Discovery - media

[mdi]

I said I didn't want a vibrator in an earlier post so now I gotta eat my words! My rotary tumbler was a little small and I took it apart to try to make a larger one and now it don't work, so I bought a vibrator. Damn! That thing is LOUD!

Anyway, I have tried just about everything for cleaning media (I am a tinkerer, and love to experiment) from dried coffee grounds to rice to sand to pinto beans. I usually keep an eye out for stufff that will work for my reloading chores and I found a new one that works. It's a "green" cat litter (not diotomacious earth/clay stuff). It's called "Good Mews" and it's made from recycled paper. It's kinda hard and looks a lot like rabbit pellets, same color too. Wife gets it in 30 lb bags for under $10.00 at Fred Myers. I'm testing it now with the vibrator out in the shed (did I say it's loud?) and so far it seems to work. I filled the tub about 3/4 full with Good Mews and dumped in about 150 .38, .44 mag., and 45 ACP cases. After an hour they are starting to shine a bit. I'll report back if there is any important info after testing. Working so far...

[Hardcast416taylor]

I find that ground corncob and some Nu-finish car wax gives a nice shine as well as clean case. I`d be careful about adding .38 brass in with .44 and .45 brass. They can get jammed together and are a bear to take apart. Same goes with 9mm and other small acp type brass in with larger size cases.Robert

[HeavyMetal]

+10 on not mixing case of different caliber!

If the noise bothers you put a card board box over the thing for an 80 DB noise reduction!

However do not do so if you do not have a lid on it as the dust will destroy the thing real fast!

Paper is very abrasive and, depending on it's size this may work very well for at least the larger caliber case's. As I have posted before rice and comet are a good combo for anything 30 cal or larger. Other wise it sticks in the case.

[jcwit]

20/40 grit corn cob with liquid auto polish/wax. Available for $22.01 free freight, from Drill Spot, 40 lb., bag. Thats .55 cents a lb. And it doesnt get caught in primer pockets or flash holes.

Oh and BTW, mine just hums, not loud at all.

[mike in co]

I said I didn't want a vibrator in an earlier post so now I gotta eat my words! My rotary tumbler was a little small and I took it apart to try to make a larger one and now it don't work, so I bought a vibrator. Damn! That thing is LOUD!

Anyway, I have tried just about everything for cleaning media (I am a tinkerer, and love to experiment) from dried coffee grounds to rice to sand to pinto beans. I usually keep an eye out for stufff that will work for my reloading chores and I found a new one that works. It's a "green" cat litter (not diotomacious earth/clay stuff). It's called "Good Mews" and it's made from recycled paper. It's kinda hard and looks a lot like rabbit pellets, same color too. Wife gets it in 30 lb bags for under $10.00 at Fred Myers. I'm testing it now with the vibrator out in the shed (did I say it's loud?) and so far it seems to work. I filled the tub about 3/4 full with Good Mews and dumped in about 150 .38, .44 mag., and 45 ACP cases. After an hour they are starting to shine a bit. I'll report back if there is any important info after testing. Working so far...

if you are at one hour and they are not clean and shinny........... move on....

what i dont understand..is that there have been over a dozen threads on this very subject.
what works and is cheap is corn cob(14/20 size) with ot without nufinish car polish in a vibrator for one hour.

what you are using is too big to begin with.
its noisey cause you are not using it with the proper media...all the stuff you mentioned less the sand.
it needs to be on a solid base...buy a couple of bricks if you do not have a slab some where.

you will probbaly find this out when you get done with this batch, but mixing case sizes in a tumbler is not a good idea.

mike in co

[mdi]

if you are at one hour and they are not clean and shinny........... move on....

what i dont understand..is that there have been over a dozen threads on this very subject.
what works and is cheap is corn cob(14/20 size) with ot without nufinish car polish in a vibrator for one hour.

what you are using is too big to begin with.
its noisey cause you are not using it with the proper media...all the stuff you mentioned less the sand.
it needs to be on a solid base...buy a couple of bricks if you do not have a slab some where.

you will probbaly find this out when you get done with this batch, but mixing case sizes in a tumbler is not a good idea.

mike in co

Well, mixing cases is no big deal. The 38s that were inside the .44 and .45 brass just fell out when I dumped the stuff out. I'm aware of corncob media (I think I first used it in 1987) but that's "designed" for case cleaning and what fun is that? It's also available in pet stores. I know all the store bought case cleaning stuff, but I like trying different ideas (If nobody tried something different would anybody be using beer can material for gas checks or floor wax for boolit lube?). Besides, I live in a small town that has three places to buy gun stuff, and none sell reloading supplies. I know I can get it on line but why bother, and pay shipping? I found a usable substitute, cheap too. I don't limit myself on any one way of doing reloading related tasks, as some just might be better than I've tried yet. Not too hard to understand, is it?

