Wet tumbling

Any yuns set up to do it?
What all is needed?
Better yet anybody around east central al wanna do 30 pieces for me?
I acquired some brass that needs a lilore than corn cob seems wet is the ticket to clean it back up

I bought a setup but haven’t used it. It’s a thumblers tumbler I think the machine name is. And it has stainless steel pins in it. And you add this cleaner called lemi-shine. And just let it spin and agitate I was told. Then dry them.

I have a Franklin Arsenal with ss pins. Works good. They have a smaller version now that I would get if buying now.

I have the frankfort aresenal one also. Works great. I actually have 2 of them, but only use one. They will clean up any brass. I also use straight citric acid from work (granular) and it doesn't take much or long to make brass look new. If your ever up my way I would be happy to run them thru for you. I decap them then run them so the primer pockets get clean also.


Jason

Frankford arsenal sells a wet tumbler with the pins included and is less expensive than a Thumlers.

Use a squirt of Dawn and a teaspoon of Lemishine. Cleans em inside and out like new.

What he said

Don't get a HF one mine lasted 2 tumbles and shat the bed

FYI lemishine is citric acid. Not sure if it’s as pure as what I am using, or better? Mines cheap tho. But yes. That works great, I don’t use dawn as much as I used to as it reacts with my hornady case lube and can be a bear to get off. But if you don’t use hornady one shot lube your fine.
Jason

I use hornady one shot. I use dawn and lemishine too and I’ve never had any issues

Hmmm, I wonder if its the citric I am using is too strong then? It doesnt always do it, but when it does its like a black greasy substance that I have to clean with mean green to get off. Once the black is off, they are clean and polished underneath. Strange.

Jason

I’ve never ever had anything of that sorts happen. And I clean a lot.

I've got the harbor freight dual and run steel chips from Southern Shine media ,they come out great.

I bet I am putting too much citric in there, or too much dawn? Who knows, I haven't cleaned much since I moved (3 years ago). When I was living in Gardendale I had nothing better to do than run brass, so I did. I have a bucket or more of ready to load stuff in about every caliber. May do some 9mm one day soon tho, and maybe some 223 so i will pay attention to how much I put it in there.


Jason

Same here.

Person I know who sells brass commercially recommended lemishine. I'm sold and won't go back. It cleans brass, or nickel, noticeably better than the cleaning solution that came with my FA tumbler. Just need to remember not to mix brass and nickel together when tumbling else the nickel will be off color. Also reduce the tumble time when cleaning nickel.

I've had the same exact thing happen to me several times that you have described and haven't figured out what I'm doing wrong yet. It leaves a black oily film as you described and the only way to get it off is to clean each one lne at the time or tumble them again after dumping the dirty water and washing with clean water. I am using a thumblers tumbler with the dawn and lemishine mixture.

I rinse the brass with hot water about 5 times after tumbling.

For you guys that are wet tumbling, how are you drying your brass? Just letting it sit or something else?

I put a towel on the counter and just spread the brass out on it and let them sit for a day or 2. If you dont have that kind of time to wait I've read where some put them in the oven.

I do most of my tumbling in the summer time on a nice sunny day. Do a quick rinse in distilled water, spread out on window screen material, and simply set them on my pavement. You'd be surprised how quick the brass heats up and dries out on a 80+ degree day sitting in the sun. If you go to wallyworld, there are sliding window screens that work like a champ. They're not expensive, can be used as a strainer to filter out the stainless steel pins when draining the tumbler, then used for drying too.

During the summer I put mine in a colander and set them on the air conditioner unit outside and let the sun and wind do it. During the winter I put them in a metal colander and put them on the wood stove. Works well for me.

Jason

After tumbling and rinsing, I separate the pins in a media separator. Then put them into reloading blocks a use a hair dryer on high to dry them.




Shiny clean inside and out.

I put my brass in a pillow case and set on shelf in clothes dryer

Placing brass in a pan in the oven at 150-200°F for 20 - 30 mins works great for drying if you're short on time.

I’ve heard of guys using an old food dehydrator to dry their brass also. If a guy found an old one at a garage sale it might be worth a try.

Mine goes into a pillowcase. I grab the ends and lift each end so brass tumbles to other end back an forth about 20 times. Than just pour out on a towel to finish drying overnight.

The "brass dryers" are nothing but a dehydrator with different stickers on it

I just spread them out on a towel in the sun.

Hmm I use the HF double rock tumbler and a pvc drum i made. Its done hundreds of batches.

I dry mine with a dehydrator - works like a charm.