Tumbling with walnut shells.

I, personally, will never go to a "Wet" cleaning method.
I just do not need my brass to be mirror bright, inside and out.
The mixture of corncob and walnut works like a charm.
Does all I need it to do.
For those who must have inside shiny brass, go for the SS media!
Eagleye.
 
667 said:
Or... For $100 build one yourself.:)

I can do 600-700 .223 cases in one go.
Click to expand...


My dad is in Florida and after talking to him he ordered this for us.
Might get him to send it back. lol

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/stm-complete-package.html



I am going to make one of these up at work tomorrow if I have time.
Any idea what HP and RPM the motor should be??


wcluhj.jpg
 
For walnut I add a polish such as Lyman Turbo Brite (its for untreated media) Dillon Polish or whatever is cheap. Didn't have any success with Nufinish.

I also wet tumble with SS pins, but not every time. Handgun brass generally only gets dry tumbled.
 
I also use crushed walnut. But I like the coarse (large particles) grade. Add a couple swirls of Dillon or Lyman brass polish and tumble for a couple hours.

The stainless steel media has me curious. How is it that it can polish the inside while the other media cannot?
 
speedjunkiesracing said:
My dad is in Florida and after talking to him he ordered this for us.
Might get him to send it back. lol

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/stm-complete-package.html



I am going to make one of these up at work tomorrow if I have time.
Any idea what HP and RPM the motor should be??


wcluhj.jpg
Click to expand...

That is going to be my next version of tumbler. I have made 8 now so far for local club members and friends and I was also thinking of mounting the motor underneath to save room. The pictured version has the shafts way to far apart and you would need a 12" drum just to sit on the shafts. He has at least 3/4" if not 1" shafts so he must have an extremely heavy drum and if you notice he also has the second shaft driven with pulley and belt which leads me to believe the drum must be huge to need the second shaft driven also.

Here is a post of my original design with the math to work out the pulley sizes. http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=714088 .
Not sure why the moderators have not stickied the post, I must answer the same questions at least 3 times a week on how to make your own tumbler.


As far as motor goes anything 1/4hp and up will do. The Thumblers 15 pound tumbler I think has a 1/30hp motor so 1/4hp is more than enough. Most motors are 1725-1750 rpm's and with the post mentioned above you can figure out the pulley sizes with the speed of the motor to obtain the correct tumbler barrel rpm's.
 
I just use a regular vibratory tumbler with corn cob media from a pet store. While the tumbler is running I ad bits of used cut up dryer sheets and a cap full of Brasso. I put the tumbler on for 8 - 10 hours and it comes out looking great. The insides of the cases are not as clean as with the stainless pin method, but that isn't necessary for my purposes.

I wonder if you get the same case life with the stainless pins? I wonder if it doesn't reduce the number of times that a case can be loaded?
 
oneskilledshooter said:
I just use a regular vibratory tumbler with corn cob media from a pet store. While the tumbler is running I ad bits of used cut up dryer sheets and a cap full of Brasso. I put the tumbler on for 8 - 10 hours and it comes out looking great. The insides of the cases are not as clean as with the stainless pin method, but that isn't necessary for my purposes.

I wonder if you get the same case life with the stainless pins? I wonder if it doesn't reduce the number of times that a case can be loaded?
Click to expand...

Nope, doesn't hurt the case life. It just eats up some time drying after tumbling. Kinda like cutting up dryer sheets.......
 
When I went for a tumbler, just for the off chance of running into the odd batch of brass that may require a more serious effort, I settled on an RCBS Sidewinder.

RCBSSidewinder.jpg


RCBSmediaseparator.jpg


For general cleaning and polishing, I can go with the crushed walnut shell media. For those more difficult requirements, I have the option available to go with a chemical cleaning solution, although to date, I havent had to, yet.

For some of the slightly more difficult cleaning and polishing needs, adding a few spoonfuls of Brasso to the walnut shell media seems to work quite well. After running the batch of brass through this mix, I'll run the brass through a clean batch of walnut shell media, with a polish added.

The stainless media sounds interesting. I'll have to give it a try one day.
 
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Bag of walnut at princess auto wasn't marked for grit size. Computer at cash said 18-40 grit(too fine for me, too dusty). I bought a 50 pound bag of 10-20 grit at $1 lb., at a cement products, lanscaping dealer, works fine. Lizard litter may also be ok, but compare the grit size. Don't like lyman, rcbs gouge prices.
 
Rooky said:
Where did you find the pipe and fittings? That's the only thing left i need to get.
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'Got 'em at a place called Marks Plumbing Supply in Burlington, but I'm sure any large supply house carries the pipe you nee.


Just get the 6" fittings though... I have about 10ft of pipe left over.
I'll cut you a piece... Just let me know how long you want it.
 
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