BB's as a tumbling media?

[moptop]

I was wondering how this would work, substituting BB's for stainless steel pins as a tumbling media. Has anyone ever thought of or tried this?

Any thoughts?

[MtGun44]

Hey, how about fine grind corncob with a bit of NuFinish added?

Just curious, have you tried corncob? What problem is the steel pins and BBs
supposed to address?

Bill

[Longwood]

Someone here said that the weight of the brass, acting against the media, was actually what does the polishing.
Another member suggested BB's.
Makes sense to me,,, so I tried it.
Works great. It is cheap for 6000. Give it a try if you use the dry polishing method.
I can clean my brass to cleaner than new in an hour in a vibrator cleaner if I put them in a sonic cleaner with a citric based cleaner, for a half hour first.
I also use rouge or metal polish along with a small amount of Nu-Finish and walnut shell snake bedding.

[357maximum]

airgun bb's are made of copper coated or uncoated mild steel....won't rust be a factor at some point?

I have and use the SS pins in a homemade ballmill/drum and I use them for rough/dirty brass along with citric acid and could not be happier....the ss pins are worth the price of admission and so is building a wet tumbler/ballmill drum system thingimabob.

[Longwood]

airgun bb's are made of copper coated or uncoated mild steel....won't rust be a factor at some point?

I have and use the SS pins in a homemade ballmill/drum and I use them for rough/dirty brass along with citric acid and could not be happier....the ss pins are worth the price of admission and so is building a wet tumbler/ballmill drum system thingimabob.

I made a tumbler with three gallon buckets that I tried many combinations of dry media.
I never tried stainless pins because I figure it would take $200 or more in pins to do any sized amount of brass.
I tried walnut shells, walnut shells with ceramic beads, walnut shells with BB's, walnut shells with ceramic beads and BB's,
I settled with walnut shells and BB's.
The BB's never get wet, and I live in the desert where steel items do not grow together, so the BB's seem to work perfectly.
One of these days, I want to try the pins in a one gallon tumbler drum that I bought off of Ebay. It is one of the PVC ones and it is very nice indeed.

PS
The tumbler is no where near as fast as the vibrator cleaner with walnut shells and BB's.

[357maximum]

I have seen bb's grow together while still in the original container here...hence my concern. I do not wet tumble very often but it is nice to have tha ability to save some free/cheap brass from the recycler every now and then. Most of my cleaning is dry vibe with walnut hull lizard bedding with a touch of orange oil added to it...it does 95% of what I need. When it gets dirty I replace it...it is cheap.

[Longwood]

If your stainless steel pins are attracted by a magnet,,, don't be too surprised if they rust also.

[moptop]

I already use corncob & wlanut bedding and have 2 vibrators a 1 tumbler. This was just something I was wondering if anyone had tried looking for a less expensive alternitive to stainless pins. My thought was to use them wet but many of you said it works great dry all well. Very interesting! Dang-it, now I'm going to have to get some BB's and try it myself.

Thanks for the responces. Sounds like great minds do think alike!!!

[bobthenailer]

Ive been using BBgun bbs and joy dish washing soap with water for 30 years to clean my brass in a lorten tumbler , works excellent ! and a old timer at the time told me about it !
The ticket would be SS bb gun BBs ! I know a place that has .185 dia SS BBs for 85 cents a pound + shipping but you have to buy 200 lb drum to get that price.

[jmorris]

If your stainless steel pins are attracted by a magnet,,, don't be too surprised if they rust also. Mine can be picked up with a magnet and haven't been dry for a year, no rust.

[Moonman]

ALL STAINLESS STEEL is not created equal.

There are DIFFERENT ALLOYS.

Magnetic Stainless EXISTS.

Mine Has NOT RUSTED IN A YEAR.

I do LOVE my Thumbler's Tumbler and S.S. Media!!!!!