Brass Cleaning & Polishing

[tchepone]

Does anyone here have experience using the Harbor Freight 1¼ cubic foot cement mixer (#91907) for cleaning & polishing brass? http://castboolits.gunloads.com/images/smilies/customs/Bright%20idea.gif or not?

Is it worthwhile? How noisy is it? Ever see one available with a poly drum?

I am considering it for wet cleaning with stainless steel pins, citric acid, detergent and water.
To date I have been using that process with a Thumler's tumbler model AR-2 rock polisher, with great results, but it is time consuming because of the limited capacity.
The cost of Thumler's Model B tumbler is pretty steep compared to the HF cement mixer. Thanks...G

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I don't know if this helps or not, but reading reviews for a particular item on the HF website generally tells me if that item is worth spending money on or not. I pay particular attention to well written reviews by people who sound like they know how to use that equipment and tend to disregard reviews from individuals that sound like knotheads.

As far as the interior of the drum, you can spray it with truck bed liner, the smooth kind from the auto parts store. Should work fine that way.

To date, I've not been fooled yet by a tool I've bought from HF. I've had great success with many projects using those tools where if I had to buy other brands, would never have owned the tool.

Hope this helps,

[tchepone]

Dave: Thanks for the reply. I did read a lot of the reviews on the HF website, that is why I posted the thread. I always take any reviews with a grain of salt, because of not knowing the knowledge or abilities of the reviewer. As you say, some are "knotheads".
I too have purchased a few items from HF, some did the job well, others were just so much junk.
Thank you for the suggestion of the truck bed liner. That should help to quiet things down a bit and be easier on the brass.
I will continue with my small Thumlers tumbler for now and study this a bit more. Thanks again...G

[dragon813gt]

You can buy a Kobalt brand mixer at Lowe's that has a poly drum. It's a lot bigger unit and costs $300. It's great for mixing concrete. I've used it a few times for brass and it worked well. But it's easier to process small batches in my tumbler.

[Jackpine]

I have not used one for polishing brass, but have experience with it as a cement mixer. I few years ago I was doing some repair work on an old boat house. I am on a hill and the only way to get to the boat house was to carry everything down three flights of stairs. This unit could easily be hauled down and back. I was also worried about whether or not it would hold up, so I bought the HR warranty, that I think cost me under $20 for two years. I mixed cement using about 60-80 five gallon buckets of sand. (got my son-in-law to haul the sand for me) By the time I was done, the motor was doing "funny" things and I had another smaller project that I planned on doing, so I took it back and they gave me a new one, no questions asked. I am fairly sure they would have just refunded my money, if I had asked. The only problem is the assembly, which involves what seemed like two thousand little bolts, but with a power driver, it went pretty fast and was pretty simple. If mine would not have been covered by the warranty, I think I could have easily replaced the motor with an old furnace motor, which would probably last forever. There is not much else on the unit that would ever go bad.

I think for brass tumbling it would hold up fine, as your brass is going to be much lighter than cement. If you are really going to run it 24/7, buy the warranty and you are covered. It is belt driven and pretty quiet. The brass tumbling will make a lot less noise than the mixer.

I know a commercial caster, who puts a coating on his bullets. He uses a mixer for getting the coating on evenly. It is a bigger unit than the HF model and he has made a framework that goes inside the drum that a square kitty litter bucket slides into. The plastic construction and square corners work great for him, and is much quieter than it would be with the brass bouncing off the metal sides. The kitty litter buckets would not fit in the HF model, unless you cut open the top of the barrel. You could do that, or depending on volume you need, find some kind of plastic or Tupperware type container that would fit.

Hope that helps.

Jackpine

[farmerjim]

I have one of the HF mixers. It works fine for mixing concrete. You should be able to put a 5 or 6 gallon plastic bucket in the drum and pack it tight in the center with old blankets or packing material and use it as a tumbler.

[Jackpine]

Had not really looked at my unit for a while and got to wondering about the size, after I sent my post, so I went out and checked it. Neither of the plastic five gallon buckets I had would fit, but what I think is a 12 or 14 quart plastic utility pail would fit. Maybe you could find a square or rectangular plastic waste basket. Something with square corners would give you much better action than a round bucket. The light was not real good back in the corner of the shed where it was, but I think the opening measured 10 1/8 inches.

