Rock Tumbler

[dale2242]

I am seriously considering getting the gear to do some SS brass cleaning.
Has anyone used this tumbler for that purpose and is it worth buying?
The price is reasonable if the tumbler will hold up.....dale

http://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html

[Silverboolit]

I have one of these that works well. I would also look at the Frankfort Arsenal that just came out. The HF model works, but are limited on the amount of brass you can do. If you are a lower volume reloader, the HF can do 2 different cases at the same time as opposed to the FA with only one drum.

[dragonrider]

Don't waste your money. I have one it came with two belt, neither of which lasted 30 minutes. And it is too small for serious work.

[Beesdad]

I can not comment on the quality but they are too small if you are doing any volume at all. A 20 lb. tumbler will only clean 2 to 3 lbs. of brass...

[DxieLandMan]

I bought one of these to clean my old coins (nothing valuable) and it works great. I have nothing but good things to say but it may be small to use for brass.

[1066]

Although I have no experience with the Harbor Freight machine, rock tumblers in general are designed to run for days at a time. When cleaning brass with Stainless steel media, most runs are an hour or less.

With drums of only 6" diameter they will be too small for anything but the smallest cases or really low quantities.

Many years ago I made a small tumbler with about that size drum especially for my .32 S&W long cases when I was shooting a lot of precision pistol, it was perfect for the smaller pistol cases but no good for anything but a few rifle cases.

I use a rock tumbler myself with 8" drums, still not very big if you want to do a fair quantity of cases.

Saying that - the results are superb.

Here it is in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcyAkj-LzA8

[1066]

There's a review of that exact model being used for tumbling brass here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geAU6HLfi7w

[JASON4X4]

I built one like big dawg tumblers and only have about 115 invested in making it. I did make large pvc tubs and have ran one that weighed about 75 lbs fully loaded I don't remember how many pins I had in it but is was over 25 lbs worth

[Pepe Ray]

I bought one of the dual tub models from H.F. Great LITTLE machine! Ran a batch of G.I. 7.62x51. Great appearance but WAY too small capacity for my purposes. Guess I'm stuck with it now. Way too expensive to ship anywhere.

I ordered the new model Frankford Ars'l, from Optics Planet April 2, Sorry, out of stock, expecting refill 4/7, Whoops!! Manufacturer wont be able to refill 'till--etc. etc,.Finally got restocked 5/31. Shipped FedX. Expect delivery June 10.
Heads up!!
Pepe Ray

[257]

I have a home made one that holds about 4 gallons it works really well, not much invested in it. I had a lot of the parts laying around. my buddy bought one of the new Frankfort arsenal ones it works really well the drum holds 7 quarts, look on you tube there's all kinds of videos on making your own you can get pins from pellet pins llc out of pa. best price is for 50 lb bag

[mdi]

I got a single tumbler from HF in '86. Yep, the drum is small, but it worked until I "improved" it in 2012. I now have a double drum tumbler, that I use for small lots of brass or parts (I can do 50+ .44 Mag. cases per drum quite well). I once tried some stainless steel washers (#6) and small SS cotter pins (I wanted to try wet tumbling without the $$ for the pins) and it worked fine but the mixing the liquid, rinsing and drying, didn't do it for me. But, yep, the big drawback is the small size of the drums, but if you only wanna do 100 or so .38s or 9mm size cases at a time, it'll work fine.

BTW, both of my HF drum tumblers have gone 12 hours non-stop, on occasion, w/no problems...

[MrWolf]

I have this same tumbler that I use with the SS pins. If you are only doing low volume it is not bad but like others gave said you would probably be better off with something bigger.

[waltherboy4040]

I think you can put 1 pound of cases and 1 pound of pins in each drum. I've heard mixed reviews.

[dale2242]

Thanks folks for your replies.
The drums did seem a bit small.
I not into high production but you have convinced me to go for something bigger.....dale