kevin c Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 My trusty Dillon tumbler is crudded up again (I guess I'm too generous with the Midway/Franklin Armory brass polish). Soaking in water and detergent - the stuff just laughs at that - doesn't even soften up. Straight Simple Green and similar cleaners soften it a bit, but it still takes major effort to scrape off. I'm reluctant to use carb or brake cleaners, Kroil or other nonwater based agents without knowing what they might do to the bowl. Any suggestions for a quick and harmless clean up? TIA, Kevin C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywalker Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 Maybe you can try with petrol or avio gasoline? It shouldn't hurt the bowl... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 Use one of those steel wool, or metal mesh pot scrubbers and let the abrasive do the work along with a little soap to soften things up. -- Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajarrel Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 kevin c, Just a possibilty, but try taking a tumbler full of old tumbling media and dosing it liberally with mineral spirits. Close the lid and let it work a while. Mineral spirits are an amazing cleaner and being petroliaum based will probably work well on most polishes. just a thought, dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 I haven't seen the buildup, but I spray and wipe the insides of my tumblers with plain old Windex every other brass lot. If I forget and go three or four, the amount of crud that comes out is almost breathtaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 Plain ol' 70% alcohol takes a lot of the residue out of MY tumbler every time...... Cleaning up the tumbler with each session keeps the media from getting too dirty. No sense recycling the soil you're trying to get rid of in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 The mineral spirits plan is a good one. I've also had good luck with running the tumbler with a small amount of citrus degreaser in the media. Pour a capful of either over a load of brass and media and run the tumbler for an hour or so. Shiny brass, shiny tumbler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dillon Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 Be very careful about using gasoline or other strong petroleum distillates on plastics, such as the tumbler bowl. Most are too strong and will "melt" the plastic being used. Try a cleaner like 409, and use a scotchbrite pad to scrub the interior of the bowl. Mineral spirits are about as strong a solvent as I would even consider using, and then I would just use it outdoors, on a paper towel, just to wipe out the bowl. Do not let it set in the bowl for any period of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 Dillon, So you wouldn't recommend brake cleaner? I use it to clean a lot of things and it works well on the crud in the tumbler too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 The problem isn't with the bowl, but the lid. The bowl is polyethelene (or similar), I believe and is impervious to just about everything but heat. The lid, however, is made of different material. It's ABS or an ABS blend and volatile organic solvents will attack it. Denatured alcohol is the strongest thing you should let near your tumbler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.40AET Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 Damn- Now I need to clean my tumbler too???? Mine looks fine when I dump all of the bras and media out for separation. Next thing I know, your gonna tell me that I need to change the media... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajarrel Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Damn- Now I need to clean my tumbler too???? Mine looks fine when I dump all of the bras and media out for separation. Next thing I know, your gonna tell me that I need to change the media... Is the tumbler good for cleaning ladies underwear as well?????? I'm sorry.... I just couldn't resist dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Larry Cazes Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Wow!....I must be using the wrong brand of polish. Not even a trace of buildup in my tumbler after more then 4 years of use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted August 7, 2004 Author Share Posted August 7, 2004 OK, Pat, 40AET and Larry, what kind of polish are you guys adding to your media that leaves the bowl so pristine (no Ty-Dee Bowl jokes, please )? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Larry Cazes Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 I have been using the blue polish from dillon with fine corncob media. One capfull per load does the trick. I am using a midway cleaner with the black plastic bowl and as of almost 4 years it still needs no cleaning, squeaky clean. I am loading with WST for my .40 and .45 and have started using HS6 for Tracy's open gun recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Kevin, I was just downstairs changing loads in the tumbler and checked it. Mine is pristine clean, just like the brass that comes out of it and now that I reflect on it, I have never cleaned it either. I run several calibers of rifle and pistol brass through my small (non-Dillon) tumbler and never have buildup problems anywhere. It occurred to me that you might be running it partially full and the layer of scum buildup never gets ground off by media and cases. I always run my tumbler full to the brim with media and cases so it get’s scrubbed just like the brass does. Try running it full of cases and media overnight and see if that scrubs it clean. -- Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.40AET Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 I've been using Frankford Arsenal Brass Polish for 2 years with good results. I still have the same media (fine ground walnut hulls) from 10 