I put the vibrator on the floor (1 1/2" plywood), and it made noise. I put crushed walnut and some brass and it was still too loud (walnut media too big?). Put it on a braided rag rug on the floor (1/2" thick + 1 1/2" plywood) and it's not as loud but still unpleasant (besides the directions, yes I do read them, state to set the vibrator on a hard flat surface for ventillation, so no boxes over the unit either). Still louder than I like.

I've been reloading off and on for 35 years so I'm aware of some things about reloading, and my intention was to share some findings with the forum, not ask for help. Plus I haven't seen one other post on the new cat litter, so it can't have been covered a dozen times...

[deerslayer]

I went from walnut media to corn cob and it went from leaving the garage loud to oops that tumbler is still running 2 days later quiet. So yes the media makes a big difference as well as the volume of media in tumbler needs to be mostly full for less noise and more efficiency.

[deltaenterprizes]

Thanks for the info on Drill Spot.

[Dennis Eugene]

Md,more power to you. keep on trying new things and keep on letting us know how they work out. But a small town with only three gun supply stores sounds like a major sized city to me. Dennis Eugene

[GeneT]

IME, corn cob gives the brightest shine, but won't clean really dirty brass. Walnut is a little less bright, but abrasive enough to clean well. I get mine as "Lizard Litter" at the local pet place.

When experimenting with different media, watch for anything large enough to get stuck in the case and stay there. I tried some course corn-cob from the pet store and it cost me about a dozen decapping pins on my progressive press...

GsT

[mike in co]

IME, corn cob gives the brightest shine, but won't clean really dirty brass. Walnut is a little less bright, but abrasive enough to clean well. I get mine as "Lizard Litter" at the local pet place.

When experimenting with different media, watch for anything large enough to get stuck in the case and stay there. I tried some course corn-cob from the pet store and it cost me about a dozen decapping pins on my progressive press...

GsT

just aint so.....
corn cob will clean and polish brass.... dirty or not.
AGAIN FOR THE THIRD OR FOURTH TIME.....no other commercial reloader that i know uses walnut...they all use corn cob...is that a hint or what ?( yes a couple use wet cleaning...but no one uses walnut)

mike in co
THE COLORADO BRASS COMPANY

[thebigmac]

Whenever you use corncob,(that's all I use) put in a few sheets of USED dryer
sheets to collect the dirty dust. I have the large Dillon vibrator and put in seven
(7) half sheets, set the timer to go on at 2:30 AM & off at 6:30 AM. Noise be damed, but I found out years ago to use an extra pound of corn cob and it get's
quieter.Mac

[mdi]

just aint so.....
corn cob will clean and polish brass.... dirty or not.
AGAIN FOR THE THIRD OR FOURTH TIME.....no other commercial reloader that i know uses walnut...they all use corn cob...is that a hint or what ?( yes a couple use wet cleaning...but no one uses walnut)

mike in co
THE COLORADO BRASS COMPANY

Well, for the eight or nineth time, crushed walnut shells are more abrasive than corn cob material thus cleans faster! Walnut will not give a bright shiny finish as ground corn cob media. Industry will mostly go with what's cheaper to keep their costs down, even if it takes longer, just good business sense. Is there a clue in there?

[David2011]

MDI is right about the walnut vs corn cob. If your vibratory cleaner is noisy you either have too much brass or not enough polishing media. I haven't noticed a difference in noise level between corn cob and walnut but without enough media they are very loud. I fill the polisher almost completely full of media. If I don't put too much brass in it's very quiet. If it rattles, there's too much brass.

David

[David2011]

JCW IT, Thanks for the Drill Spot info. Ordered some this evening.

I tried Arm and Hammer cat litter once. It LOOKED like suitable corn cob. Didn't work worth a flip. Don't waste your money unless you want your brass and polisher to smell really fresh.

David

[jcwit]

Glad I was able to help.

[Tom W.]

