Media for Wet Tumblers

[slim1836]

I'm going to make a wet tumbler using a 5 gal. bucket with skate board wheels. This is going to be made on the cheap (cause I'm a poor man) and is going to be ugly, however, I only have to please myself.

I don't have the funds to purchase stainless steel media and was wondering what other media can be used to clean my brass. Did I mention I'm poor?

With that in mind, what can be used in lieu of stainless steel media?

Thanks in advance,

Slim

[MGnoob]

your going to need Finns or sweeps inside the bucket in order to make them tumble.

As far as media, i don't know and am curious to see what other have come up with.

The stainless is expensive, but works well and only need to be bought once.
it's magnetic so you can pick it up when spilled/dropped, and oviously it doesn't rust. I love how there is no dust put into the air.

I am sure you could use sand, if you don't mind a dull finnish. But sandy brass sucks and you would have to clean and deprime the cases before using the sand. It will get even more trapped in bottleneck cases than the pins do..
Then you would have to deal with moldy sand which could be mitigated by the use of bleach, but having to tumble wash all the sand out would make it many times more work.

the unit i made uses 2 of the XL drums from "BigDawg Tumblers" i try to always keep 1 free of sand and debris, so when i clean off case lube i don't add sand back into the mix...it's a good idea to run emply loads to clean the media from time to time. good luck

[slim1836]

I have the fin issue taken care of for the time being. I'm using stick on tabs used for temporary centerline markings on roadways under construction. How long they last is another question but I have quite a few.

Also, I have glass beads that is used on top of thermoplastic paint used for roadway striping and stop bars for night time reflectivity. These are very small and may hold up as they are used where vehicles travel. I am going to give these a try once my set-up is working. Separating the beads from the brass is another issue I need to figure out, rinsing with water may do, but recovering them for future use is another thing.

I wonder how small ceramic balls would work and where I could find them.

Just curious what else might be used.

Slim

[Mk42gunner]

An old colander will work to separate media from brass, as long as the holes are big enough.

I don't like the idea of using glass beads; sounds too much like bead blasting to me, it may work fine though.

BP shooters have been using some sort of ceramic media to clean cases with for several years. I don't know for sure if they are still doing it or if they converted to SS pins. Maybe check a BP website like Buffalo Arms?

Good Luck,

Robert

[country gent]

We used ceramiic forms at work for light polishing and deburring of some stamped parts. Corn cobs with a additive for finner poliching and deburring of other. The cases working against each other may do the outside acceptably in the soap water solution inside I doubt much change would take place. The ceramic insert we had were a cone shape to big for case polishing. You might give simple shot gun shot in the finer sizes a try. Would be heavyier than the pins but the added wieght might be a plus on heavy fouling.

[slim1836]

Thanks Mk42gunner,

The beads will be tumbled, not blasted, so they hopefully will work. It's just an idea as of now and subject to change at any moment. I may have to dip the colander and brass in water and agitate to separate the beads, drain most of the water on top, and let the rest evaporate, or screen through a cotton cloth. Trial and error method. If the beads do not work, I am not out any expense.

I've got the bucket, screw on lid, and skateboard wheels, but no frame made as of yet. I have not obtained a motor (variable speed preferred), but still looking.

I guess I'm still in the development mode. Not in a hurry as I tumble all my brass currently.

Slim

[John Boy]

Might want to try a 1/4" of spent primer cups

[slim1836]

Might want to try a 1/4" of spent primer cups

Thanks, I'll remember that one.

[dikman]

I'm in the same boat, slim (so to speak) in looking for (cheap) alternatives for tumbling. Crushed walnut shells get a lot of mention, usually picking them up at pet stores, but so far I haven't found anyone here that sells them. I tried using small ball bearings ('cos I had some) and they sort of worked, but were noisy (!), left a dull finish on the cases and didn't clean into the primer pockets.

So I'm still looking....

I made my tumbler using skateboard wheels and the motor was one I'd saved when my garage roller doors were replaced. I set it up as a friction drive against one of the skate wheels, and it worked fine - until I put a load in the tumbler. The wheel kept going but there wasn't enough friction to rotate the drum! I ended up cutting a strip of elastic pressure bandage, made a wider drum for the motor, ran the elastic around the motor drum and the tumbler drum and super-glued the overlap on the elastic. Instant belt drive, works great .

You could also try a sewing machine motor if you can get hold of one, nice and compact and should have plenty of torque. So far mine has cost me $0 to make. Piece of wood for the base, two pieces for the sides to hold the wheels, two pieces for the ends to stiffen it up and a some scrap metal to make a bracket for the motor. Not pretty, but it doesn't matter as long as it works.