years ago. The bowl is 70% full of media and I guess that I put in about 300 .40 cases and let it run for 2 hours. No crud. My tumbler is from Midway and is 17 years old. (I don't know if that matters) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted August 8, 2004 Author Share Posted August 8, 2004 The crud builds up from the bottom, and I keep the tumbler fairly full. The problem seems worse if the media is dusty, less if I do Erik's little dryer cloth trick. Unlike Erik, I get dust in the media even if it is old, though perhaps running batches of brass for up to 24 hours has something to do with that. I change out my media (medium to coarse walnut hull) fairly often, because the coarse stuff, which I like for its aggressive cleaning action, rounds off after a while (probably accounting for most of the dust and at least some of the grunge), both reducing the scrubbing action and also making the granules small enough to lodge in flash holes and HP cavities. ----- Hey, I just tried something that worked pretty well - an over night soak in citrus oil gum/adhesive/tar remover. Most of the heavy stuff came off in big flakes, with the little stubborn bits responding to a second spraying and scouring with a plastic pot scrubber. The bowl looks okay. I'm not 100% sure, since I had hit the mess with at least 3 or 4 other agents before hand - it might have been a combo effect. At least it's clean, and I'll try to keep it that way (you'd figure a doc would understand preventive management). Thanks for all the suggestions and observations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.40AET Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Kevin- I used to run my batches overnight for 8 hours. The media got abused and turned to dust. The dust was a awfull when separating the brass from the media. With 3 tablespoons of FA brass polish I could cut the time down to an hour or 2 and the media stayed together. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolJim Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 I use a product called CLR to clean the crud out of my bowl. I take the bowl off and let it soak for 5 minutes filled with CLR/water. A little lite scrubing and it's all clean. The key is letting it soak in. I'll second mineral sprits. When I used that I would just put a cup in my old (not to be used again) media and let it run. I only clean it when I need new media but I can see it'd probally be better just to wipe it out every time I dump it. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted August 8, 2004 Author Share Posted August 8, 2004 Do you folks add more polish for each batch of brass? My impression is that, after a couple of runs, the media needs to be juiced up with some more polish - perhaps not as much as what goes in to pretreat the media, but more all the same. More polish seems to mean more gunk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Larry Cazes Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Kevin, this thread is somewhat puzzling to me because I have never had to clean the bowl of my tumbler in quite a few years. What kinds of powders are you loading? How much polish do you add and how often? I generally add 2 tablespoons(capfuls) or so each time I clean. I replace the media every 3K-4K rounds as well and dont add any more polish then normal to each new batch of media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted August 9, 2004 Author Share Posted August 9, 2004 Larry, I shoot lead and moly over Universal Clays in practice, jacketed over N320 for matches. I recover 95% of my practice brass and only half my match brass, so the overall ratio is about 5 to 1 practice load brass to match brass going through the tumbler. There are times when I process once fired brass prior to loading, and these are presumed to be FMJ or TMJ factory loads, so that pushes the ratio down some. I use the Midway/Frankford Arsenal polish: figuring about 2# of walnut media per bowlful, I use about 6 tsp, as per instructions on the container, for the first run, and then about 2 tsp every three or four runs afterwards. With the lid on, the water in the polish condenses on the lid and makes a mess. When adding fresh polish I've gotten in the habit of running the tumbler w/o cases for a while, lid off, to let the water evaporate. I don't think this effects case cleaning, but I just now am wondering if that might contribute to the residue build up. Are you a lid on or off type of guy? I'm wondering if keeping the moisture content of the treated media up, by keeping the cover on all the time, makes a difference. If you keep the lid on tight, both during case cleaning and in storage, the sound deadening rubber gaskets make a pretty good airtight seal. If you add more polish every run, that is more moisture. Compare that to my deliberately dry set up and infrequent addition of polish. Just speculating... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted August 9, 2004 Author Share Posted August 9, 2004 (edited) hiccup... Edited August 9, 2004 by kevin c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Moisture, or significant water in the tumbler? Hmmm! Maybe you oughta‘ stop using so much of that polish, or switch to a polish that doesn’t “wet“ the bowl. The only thing other than dry media I use is a few spoonfuls of Isopropyl alchohol added about a half hour before I take the tumbler and dump it in my Dillon separator. The media never gets wet and I have never seen condensation in the tumbler. I have always believed this to be a relatively dry process. Even back when I used a polish (Brasso, but I stopped), I only put maybe a tablespoon of it in. Even in a larger tumbler than mine I can’t see adding any actual volume of liquid to the process. I just let it run the 4-8 hours it takes to get clean and my media is always dry. -- Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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