I use a rotary tumbler with steel pins, hot water, a squirt of Dawn dish soap and a 1/2 teaspoon of Lemi shine to do initial clean of deprimed cases for 3 hours. Primer pockets are totally clean. Then after resizing I remove lube with a dry vibratory tumbler, 20/40 corn cob media a cap full of mineral spirits and NuFinish car polish for 1 hour. That particular size of media will not plug up flash holes.
Rotary tumbler vs vibratory
- Thread starter SuperCub
- Start date
I have two of the Lymans (have to replace the motor on the 2400, just haven't got around to it yet) and a princess auto for small jobs. Been looking at a rotary wet just to try. But honestly, my only complaint from the dry tumblers is picking the media out of the flash holes. - dan
Both have pluses and negatives, for their use.
Vibratory rounds almost ready to use right out of the unit, but flash holes must be checked prior to priming, Length of time in the machine ,and media replacement.
Wet, cleans to like new appearance. It takes an extra step to dry, and ensure no pins left in case. In most wet tumblers you can do more in one batch.
It's all up to the user! Do you need just a few or alot, I need alot so wet it is
Vibratory rounds almost ready to use right out of the unit, but flash holes must be checked prior to priming, Length of time in the machine ,and media replacement.
Wet, cleans to like new appearance. It takes an extra step to dry, and ensure no pins left in case. In most wet tumblers you can do more in one batch.
It's all up to the user! Do you need just a few or alot, I need alot so wet it is
Um…no. Sorry. But…it’s an easy thing to make. The “frame” on this is a bit heavy duty. I originally was going to use 6” ABS pipe for the vessel. But it needed baffles inside. The round tube didn’t tumble the cases. So I used the drums from my old Extreme unit. The motor is a pretty universal 3/4hp that’s tapped for 110v. All the bearings are greasable.
Its unfortunate that most things arent made that way today. I couldnt guess how many hours that machine ran with that eccentric lead weigh spinning around and around, The little motor bolts finally broke and I repaired it, then the lead weigh sheared from the shaft that spun it and I repaired that, finally the electric motor bit the dust so I reluctantly decided that IT OWNED ME NOTHING. The wet tumbling does an awesome job.
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Like dry media getting stuck in the flash holes, SS pins will do the same. As far as drying I just do a final rinse in boiling water and set them on a towel after straining and they dry very quickly. As far as the peening goes, most really conscious accuracy nuts will anneal their brass for consistent neck tension. Thats what I heard anyways? hehe
Thunderhog
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What a great design and build 6MT!....My “project” wet tumbler is very versatile. One or two drums, up to 30# of brass. My Lyman vibratory…
Just collects dust under my bench.
Why anyone would use those dusty old tumblers is always a puzzler for me. My wife bought me the Thumler's Tumbler approximately 13 years ago now. Never looked back, sold my dusty old unit and recouped some cost.
The water, some lemon-shine, dawn liquid, and steel pins, and one is good to go.
I chuckle about the fellow who stated it was more time consuming by having to remove the spent primers. How else would one reload a live round without first removing the old primer? It has to be completed at some point of the reloading process......
Wet tumbling absolutely gets my vote.