[slim1836]

Dikman,

Thanks for the tip on the sewing machine motor, I will look into that.

Slim

[2AMMD]

The glass beads should be fine for cleaning your cases. They don't have to be bright and polished to shoot well, they just have to be clean. Some soap and "lemishine" mentioned in other threads may help with some shine.
Just my .02
2AMMD

[Minerat]

I'v used RCBS Liquid Media For Case Tumbler in my Sidewinder. Works pretty well and I reuse it a couple of times, it will do about a 1000 cases of 9mm with couple of oz of the concentrate. Probably can find the recipe on line for making your own. I don't add any other media when doing this. Have also read that a little citric acid and soap will work pretty well.

[bbqncigars]

I would advise against ceramic media, based on my experience with .50BMG cases. The really grungy cases were cleaned, but I had a residue of very fine brass particles in the bottom of my tumbler after a couple of hours. This obviously came from the cases. I really don't want to remove ANY brass from my cases, so no more ceramic media. Only the stainless steel pins for me now.

[Nueces]

I sometimes get brass particles (and stainless steel ones, too, if the pin media is new) in my Thumler Model B with 0.047" SS pins.

My idea is that these particles come from burrs being knocked off during tumbling. Look at the ends of the SS pins when new - they have been cut to length and often have 'hanging chads' left over. I think the brass dust comes from flash hole burrs.

Annoying, but livable with, and the brass is not being damaged.

[Moonie]

Actually you can do it with no media, use the normal amount of citric acid and liquid soap. It will clean the outside very well, but will do little for the inside or primer pockets.

[Love Life]

My thoughts on wet tumbling:

Save up the money and get the SS pins. However, I find wet tumbling to not be worth it for my personal brass.

A 5 minute soak in hot water/citric acid/dawn and then tumbled in corn cob makes my brass very clean. I'd say up to 75% as clean as when SS wet tumbled.

My brass cleaning creds: I SS wet tumbled over 7,000 lbs of brass for sale last year. It worked extremely well. However, I don't need my brass that clean every time. I still had to tumble in CC trated with mineral spirits and Nu-Fnish to add that sheen and prevent tarnish.

[montana_charlie]

I would advise against ceramic media, based on my experience with .50BMG cases. The really grungy cases were cleaned, but I had a residue of very fine brass particles in the bottom of my tumbler after a couple of hours.

There are two kinds of 'ceramic' media.
Some is 'abrasive' and some is not.
One 'cuts' and the other 'polishes'.

In addition, ceramic media comes in a few different shapes and sizes.
For case cleaning it has been pretty well established that small 'angle-cut cylinders' do a good job (and I am still using them).

Here is the source where I bought mine.
http://www.therockshed.com/grit2.html

The stuff you want is the second from the top.


Next, you are going to wonder 'how much' you need. For a 'measuring stick' to start you out, I will describe my own setup.

I have a 15-cup drum (almost one gallon).
I use 3 cups of ceramic, which (if my memory is right) is four pounds.
In this volume, I use 1.5 cups of solution, which just covers the media.
I normally clean 30 45/90 cases at a time, but the media would hold at least 50.

My cleaning solution is 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid - 1/4 teaspoon of TSP - 1/2 teaspoon of tumble soap (powder) - 1.5 cups of water.

Three hours gives me cases that shine like new brass, with clean primer pockets and interiors.


For your five-gallon drum, I expect you would increase my numbers by five ...

CM

[dikman]

Slim, a couple of photos that may give you ideas?

[slim1836]

Thanks guys for all the feedback, enjoyed the input and learned quite a bit.
I have an old garage door opener that fried the circuit board that I am going to try to salvage the motor from. Should have plenty of torque, and the RPM's may be in the ballpark. So far I have not gotten it to run, so the motor may be fried also, but there should be others at the curb I may find.

The wet tumbler is not something I have to have, but should be fun to build and use, especially if my vibratory tumbler goes out, then I'll have a cheap back-up.

All feedback is appreciated.

Slim

[dikman]

Looking around to see what I had that would be suitable for tumbler media, I found some stainless steel wire (.041"). This can be cut into nice little bits BUT I found it's very hard on cutting tools!!! This idea is filed away for now. I also have lots and lots of unshelled Macadamia nuts (my trees insist on dropping them). These nuts are VERY hard, in fact the only way I can crack them is by squeezing them in a vice!!! So, instead of throwing the shells away I may be able to crush them (somehow) and use them in my tumbler. Plus I get to eat the nuts .