My new recipe for cleaning brass

[housedad]

Ingredients:

4 cu ft electric cement mixer (paddles removed)

110 lbs of Lizard Litter walnut shells

one 32 oz bottle of Frankford Arsenal Polish

8 capfuls of Nu-Finish

8000 rounds of 40 S&W (Dirty as heck)



Stir for 4 hours.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Separate when done.

Serve









Bion

[jcwit]

Now thats a tumbler, yes sir.

[stargzer]

now thats a tumbler, yes sir.

ditto!

Now, what's for Lunch?

[copdills]

He's THINKING BIG YALL, he says NJ but I think he's from TEXAS

[timkelley]

Sir, I commend you, THAT is one serious tumbler.

[Shiloh]

How long to fire 8000 rounds, or is this a brass acquisition?? Either way, it is still A LOT of brass!!

Shiloh

[housedad]

Brass aquisition. Started with 3000 Lbs of brass, now at a total of 4300lbs. All needs sorting and cleaning

Works real well with the walnut.

Can't wait to get the money to buy another and fill it with corn cob and get a real good polish!!

Still trying to build a better sifter. Rotary this time.

[No_1]

Cleaned is good enough for most and polishing is just an added touch of niceness IMO. Saving / making money was your primary goal when you first ask about doing this and purchasing more equipment at this point cuts down on the return that will help SWMBO understand that this is a great idea. I am looking forward to your sale post in the swapping and selling section.

On the sifter thoughts. Is there a way to attach a large screen using a clamp (hose clamp?) to the mouth of the mixer? In that fashion you could attach the screen, lean the sifter down, turn it on and let the motion of the mixer sift the media into a large box then you can swap boxes, remove the screen, face the mixer into the box and dump the brass. You would have to make sure the screen is attached TIGHTLY so it does not come loose and you would also have to make sure the mouth of the mixer is surrounded by the dump box so it does not "sling" media all over the shop.

Sure would save funds, time and space if you could keep from trying to build something you may not need....

Robert

[housedad]

Great minds think alike. I just came back in from the garage where I had just thought about fabricating just such an animal for the front of the mixer.

I'll let ya know how it turns out.

You are right about the polishing, of course. The wife saw my post and pretty much said the same thing. (not as nicely though!)

The only things I'm waiting on before selling is for my counting scale to arrive (tomorrow) and my Priority Mail boxes and supplies to arrive.

[No_1]

Great minds think alike? Would that be me and you, me and your wife or me and y'all?

The counting scale is the only way to go. When I was the honcho on GatorChecks, I bought a u-line counting scale. It was not cheap by any means but it did the job fast and accurate. Just remember to zero the scale and tare the scale every time you start because different manufacture brass has different weight. When my dad gave me all his reloading / casting gear there was a tremendous amount of brass (a castzillion pieces ) that he had cleaned but were in huge bags, boxes or whatever storage device he had at hand. The counting scale along with bulk zip-loc style freezer bags (tough construction, zipper seal, identification area to write on) made sorting by amount / brand / caliber much easier. You may consider storing the cleaned brass in boxes or 5 gallon buckets until you get an order then package on demand instead of bagging by 100's as some may want 500 or more which would require bigger bags.

USPS on-line store will send you everything you need flat rate wise at no cost. I have found that ordering multiple times vs. a single huge order works better. You will also find that some Post Offices do not want to process more than 10 packages at a time. If you do the on-line shipping though their website, you can print the shipping label with postage attached then schedule a pick-up from your house. I find they do not complain all that much if you only schedule 1 pick up a week. Go easy on the driver when he comes the first time and let him or her know how many packages you anticipate doing. He / she will let you know how many packages they can handle per pick you then you can schedule pick-ups accordingly.

I am very interested in your progress and glad you found something that you are able to do instead of just sitting around doing nothing. I am sure your wife feels the same way...

Robert

[No_1]

I was thinking about your set-up. As long as your media is moist from the additives, it will produce very little dust while operating. Once it starts to dry out a little you will get a dust cloud from it while it is running and if you leave it on too long you will find a fine layer of dust covering every surface in the room it is located (SWMBO will not be happy). You may want to figure out how to attach a towel or something across the mouth while it is running to help keep the dust in.

