Stainless steel polishing

[1in9twist]

Anyone here using the stainless steel media polishing method? If so, what are your thoughts on it and what does it cost (Aprox) to get started with it? Thanks in advance.

[biggdawg]

i use it and love it.

i built my own tumbler set up

here is my set up

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/BIGGDAWG800/tumbler%20pics/IMG_4635.jpg


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/BIGGDAWG800/2012-09-11223028.jpg

[blikseme300]

Can't remember the purchase cost but the running cost is very low as the media lasts forever. The clean brass is where it shines, pun intended. Nothing cleans like SS pins, Lemishine and Dawn liquid with water. It has other uses as well. I regularly clean sprayer nozzles as the hard water and chemicals scale up and block the apertures. See the pic below.
49108


Bliksem
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Moonman]

1in9Twist,

StainlessTumbling Media.com (STM) a sponsor here, has a set-up,

Thumbler's Tumbler, 15 pound Model "B" Hi-Speed, 5 pounds of S.S. media, Lemi-Shine
for $225 plus shipping.

They have a Deluxe set-up which also includes a BRASS/PIN Sererator $255 plus Shipping.

Buffalo Arms also sells the set-ups.

[Moonman]

1in9Twist,

bigdawg, post #2 has tumbling units made from PVC PIPE of different sizes
for different size units, which I believe he now has for sale too.

Stainless media is available for around $40-$45 for 5 pounds plus shipping, STM, Buffalo Arms,
and I'm sure there are other suppliers of the S.S. pins. ( aprox. .042 dia x .252/.255 in length,
a STAINLESS ALLOY that is also MAGNETIC to aid with seperation and removal.[smilie=l:

[1in9twist]

Sweet! Good info! I am looking forward to trying it.

[maxblaster]

The Only way to go

[abcollector]

bigdawg... weird! I have a setup that looks just like that!! Maybe even identical? :bigsmyl2:

This is a plug for bigdawg- he builds these tumblers and let me tell ya, they are first class, heavy duty and built for the long (heavy) haul! I've had mine for getting close to a year now and am very pleased with the equipment. If you're on the fence about going SS pins and don't have a tumbler, really seriously consider his unit. Oh, and he packages it very well too!

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.

Our water here has lots of hard minerals and plenty of them so the faster you can dry off the brass, the better it looks. On a hot day here that isn't too hard to do but I don't like hot days :evil:

Thanks again bigdawg! btw, I find and ordered mine from bigdawg over on the ar15 forums.

[biggdawg]

bigdawg... weird! I have a setup that looks just like that!! Maybe even identical? :bigsmyl2:

This is a plug for bigdawg- he builds these tumblers and let me tell ya, they are first class, heavy duty and built for the long (heavy) haul! I've had mine for getting close to a year now and am very pleased with the equipment. If you're on the fence about going SS pins and don't have a tumbler, really seriously consider his unit. Oh, and he packages it very well too!

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.

Our water here has lots of hard minerals and plenty of them so the faster you can dry off the brass, the better it looks. On a hot day here that isn't too hard to do but I don't like hot days :evil:

Thanks again bigdawg! btw, I find and ordered mine from bigdawg over on the ar15 forums.



thanks for the props. i have 30-40 of them out there now

no matter what wet tumbler you use you won't regret it one bit. nothing like spanking clean brass.


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/BIGGDAWG800/2012-09-11223036.jpg

[vonzep]

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?

[biggdawg]

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?

i use my frankfort arsnal separator like so:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/BIGGDAWG800/IMG_3484.jpg

i don't use the tub anymore but this is how i do it.

then i put on a towel and dry like i was cleaning a bowling ball. put on another dry towel pat dry and put a fan on them. never had a spotting issue and i have pretty hard water.

you may try using more lemi shine also.

[vonzep]

So crank it around a few minutes under running water and they wash ou?

[biggdawg]

yep, here is a video of my procedure if you want to check it out


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtVHvMNf6tM&feature=plcp

[hunter64]

It is funny, this stainless steel craze hit about 12-24 months ago and everyone thought that the wheel had been invented.

I bought the complete Handloader on DVD and was searching for something unrelated and when I brought up a an early edition from the 70's guess what I seen on the front cover?

A rock tumbler with stainless steel pins and balls and guess what the formula was? Almost exactly what is used now for water, soap and water conditioner (Lemishine).

I built my own and love it but the more things change the more they stay the same.

[Moonman]

hunter64,

Many people weren't even alive in the 70's to read things.

Things have also been improved over time by the users of the system.

The population has increased, so the number of folks using

firearms and reloading has also increased along with ones S.S. Tumbling.

[D Crockett]

I am like many people here I love to make things I read about makeing a tumblet about 14 months ago my first try did not work out I was trying to use a celling fan moter and I did not have the right pullys for it . then a friend gave me a papper folding michine he had at his print shop and before you know it I have a tumbler by takeing off abunch of stuff an moveing one roller here it is http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b483/woody454422/100_2287_zpsbae52277.jpg what took me 8 to 12 hr to do I can do in 2 hr better using ss meida , dawn dish soap , and limon shine D Crockett

[1in9twist]

How do you guys dry em off? Drain off the water and dump em on a towel? I read where a guy was throwing em in the oven? (Which is silly, cuz we all know the wife's oven is for forming Kydex......)

[Moonie]

I've both let them dry in the sun, dry in the living room on a towel and when in a hurry I have used the over set about 225F. The oven in our house is mine, the wife doesn't cook much and knows I am a much better cook. She picked all of the other appliances in the kitchen, the oven (nice convection model) was chosen by me.

[biggdawg]

i dry mine with a towel and then put a fan on them for a few hours to overnight. most of the time a do a batch after work then dry them put the fan on and go to bed. put stuff away in the morning.

[rasto]

Guys what are you still talking about.
Wash your brass during the summer time place it on the direct sun and in an hour is totally dry.
Then after usage place it in another bucket to be prepared for the next year :-)

[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

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/BIGGDAWG800/IMG_3516.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/BIGGDAWG800/tumbler%20pics/IMG_4738.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/BIGGDAWG800/tumbler%20pics/IMG_4791.jpg

[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! :oops: 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.

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/DSCF1256.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/DSCF1257.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/DSCF1258.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/DSCF1259.jpg

[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.