Tumbling questions

nickorette

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Well I think it's about time that I break out the tumbler I got in the summer. I got a commercial rock tumbler -rolling drum type.

The only thing is that I've never done any tumbling before. I picked up some Nu-finish (I heard it was good for shiny brass), and I'll be picking up some pet store walnut stuff for the media.

I'm just not sure how much brass I should put in (1/4 full, 1/2 full?) and than how much walnut media to put in.

P.S. I just realized that there was a Nu-finish liquid... I picked up the paste by accident. Is the paste still ok?
 
I fill my drums about half full of media. Then put in cases until the drum is 3/4 full or a bit better. Shake the drum once in awhile when putting in the cases. It gets them down in the media. Keep track of how many you put in and that will give you a reference for next time. The bigger the cases the less you can put in. The Nu-finish paste works okay but it is a bit messier than liquid. Just my opinion.
 
i fill my vibratory tumbler with brass until there starts to be alot of brass on top not be constantly circulated through the media....not sure on a rolling drum tumbler tho....
 
I was able to tumble over the weekend. I was very impressed with how effective the rotary tubmler worked. I did about 1200 pieces of .223 in around 6 hours. They all came out with a nice shiny finish.

I took the advice off the board and went to a pet store and found some walnut bedding (25lbs for 25 bucks) and got some Nu Finish liquid at Can. tire.
 
I was never able to get Nu Finish to work very well at all. I believe it is designed to fill tiny "scratches" in paint rather than buff them out. Maybe it works well on clean cases.

I use walnut with the Lyman Turbo Brite Case Polish additive, (not the regenerator) or Dillon Polish. The Lyman stuff works well and is much cheaper than the Dillon, about $14 for 20oz at LeBaron.
 
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"...with wheat as a media..." Too soft. It'll likely break up into flour. Go buy a bag of crushed walnut shells or corn cobs in a pet supply shop. It's sold as small pet bedding. A great big bag will cost less than $20. No polish is required.
Lyman says, "A good rule of thumb for best results is to use media at 60% by volume to cases (40% by volume)."
 
I took the advice off the board and went to a pet store and found some walnut bedding (25lbs for 25 bucks) and got some Nu Finish liquid at Can. tire.

You can get 50lb bags of crushed walnut blasting media from an industrial sand blasting supply shop for about $20 a bag
 
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