offers would not do a good job. I just like the whole self sufficient part

Thank you all for some good ideas and sharing experiences
 
The other good thing about clean and shiny brass is that it's a lot easier to do a thorough visual check for irregularities which might indicate a need to toss the brass or to vary your load.
 
I bought a rebel 17 tumbler just a few days ago. Its made by extreme tumblers. This thing.... with stainless pins and some soap... hole moly...

less than four hours and I had 500 shiny better than new looking 223 cases.. I was a disbeliever but not any more.. and yes.. inside the case was as shiny as the outside. The water went in clear and came out black.. amazing job even on primer holes. easy to rinse too. I did it in a bucket of clean water.. any pins left in the brass fell/sank to the bottom of the pail and the brass went into the oven at 200F. Half hour later... done. the pins in the bucket go back into the tumbler. I will never have to buy media again as long as I live.... unless of course I lose it all somehow.. but thats unlikely.

One thing im not keen on is Extreme tumblers seemingly poor customer communitation reply schedule. I called them with a very simple, "whats in the box" question 4 days ago and still no reply. Im kinda getting short... but thats another story...
Stainless tumbling to me is the way to go.
the company I bought the machine from was okay to deal with. They were 24 hrs quick to reply to emails. and the shipping was very fast. Seems that there is a "fullfilment warehouse" in Richmond BC...
So it only took two days to get here from the time I ordered. google stainless tumbling media.

thanks for the link SilverFox.
 
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bsand said:
Yeah those need to be tumbled. Or you could put them.in a drill and turn with a scotch Brite pad.
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Really... If you don't really know what you are talking about just don't say a word... All that tarnish will come off with a reciepe that I'll share with you. 3l of boiling water 2 cups of CLR 1 cup of pine sol 2 cups of vinegar. Put your brass in a big jar, mix it all together let it sit for an hour and shake it if you want. You can let it sit overnight. Rince it with cold water only. Personally I made a tumbler and not using any ss pins and I got good results even with brass that looked like WWll era. Enjoy
 
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franktank said:
Really... If you got no clue of what you are talking about just don't say a word... All that tarnish will come off with a reciepe that I'll share with you. 3l of boiling water 2 cups of CLR 1 cup of pine sol 2 cups of vinegar. Put your brass in a big jar, mix it all together let it sit for an hour and shake if if you want. Personally I made a tumbler and not using any ss pins and I hot good results even with brass that looked like WWll era. Enjoy
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Thanks for sharing... I had my suspicions... which you may have just confirmed. I am going to try tumbling without pins next time... just brass on brass. I noticed nearly right away that the tarnish was coming off the brass once it hit the water.... I looked at it.. and went : : Hmmmmm....... Naw!!!" and threw the case back into the drink, buttoned up the lid and set her spinning...
We'll see.

All the while Im thinking about that elementary school science project where you clean a penny with vinegar and baking soda or salt... thinking "hmmmmmm" so yeah...

Got some experimenting to do.
 
Here's a photo of the tumbler I made from a free treadmill I picked up from the buy-n-sell, and pipe from a construction scrap pile. I had to pay for the caps, end roller and the stainless pins. A couple hours in the pins with dawn and lemishine would brighten that brass right up.



g'luck!
 
I was going to use a lawn tractor/mower tire... or a golf cart tire.. Just need to figger a way to seal off the beads on both sides... Put that on a couple of rollers and let er rip. never wear out.. well.. not for 40,000 miles anyway! Hahaha!!


omnivore said:
Here's a photo of the tumbler I made from a free treadmill I picked up from the buy-n-sell, and pipe from a construction scrap pile. I had to pay for the caps, end roller and the stainless pins. A couple hours in the pins with dawn and lemishine would brighten that brass right up.



g'luck!
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How long do you figure that tube will last? Will it ever wear through? Could you tumble rocks and oxide grit in there without issue?
 
franktank said:
Really... If you don't really know what you are talking about just don't say a word... All that tarnish will come off with a reciepe that I'll share with you. 3l of boiling water 2 cups of CLR 1 cup of pine sol 2 cups of vinegar. Put your brass in a big jar, mix it all together let it sit for an hour and shake it if you want. You can let it sit overnight. Rince it with cold water only. Personally I made a tumbler and not using any ss pins and I got good results even with brass that looked like WWll era. Enjoy
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Trying to save pennies by spending dimes. Your cost to clean is much much higher per batch. Right tool for the job.
 
Do you know how much cost a brand new factory made wet tumbler... It's around 300$. A used wiper motor 10$ a set of used roller blades wheels for free and I already had the hardware... And btw the reciepe I gave here works way better than the dish soap and lemme shine. I forgot to mention that I keep my solution. Don't thow it out even if it looks dirty, let it sit for a couple days and thow away the gunk on the bottom.
 
omnivore said:
Here's a photo of the tumbler I made from a free treadmill I picked up from the buy-n-sell, and pipe from a construction scrap pile. I had to pay for the caps, end roller and the stainless pins. A couple hours in the pins with dawn and lemishine would brighten that brass right up.



g'luck!
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Try my reciepe for your next batch and you'll never go back to dawn and lemme shine
 
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