tumblers

[starbits]

10 days ago the only tumbler I had was a small vibratory one and to do the 22lr casings right I decided I needed a rotary one. So I started looking on Craig's list and found someone selling a base for a diamond pacific 65T, but didn't have the drum. Turns out I have a drum I found at the dump 10+ years ago. Traded him a Hardigg case I had bought for $35. My free drum is a bit smaller, maybe only 40 pounds, but for $35 I am in a rotary tumbler. Here is a link to the tumbler.

tumbler #1 (http://www.amazon.com/toys-games/dp/B009DIPPNC)

Then tuesday I was at a surplus auction and this came up for sale

tumbler #2 (http://www.usstoneware.com/images/801CVM%20001sm.jpg)

So for $100 and $5 to replace a plug I now have a roller with a 36" long drive bar. It will handle up to 240 pounds and is equipped with a speed control to adjust the rotational speed of the drum. Again there was no drum, but the drive bar is long enough I could use one of those blue plastic 30 or even 55 gallon barrels.

My cup runnith over with tumblers. Now I need a bunch of ss pins and more than a 1 gallon coffee can of 22lr brass.

Starbits

[sigraph]

I haven't tried the stainless media "yet" but use a vibe and green Lyman media for case cleaning.
I'm thinking about trying the stainless media and purchasing a harbor freight rock tumbler to clean rifle casings because it will clean the inside.
I'm curious - did you say 22lr as in 22 long rifle?
Are you going to make bullets from the 22 brass or actually reload it??

[BT Sniper]

Nice find! Your ready for commercial production!

[supe47]

You are definitely tumbler heavy. What nice scores.

[starbits]

I'm curious - did you say 22lr as in 22 long rifle?
Are you going to make bullets from the 22 brass or actually reload it??

yes 22 long rifle. I have a set of BT Sniper's swage dies to make .223 bullets from the 22lr casings.

Starbits

[customcutter]

Sweet deal on those. Hope you can find as good a deal on SS media.

[DukeInFlorida]

One of the forum's sponsors is STM, link at the top.
Their stainless steel media is reasonably priced, and virtually lasts forever.
They stand behind their product! I can speak from personal experience.

A drop of dish detergent. and a tablespoon of Lemishine in your tumbler will make any and all brass come out looking like factory new!

Use the Dillon small media separator to separate pins from the brass. Put a level of water in the media bin to aid in getting the pins to float free. The pins are 400 series stainless steel, and therefore magnetic. A magnet will also assist you in recovering pins.

[supe47]

I second the magnet thing. Pesky little things seem to jump around once in a while. I use a magnet on an extendable shaft to avoid bending down. Also a quick pass close to a single layer of 22 brass will find any cases that have a sneaky pin hiding.

[monmouth]

I wet tumble with SS media a lot. To speed up my dry time, the water heater temp in my house is very high and when I fill a stainless metal bowl with freshly wet tumbled brass, I soak it in really hot water. Then I drain the water and the brass is very warm/hot, roll them around/shake in an absorbant towel, then transfer them on to another towel. The brass dries well without any water spots.

[starbits]

It appears there are 3 different sizes of ss pins commonly available. .041x.255 which gets stuck in the flash holes, .047x.255 which I have not heard any objections to, .062x.495 which someone mentioned getting stuck in some cartridge cases. Phil3333 here on CB had some .062x.255 for sale stating he worked with the manufacturer to get a pin that "would be easier to separate". He sold out and stated he was too busy at work to reorder.

So the question for you guys, has anyone used both the .047x.255 and .062x.255 and is there enough of a difference to make it worth while special ordering another batch of the .062x.255?

Starbits

[starbits]

On a second note while looking for ways to make a barrel for the big tumbler I found this site (http://mbyers.net/scienceclub/b1a1rocktumbler.html). I don't think I will go with tires, but it gave me an idea to use propane tanks with the same style of closure. I could spot weld a couple angle iron pieces inside for agitation. Once I get one close to done I will stop by the local Rhino linings (spray on truck bed liner) and see if they will spray the inside of the tank to keep the casings from banging on the steel tank/angle iron and also make it a lot quieter.

