question for frankfort wet tumbler owners

It works really well, but mine I need to tighten the caps down hard otherwise it does leak. I am always amazed at how clean they come out me but on the flip side, I find it much more work then vibrating tumbling.
 
Water. Lemishine. Dishsoap. Done.

I snugged down one cap hard so as not to leak but only ever open it from the other side anyways.
 
Got mine last week and cleaned a batch of 30-06
Brass was very clean, even primer pockets.

The cleaning solution sample is good for only one cycle, now I'll try the lemishine mix.
Separating brass and pins is a pia, I'm planning to get a media separator and see if makes it easier.

Btw, is it regular dish soap or dish washer soap (machine)?
 
I have a media seperator, and a magnet, but really, I pretty much just stand the drum on it's end and dig out the brass by hand. Hand gets wet, but not much more of a PITA than vibratory tumbling/media, but definitely cleaner results.
 
I have a media seperator, and a magnet, but really, I pretty much just stand the drum on it's end and dig out the brass by hand. Hand gets wet, but not much more of a PITA than vibratory tumbling/media, but definitely cleaner results.

That's all I do, but I dump out as many pins as I can using the supplied strainers. Then refill with water and remove by hand neck down so pins fall out. Now on sunny days quick dry with towel and in the sun they go. 8 hrs usually enough. Winter after towel they go into oven at 200 for 20-30 min.
 
I went to this system to avoid the dust from vibratory tumblers.

For regular use I just use hot water & a few drops of dawn dish soap.
Tumble for an hour, rinse, drain, put in oven at 150 F. for an hour to dry & done.
Does a better job then a vibratory tumbler & no dust.

I only use the soap, pins & Lemi Shine clean for badly tarnished brass, as separating the pins from the brass is a bit of a pain.
 
If you have a plastic dish washing pan (like you would use camping) and a cheap colander, separating the pins from the brass is easy.

After rinsing once with your supplied strainer, pour the pins and brass into the colander which is sitting in the dish pan full of water. Shake it like a gold panner under water and the pins fall out. My climate is very dry, so I dump the colander contents onto a cardboard and let sit overnight. Next day brush the magnet over the brass and pick up the very few pins that got stuck.

Yes, spend the money on a magnet. It will make picking up lost pins a very much nicer task.
 
Turtle wax because it's cheap, and you can still find the old carnuba wax version. Car wash is designed to remove carbon, plus a thin film of wax helps in the dies a little and keeps the brass shiny.
 
I decap first, then add my warm water, lemishine, and American Dawn liquid dish soap along with my pins and brass and let it run. Usually an hour or two works great. Drain most of the dirty water, add some fresh water, run a few more minutes, then strain out into a bucket. Use a magnet to remove the pins, towel dry, then either sunshine, dehydrator, or low oven to dry. Works fantastic, so much cleaner than vibratory tumbler plus the primer pockets and the inside of the brass gets super clean.
One thing I heard was that when new, run your pins by themselves to knock off any sharp edges, not sure it makes any difference but I did it anyway.
 
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