Stainless Tumbling Media Test Results

[Frozone]

?hat MEDIA is this range using for 10,000 in a cement mixer, are we doing Apples and Oranges.

I think they were using ceramic. I didn't check that close.

What the surprise? 10K 9MM is only a 5 gallon bucket full or so.

The mixer was ~ 3 feet in diameter at it's widest. It could easily hold 15 gals. Enough to fill a good size wheelbarrow with concrete.

[Shooter6br]

Here's a thought. Does the stainless steel media erode/ abrade the plastic vibrator bowl ? ( I.E lyman 1200)

[jmorris]

It's too heavy for vibrating tumblers

[shovel80]

I think if the media is magnetic, It HAS Iron in it...and could ,,,,will possibly rust!?...NO??

Terry

[GRUMPA]

So far mine hasn't and mine can be wet as long as 3 weeks with no ill effects. They look like the did when they arrived in the mail, but I'm sure it all depends on the water quality they're sitting in as well.

[Baja_Traveler]

Lets see - I started this thread last April, here it is end of November and my media has been wet in water in all that time. Never have I seen signs of any type of corrosion on the media. It looks like the day I took it out of the package.

[Sonnypie]

I leave mine wetted with a bit of water and a light sprinkle of Lemi-Shine.

Which, by the way, our local Albertson's market just started carrying for $4.74 for the same size container as what came with the package.

I've only seen stainless steel rust when it is abraded with a carbon steel wire brush.
But the nature of the tumbling would probably eliminate any rust if it ever did happen.

[Jammer Six]

I have a cement mixer and thought of using it but I didn't think the duty cycle would be good enough. It also runs under 30 rpm.

http://www.oz.net/~jammer/Brass/index.html

[nody]

Lemishine's MSDS is very vague ("trade secret"), but it sounds no different than Jet Dry, and other liquid or powder dishwasher rinse aids, which are surfactants designed to displace entrained water minerals, and are available cheap at Walmart, etc.

As to the SSM, it occurs to me that a spool of SS safety wire, clipped with a pair of dykes into about 1/4" lengths, should work the same as the media. Yes, it's 304, softer than 311, but still far harder than brass or carbon.

Admittedly the cutting would be a chore, but then this seems to be a DIY project anyway, for those with home made tumblers, etc.

As an example:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...safetywire.php

$7.95 for a one lb spool of .041" wire, would be $40 for five lbs. The SSM is only a little more only if you really need five lbs of it, but who says you really need five lbs, except the guy selling five lb bags of it?

I would be interested to hear if anyone has run their tumbler with say one lb of SSM, and how did it do, assuming a reasonable proportion of cases? Who cares if it has to run for four hours or 10 hours? Set it before you leave for the day.

Wondering if anyone has tried/thought of this?

[Jammer Six]

I ran five pounds in the concrete mixer in the link I posted.

Five pounds in a concrete mixer doesn't go very far. It didn't do anything, that I could tell.

[UtopiaTexasG19]

"I do like the SS media. Running it dry after the cases have been cleaned would produce a very slick finish."

Someone on another forum complained that they did not know they were supposed to run the SS pin shaped media in the tumbler wet. They tried it out dry and it ate the rubber liner after one use and made the liner very pitted and rough.

[hunter64]

I think if the media is magnetic, It HAS Iron in it...and could ,,,,will possibly rust!?...NO??

Terry

If you have the magnetic stainless steel media it does rust. I love the fact you can pick up the stray media with a magnet and not have to chase it all over.

If you keep the pins submerged in water then there is no problem. If you are done with them for a while then I always spread them out on a towel and let them dry over night. No biggie.

[H110]

My stainless media is magnetic. I dump off the water, leave it in the tumbler, set it under the bench with lid removed. No rust.

H110

[nody]

To revitalize this thread, here's my two cents:


In the old days I had a Vibratek walnut shell media case polisher, basically a margarine tub bolted to a buzzing piece of sheet brass. It worked ok, was noisy as hell, and partially burned out after a few years. The modern "bowl" type vibratory case cleaners I never saw back then.

After some recent research I found the Dillion is, of course, the best bowl-type vibratory cleaner there is, but there are still reports of them burning out in a year or two. Now I know that will raise some hackles of happy Dillon owners, and that is not my intent or desire here. YMMV. Suffice to say, ANY reciprocating device will wear more quickly than a continuous motion device, and the lesser brands, far more quickly.

Additionally, with vibratory cleaners there is the noise, getting the media/dust out of the cases, and most importantly to me, walnut and corn cob do little or nothing for your primer pockets.

Enter SSM, Stainless Steel Media, basically bits of stiff, tiny, SS wire called "pins:"





Call it a 1/4" x 40 thousandths. That's 18 gauge wire.

For the guy who asked if there was a cheaper way, I tried. I got a 6' scrap of multi-strand copper 18 gauge wire from Lowes, and sat in front of the TV for two hours chopping it into 1/4" lengths with a pair of aviation snips (dykes didn't work as well). Though the wire was malleable, unlike the pins, it was harder than the carbon and cleaned the cases nicely.

6' of wire only added up to about a quarter pound of media though, and while it completely cleaned the cases and primer pockets on my test run with 20 pieces of junk range brass, my copper media quickly tarnished after use, and I feared it would likewise tarnish the cases, defeating the purpose of the exercise.

