thumblers tumbler question

[chevyiron420]

i bought this tumbler many years ago and i havent been useing it because, to me it doesnt do much of anything to clean the brass. what it does do is get this red stuff inside the cases and plugs the flash hole. the flash hole i could deal with if it worked. the media as i recall is walnut. i am also afraid that the red stuff in the cases may be abrasive and mess up my barrels. did i get the wrong media? i can run this thing all night and the cases barley look any better. does anyone have good results with one?? what am i doing wrong? straighten me out here guy's.-phil:castmine:

[dromia]

I'm surprised.

mine has worked well for years both with corn cob and walnut although the walnut can be a tad fine.

I put my cases in Lyman's brass baggies as I am usually cleaning mixed lots of brass. Have the tumbler just over half filled with media and put in the brass baggies full of cases, close the lid an let her roll for 2-3 hours.

The trick is to not over fill the tumbler so that the cases have room to move through the medium as the drum rotates.

If you have very dirty cases then a squirt of T-cut into the media can help.

Walnut media cleans better and corncob media shines better, but I've used corncob solely for years quiet happily.

I'm assuming we are not talking BP cartridges here as that is a different kettle of fish.

[unclebill]

that red stuff is some form of polishing rouge.
i tear up a couple of paper towels and put it in the tumbler along with the cases .
it gets rid of a lot of the dust and seems to help the media do a better job.
that said i am looking for some walnut without that red stuff.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Over filling may be your issue. Since I'm not famliar with that media, I can't comment on it. I can comment on an inexpensive, but highly effective media I've used for the last couple of years. I go to the Pet store, buy the fine ground corn corb media and the fine ground walnut media (They call it lizard or animal bedding, something like that).

I mix the two medias 50/50 and leave enough room in bowl for the brass and to allow things to move around. I think add a cap full of Nu Finish Car polish, which can be had cheap from Walnart or the Dollar General. I leave the brass in the tumbler until I'm happy with the appearance. It's been working great for me.

To extend the life of the media, I cut up a dryer sheet (I buy the cheap recycled material ones.) into 1 inch strips and place it in the media. This absorbs a lot of the dirt as well as keeping the static levels down a bit.

Hope this helps,

Dave

[DLCTEX]

You are overfilling or there is a media problem, the tumbler works even more aggressively than the vibratory ones IMHO. DALE

[chevyiron420]

this is great info guy's, keep it comeing. i think the red stuff is rouge, and i dont think it should be there. it sticks to the inside of the case, and i think it isnt good for the barrel. it has to come out when fired.
im glad Dale posted what he did because i dont know how well it should work, but my experience cant be right. i picked up about 75 44 mag cases at the range lately that didnt look to bad and should have used them as they were, but thought i would like them to look new. i got the tumbler back out and loaded it up. i ran it about four hours each day for four days, and the cases look about the same as before. now i have to solvent wash them to get the rouge out or throw them away. i was over to jawjaboy's a wile back and he showed me his vibrating type machine. he put some cases in and turned it on so i could see how the media moved. after a couple of minutes those cases were cleaner than i could ever get them.-phil:castmine:

[slughammer]

Sounds like there is too much rouge in the media. Rouge is expensive, I would save the media and "thin" it down with untreated media. Then fill about half way with media and brass. Also, sometimes the more brass the better it all works.

[Dale53]

I have found that I need to rejuvenate my media - just before using, I put a cap or two of Dillons Case polish in the media ( I used "corned" corn cobb media - it is a much higher grade of media than a lot of simply ground corn cobbs and lasts MUCH longer).

I have the large Dillon Vibratory case cleaner. I find it takes half as long as my old "Thumblers Tumbler" but the old tumbler did a good job, it just took longer.

I think the other fellows are correct, you need to leave room for the brass and media to freely circulate AND you need to "recharge" your media with case polish. When the media starts clumping up, you need to replace it.

Dale53

[montana_charlie]

I think that, if your tumbler barrel is more than 2/3 full (counting brass and media) you aren't leaving enough room for things to 'flow'. I also think the ratio of media to brass should be about 3:1.
I don't know what a manufacturer would specify, but following these parameters works well for me.
CM

[August]

You are referring to a Thumblers Rotary Tumbler, correct? If that's the case, then walnut will take forever to polish brass in that thing. It is best used with ceramic media, water, and a little detergent. The walnut would work just fine in a VIBRATORY tumbler, but not in a ROTARY one.

[chevyiron420]

yes, it is a rotary tumbler. my son and i were fooling around with different junk media and found that torn up newspaper works better than the walnut i had in it, but not good enough for me.-phil:castmine:

[montana_charlie]

walnut will take forever to polish brass in that thing.
The walnut would work just fine in a VIBRATORY tumbler, but not in a ROTARY one.
How long is 'forever'?

My brown-colored brass comes clean in six hours in a rotary tumbler with 'fortified' walnut. The straight walnut is fortified with two tablespoons of Bon Ami and and two ounces of mineral spirits. (These amounts in enough media to fill a 12-pound barrel 2/3 full.)
CM

[shotman]

hey does anyone what a tumbler have one i bought to tumble shot in shot is too heavy so i will sell it for what i have in it $130 +shipping is nere new and i have a couple of new belts emal me ragebhardt at msn dot com rick

[Ringer]

Hi, I recently bought a used heavy duty model B , and the fellow described this method.
Put cases in tumbler
Cover cases well with water,but don't fill tumbler completley
Add 2 to 4 oz lemon juice, and 2drops of Dawn Detergent
1-1/2 to 2 hrs should do it depending on the type of powder. Dirty or sooty powders can take longer, and may need another drop or two of detergent, but go easy when increasing that !
When finished, dump the water.rinse with clean water, dump the water, and spread cases out to dry on a big box lid with a towel in it .
Most of the guys on the Bullseye net use this method.

I use porcelin or ceramic media like Buffalo Arms sells. Last night I put @150 .44mag. cases, and about 100 45-70 BP cases in my tumbler with some Media, covered them with water,added a couple drops of their solution, and 2 hours later
I had new looking brass. I separate the media from the brass in my Dillon separator,rinse, and dry them on top of my fireplace insert in cake pans.
I have 2 sizes of media,one is cut like pellets, about 1/8 "dia. the other is about a 4mm bead shape. I think for the smaller diameter cases, like .38cal I will use the small beads.Regards, Ringer

[mike in co]

i dont know why it has taken guys so long to figure out that vibrators are a good thing, women have known it for a long time.....lol.
i use an rcbs sidewinder to moly coat with, but vibrator "tumblers" to do brass with-4 of them!
i have the large dillon(2000) and thier media seperator. both work very well.
i get media from grainger( corn blasting media) 50lbs/30 bucks.......( i go thru a lot)

i too use car polish to enhance performance.

it takes less than an hour to polish 1000 223 or 1400 45 acp cases.

when the cases come from the outdoor ranges and its been wet out, i pre clean with older used corn cob for about 30-45 min....it just makes the media last longer( less dirt loading).

mike

[RugerFan]

I have an old rotary Thumbler's Tumbler That I have used for 20 years and it works very well with corn cob media. Never tried walnut.

[shotman]

will try to email reloader06 the one i have for sale is a Thumblers model B $130 + shipping em ragebhardt at msn dot com rick