Cleaning Tumbling Media, how I did it, I'm cheap

[powerman]

I thought I’d pass this along.
I cleaned my tumbling media, it was getting dirty and the cases were not coming clean, were not bright and shiny and looked a little dull.
I just put two orders into midway and forgot tumbling media and since shipping is so much $$ I figured I would try to clean it.
It worked fantastic and only cost you $3 for the screen bag.

Here’s what you need.

Water, a 5 gallon bucket, a 5 gallon paint strainer “a screen bag”, a little cleaner and drying pan/box.

Fill the bucket with water and cleaner, I used Zepp (TSP would work).
Put media in the paint strainer and tie close.
Put in the bucket like a giant Tea Bag.
Let soak and once in a while swish it around. (I let one batch go over night with no problem).
My water turned green with a little gray (not sure from brass oxide or the walnut media itself, probably both).
I dumped the water and re-filled again. At this point you can see little black specs from the powder.
I kept flushing until clear.
I put it on cookie sheets and let it dry in the sun on my hot deck.
Stuff looks brand new.

 

[drgrant]

I guess if one is eternally cheap and has gobs of time to spend cleaning media it makes sense, but you can get huge bags of media from Beede or one of those places for relatively short money.

-Mike

 

[DukeInFlorida]

And, you poured the water.... WHERE?????

I'd just buy new, and forgetaboutit

 

[swampy]

Are you cooking on that cookie sheet now?

If you want to really be frugal you can save all your spent corncobs and let em dry in the sun and grind them up into free media.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Dirty media is loaded with lead from primer residue. It's probably not a good idea to play with it.

 

[IPSC_DRL]

Pet stores like "pet smart" sell ground walnut hull as animal bedding pretty cheap.

 

[Knob Creek]

I get ground walnut media by the 20 lb bag from my local feed store.

 

[powerman]

i just want to see if it would work.

ok lets talk hazardous material, the primers do have lead tri-nitro-resorcinate, i would think much more would be in the air at the range or on the side of your cases when you handle them. also those that clean the primer pockets even have more to worry about. so wash your hands.
on dumping the waste i don't think an issue, so much lead in the back stop at the range. if i put in the trash it gets burnt at an incinerator. the powder res should be good for the grass.

when washing you don't have to touch the material.

on cost and time. no real trouble probly 15 total minutes of actual time so it is actual cost effective, everybody knows you don't save money on reloading. i did save time not going to store.

 

[Gammon]

Beede in Lowell (978-452-8906) sells 50 lb bags of corn cob grit for $25. Save your time and health, use this stuff until it loses its cleaning power (I go about ten runs through the tumbler) and then dump it. Nu Finish auto polish or brass polish produces a great shine. Just don't use the media long enough for it to build up a dangerous concentratiuon of lead

 

[mac1911]

Go to the pet stores I try to buy the media thats in a torn bag, they generally sell it really cheap when the bags are damaged. I got 2 large bage for 5 bucks because they had been torn open.

 

[JimB]

grainger sells large bags, i think 60lbs for reasonable $$$

 

[Ziptar]

If I cleaned and reused my media then what would I sprinkle on my ice cream?

Doesn't get any cheaper or raiser than this: http://www.drillspot.com/products/521055/econoline_526040g-40_40_lbs_blast_media

Well, ok the Beede stuff is cheaper but this is to your door.

 

[Sprocket]

And for guys on the North Shore that do not want to drive to Lowell, there's Clint Sales in Beverly (978) 927-3010 - corn cob & walnut shells - cash and carry. Be sure to mention NES.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

does media stop cleaning well after some point?
i see great results from my media and it's old.

is it more of an issue of keeping the massive amounts of lead exposure to a minimum?

 

[DukeInFlorida]

The media material starts breaking down, and I start seeing a LOT of dust in the mix. I keep the airborne dust down by keeping the nuFinish and turpentine going, but the dust is still in there. The time to change it is when it's very nasty. I always keep some nasty stuff on hand for when I end up with some mud caked or sand covered brass. I give it a fast (1/2 hour) tumble in the old nasty stuff to knock off the garbage (why knock it off into new media?), and then into clean media it (the brass) goes.

 

[Bendad97]

I'm cheap as a bastard, but not that cheap. Cancer from exposure to lead isn't cheap either.

