Interesting issue in rotary tumbler

[Evoken]

Good morning gents,

I have been using one of the small rotary tumblers with pins, dawn, and food grade citric for some time now. I believe my pins have worn out. Not rounded or flattened, but they are bleeding the nickel out of the pins themselves.

Last few times I used it I noticed the brass was just not coming clean and had a dingey dark color to it. Now this is uniform and they look clean, just dingey. So, I had a batch of 5.56 that I let go all night. Wow and yuck. Lots of black goop came out of the tumbler and the brass looks almost nickel washed.

This media is most definitely the cheapest I could find and fairly well used. I've had it for at least 3 years and used it for hundred if not a thousand cycles. I have the brass in the tumbler now minus pins to see if I can get it cleaned up.

Has anyone seen this before? What the heck is going on here? My only thought is the pins are degrading. The brass was not that dirty before it went in.

[Bored1]

I just started using a wet tumbler so I am no expert, but I think pictures would help. Also what kind of tumbler is it? Is the drum metal or plastic? I stopped using lemishine or citric acid in mine, but that's because I forgot to rinse a batch off right away and it turned out uglier than it went in. Not sure if that's what happened with yours or not. I rehashed the brass in just plain dish soap, and it looked a bit better.

[Outer Rondacker]

Make sure the rubber is not deteriorating! Just one less issue to think of. That would explain the black. I would run a batch without the pins and see what happens. I have been washing brass for years without pins and it comes out clean. Pictures would help a lot. You should only need to run that brass for 15 mins to make it look new. All night is overkill.

[slim1836]

I run my pins with dawn, rinse, and then run them with plain water after a few sessions of tumbling brass. It may be just me, but it seems to help. Pins are expensive.

Slim

[JimB..]

Run for an hour with just pins, hot water and twice as much dawn as usual.

I sometimes “prewash” the brass in hot water and dawn with pins for 30 min, dump that water, then fill with water, wash ‘n wax, and acid.

[Evoken]

The brass on the left is what came out. Brass on the right is prepped and ready to be washed. Only has spray lube on it otherwise fairly clean. The black crud that was in the tumbler is slightly magnetic and stick to the round magnet I place in the drain to catch the pins. On other thing to mention is some of the pins are starting to rust ever so slightly.

I mentioned possible nickel bleed because it looks similar to when I wet tumbled nickel brass before. It seems the nickel brass does not like the citric acid and looks dirty, especially if it is old and the nickel is already starting to fade away.

[Evoken]

The brass is in the rotary now with just dawn and acid, no pins. I will see shortly if it shines up.

I don't think there is anything wrong woth the brass at this point it just looks weird.

[rancher1913]

let me pose a question, how long can brass be abraded before it is worn out. i think pins used repeatedly on the same brass cause damage thats why i just wash and then use corn cob to polish. maybe im wrong but it would seem a hard metal (stainless) would eat away at a soft metal(brass) so i dont take a chance. sometimes trying to get "pretty" brass just aint worth it to me.

[Evoken]

Also, this is the small plastic frankfort tumbler.

[Finster101]

How long have you had that brass? I am starting to see some brass plated steel stuff show up at our range. I know it sounds crazy, but what could it hurt to check it with a magnet.

[Outer Rondacker]

How long have you had that brass? I am starting to see some brass plated steel stuff show up at our range. I know it sounds crazy, but what could it hurt to check it with a magnet.

Finster hit the nail on the head. I bet if you hit it with a magnet its steel.

[MrWolf]

First make sure there wasn't a piece of steel I the mix. Second, how long are you running a batch? I had an issue with running overnight that made em look like that also. Been awhile for me so...

[XDROB]

My Frankfort tumbler has a timer on it. Longest time is 2 hours. Bought it about three years ago. I'm thinking that the problem is the 'steel' brass also.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[Evoken]

No steel brass. This is all lake city brass, that is mostly factory fired or reloaded by me once. I cut the crimps on all pieces, I am certain it started as regular old American made yellow brass.

[Evoken]

So still super weird. Ran the thing for an hour with no pins and dawn and acid. They started to shine up but still looked weird. Rinsed well then a run of just dawn, then they came out clean but dull.....

Now they are in one last run of dawn and acid, what they are is what they are after this run. Just so strange, I am still leaning towards the pins degrading. I'm certain I bought the cheapest junk pins I could find on amazon, so I am of course suspect of the cheap china crap.

Thus happened the other day also with a batch of 38's I had running, but to a much lesser degree. They were only running about an hour and I noticed I missed a piece of nickel brass in the mix and thought that was the problem.

Just in case the pins picked something up they did not shake, they are soaking in industrial degreaser now. That should get them as clean as they will come.

I would not think this is from the rubber seal or the plastic drum as they should both be resistant to such a mild acid as citric.

[NyFirefighter357]

It is not the pins degrading, it's that they & the tumbling container are dirty. Take your pins, add hot water to the container and add a degreaser like Simple Green tumble for an hour & repeat until it the water comes out clean. How much citric acid are you using? The citric acid is just to counter hard water, you only need a little. Too much soap will also leave residue on the pins & tumbler.

[Outer Rondacker]

More updated pics please.

[gmsharps]

I’ve found that from 15 to 30 minutes gives me the best results. I’ve tried 2 hours before with the brass looking worse than when I put it in. Just my take

Gmsharps

[Evoken]

Here it is after I just unloaded it. Real clean and shiny, but has a more copper look to it than yellow brass. Same thing, ones on the right are ready to be cleaned.

I have just the pins running in the tumbler now with hot water and purple power degreaser, we shall see if that clears the drum up.

Once the brass dries I will run it in some fresh walnut and brass polish. I find doing this keeps it shiny for storage. The polish also seems like it slicks em up for loading.

[pertnear]

It is not the pins degrading, it's that they & the tumbling container are dirty. Take your pins, add hot water to the container and add a degreaser like Simple Green tumble for an hour & repeat until it the water comes out clean. How much citric acid are you using? The citric acid is just to counter hard water, you only need a little. Too much soap will also leave residue on the pins & tumbler.

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