Another thing to consider is a timer. They are cheap, all the parts can be had for ~$20 at Home Depot or Lowe's. This is a 12 hour timer. It is wonderful to turn it on, walk away and forget about it without worry. Here is a picture of mine:

I have and run 3 tumblers now: walnut, rouge and corn. All have cut-out switches located on them but they are all plugged into a power strip that is plugged into the timer. I can run anywhere from one to all at the same time and of course they are controlled by the timer. Sometimes I load them up then turn them on before I go in for the night. The next morning they are done and I do not have to listen to the racket while I am working in the shop. Even the dirtiest of cases don't stand a chance after 4-6 hours running time and the final polished cases look like gold.

Robert

[crabo]

Mineral spirits is a good additive to clean cases.

[compass will]

For getting the media and brass separate:
Put screen across the top of the barrel, small enough to keep the brass in the barrel.

turn mixer on, tilt mixer into wheelbarrow (or bucket large enough to hold all the media) and the walnut comes out and brass stays in. With the mixer running it should even still tumble the brass enough that all the walnut will come out of the cases.

I sort of do this with my Lyman cleaner. I loosen the lid enough that the brass can't come out, turn the tumbler on and hold it sideways over a bucket. Media comes out and brass stays in. (my method will still leave some media in cases since it don't tumble like a concrete mixer does).

[mold maker]

Use a sheet of poly to cover the mouth of the drum. The media wont dry out and create dust.
Office supply store has rubber bands large enough to hold the plastic on the drum. My mixer was from Harbor Freight. The metal drum and gear drive made a terrible noise.

[ddeaton]

What brand is that mixer? It looks pretty simple, I like it. I want one.

[housedad]

You know, everyone has talked about how noisy theirs is. This one I have is not noisy at all even with a full load of brass. The poly tub and the amount of media eliminate any clatter noise. The drumm just makes a shhhhh sound from the media moving. The motor and gearbox are really quiet. I'd say it is about as loud as a v-6 car engine at idle. I could go to sleep with it running.

unfortunatly, the front rim does not have a rolled lip like the metal drums.

[Russel Nash]

crabo wrote:

Mineral spirits is a good additive to clean cases.

Actually, I like the low odor mineral spirits best for in the tumbler use.

It doesn't smell as bad.

It keeps the dust down for starters and if any of the headstamps have had a magic marker ink line run across them it helps take them off too.

Throw in some used Bounce dryer sheets and they will absorb some of the dust too.

I swear I saw a picture somewhere else of a guy's setup with a concrete mixer.

Maybe it was yours housedad... I can't remember, but he used bungee cords to keep a plywood lid on his.

[Russel Nash]

housedad wrote:

Can't wait to get the money to buy another and fill it with corn cob and get a real good polish!!

My recommendation is to NOT blow the money on another one.

That walnut lizard litter is doing a good enough job as is.

Sell 'em just like that.

[housedad]

Robert- Thanks for the idea of the timer. I now have one set up on my tumbler. I can go to sleep at night without worry. The boxes from USPS are already ordered, and I'm all set for inkjet labels. Freezer bags are definatley the way to go, thanks.


DDeaton - The tumbler is a cement mixer from Lowes, Kobalt brand. It is made in Canada by Monarch Industries. It is basically their Black Lynx mixer with a better (cast iron) tilt mechanism and a better stand. http://www.lynxmixers.com/

Russel - I might well try the oil, when this batch starts to dust up real bad.

As far as dust, I went down to the local fabric store and got a 18 inch round needle point frame. I took an old t-shirt and cut out the back and put the back in the frame. There are 3 holes in the front end sides of the mixer, (covered with aluminum tape in my pics) that I put stove bolts and hooks into. then I bungeed the frame on the front. Works real good and was cheap, lightweight, and easy to remove and install

The 1/4 inch steel mesh on the front did not do so well on the first try. The brass tended to not stirr with the tub in the pour position. I will try experimenting with installing a couple of paddles on the frame.

So far I have cleaned about 40K 9mm, 20K 40cal, 16K 45, 4K 223, and 6K 38, all in the last 5 days.

It definately cleans the brass wholesale. Whatever your can fit in a 5 gallon bucket is the normal load with the amount of media I have in it.

I found if I leave it in for 5 hours, the brass comes out really, really shiny.

I'm glad I went this route. I wanted to provide a clean, decent product. If I had to use standard vibratory tumblers, I would go nuts trying to do all this. I figure it is as fast as operating 6 Dillon 2000 tumblers at once.

[No_1]

Sounds like your evil plan is working out except the media seperator part but I would "assume" that most the media comes out in the current process leaving very little to remove later. I wonder if maybe not tilting it all the way into the pour position will help any? You have shown some very ingenius thoughts in making this work.

A co-working is looking for 223, 45 and I think 38 also. When do the brass sales begin?

Robert