Cleaning dies????

[abunaitoo]

We live in the middle of an ocean.
Sometimes lots of salt air.
Things surface rust.
Has anyone tried to clean dies in the wet stainless tumbler????
Take the dies all apart. Tumble. Oil when done.
Seems like it would work.

[Tom W.]

Sounds good, but if not cleaned of oil on the inside wouldn't you get lube dents on the case necks, assuming that they are bottleneck cases.....?

[TNsailorman]

I think sonic cleaning would be better than tumble cleaning. I pull my dies down into pieces and soak them in gun cleaning solvent and dry and oil. Works for me, James

[Traffer]

We live in the middle of an ocean.
Sometimes lots of salt air.
Things surface rust.
Has anyone tried to clean dies in the wet stainless tumbler????
Take the dies all apart. Tumble. Oil when done.
Seems like it would work.

"Hawaii"...I hear you are having some pretty rough weather down there.

[Gee_Wizz01]

I've never used my rotary tumbler to clean dies. I use a Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner and it does an outstanding job of cleaning all of the nooks and crannies. I generally use water, Dawn and lemishine and the dies come out spotless.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[abunaitoo]

Don't have a ultrasonic cleaner.
Does it take rust off????

Storm is dying down.
Just started to rain some.
No wind.
Looks like it's just going to be a wet few days.

[lightman]

I've never tumbled dies but it should work. I imaging living in a salty environment has different challenges. What little rust that get on my dies is easily removed with steel wool or a brass tooth brush. I was gifted a lot of dies that were seriously rusted that I soaked in Evaoprust. They cleaned up nicely except for the ones that were severely rusted and were pitted.

I clean my dies every so often but this is usually just trusting an oily rag into the die and wiping off the outside.

Edit to add, glad you missed the worst of that storm.

[country gent]

I have ran dies thru a vibratory cleaner with corn cobs to clean them in the past. I usually don't want the added time so I made a 3" cleaning rod with a file handle. a brush to start and a couple patches will do the job pretty quick with a little solvent. The pins cleaning I would try first with an old set of dies that can be sacrificed if it dosnt work. One question I have is don't steel discolor in the pins and cleaning solution of dish soap and lemi shine? Ultra sonic cleaners should do a good job though

[L Erie Caster]

I tried it but didn’t like the dies tumbling around against each other, and one at a time is just too slow. A rag for the outside and a pistol cleaning rod with patches for the inside works for me.

[Valley Forge]

I just tried it on some dies that were covered in rust but not pitted yet. It most definitely works and works well if you only tumble one die at a time.

[Silverboolit]

4/0 steel wool on a dowel sized to fit. Cleans them right up.

[country gent]

Put the dies in bottles with the media then into the tumbler with media the bottles keep them away from each other and allows several dies to be done together. another way is to wire them together with stiff wire to hold them separated.

[El Bibliotecario]

I tried it but didn’t like the dies tumbling around against each other, and one at a time is just too slow. A rag for the outside and a pistol cleaning rod with patches for the inside works for me.

I was relieved to read this post--when I began reading this thread I worried that since I didn't tumble, vibrate, spritz, or douche my dies I must be doing something wrong.

[greenjoytj]

EEZOX oil will keep your dies from rusting.

[Gee_Wizz01]

Don't have a ultrasonic cleaner.
Does it take rust off????

Storm is dying down.
Just started to rain some.
No wind.
Looks like it's just going to be a wet few days.

Yes, it will remove surface rust when you use Lemi-Shine, and it will passionate steel dies to some extent. I dry the dies thoroughly and wipe them down with Ed's Red to keep them corrosion free. If you get a ultra sonic cleaner, you will wonder how you lived without it.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[edp2k]

use evaporust. get it at home depot or harbor freight.

[Walks]

I lived at the beach for about 6yrs. I kept everything dripping WD-40. Would clean inside of dies with HOPPE'S and then acetone. Oil back up has soon as finished.
Yeah I know about WD-40 now. This was over 40yrs ago.

[iShoot17]

I also use 4-0 steel wool to clean my dies. The thought of putting dies in a stainless media tumbler doesn’t exactly give me the best feeling. I suppose I have no evidence to such thoughts, but I would think them bouncing off one another isn’t ideal. I also spray my dues with EEZOX. I’ll do this inside and out. I’ve never had sizing issues or lube dents, either.

[Taterhead]

I use mild gun cleaner and gun cleaning tools and patches to clean my dies.

Evaporust cleans up rust on dies very nicely. Needs a light coating of a protectant afterward.

[mdi]

I use my rotary tumbler for more than cartridge brass. I often clean my small tools in my regular media (corn cob blast media with a bit of auto polish/wax to retard tarnish). Works well for dies and I have a "soak" I keep on my bench (mineral spirits, Kroil and ATF or Marvel's Mystery Oil) that I drop a die in and let it soak for a while. Then remove it, wipe and shake off excess and it cleans and keeps the rust away. I'm a retired heavy equipment mechanic/electrician so my two large too boxes/rollaways full of tools need maintenance to keep from rusting here in wet Oregon...