The SS hardness is not required to scrub off the gunk, but it is required to avoid subsequent oxidation of the media. I looked into alternatives such as chopping up rolls of SS aviation safety wire, which is the same gauge but malleable, and also called some metal supply houses. The price offered by this vendor is the best deal by far.

Chopping up 120' feet of 12 strand wire is not my idea of fun, despite my pathological cheapness, anyway.

Speaking of cheap, the kit is not. All told with shipping, it ran $280. Still, a big Dillion is about $150, plus another $50 for a separator, plus media, replacement media, and shipping.

The pins and the tumbler will last a lifetime. The tumbler is built for rock polishing, and the manual states that some rocks require a MONTH of continuous tumbling. I wonder if any vibratory cleaner would last a month straight?

But first I had to take a run at building my own tumbler, out of scrap lumber and a drill motor, since at about $170, the Thumler's Tumbler the pricey part of the kit. I looked for used tumblers, but only the tiny kiddie ones are out there; you couldn't clean 10 cases in them. Reloaders scour ebay for goodies.

I tried both an unused 1 gallon steel paint can and an unused 2 gallon plastic spackle bucket with snap-on lid. I got them for free. Some old bed casters as bearings quickly wore through the metal can, so I got a set of kiddie roller skate wheels at a thrift store for $5. It worked, but the drill really didn't like being kept at low RPM for a long time, and didn't maintain speed with a load. Using things for far different than their design purpose is not smart.

These are the details lacking in most posts about this topic. Perhaps you are as curious as I was:









I had to call Thumler's to ask about the motor mounting bolts, which were so long they could rub on the drive axle pulley. They also have four unneeded bolts sticking out the back of the motor, which he said are for their vibratory cleaner.

He recommended sawing them shorter and off respectively, which I did, and also mentioned the "high speed" version motor has a tendency to develop an oscillation, which is what happened with my drill motor too. He said to put a wedge of wood under it, but I found a pink pearl eraser fit perfectly and functions as a shock absorber. This was the only disappointment so far.


And here's how quiet it is running, first with only the pins and water/soap, but NO CASES, to initially wash off the machine oil on the pins. The sound, via my iPhone, is perfect in tone and volume on both youtubes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm9L9...eature=mh_lolz


And now with 200 .357 cases, plus 1 gallon of water, 2 Tbsp of Dawn, and 1 Tsp of Lemishine, a dishwasher rinse aid/citric acid polisher they include and recommend to prevent water spots and shine the brass, which adds up to about its 15 lb capacity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCTm6...t=HL1334819821



But does it work?

Before:







And the results after the 3-4 hours specified:

[H110]

No way would I continue to reload without my stainless media and tumbler. I did it for a long time without it but never again.

H110

[Sonnypie]

Mine stays in the tumbler with the lid on.
Submerged, a dash of LemiShine.
I keep the lid on so it won't get crud in it from dust dirt and all the stuff I drop occasionally.
Does a great job, dontit?
Also works for bullets if you have a mind to.



1 hour later:



More here.

[rbertalotto]

I'm simply amazed at the results I'm getting with the SS pins. I had a bunch of Cowboy45 brass that I had shot with Black Powder. Usually at the range I'll drop them into a bottle of water right as I take them from the guns. But a few days ago I had forgot my water bottle so the brass stayed for four days in the air. If they are put into water right after firing, the water will keep the BP fouling soft and a simple tumble in corn cob will get them serviceable again. Corn cob will not get them looking new, and the primer pockets will need individual attention.

Just as an experiment I put them in the standard vibratory cleaner with corn cob media for two hours. They came out a very dark brass color and the insides looked like they hadn't been touched.

I then put them in the rotary tumbler with three squirts of dish washing liquid and about a 1/4 cup of vinegar. I tumbled for two hours.

The brass came out looking EXACTLY like brand new. The primer pockets looked like they had never been fired! I'd post a picture but you might as well post a picture of brand new brass!

I can't believe I've dealt with crappy looking , black powder stained brass all this time.

Love those pins!

[Moonman]

The MAGNETIC STAINLESS PINS sure are helpful with picking up any stray pins with a magnet.

Some of my pistol brass I only tumble 1 hour with the Hi-Speed Thumbler's Tumbler.

[nody]

My first batch picture above got left in the solution over night after 3 hours of tumbling, due to time constraints. They came out completely clean, but yellowed and dull. The second batch, run normally and then rinsed and dried immediately, were as virgin brass.

Original case of Starline virgin .357:



First tumbled batch:



Second batch:



Side by side comparisons, first batch on right:

[L Ross]

I have used ceramic media in a Thumbler's Tumbler for several years now with great satisfaction. I will be buying stainless pins so I can tumble bottle neck cartridges. One advantage I feel wet tumbling offers over dry vibratory is control of the lead styphanate primer dust. Being cheap I tended to use my walnut media until it was filthy and dusty, and probably less healthy than casting. Now I'm washing and rinsing that crud away.
Last comment. I dry my brass after tumbling by placing it on the trays of a rummage sale food dehydrator. Low heat, fan circulation, low noise, perfectly dry brass.

Duke