So, at the urging of wife and kids to get the barrels of brass out of the garage, I finally invested in a wet tumbler.
I compared the Frankford and the Thumler:
Thumler Rebel (17# payload)
One end plate with multiple nuts to open/close the drum.
Brass capacity 4# when using 5# of stainless media. Media is included in the kit.
No timer
Cost for kit with media is 250.00 plus 29.00 shipping
Frankford Platinum (27# payload)
Openings on both ends, a large collar that secures the end plug or a provided strainer. 2 strainers are included.
Brass capacity 8# when using 5# of stainless media. Stainless pin media is included in the kit.
On board timer (3 hour)
Cost for kit (Midway on sale) 179.00 plus 13.80 shipping
The Thumler appears to be better built and will probably have a better service life. The Frankford is less expensive, bigger capacity and a lot easier to use.
Either should work fine and get similar results.
After 10 loads of tumbling and reading a lot about wet tumblers, this is the routine I settled on for the Frankford.
Add 8# brass, teaspoon of ALL laundry detergent, 1.5 gallon water, tumble for 30-60 minutes to remove mud. No mud? Skip this pre-wash step.
Drain, install strainer caps, rinse well until mud is gone and water runs clear. The strainer caps make this a snap.
Refill with water, add stainless pins, add teaspoon of detergent, add teaspoon of Lemi-shine or dry citric acid. This is to remove the tarnish. Tumble for 2 hours.
Install strainer caps rinse through into bucket, pour brass in media ball, separate pins from brass by running ball half submerged in water bath. The pins all fall into the bucket, easy enough to rinse and drain the water off them.
I spin the brass in the media ball a few rounds to get the excess water out of the cases.
No oven drying for me, I drop the brass in a vibratory tumbler with walnut and Nu-finish and let the tumbler dry and polish the brass. This takes about an hour.
Brass that I was ready to scrap is now saved. I sold enough of it on the first day of cleaning to pay for the tumbler.
Obligatory pictures, very impressive results. Brass is all from same batch.