SS media question

[Wooly]

After trying every other media to clean 22 cases, I'm thinking about getting some SS. Brownell's specifically says not to use in vibratory tumblers. I understand it needs to be wet, but why no using the vibratory tumbler ? What's the issue ? Any thoughts or experiences to share ? Thanx for the help , Don.

[RP]

The vibratory tumbler will not move the pins around so it all kind of just sits there humming. If your trying to clean the 22 cases after you annealed them I can help you with that. What I do is have a 5 gal bucket with the water and critic acid mix that is warm. As soon as I anneal the cases I dump them into the mix they clean on impact really kind of cool. Now I anneal my de rimmed brass on a turkey fry burner in a SS strainer I shake and flip them like I am cooking popcorn until they are all nice and red then I dump. If you want you can drain rinse then use the burner to dry them off or toss them in the vib tumbler and let the media dry it but then you have to separate that mix.

[Wooly]

Yeah, that's what I'm doing now. I was just wondering if the stainless was worth the effort. I use my brother's huge vibratory tumbler to clean pre-derim, then use my HF rotary with ceramic. I'm looking for more volume cheaply. Might have to buy the HF big tumbler & get more ceramic. The HF can do liquid, it's pretty neat for $140 on sale.

[clodhopper]

I have the 15 lb thumblers tumbler. Will buy a small cement mixer before buying another. Cement mixers are about the same price, with much higher capacity. Thumbler does a nice job cleaning brass, with either tool, separating the pins from the from the brass is a wet, messy, job.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Dillon makes a small media separator that will not allow the 22lr brass to fall through. It works great for separating the pins from the brass. If you go this route, make sure you fill your catch bin mostly with water so the media separator is about 1/3 under the water level when spinning it. The water helps pull the pins from the cases. If you try to do it like you would normally using dry media the pins have a tendency to stick in the cases.

[Bonz]

After trying every other media to clean 22 cases, I'm thinking about getting some SS. Brownell's specifically says not to use in vibratory tumblers. I understand it needs to be wet, but why no using the vibratory tumbler ? What's the issue ? Any thoughts or experiences to share ? Thanx for the help , Don.

Its all about the weight of the stainless steel pins, too much for vibratory tumblers to handle. Before I changed over to wet rotary tumbling with SS pins, I used to throw a handful of raw rice in my vibratory tumbler with my corn cob to give it some abrasive material for better cleaning.

[clodhopper]

The wife used to smile with approval when I went in the kitchen loaded and started the dishwasher.
She is not so pleased when the rotary separator goes in the sink to get some water in the tub, she really hates salad spinner, seems indifferent about cake pans of brass sitting underneath the wood stove drying.

[aaronraad]

You effectively need a vibratory tumbler with a lot more grunt, see the Raytech models below:

http://www.raytechmetalfinishing.com/vibratory-tumblers/heavy-duty/raymf_vt_hd_av25ss.php

...it is possible but a cement mixer takes a lot of beating in terms of off-the-shelf bang for your buck.

[goblism]

I have the frankford rotary tumbler and it works great. I tried a family members rock tumbler once to see what I thought and found the frankford to have higher capacity and quieter

[ncbearman]

After trying every other media to clean 22 cases, I'm thinking about getting some SS. Brownell's specifically says not to use in vibratory tumblers. I understand it needs to be wet, but why no using the vibratory tumbler ? What's the issue ? Any thoughts or experiences to share ? Thanx for the help , Don.

Be sure to read the last several posts about making a single container. I did it and it works great.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?198387-SS-Media-Tumbling-Start-up-small-quantity