Distilled Water and a Leaf Blower

[David2011]

Same here, I have very hard well water and no city water. I don't wet tumble but I do clean with citric acid. After the brass is dry I run it through the dry tumbler with corn cob and Nu-Finish to get the water spots off. Probably not a palatable solution to the guys that wet tumble.

A wetting agent like Jet-Dry might help or Kodak makes a wetting agent called Photo-Flo 200 that is used to keep film from water spotting while it dries after processing. The dilution rate is 1:200 so a little goes a long way.

[308Jeff]

I've added Jet-Dry to the last couple of batches. It seems to help!

[RCE1]

When using a wet cleaning process, I will usually give a final rinse in clean water with a drop or two of dish soap just to break surface tension, then transfer to a wire collander and stir the brass around with the nozzle of my heat gun till dry. Works for me.

[308Jeff]

Used Jet-Dry for the 3rd time this morning. I think it's going to be a winner. You can see that the water doesn't want to cling to the brass. This is the cleanest, most immaculate stuff I've seen. Very happy.

Going to do an experiment with a small batch of brass. Tumble it, and rinse it, but not bother drying it other than letting it air dry. I'll let you know how it goes.

[308Jeff]

This is the result I've been after. No more water spots.

[David2011]

Congratulations! The brass is gorgeous, Jeff. In the summer I spread my wet brass out on a sheet on the patio. Our climates are similar, as least when it's hot. The brass gets hot fast in the sun and dries quickly.

[308Jeff]

Thanks, David. I also sun dry here when it's warm. Works just fine.

[lightman]

I'm waiting on a media separator to arrive and I expect it will change my game. But for now, I separate the cases from the pins by hand and dump them in a bowel of clean water for a rinse. I'll towel dry them using some of the same methods mentioned by the others. In the summer they go onto a baking sheet and then set outside in the hot sun. With the current weather the same baking sheet goes into the oven set at the lowest temp for 30-45 minutes.

I've thought about a food dehydrator but have not committed to that just yet. I may make a "pillow case" from a big fluffy towel to do the initial drying in. I liked that idea!

[bangerjim]

Here is AZ, I use the sun as my heat soruce. Even on winter days, darker items in the sun get really hot! Even clean brass. I just roll them in towels as mentioned above and lay them out on fat baking sheet pans from the junk stores on the cool decking around the swimming pool. Dry in a short time - inside and out.

Banger