Just keep the lid on the thing so you don't get any "help" from your pets.....[smilie=1:

[GSM]

Just keep the lid on the thing so you don't get any "help" from your pets.....[smilie=1:

I always fear that when I leave my bucket of media open.

Wouldn't put it past them, either.

[ulav8r]

Polished some brass about 3 weeks ago. The tumbler was a Midway purchased at a flea market for about $35. That seems like a lot but it was barely used, had a load of corn cob media in it plus 45ACP brass that I sold for $20. The media looked clean so I used it. Put in just over 300 .380 cases and ran it for 3-4 hours. Some of the brass looked good but well over half was still quite bad. Added a squirt of Flitz about 2 inches long and ran for another 9 hours. All the brass was polished but much still had dark stains in patches. The media looks dirty now and the dryer sheet I added to keep down the dust looks filthy.

One hour may be enough for clean, relatively new brass but it won't cut it for brass that was picked up off the ground 30-35 years ago and corroding sincd then!

When I replace this media, I will probably try the Nufinish as an additive.

[WallyM3]

I have my own little apostate 45/45/10 mixture in my Dillon 2000. 45% corn, 45% walnut and 10% white rice.

I've considered using Basmati or Wild Rice, but this mixture gives me the results I like in my cases, so I'm holding up on the high octane stuff.

I'm investigating the use of little stainless steel pellets as an addition to corn in a separate tumbler for "show time" brass.

:mrgreen:

[Crash_Corrigan]

I go with the corn cob media with a blast of Nu finish car wax. I add the car wax to the media first and let it run for a few minutes to distribute itself amongst the media then I add the brass.

I put on on the concrete patio and let it run all night while I am sleeping. In the morning all is well and I separate the brass from the media and put them away in plastic air tight containers for later use.

Yes the Walnut is better for really grungy brass but then it still needs a polish with the corn cob. I have used the dryer sheets as well and they do work well to diminsh the nasy dusty stuff that you are left with at the end.

In case you did not know this is very nasty stuff and contains a large amount of lead from the primer pockets and such and you should be careful not to ingest it at all.

[jcwit]

Crash Corrigan, this is exactly the same process I use. Works like a charm, the patio block takes care of any noise"unit just hums". Will add that most any rag will pick up the dust.

And a tip for those that have just starded, if you're getting any deposit of any kind on the bowl you're using way to much polish. This is a case where less is best.

[Storydude]

I'd like to see corncob remove the scale from annealing my 9mm for swaging into 10mm.

I've resorted to ceramic media.

[deerslayer]

I have been asked how come I use 12 galons of media in my polisher. Here's why.
I bought this concrete mixer at Harbor Freight for a little more than $200. I could have bought a used one but I did'nt want to clean a used one up. When I assembled it, I just did'nt put in the paddles. I secure the opening with a piece of ruber liner I had and a bungee cord. Two and a half buckets of media to one bucket or so of brass. I usualy run this for 2-3 hours with moderatly 'fresh' media and 2 1/4 oz. of magic rub compound. I have to clean the media after about 35 polishing hours. The polishing time for each load varies on the 'freshness' of the media used.
Yep, those are totes catching the media. The red one has 1/4" holes drilled into its bottom. I've told you guys I try to save money for the cool things. You can't tell but I use the smaller, finer walnut media. I think it does a better job because there is more surface area to use. Also, it has to be cleaned less and it flows thru the holes in the tote better and with less effort just by being lifted out and set at an angle over the green tote. This is a back saving move.
To clean my media, I have begun to put the media in a pillow case, wire tied at the top of course, and set into the old washer I have. I repeat the wash cycles until the water is for the most part clean. I use two or thee bags at a time or I counter weight the load with something heavy. (I use a lead bar) After the media is done cleaning, I run the washer thru a cycle just to get rid of any lingering dirty water. I dont know if I should advise you to run this media thru the dryer or not. Its your washer. I do but I am not maried so if the pillow case tears, (knock on wood) there won't be any unhappiness, I just have to clean it up. I mean, its a $50 washer and dryer I am using here.
The media will dry just being left out in the sun. But i really like the washing machine for this. Before, I was washing them out by hand and it took twice as long and was back breaking.



[COLOR="Purple"]Mike, the above is from Kens brass sales so yes there is someone in the industry that uses walnut. Not saying that it is better just pointing out that there is someone that uses it and does do alot of brass.