"Ceramic material"

[Nobade]

I haven't tried ceramic media, but I do use random stainless steel shapes in my Thumbler model B with Dawn soap and water. The stainless works great, doesn't wear away the cases, and lasts forever. Being located in a town big on jewelry making (Albuquerque) we have lots of jewelry supply houses in town that have stuff for tumbling and other useful tools.

[hiram]

Very little dishwashing soap (1/2 -- 1 tsp), water, about 4 oz of white vinegar for Thumblers tumbler if drum is half full. Add enough water until you just start to see it rise to the level of the ceramic.

I got my ceramic from ebay but what I bought isn't listed now. Gotta keep watching--small sticks about 3/32 diam, 1/4 -- 5/16 long.

Now, what I am going to do next time I use the solution:

Some of use chore boy to get the lead out. I am going to use the liquid mix as above and throw in a few balls of chore boy to see how it cleans. I expect the cases to be very bright.

[montana_charlie]

I have the Lortone QT-12 rotary tumbler...second hand from eBay.
It is rated at '12 pounds' in comparison with the Thumler Model B at '15 pounds'...so you can see it's a 'large' barrel.
It's said to have a volume capacity of 15 cups...which is actually more informative than the 'weight thing' when talking about 'how much' of anything you might want to put in it.

And, I have two barrels for this tumbler.

In the first barrel, I run four pounds of 3/32 x 5/16-inch angle-cut cylinder media, which works out to about 3 1/2 cups. For that amount of media, I use one cup of liquid...made up of 2 ounces of 'citrus cleaner' and 6 ounces of water.
Two or three hours in the tumbler makes BP cases clean and bright.
This combination generates a bit of foam, but it evaporates pretty quickly after the drum is opened.

Then, I 'dry' the ceramic tumbled cases by running them in the other barrel for two hours...in walnut shell. It's hard to tell my reloads from new brass.

I don't rinse the cases before the walnut tumble, but I do rinse and dry the media after each use.

The Lortone QT-6 is the same machine, but has a 'shorter' barrel. It is the same diameter as the 12-pounder, but is only half as deep. The diameter is the important part, because that determines 'how far' the tumbled media/brass travels during each rotation. A small diameter would have to run much longer to equal the total distance traveled (per tumbling period) in a large barrel.
I believe the QT-6 would be just as efficient as mine, but would only handle half of the 'maximum' capacity.
I highlighted 'maximum' because I don't think I am running at maximum for my 12-pounder...and the 6-pounder may be able to handle the same amount I currently use.

I use four pounds because that quantity fits in the colander that I use for washing the media.

CM

[WARD O]

Anyone tried the soap used in automatic dishwashers rather than hand diswashing soap? It is supposed to be low suds isn't it?

Ward

[montana_charlie]

Anyone tried the soap used in automatic dishwashers rather than hand diswashing soap? It is supposed to be low suds isn't it?

Ward

That might be right. But actually, I think powdered laundry detergents are a low-sudsing type, too. Otherwise, a lady could have a real mess in her laundry room.

Another possibility would be the detergents used in high-pressure power washers. But, those are so concentrated, you could easily get more than you wanted. One thing's for sure...a gallon would last a long time if you only needed four drops per tumbler load.
CM

[August]

The downfall of the Sidewinder is the drum. Dick Rhody know as Dick Dastardly has one and had to buy the entire drum when it failed. Told me it cost almost $100 Later David

RCBS has always made good on drums that went Tango Uniform in my experience with them. I had one leak and RCBS had a new one at my door -- on their dime -- within a week.

[cajun shooter]

I was only relaying information given to me by this shooter and I will say that RCBS has been good to me but maybe not always with everyone. I use the Thumblers mdl B and would have no other. Traded my old mdl B to have the UV-18 and realiized I made a mistake so bought new Mdl B from Buffalo Arms.