 

[IPSC_DRL]

Beede in Lowell (978-452-8906) sells 50 lb bags of corn cob grit for $25.

Well, they used to.


We are closing our doors! Since 1929 Louis O Beede &
Sons Inc has been proud to serve in the sawdust
industry. However, times have change and we no
longer can. We wish to thank all of our customers and
wish you the best in the future.

 

[Gammon]

Well, they used to.

We are closing our doors! Since 1929 Louis O Beede &
Sons Inc has been proud to serve in the sawdust
industry. However, times have change and we no
longer can. We wish to thank all of our customers and
wish you the best in the future.

Thanks for the warning. My next trip to Lowell would have been a complete failure. Now I have to find another source.

 

[eisenhow]

Well, they used to.


We are closing our doors! Since 1929 Louis O Beede &
Sons Inc has been proud to serve in the sawdust
industry. However, times have change and we no
longer can. We wish to thank all of our customers and
wish you the best in the future.

Thanks for the heads up. I've been meaning to get over there for quite some time.

Thanks for the warning. My next trip to Lowell would have been a complete failure. Now I have to find another source.

See below:

Doesn't get any cheaper or raiser than this: http://www.drillspot.com/products/521055/econoline_526040g-40_40_lbs_blast_media

I finally broke down and placed an order 5 minutes ago.

 

[Bendad97]

Another business closes. Life in Obama's America goes on...

 

[F2blica]

I get mine at Grainger

 

[Knuckle Dragger]

Your efforts at frugality are right up there with

• rinsing out and reusing coffee filters and
• separating two-ply toilet paper

I'll pass

 

[TBalls]

Your efforts at frugality are right up there with

• rinsing out and reusing coffee filters and
• separating two-ply toilet paper

Just don't mix them up..........................rinsing out and reusing toilet paper?

 

[Bob J]

Crap! Really sorry to hear this..... Another great business bites the dust.....[sad2]

Well, they used to.


We are closing our doors! Since 1929 Louis O Beede &
Sons Inc has been proud to serve in the sawdust
industry. However, times have change and we no
longer can. We wish to thank all of our customers and
wish you the best in the future.

 

[DukeInFlorida]

Yea, when I was in high school , I worked at an auto parts store in Lowell, and we sold their bags of oil sweep stuff to the garages. I remember having to drive the company truck to pick up there. That was back in the 60's. They had been around a long time at that point.

Well, they used to.


We are closing our doors! Since 1929 Louis O Beede &
Sons Inc has been proud to serve in the sawdust
industry. However, times have change and we no
longer can. We wish to thank all of our customers and
wish you the best in the future.

Crap! Really sorry to hear this..... Another great business bites the dust.....[sad2]

 

[EddieCoyle]

That sucks. I'm going to try to find another source for the Grit-o-cob stuff. It works a lot better (and is less dusty) than the generic stuff from Drillspot.

 

[Patriot]

That sucks. I'm going to try to find another source for the Grit-o-cob stuff. It works a lot better (and is less dusty) than the generic stuff from Drillspot.

I got this location off the Grit-o-Cobs site. Don't know anything about them:

http://www.clintsales.com/polish.htm

You don't happen to remember which numbers were on the bag, do you?

ETA: The one I bought was the Andersons Grit'-O'Cobbs 1014. It's a medium coarse grit and it works
for me from .32 caliber on up for pistol and from .223 on up for rifle.

 

[Sprocket]

Psst - check post #13...

Go for the smaller size grits - 14/20 or 20/40
I'm using 14/20 right now, it doesn't clog the cases (9mm) but if I tried polishing rifle brass that would be a different story - the 20/40 would be better I think.

They also have walnut but I forget what sizes - they don't really sell a lot to reloaders/gun guys but she sees the need and may have questions as to what sizes we prefer. Work with her and she'll work with you.

 

[TonyT]

Cheap and foolish. All the lead accumulates in the media. If you would not use lead paint why would you skimp on your health by using follish practices. You can purchase new corncob or ground waklnut from any pet supply store in 40 to 50 lb bags for a very reasonable price. I discard my medium once it starts getting a tinge iof grey.

 

[dcmdon]

I was actually thinking of cleaning the my media. Then I found 40 lbs of media for $23.95 with shipping and it no longer made sense.