How many rpm for a barrel tumbler?

[possom813]

I threw together a direct drive 3 gallon tumbler. Sitting at about 10 degrees with 3 full length baffles to 'walk' the brass forwards.

I'm using a low gear motor that direct drives it at about 70-80 rpm.

It's slow, but works, would it be beneficial to make it go a bit faster by divorcing it and speeding it up, or leave well enough alone?


I plan on building a vibratory tumbler as well, but the motor I wanted to use burned up today :x

[biggdawg]

My wet tumbling drums spin at 60-75 rpm and they work fine

[possom813]

Good deal.

I've been playing with this one all day. Taking my .308 brass from the lemon juice and water mix, then shaking off, then putting in a large coffee can with a little bit of walnut, shaking it around, the shaking off the the wet media into another can that I heat up on a tray warmer for it to dry out and be used again. Then polishing, it seems to work well like that and the brass comes out looking great.

[Moonman]

A HI-SPEED THUMBLER'S TUMBLER does 40 RPM drum speed,

The older Thumbler's Tumblers were 30 RPM.

[Sonnypie]

Your speed should work fine. Work on your internal adjitatationin.
Baffles are fine... for mixing cement.
Review how the Thumblers Tumbler, RCBS, and others are made for polishing. You want the brass and the media rubbing at each other, not hammering into each other like mix in a cement mixer.
Try bumps instead of baffles. Note that most of the wet tumblers are a hex design.
Perfection takes time.

[44Vaquero]

Shake! I just finished this one

+1 On the speed bump idea!

How big of a vibratory tumbler are you building?

[9.3X62AL]

A HI-SPEED THUMBLER'S TUMBLER does 40 RPM drum speed,

The older Thumbler's Tumblers were 30 RPM.

I have one of each. Both do a good job in roughly the same length of time (7-8 hours) using untreated corncob grit of size 14-20. I'm not looking to "polish" per se, just clean the brass. This the process does very well.

[possom813]

3 gallon bucket size.

I may add some 1x6's inside to give it a hexagon/octagon shape and make the walls flat.



There are 3, 1"x2" baffles inside, just to keep the brass from piling up in one area.

I tumbled some .308 and .22 hornet all night and it came out nice and clean, but the FC headstamp .308 has a pink hue still on it from the lemon juice bath. Everything else is nice and shiny(albeit some is tarnished beyond my tumbler's skills).

There are about 8 pcs like this, all FC h.s.