Wet tumbler question

[BTSDOG]

Hi, i just finished this wet tumbler setup. I am tumbling 10 lbs. of shit dirty mixed brass as a test base. I've got 12 lbs. of pins in 2 1/2 gals. Of water with 1 heaping tsp.of lemishine and a squirt of palmolive dish soap....The question i have is, how long should i tumble it ?? It's clocking out at 5,580 RPH. So far its been going for 3 hrs. Any input ??

Thanks
Oops my bad... Its running at 2322 RPH if that makes a difference....

 

[RichLec]

The only way to find out is to crack it open and check!!

 

[Chris]

Extra style points for Patriots branded buckets!

Telepathically uploaded via Google implants.

 

[Ferreira's Firearms]

I found 3-4 hours does the trick. However sometimes I would have to dump out the dirty water quick flush with clean water. Then refill with clean water and more soap. And then tumble for another 30 min or so. I found this more so with the larger batches.


Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[EddieCoyle]

About 1/10th the time you'll spend pulling the 9mms out of the .40s, and the .40s out of the .45s.

 

[sieveboy]

I usually get best results at four hours for a big batch.

Nice setup - looks like your frame is big enough to use a shorter primary belt, move the primary closer to the motor, add an extra set of rollers using 1:1 drive off the primary and get two tubes rolling!

 

[BTSDOG]

Tumbled 3 hrs. Had to shut off and leave for an hour, then ran it 3 more.....the results below.......

Before

After....

 

[JackO]

Nice setup and good results. Congratulations on building a good wet tumbler!

What did you put over the white plastic bearing surfaces (black tape?) ?

 

[wolo]

Nice.. go Pats!

I notice you didn't deprime before tumbling. Let us know if you find any pins stuck in the flash holes, and be on the lookout for them as you are sizing/depriming. I've never tried it that way.. I've always removed primers before wet tumbling.

I've never tumbled more than 3 hours.. usually 2 or so is plenty to get spotless shiny brass. I did find some of that Lemi-shine stuff but haven't tried it yet. Using just under a gallon of water, a squirt of Dawn, and about a cup or so of cleaning strength vinegar that I'm trying to get rid of.

 

[BTSDOG]

Nice setup and good results. Congratulations on building a good wet tumbler!

What did you put over the white plastic bearing surfaces (black tape?) ?

I found some peel and stick anti-slip stair tread at lowes...works great..

 

[BTSDOG]

Nice.. go Pats!

I notice you didn't deprime before tumbling. Let us know if you find any pins stuck in the flash holes, and be on the lookout for them as you are sizing/depriming. I've never tried it that way.. I've always removed primers before wet tumbling.

I've never tumbled more than 3 hours.. usually 2 or so is plenty to get spotless shiny brass. I did find some of that Lemi-shine stuff but haven't tried it yet. Using just under a gallon of water, a squirt of Dawn, and about a cup or so of cleaning strength vinegar that I'm trying to get rid of.

No need to worry about the unprimed brass..this was just a batch of 40 year old mixed dirty brass that i used as a test base to see how well the tumbler worked. There is nothing in this bunch that im gonna reload.. The stuff im going to clean will be decapped and segregated by caliber so i wont be picking smaller cases out of larger ones....

 

[BTSDOG]

About 1/10th the time you'll spend pulling the 9mms out of the .40s, and the .40s out of the .45s.

No need to worry. All my cases will be segregated by caliber so as to avoid that needless task....

 

[BTSDOG]

Ok, heres the whole project start to finish, pics only. I think everyone here can figure it out.... If not, post a ? And ill try to answr it....

Thats all folks.....

 

[JackO]

To separate brass from the SS pins, it's advisable to use media separator (Dillon, RCBS, Francford Arsenal, etc.) sitting partially in the water. It's not clear to me how you achieve this in your double bucket setup.

 

[RichLec]

To separate brass from the SS pins, it's advisable to use media separator (Dillon, RCBS, Francford Arsenal, etc.) sitting partially in the water. It's not clear to me how you achieve this in your double bucket setup.

Could slap a couple magnets on the sides of the buckets.. Grab them as they fall?

 

[tbk5]

About 1/10th the time you'll spend pulling the 9mms out of the .40s, and the .40s out of the .45s.

LOL--So true--wish I took your course BEFORE I tried to be "efficient"!

 

[BTSDOG]

To separate brass from the SS pins, it's advisable to use media separator (Dillon, RCBS, Francford Arsenal, etc.) sitting partially in the water. It's not clear to me how you achieve this in your double bucket setup.

I use the double bucket strainer first to seperate the dirty black contaminated water from the brass and pins, add more clean water, rinse then i use a dillon media seperator for the brass and pins....

 

[BTSDOG]

Just made a new strainer.... Might be a little easier than the double bucket method.......

Made a strainer by silicone gluing two layers of nylon window screen inside of a rubber 4 inch end cap....Will test it on my next tumbling run.....

 

[JackO]

I like the idea of your new strainer. Please let us know how well it works. Although I would try using a large metal "washer" to support the screen, and enlarge the size of the cutout.

 

[BTSDOG]

I like the idea of your new strainer. Please let us know how well it works. Although I would try using a large metal "washer" to support the screen, and enlarge the size of the cutout.

Im thinking when you put the rubber cap all the way on the pipe, the end of the pipe will bind and secure the screen, on top of it being glued in place.. About the size of the opening, ill let you know how it went once i do another batch.....

 

[RichLec]

Just made a new strainer.... Might be a little easier than the double bucket method....... Made a strainer by silicone gluing two layers of nylon window screen inside of a rubber 4 inch end cap....Will test it on my next tumbling run.....

I think I liked the bucket idea better, now with this you will still need to rinse the brass, will you do it in the drum or another bucket?

 

[joe1231913]

Very cool set-up! I double my treadmill as a tumbler, and using a similiar PVC pipe set up, I get awesome results after 1.5 miles.

 

[BTSDOG]

I think I liked the bucket idea better, now with this you will still need to rinse the brass, will you do it in the drum or another bucket?

This way, all the brass and pins stay in the tube, refill with clean water, tumble a little while to rinse, then empty, if needed refill with clean water and tumble again. Then empty water thru small strainer top. Then you can empty pins and brass into media separator without worrying about having too much liquid in media tub......