Stainless steel polishing

[uscra112]

I have been using the ss pins but its a pain to separate them from 5.56 cases. How are all of you doing it? Also I have hard water, is there a way to keep them from spotting right away?

+1 to that ! And it was for cleaning range pickup 5.56 cases that I bought the pins, too!

Are there ribs inside that PVC tube drum? I'm assume yes, since there wouldn't be much turnover of there were not. I'm going to try again - my first try using my old 2# Thumlers was a disaster. (The drum isn't watertight. - 'nuff said!) Making a new drum of PVC might salvage the money I laid out for the pins. My drum will have to be bigger than 6" diameter though.

Speed of drying makes no difference to spotting - it's the volume of water that evaporates, and the hardness, that make the difference. I also have very hard water, but I deal with it by dumping the cases on a towel and tumbling them about with another towel to get surface water off. No spots, although I do see a white residue in the primer pockets sometimes. I ignore it.

[biggdawg]

+1 to that ! And it was for cleaning range pickup 5.56 cases that I bought the pins, too!

Are there ribs inside that PVC tube drum? I'm assume yes, since there wouldn't be much turnover of there were not. I'm going to try again - my first try using my old 2# Thumlers was a disaster. (The drum isn't watertight. - 'nuff said!) Making a new drum of PVC might salvage the money I laid out for the pins. My drum will have to be bigger than 6" diameter though.

Speed of drying makes no difference to spotting - it's the volume of water that evaporates, and the hardness, that make the difference. I also have very hard water, but I deal with it by dumping the cases on a towel and tumbling them about with another towel to get surface water off. No spots, although I do see a white residue in the primer pockets sometimes. I ignore it.

i make mine out of 8" too

[cdet69]

I wish I could get my brass this clean. Going to have to give this a try.

[uscra112]

Thanks Bigdawg, that tells me a lot. Now to figure how to keep the drum under 4 3/8" long (thru the axis) so it will fit the Thumlers guide rollers. Will do some cogitatin' when I see what Home Despot has for large diameter PVC. Is the electrical tape there to help seal the near-side end cap?

Phil

[uscra112]

Found out what was wrong with my Thumlers! I never knew it, and with dry media it wasn't an issue, but there's a strong elastic O-ring that's supposed to be fitted after you get the cover on! Color me dumber than a box of rocks! Bought the thing used, and the seller never told me that the O-ring was missing. He'd been using it with dry media, too.

Bought one from www.geoshops.com. NOW the cases, the water and the pin media all stay inside where some good can come of it!

Had to learn that the 9 pound drum needs only about 1 1/2 lb. of the pins, and no more than a large cottage cheese container of cases. Works quite well. Won't permanently decommission my old vibrator, but it won't see much use now.

[wtfooptimax200]

I will add though, that I still use my traditional vibratory tumbler to clean up the cases after resizing to clean the sizing wax off and put a protective coating back on the brass.

Pardon my ignorance, but what do you use for media to provide a protective coating?

[rutilate]

Seriously considering one of the Dawg's tumblers.

How big of an issue is draining the contaminated water into a septic system?
Is it feasible to tumble first for a short period of time, decap on my Dillon, and then finish tumbling? I'd like to avoid having dirt all over the press.

Thanks!

[zuke]

Put your wet brass in a towel,lift the towel by the corner's and lift one end at a time in a rocking/back and fourth/up and down motion.
I do that 30 time's and have no problem's with water spot's.
Here are some pic's of some I've done in the past.

[uscra112]

The effluent will be mostly just carbon, but there will be microscopic amounts of lead due to the primer residue. I don't worry about it.

I worry about dirt getting into my dies, so I decap many of my smaller cases on a .22/250 die, then tumble, wash and dry, then lube and size, then wash again in hot water to remove the sizing lanolin. The only large cases I do presently are .30-06 and 7.5 Swiss. Those I wash in hot soapy water to assure myself that there's no grit on them, towel them dry, lube, and then decap/size. Then they go into the tumbler. Now that I'm using a wet process, the tumbling takes off the lanolin.

I wish my cases got that bright, zuke! They're clean enough, but not like that. Gotta remember to get some Lemishine next trip to town.

[mjs408]

I think I am ready to step up to stainless steel, biggdawg do you just sell the PVC tubes or do you sell the whole set up?

[biggdawg]

I think I am ready to step up to stainless steel, biggdawg do you just sell the PVC tubes or do you sell the whole set up?

I sell drums separate if wanted frames separate or complete kits just google biggdawg tumblers to get the website.

[shredder]

Yup those photos show exactly how it is after only a couple of hours for me.

I use a thumlers with some dawn dish soap and a little sprinkle of lemi shine. Rain water works best for sure but tap will do if you must. To deal with the cases I place the tumbler under a slow flow of very warm water then take each peice of brass and empty it out back into the tumbler under the running water. It only takes a second and you get to make sure the flash hole is clear too. I have had 2 pins jam into a flash hole several times and it can take a pair of pliers to get em out. Then I toss each case into a strainer and when I have them all, I run water as hot as the tap will go over them. They really heat up quick so you don't need to do much. Turn off the water then shake em around for 20 seconds or so, then dump the hot wet brass onto a towel and roll it up with the brass inside. Give it a shake to let as much water out as you can. Then I place them into the red plastic cartridge holders that Federal used to use and let them sit mouth down for a little while. Those old plastic holders let any water left in the case drain away and the neck will not sit in it like they do if you use a loding block. I'll NEVER do that again!!

[tward]

Best part is the primer pockets are spotless. I use a lee depriming die. Bought steel pin at a place in North Tonawanda, ny. Tim

[mkf350]

Another happy user of stainless steel media. It can do what no other cleaning method can in a couple of hours.