I have been using a large Thumler Tumbler with stainless pins for a couple of years and have been running a bunch of loads recently to clean up the overwintered brass for my club. I have done maybe a dozen loads with the brass coming out bright and shiny as always but the last 2 loads come out not so shiny and kind of a bronzy light brown colour. Im using the standard Lemishine and Dawn mix that has always worked so well but it just stopped working. Im thinking maybe the pins have gotten dirty and have washed them till they come out clean and am running one of the poor jobs again with less brass and a bit more Dawn and Lemi to see if that fixes it. Anyone run into this problem???
Wet tumbler problem
- Thread starter bogie
- Start date
First thought is maybe your hard water conditioner is not working BUT wait you are in Vancouver, our water is pristine thanks to the multi million upgrades a while back (my Burnaby water is crystal clean).
Dawn and lemishine sparkle my brass from Sat's batch in Franklin tumbler so not water condition.
ps. bought 2lb of citric acid from amazon.ca for 10 bucks to replace lemishine when it runs out.
Dawn and lemishine sparkle my brass from Sat's batch in Franklin tumbler so not water condition.
ps. bought 2lb of citric acid from amazon.ca for 10 bucks to replace lemishine when it runs out.
my first few batches with lemishine and a thumler turned out bronzy as well. I suspect you may not need as much lemishine, too much can cause discolouration. Maybe some on the dirt from the overwintered cases is impacting the amount you need. I've got the amount of lemishine down to about an 8th of a teaspoon and works perfect, shiny brass with no discolouration. When I was using half a teaspoon, there would be discolouration on a few of the cases.
Something else you could try; I switched from Dawn dish detergent to the liquid clothes washer detergent - same amount, just a squirt. The clothes washer detergent cleans the brass in half the time so maybe it's a better cleaner particularly for the weathered brass surfaces.
I thoroughly cleaned the stainless pins till the water ran clear. Put the stuff back in and came out shiny as new. With a cap of Dawn and half a teaspoon of Lemi if I pulled the primers you would not know it was not new brass. And it cleans inside too. The brass i cleaned was so dirty the pins just kept the dirt in I guess. Have to keep an eye on that. That said I did maybe 12 loads so far in a few days. Live and learnl Its a 3000 member club and we had the worst winter in 20yrs so it got left out in the elements for a long time. Badly stained and rust marks too. It all came off. Seems Like I have solved the problem. Thanks for the input.
- Location
- West Quebec
Check the Tumbler website for the mix solution and ratios
I cleaned the pins with a capful of Dawn and warm water a couple of times. I must say I have cleaned a LOT of VERY dirty brass in the last few days so no surprise. I ran another batch of the stuff that didnt clean up after I washed out the pins and its all shiny and new agian. I imagine there are lots of things that would clean the pins and I have some Simple Green which I may try later on. That said the Dawn works just fine and I have lots of it. Suggest you check online for Dawn recipes. Its crazy what you can do with this stuff. From bug killer to weed killer and so much more. My wife has decided that its much better for cleaning dishes than what she has been using as well so I have to hide my stash.
+1 on too much Lemishine. I also had a similar problem after tumbling resized .223 cases that I'd lubricated with lanolin. They came out looking really dull but cleaned up a bit with a rinse in paint thinner. They still looked duller than my normal results though.
Steel cases mixed into the batch can do this. Also rust deposited onto the brass cases from sitting in a wet range bucket.
I am now doing a pre-wash for our club's "winterized" brass retrieved from the field and wet buckets...
Deprime if possible. Tumble using very warm water with a tablespoon of Dawn, NO pins, for 15 to 20 minutes. Waste water will be filthy and will remove most of the grass and other debris.
Second time, tumble 60 to 90 minutes with S/S pins, very warm water, a dribble of Dawn and 2 or 3 tablespoons of Citric Acid (Citric Acid is about $12 for 5 pounds at you local Bulk Food store).
Empty and save the used solution for the next batch.
Immediately rinse the brass twice in cold water - brass will be "near white". Spin out the pins and excess water, towel dry and then "bake" on a cookie sheet in an oven on lowest setting for 20 to 40 minutes.
Cool the brass and bag asap.
Brass will have slight golden colour when you're done - handle with gloves to avoid tarnishing...
Footnote: I am using a larger capacity tumbler (Frankford Arsenal) so if yours is smaller, use less Citric Acid.
I am now doing a pre-wash for our club's "winterized" brass retrieved from the field and wet buckets...
Deprime if possible. Tumble using very warm water with a tablespoon of Dawn, NO pins, for 15 to 20 minutes. Waste water will be filthy and will remove most of the grass and other debris.
Second time, tumble 60 to 90 minutes with S/S pins, very warm water, a dribble of Dawn and 2 or 3 tablespoons of Citric Acid (Citric Acid is about $12 for 5 pounds at you local Bulk Food store).
Empty and save the used solution for the next batch.
Immediately rinse the brass twice in cold water - brass will be "near white". Spin out the pins and excess water, towel dry and then "bake" on a cookie sheet in an oven on lowest setting for 20 to 40 minutes.
Cool the brass and bag asap.
Brass will have slight golden colour when you're done - handle with gloves to avoid tarnishing...
Footnote: I am using a larger capacity tumbler (Frankford Arsenal) so if yours is smaller, use less Citric Acid.
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The dish washing soap holds the dirt in suspension and overly dirty cases can overload the soap. The Instructions tell you at the end of the tumbling the water should still be sudsy.
When you overload the soap the cleaning stops and the dirt will cling to what is being washed. Too much soap will never hurt your cases "BUT" too little and your cases will stay dirty.
When you overload the soap the cleaning stops and the dirt will cling to what is being washed. Too much soap will never hurt your cases "BUT" too little and your cases will stay dirty.
- Location
- West Quebec
+1 you can use Tide HE that cleans better with less sudsing
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FWIW I have solved my problem. I rewashed the brass with a half tsp of Lemishine and a capful of Dawn after I washed the stainless pins. This after running at least 10 loads of wintered brass. Second wash was the cure and its back to doing a perfect job. I use an older dehydrator to dry the brass as my wife might object to me using the oven.... I suppose it would be a good idea to just run a pin wash cycle after a bunch of loads to clean them too. Makes sense. I have never had so much nasty wintered brass to deal with. Thanks for all the input.
I did this for the first time last week. After I wet tumble, I pour out the dirty water and rinse the cases/pins in the tumbler with cold water a couple times. Then I fill the tumbler with fresh water and tumble for 10 minutes. Separate as usual.
The pins come out cleaner and ready to use for next run.
Glad you sorted out the lemishine issue. 1/2tsp at most per run.