After looking at mine, it dawned on me that I really don't have any foreseeable future use for mine and would sell it for $75. I am about an hour and a half west of downtown Minneapolis. It would not be worth the hassle of packing and shipping it, but thought I would throw it out, in case you are ever up this direction. (I know this is not the classified section, so hope I am not breaking any rules!!) Of course, if you plan on running it really hard, it might be worth the expense of buying it from HF and buying the two year warranty.

Good luck,

Jackpine

[tchepone]

Jackpine: Thank you for the offer. I rarely get out your way so I'll pass on it.

Is yours the 1¼ or the 3½ cubic foot unit? The smaller one would seem better suited for my idea. I would like to toss in a quantity of brass, along with stainless steel pins, Lemishine and detergent and let it turn for a few hours. Do you think it would hold up to this? The HF description is not clear if the motor is rated continuous duty? The unit turns at 35rpm, which appears to be similar to the speed of my small Thumler unit.

Jackpine and Farmerjim: Why do you feel it necessary to place the brass inside a bucket of some sort? Would not the mixer paddles do the job? Do you see a problem with keeping the brass from bouncing out of the mixer?

The assembly of the unit sounds like it will take some time. It was the biggest complaint on the HF reviews. Poor instructions and bolts not fitting. I'm sure I would have no problem overcoming that.

Thanks....G

[Jackpine]

Mine is the smaller, 1 1/4 model. I think it would hold up fine. I ran mine for hours straight mixing max loads of concrete, in hot, humid temps, inside a boat house, with little air movement. Your brass and mixture will be much lighter. You have not said how much you are going to run this. If you are going to run it for MANY hours, I would buy the warranty and get a refund if you are not happy with it. My understanding is that they will give you a refund or replacement.

The assembly was not that big a deal. It was just a PITA because of all the little bolts.

I suggested the bucket for several reasons. First it would be much quieter. Second, you will beat all the paint out of the inside of the mixer. Not really a big deal, unless you don't want lots of little red flecks in your brass. I also think it would be easier to mix and empty the bucket and then slide it in and out of the mixer instead of dumping the mixer. After watching my commercial bullet maker in action, is just seemed like a real slick way to do it. Just my thoughts. Either way, you would have no problem with the brass bouncing out. You can set the barrel at any angle you want from straight up to strait down, at about ten degree increments.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you do and how it works.

Jackpine

[big bore 99]

I had one of those mixers. Never used it for brass or cement. I had my own small tool and die shop and used it to tumble small copper parts that I silver brazed together. Worked beautifully. Dump about 500 in with a shovel of sand and some water and let it do it's thing for about an hour. Hosed off the parts and sent them to the platers. I used mine for about 8 yrs without any problems doing about a batch a month. I sold it then for almost what I paid, so I had a good deal on it.

[tchepone]

Jackpine: Thank you for the additional information. My plan is to use the mixer a few times a year to process something around 10K handgun brass and 10K rifle brass. So it may run for several hours a day for a few days. Based on what you and others are saying I don't see a problem with performance of the HF unit, but the extended warranty may be cheap insurance in the short run. I will take the inner bucket idea under advisement. I also like the idea of coating the insides of the barrel/paddles with truck bed liner, as suggested by Dave in Georgia. That may preclude the "little flecks of red paint in the brass" issue, as well as help with the "noise".
Thank you to everyone for your ideas and your personal results with this HF mixer. I'll post developments as they occur, but it won't be until next year. I have most of the brass completed for my winter's shooting.
Thanks again....G :drinks:

[monmouth]

http://youtu.be/bDuE5-yegqc

My setup.

[monmouth]

Jackpine: Thank you for the additional information. My plan is to use the mixer a few times a year to process something around 10K handgun brass and 10K rifle brass. So it may run for several hours a day for a few days. Based on what you and others are saying I don't see a problem with performance of the HF unit, but the extended warranty may be cheap insurance in the short run. I will take the inner bucket idea under advisement. I also like the idea of coating the insides of the barrel/paddles with truck bed liner, as suggested by Dave in Georgia. That may preclude the "little flecks of red paint in the brass" issue, as well as help with the "noise".
Thank you to everyone for your ideas and your personal results with this HF mixer. I'll post developments as they occur, but it won't be until next year. I have most of the brass completed for my winter's shooting.
Thanks again....G :drinks:

10k worth of brass is simple with a mixer.