Brass Tumbler

[lts70]

I picked this tumbler up used. It did not have a belt so I got one from harbor freight but it was a bit to loose. By shimming out the motor from the frame of the tumbler I got it dialed in.

At first I thought the motor was bad because I had to give it a push start to get it going. But I found that the little red button seems to be for start up and gets it the juice it needs to get started. The cooling fan had two blades snapped off, one all of the way and one half way. The two broken blades were adjacent so I took my dremmel and got rid of the nubs balancing things out...hopefully to blades are enough.

The barrels are 7.75" in diameter and seem to take just under 3 second to make one rotation.

Do you guys think this will be a good one to tumble my brass? How long would you let it run for a batch? I plan on getting some crushed walnut from Harbor freight, should I get course or fine?

On the motor it reads:

Robbins & Myers Inc. Springfield Ohio

Volts: 115
Amps: 3.8
CYC: 60
RMP: 1800
Time RT: Cont
OC: 70
Type: SKL
HP: 1/12
PH: 1
FR: N336

[youngda9]

rock tumbler? that will work fine...get some corncob media.

[Doby45]

Better yet if it is water tight, get you some SS media and have brass that looks like it is virgin..

[lts70]

It is water tight, what is SS media?

It had some walnut media already in one of the drums, I have some cases running in it now but it looks more like a sand blast finish than shiny. If I squirted some metal polish in it that I have for my rims would that help?

[leadman]

Walnut will give you that finish. Corncob with some car polish will give a bright shiny finish.
I use Turtle Wax liquid rubbing compound and car polish mixed together. About 1 part rubbing compound to 3 or 4 parts car wax. More rubbing compound for really dirty brass, like old range pick up.

Stainless steel media is little rods put in a liquid solution and tumbled in a water-tight unit. I'm sure if you Google it you will come up with something on it. Media is a little expensive but you don't have to replace it.

[John J]

just a tip...run your fingers around the rim to break the seal...makes it easyer to remove the top.....so you dont pull the stud out of the lid...and the rollers the drum rotate on will pick up some of the rubber from the drum...keep the rollers clean

John J

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Change the size of the pulley on the motor and you can speed it up if you need to.

[lts70]

Thanks for the tips.

Should I speed it up?

I like the idea of the SS media. Anyone using it in this type of tumbler?

[63 Shiloh]

Stainless Steel media is just awesome in a tumbler like yours. I have a Thumblers Tumbler and use it for SS wet media for mt BP brass, works very well.

You will not get the gleam from your brass in a tumbler like you do in a vibration cleaner like the Lyman 1200.

If you tumbler is waterproof, it should have a rubber interior and a rubber seal on the lid, held down with 6 or so wingnuts; wet media is the way to go mate.

I have even used it for cleaning up rusty drill bits, lathe and milling tooling. Just line the interior with steel wool pads, throw in a few stainless steel scourers and add some old walnut media soaked in CLP or carby cleaner. Run it for 12 hours and the tools come out like new.

They are a very versitile piece of kit, very handy to have in the reloading room.


Mike

[Wayne Smith]

And if you get some carborandum media you can tumble rocks, too! Gotta run it for a couple of days for that, though.

[lts70]

I am looking into getting some of the SS media. Does anyone know how many pounds I would need for this tumbler? Any where specific you are getting it? I have been looking at some on ebay.

[Recluse]

The barrels are 7.75" in diameter and seem to take just under 3 second to make one rotation.

Do you guys think this will be a good one to tumble my brass?

One revolution every three seconds is pretty slow. Could take a while to get a good cleaning/polishing.

[bumpo628]

I am looking into getting some of the SS media. Does anyone know how many pounds I would need for this tumbler? Any where specific you are getting it? I have been looking at some on ebay.

Here you go:
http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com

$56 for five pounds shipped.

[Nueces]

Another source for the SS media is Buffalo Arms:

https://www.buffaloarms.com/stainles....aspx?CAT=3889

$35 for 5 pounds, plus shipping.

Mark

[bumpo628]

Another source for the SS media is Buffalo Arms:

https://www.buffaloarms.com/stainles....aspx?CAT=3889

$35 for 5 pounds, plus shipping.

Mark

Shipping is $11 - making it $46 delivered.
That is a pretty good deal.

[montana_charlie]

I picked this tumbler up used. It did not have a belt so I got one from harbor freight but it was a bit to loose. By shimming out the motor from the frame of the tumbler I got it dialed in.

What you have there is a Lortone QT-66 which has the two half-sized barrels.
The QT-12 has a single deep barrel which fits in the same frame.

The same Lortone belt is used for both models, and it has 'teeth' on the underside which (should) fit into matching grooves on the pulleys. Because of the teeth, the belt doesn't need to be bar tight ... so it doesn't wear out the shaft bearings in the motor very fast.

I use a QT-12, myself ...

CM

[Jailer]

Judging by the looks of that drum and the diameter measurement, you're going to need about 10lbs of stainless media.

BUT, if it takes a bit to get the drum turning I'm not so sure how that motor would do with a full load of brass, media and water.

If you want to go wet with this setup it might take a new motor too. It would be a nice setup if you did though.

I hope to have my own wet tumbler built soon.

[watkibe]

I had this tumbler. It needed a push start, and I always kept a small fan blowing cooling air on it. I had to replace a motor, and find belts...The good part was that the lid was watertight, so eventually I cleaned all my brass in hot water, white vinegar, lemon juice and Dawn dish detergent. It was much faster and much better than just soaking the brass in the same solution.

[cajun shooter]

I feel that when you add brass and media plus water ,your tumbler is going to be way too slow to give you the results you are looking for. This was posted by another member and I agree. I use a Thumblers model B with the heavy duty motor and it turns one revolution in about a 1/3 of a second( guess not timed) You may think about using the larger drum and maybe another motor and belt.

[mdi]

I had one similar in appearance to yours. Didn't hold much, usually around 100 .44 Mag cases, but I thumled tens of thousands of cases with that tumbler. Easiest to get started tumbling is with crushed walnut shells. You don't have to monkey with adding junk to yer media and it works fine all by it's lonesome. I got an even semi-gloss finish on my brass; not mirror bright, but more than serviceable! Get some lizzard litter and try it before you modify/"fix" anything. BTW; back when, you could always tell a reloader at the range by his brass. It wasn't bright, shiny, virgin looking, but usually dull, well worked appearance! I reloaded for several years before I got a tumbler...