While reading the recent cobb media question thread, I thought I'd ask a question also, but figured I'd start a new thread.
Does anyone else find the need to clean the tumbler bowl?
I use untreated corn cob media from Frankfort arsenal.
I like it, because it's small enough to not stick in the primer flash hole, unlike all other cob media I used in the past, most of which, was bought at gunshows, repackaged in gallon jugs, so I don't know the source, but was larger enough to almost always stick in the flash hole.
I use new clean untreated media for removing case lube from clean resized rifle cases only. I have a dedicated tumbler for this (Lyman Pro 1200 Turbo), which never needs cleaning.
Once that media becomes dirty enough, that I don't want to use it for that anymore, I use it for dirty fired brass, which usually has boolit lube residue on it. I do treat that "used media" with a few drops of a diluted rubbing compound and a few drops of diluted liquid car wax (both are diluted with Iso alc). I will re-treat the media every third batch. Most tarnished brass gets tumbled 4 hours, freshly fired brass, that isn't age tarnished, gets tumbled clean in about an hour.
The combination of my practice of treating the media and/or tumbling brass that was used with lubed boolits puts a blackish-dark green layer of hard to remove crud in the tumbler bowl. About the only thing that cuts that crud is MS and a small brass bristled brush.
I just wondered if I am the only one to clean a bowl?
I should add, I get about a year's use from a bowl full of media, but I am cleaning that bowl about 3 times throughout the year. I suppose I tumble brass about once a week...so about fifty times a year.