- Location
- West Quebec
Ultrasonic vs Tumbler/Vibrator?
- Thread starter surfclod
- Start date
I have all 3, and now for all my new brass that I use for competition it only gets ultrasonic, SS pins were definitely harder on it over time, and the danger of the occasional stuck pin, gotta watch out, its quick though. I'll still use it for the less fussy stuff.
Just because you have no input, don't add your useless 2 cents
Mystic Precision
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Summerland, BC
There is no perfect method.. all have their pros and cons and it is up to the end user to decide what works best for them.
Pick your poison and have at it... as time and experience goes on, decide if the process continues to work for you.
And likely, there will be another method to help improve this process in the future... things rarely stay the same in this sport.
Enjoy
Jerry
Necroman99
CGN Regular
- Location
- Whitby Ontario
I've done ssp and ultrasonic and think you need both...sometimes you just HAVE to load dirty brass in the next 40 min...10 min in the ultra sonic, 5 min in the oven...giver.
but ssp makes things shinier...when you have 4h.
but ssp makes things shinier...when you have 4h.
Never done ultrasonic but walnut gets dulled over time so you either have to replace media all the time or run it for 3x the time for clean. Also the primer pockets dont get as clean. Then the dust...ugh.
Stainless pin tumbling I adore. So clean so fast. 1 hr and done, dust free. Better results with pockets and Depending on time I either let the brass sit out a day to dry completely or I toss it into the convectio oven on the lowest seting and it is 100% dry in 20 mins.
I also have NONE of the brass damage that some have reported. But then again i cant seem to find the match bullets with meplats as bad as those in the photos for the guys selling pointing dies or meplat trimmers. I think the evidence being shown are not indicative of the real state of affairs but ymmv.
Stainless pin tumbling I adore. So clean so fast. 1 hr and done, dust free. Better results with pockets and Depending on time I either let the brass sit out a day to dry completely or I toss it into the convectio oven on the lowest seting and it is 100% dry in 20 mins.
I also have NONE of the brass damage that some have reported. But then again i cant seem to find the match bullets with meplats as bad as those in the photos for the guys selling pointing dies or meplat trimmers. I think the evidence being shown are not indicative of the real state of affairs but ymmv.
GunsNotPuns
CGN frequent flyer
Ultrasonic for me. My only concern is relatively clean primer pockets and insides. Shiny brass holds no interest.
BlackSheepBrass
Regular
- Location
- Cobourg, Ontario
Now that this thread is no longer in Zombie mode and active again, I will chime in constructively. If you click on the hyperlinks it will display the manufacturer's page on the equipment I use.
I have somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000 tied up with case and equipment cleaning processes. I have a heavy duty commercial ultrasonic tank with 5-gallon capacity. I tried it for brass a couple of times, and that was about it, it didn't achieve the result I required for resale of brass. I use it primarily for degreasing parts during equipment tear-downs and cleaning pistols / carbines / shotgun parts. It does such a good job in all reality it is a problem, as unless I get the part rinsed dried and oiled within a couple of hours then rust begins to form.
For bulk cleaning of brass I use a commercial deburring machine with ceramic media and a burnishing compound. The drawback for ceramic is that I have as much tied up in different types of media than the machine cost. This is because different types of media interact differently with different brass shapes and you need to balance ease and efficiency of cleaning vs separation of media from the brass.
For post processing polish I use a very fine corn with some proprietary polishing compounds. That is just with a concrete mixer.
I have somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000 tied up with case and equipment cleaning processes. I have a heavy duty commercial ultrasonic tank with 5-gallon capacity. I tried it for brass a couple of times, and that was about it, it didn't achieve the result I required for resale of brass. I use it primarily for degreasing parts during equipment tear-downs and cleaning pistols / carbines / shotgun parts. It does such a good job in all reality it is a problem, as unless I get the part rinsed dried and oiled within a couple of hours then rust begins to form.
For bulk cleaning of brass I use a commercial deburring machine with ceramic media and a burnishing compound. The drawback for ceramic is that I have as much tied up in different types of media than the machine cost. This is because different types of media interact differently with different brass shapes and you need to balance ease and efficiency of cleaning vs separation of media from the brass.
For post processing polish I use a very fine corn with some proprietary polishing compounds. That is just with a concrete mixer.
I have the Vibratory and the tumbler. I mostly use a RCBS Tumbler.
The tumbler has all the advantages and is the most versatile, I use stainless pins, RCBS wet cleaning media and dry polishing media if I choose.
BB
The tumbler has all the advantages and is the most versatile, I use stainless pins, RCBS wet cleaning media and dry polishing media if I choose.
BB
Just to add my 2c, and to support the wet tumblers, I've started giving the wet brass out of the tumbler a rinse (shake it up in a sealed container) with a splash of alcohol, either methyl hydrate or isopropyl, drain and spread out to dry. Dries really quickly and comes out perfectly shiny, although I know that shiny's not everybody's 'thing'.
- Location
- West Quebec
+1 Agreed