Now all I have to do is get the valve out of a tank so I can cut it. I think they use an 800 pound gorilla with a 10 foot cheater bar to put those valves in. [smilie=b:

Starbits

[customcutter]

I got the cart out in front of the horse a few months ago. I had bought a couple of gallons of brass at the local indoor gun range, and thought I had access to more. Anyway, I was trying to come up with a tumbler and looked online at a couple of the usual places for a used tumbler. The prices were almost the same as buying new. I was thinking of getting 5-10# of the SS media to tumble with. A couple of weekends later we went to visit a friend and the entire gated community was having their annual garage sale. I spotted a small concrete mixer, that looked like new and had a plastic lining in it with 3 or 4 bars inside to tumble everything. Talked the guy down to $80, they go on sale at HF for $149. Anyone used one of them for tumbling? Or am I wasting my time. BTW, my source of brass dried up next time I went, he was under contract to someone. So I'm busy now trying to finish my dies and finding another source of brass. Here's the mixer.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-4-quarter-cubic-ft-compact-cement-mixer-91907.html

[aaronraad]

I got the cart out in front of the horse a few months ago. I had bought a couple of gallons of brass at the local indoor gun range, and thought I had access to more. Anyway, I was trying to come up with a tumbler and looked online at a couple of the usual places for a used tumbler. The prices were almost the same as buying new. I was thinking of getting 5-10# of the SS media to tumble with. A couple of weekends later we went to visit a friend and the entire gated community was having their annual garage sale. I spotted a small concrete mixer, that looked like new and had a plastic lining in it with 3 or 4 bars inside to tumble everything. Talked the guy down to $80, they go on sale at HF for $149. Anyone used one of them for tumbling? Or am I wasting my time. BTW, my source of brass dried up next time I went, he was under contract to someone. So I'm busy now trying to finish my dies and finding another source of brass. Here's the mixer.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-4-quarter-cubic-ft-compact-cement-mixer-91907.html

I'm planning on going the same route customcutter. My only concern is the RPM.

:???:I only noticed recently that the Thumblers Model B came in two motor RPM versions. 1500 RPM for tumbling rocks and 3000 RPM for tumbling metals. I'm not sure the final RPM of the barrel/drum is, which should be more critical? Unless Thumblers are using a 2-pole nominal 3000 RPM to handle lighter density metals than a 4-pole nominal 1500 RPM to handle heavier density rocks and stones?

[monmouth]

I got the cart out in front of the horse a few months ago. I had bought a couple of gallons of brass at the local indoor gun range, and thought I had access to more. Anyway, I was trying to come up with a tumbler and looked online at a couple of the usual places for a used tumbler. The prices were almost the same as buying new. I was thinking of getting 5-10# of the SS media to tumble with. A couple of weekends later we went to visit a friend and the entire gated community was having their annual garage sale. I spotted a small concrete mixer, that looked like new and had a plastic lining in it with 3 or 4 bars inside to tumble everything. Talked the guy down to $80, they go on sale at HF for $149. Anyone used one of them for tumbling? Or am I wasting my time. BTW, my source of brass dried up next time I went, he was under contract to someone. So I'm busy now trying to finish my dies and finding another source of brass. Here's the mixer.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-1-4-quarter-cubic-ft-compact-cement-mixer-91907.html

Never used a cement mixer, but it's going to cost a few bucks to load it up with enough SS media to be effective. I read, but not sure it's accurate, that the cement "bowl" has to be at or near horizontal for best results.

[supe47]

When I think cement mixer, lemi shine, Dawn, water, SS pins and cases I picture a scene out of "I love Lucy". I get some pretty good foam in my tumbler.

[monmouth]

If the cement mixer doesn't work out for wet tumbling, you can repurpose it as a margarita machine :grin:

[mold maker]

Before my range source dried up I used the 3 cf version of the HF mixer, to get NC red clay out, and off of my brass. The mixer was run at about 15 degrees above horizontal, with hot water and dawn. I made a heavy plastic cover held on with bungee cord to contain the suds. It did a great job in about 15 minutes and the tarnished brass was free of grit and clay. It wasn't unusual to process 8-12 gal a week, and getting rid of the die scratching grit, held in the red clay, was a $ saver.
Since the SS pins have become popular I haven't had but small batches to do.
I see no reason why the plastic HF mixer wouldn't work great. The ability to rinse while running works good, but any sand is retained in the drum. I dumped into a 30 X 30 in. 1/8th" hardware cloth screen. When dried the remaining sand fell free. If I had, had one of the RCBS separators, it would have simplified the job.

[TXBW]

I too have thought of the cement mixer but I've read that it doesn't work so well with SS media. I bought a model B and while it works great, the capacity just isn't there for me. 150 .308 cases is about the limit. The tumbler market has some holes in it, and aside from the model B, I haven't seen anything until the $1000 range.