[sheepdog]

I haven't tried ceramic media, but I do use random stainless steel shapes in my Thumbler model B with Dawn soap and water. The stainless works great, doesn't wear away the cases, and lasts forever. Being located in a town big on jewelry making (Albuquerque) we have lots of jewelry supply houses in town that have stuff for tumbling and other useful tools.

Elaborate "random stainless steel shapes".

[montana_charlie]

Elaborate "random stainless steel shapes".

Here's one example...
http://www.kingsleynorth.com/skshop/....php?catID=789

If you read about steel shot media long enough, you will probably find information that says it has three times the mass of ceramic media. Therefore it impinges on the item being polished with more force. That has the effect of work-hardening the article, which is a 'good thing' for jewelry.

But, you may not think that so great for cartridge brass which becomes brittle when work-hardened...and suffers from cracks and splits.

I have never used steel media, but decided not to when I read that.

CM

[Gellot Wilde]

I use nothing but the RCBS sidewinder liquid media...makes a really good job IMHO.

[sheepdog]

Here's one example...
http://www.kingsleynorth.com/skshop/....php?catID=789

If you read about steel shot media long enough, you will probably find information that says it has three times the mass of ceramic media. Therefore it impinges on the item being polished with more force. That has the effect of work-hardening the article, which is a 'good thing' for jewelry.

But, you may not think that so great for cartridge brass which becomes brittle when work-hardened...and suffers from cracks and splits.

I have never used steel media, but decided not to when I read that.

CM

I was kinda thinking the same thing, except that it would cut and crease brass. Kinda the reason I didn't go with broken safety glass as media. I had heard that guys at junk yards used to use tumblers with broken glass to polish up old car parts after the clean tank to resell.

[montana_charlie]

I had heard that guys at junk yards used to use tumblers with broken glass to polish up old car parts after the clean tank to resell.

That's an interesting, and rather frightening, idea. As hard as glass is, I would expect it to eat away the tumbler barrel as quickly as it cleaned the objects within it...
CM

[Nobade]

Hmmm, I had never thought about it work hardening the brass. I have been using the same cases for years now and never had one fail, so I guess I won't worry too much. I do know not to do 6.5mm cases with the media I have though, some of the shot will go in but won't come out. Anything bigger or smaller is fine. That's a mistake I won't make again!

[Red River Rick]

Nobade:

Go to the Kingsley North link that MC posted in post #29. They have 3mm ceramic polishing balls. I bought some and use it to polish all my bottle neck cases, even my 22-250 cases.
Never had any "jambing" problems, as you described with the cut media.

Ceramic Media Works like a charm. Makes the ugliest brass look like brand new again.

RRR

[Nobade]

I will have to try some one of these days. So far I've been happpy with the stainless, and since I tumble parts in ceramic media at work to deburr and soften the edges, I just wonder what ceramic does to cartridge cases. I would imagine 3MM balls wouldn't cut away too much brass. Do you notice your cases getting shorter over time?


I just looked up the stuff I'm using, I think this is it:
http://www.riogrande.com/MemberArea/...tainless+steel

Or maybe this will work better:
http://tinyurl.com/yauugfu

[Nobade]

Here's the stuff from Rio Grande - they have many sizes of porcelain balls. I bet this is more like what y'all are using, it polishes instead of cutting.

http://tinyurl.com/y89fjlr

[montana_charlie]

I tumble parts in ceramic media at work to deburr and soften the edges, I just wonder what ceramic does to cartridge cases.

You definitely want to stay away from anything 'abrasive'...which will 'soften edges' and so forth.
CM

[fatnhappy]

search "industrial abrasives" for your town. I guarantee you can find a local supplier, cheap.

[Wayne Smith]

I use the 3mm beads in a Lyman small bowl with no problems and have for years. Yes, you cna use a vibratory "tumbler".

[Flinchrock]

Go to McMaster-Carr's web site, they carry all kinds of tumbleing media, and have a chart covering the relative abrasiveness of the different media. They also carry tumblers. Warning, once you get into that catalog, you may never get out.