Harbor Freight 3LB Rock Tumbler Review

[bradandash925]

I do not want to be stepping on peoples toes here but. I am always willing to try something new to prep my brass especially my .223 brass. I went out and bought a Harbor Freight 3lb tumbler. I had a 25% off coupon so I was eager to use it. I did not have any stainless steel media so I tried it with 50 pcs of .223 brass dish soap and Lemishine. 1 hour later...The brass is shiny and looks like it was in a tumbler with corn cob media for 3 or 4 hours. I only did 50 pieces but it was easy and only took an hour. If anyone else has tried this what was the max number of .223 you tried to fit in the tumbler at once? I recommend everyone at least try this before they go out and spend more money on the media than the tumbler. YMMV those are just my 2 cents. I attached a before and after pic. I wont label them but guess which one is the after pic (If the pics are not up to par my bad I had to resize them down from 6MB a piece to less than 250kb each)

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[bradandash925]

************ UPDATE ************ Works after 30 Min!! Just tried same results after 30 minutes.

[Iceman2733]

Pics are not showing up :/ <br /><br />Sent From Mobile Land<br /><br />

[Steve RA]

Pics do work, but, rather small.

Results do look better, hate to disappoint, but don't hold a candle to doing them with the pins. For the prices involved, worthwhile.

[Steve RA]

Here is an example of stages:

[Steve RA]

Run an ad and see if you can pick up two lbs of pins from someone who has a large quantity and try with them, won't increase your investment too badly and will give you a fair comparison if you decide to go bigger. If not bigger, then you'll be able to turn out high quality results on a small scale.

[HighCountryStalker]

I agree on the 30 minute timeframe. I do use the SS pins as well but all the recommendations I saw were for the 2 hr range but I have been getting excellent results in less than 1 hr. A 5lb bag of pins might seem a little costly but they never wear out.

[bradandash925]

I would love to try it with some stainless steel media. If anyone has some I wouldn't mind buying 2 pounds off of them.

[buckaroo45]

Try this .... http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/stainless-tumbling-media-refresh.html

[bradandash925]

I just purchased a one pound spool if stainless steel wire in .041 diameter and got a pair of wire cutters and went to town. This was only 6 dollars for that pound. It took a little bit of time but if you want the media same day and have some time to kill this is an option.

[Steve RA]

With that diameter of "pin", watch out for this:

[bradandash925]

.041

[TonyK]

You can also run corn cob in a tumbler without the water, manages to do just fine with my 45 brass after just an hour.

As for how much you can load, most rock tumblers are made to run 75 to 80% full or more. Load up the brass and media to that amount and you should be fine. As for count, that's about 250 45 rounds and corn cob in each of my 6 lb tumblers. My tumbler holds two drums so I can run about 500 rounds at a time.

Just remember that rocks weigh a lot more than our brass but you need some room for the brass to tumble....

I have even thought about using a different media (maybe some walnut shells) in one of the tumblers to make it a two stage process

It's a lot simpler to not have to dry out the brass.... But no, it doesn't come out as pretty as the stainless media and water trick.

Edited November 3, 2013 by TonyK

[Steve RA]

Generally, most of the water will come out while seperating. I like this as you can't sling pins all over (or whatever you use to tumble in).

[Youngeyes]

With that diameter of "pin", watch out for this:

Hey Steve, I thought you were the small, primer 45 guru. That there looks like an old fashioned, large primer case. For shame. It is, however, real shiney .

[Steve RA]

You are correct !!! Pic was taken by my shooting partner before I saw the light.

[Steve RA]

For shame Youngone - shiny has no E !

[bradandash925]

My brass is amazing when I take it out of the tumbler. Then after a while I get weird discoloration spots on them. Why does this happen?

[Steve RA]

Rinse a little more and after you get it seperated put in old bathtowel (not one of wife's favorites) and shake back and forth for 30 seconds or so. This will remove the water from the outside and do away with the spots.

[Youngeyes]

For shame Youngone - shiny has no E !

pre-coffee vowel blooper. (say that 10 times fast)

[Steve RA]

You win - only made it to eight !!

[bradandash925]

I will try that.

[1sickPuppy]

Using harbor freight dual drum tumbler... Rifle brass took me about 3 hours to get these results...

[charliez]

I am wondering if coarse glass media (or fine sand) would make a good media for web tumbling?

[bradandash925]

you should try and tell us about your results.