I decided to build my own using a set of plans I found over on AR15's site. When it's done I should be able to tumble 800 .308 cases per batch using around 15 - 20lbs of SS media. The cheapest media I've found sub 25# purchases is $7.90 per lb shipped.

[customcutter]

If it's good enough for Miculek, I guess it'll work for me. Finally remembered where I saw someone using a cement mixer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5y_dsP3dsM

[257]

you can get ss pins at pellets llc. the 047x 255 works best the 041 s get stuck in the flash holes and sometimes two will get wedged in the primer pockets the big ones 062 have a lot of problems stuck inside of cases and not doing a good job on the primer pockets pellets llc has a min order of 25#i bought 50 pounds at 5.15 a pound plus shipping 50 pounds filled 7 1/2 quart jars gives you a idea of volume of 50 #. if you order less than 50# but more than 25# the price is 6.75 a # there phone number is 716-693-1750 these people sell all types of tumbling meadia have a good one

[monmouth]

If it's good enough for Miculek, I guess it'll work for me. Finally remembered where I saw someone using a cement mixer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5y_dsP3dsM

I can't believe people leave all that brass.

[Gliden07]

I have pins that I got from PHIL3333 they work GREAT!!! Wish he had more, I am gathering stuff for a larger tumbler! Someone on here forwarded this site to me for another source for pins. They don't have the exact size as Phils (length) but they do have the larger diameter.

http://www.bullseye-reloading.com/Pellet-Pins-Tumbling-Media.html#C


I have never used the smaller pins like STM sell's because of the reports of stuck pins in flash holes. Hope this helps! Nice score on Tumblers!!

[Weaponologist]

Got a couple thing to share..First, for you guys getting the concrete mixers you can get the bed liner paint from your local Car paint store. I had ordered a custom shooting bench years ago and it was made of solid steel. So wanting to keep it outside I needed a way to protect it. I went to my local Auto paint store and got the truck bed liner paint and they were even able to make it what ever color I wanted as well. I used about 6Qt with a Roller and small brush, and it's been well protected every sense with no rust at all coming through.
Second. On Tumblers, I just ordered one of these < http://www.biggdawgtumblers.net/ > I have a friend that's had one for a few years and loves it. It's not cheap but from what I've seen it should last a life time with little to no trouble. I'll keep you posted if I do ever have trouble..

[tiger762]

I'll second BiggDawgTumblers. I ordered one 1.5 years ago. I got the 20# and 7# drums with it. Twenty-two pounds of stainless steel media. I upgraded to the one-third horse Dayton motor. IIRC, it was $550 shipped. It came bolted down to a sheet of particle board, with spray-in foam material. Extremely well packed, in other words. I've since picked up 10 pounds of media for the small drum. Like others, I started off with a Thumler's Model B. Only complaint was the 3-4 pound capacity. I can now do 125-150 50BMG at a time :redneck:

[Safeshot]

I have seen concrete mixers used as "heavy duty" tumblers. One used with sand and gravel and some "Auto Wash and Wax" soap and water to clean rust and paint off of small steel parts prior to placing the parts in storage for future assembly by welding. It seemed to work well. I think that I remember that the "mixer" was operated a little slower than one used to mix concrete.

[mold maker]

I've even used one to clean range lead. NC red clay sticks like glue, and hides things like a live round. The range lead is already damp and the cleaning allows it to dry in the sunshine. Plus there is no point to burning fuel to heat rocks and dirt.

[fredj338]

Never used a cement mixer, but it's going to cost a few bucks to load it up with enough SS media to be effective. I read, but not sure it's accurate, that the cement "bowl" has to be at or near horizontal for best results.
My buddy bought a small used cement mixer at a garage sale. He rigged it with some brackets for a 5gal bucket with lid. Inside the bucket he pop riveted some plastic bars to provide more agitation. He cleans brass for reloading, a lot at one time.

[mosby's men]

i built one of the biggdawg 2 drum rotary cleaners from the plans he put on the internet i am sure it will out last me .

[midnight]

http://hhimg.com/Starcraft/DSC00992Y.JPG If you need a big tumbler and can pick it up in Elkhart, IN, you might consider this one. The auction ends next Tuesday. I see only the pic came through. This is from a Hoff Online Auctions site. It's the Starcraft Marine auction. The barrel has a 24in opening and is 32 in deep, made of stainless steel. Variable speed 220V 3 phase motor.

Bob