Cundiff5535 Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 I while back I ran across a company selling HUGE drums and motors for wet tumbling. Anyone know what I am talking about... Help/Thanks in advance:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Not sure how large you consider "huge" to be, other than very expensive commercial rotary tumblers the largest inexpensive - IMHO - would be a cement mixer. A number of people seem to find the Harbor Freight ones work well and are actually less expensive than the large Thumlers or Lortones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cundiff5535 Posted August 2, 2014 Author Share Posted August 2, 2014 I started a thread a long while back regarding the cement mixer... Need something I can seal up and use pins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trgt Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) Big Dawg Tumblers has huge tumblers (compared to other commercial ones), I have it works great. Maybe call and talk to him, me mentioned a lot of commercial operations have been buying multiples of his stuff. http://www.biggdawgtumblers.net Edited August 2, 2014 by trgt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polizei1 Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) A lot of people use cement mixers. I will be adding one soon, and plan to add pins. Whether you need a seal is debatable, I would run some first and see if you have pins falling out. If you do, there's several cheap methods of sealing the opening. Search youtube The only reason I can see for buying a "traditional" tumbler is because of the space a cement mixer takes up, but if you have it...HF sells them for like $130, which is substantially cheaper, and a higher capacity to boot! Edited August 2, 2014 by polizei1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cundiff5535 Posted August 2, 2014 Author Share Posted August 2, 2014 Again, I have used a cement mixer forever ... Don't want this... Need a cover. I'll check with bigdawg tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Unless you grossly overloaded a cement mixer or failed to tilt it up enough, I don't really see how you would lose pins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brassaholic13 Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 From what I have read, as I have no first hand knowledge, the issue with a cement mixer is that the pins all gravitate towards the bottom, and tumbling doesn't really occur as it should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmanktm Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 I don't know how much brass you plan to do at one time but this Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Rotary Case Tumbler can do 1000 223 at a time and it is easy to drain and rinse the brass when you’re done. You still need a media separator to make removing all of the pins easy. The Frankford Arsenal is a very nice user friendly piece of equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cundiff5535 Posted August 2, 2014 Author Share Posted August 2, 2014 I need something I can do a 5 gallon bucket with... I have around 35 full 5 gallon buckets that need to be cleaned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougCarden Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Bobby, get a concrete mixer, order size 1040 corncob media from Greenproducts.com, and use some laquer thinner and half a container of nufinsh car wax. Let it run for 4-8 hours. You can do close to a 5 gallon bucket of brass in some calibers, some you can do more...depends on how big of mixer you get. It will be like brand new...... DougC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 If you want to do 5 gal buckets at a time, I'm thinking of getting one of these. You can get it without the stirring attachment and the tub which cuts the price somewhat. Just put two or three ribs in a 5 gal plastic bucket and it will stir the brass and pins. http://www.mixall.com/products/m-58-compact-mixer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cundiff5535 Posted August 2, 2014 Author Share Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) Guys, again... I already use a cement mixer. It cleans the crap off of the brass very well.. (all my brass comes from an outdoor police range so its very dirty and caked with mud/clay/rocks/salt). The cement mixer works out well:) but, I do not get the polish of what a lot of my friends do who use pins and a Big Dawg or Frankfort. Since I am only using some soap and cool water at this point (I do not have hard water so I do not need Lemi Shine), I want to get something that I can run it through on a final rinse cleaning with pins.Additionally, I have and awesome "container" that we made... it works like a charm but, I need a motor and/or device that will turn it. I tested it on a tread mill but, I do not have the room to keep a treadmill set up in my shop.... see video link:) With this setup I can get well over a 5 gal bucket in:) Thoughts/Feedback/Help!!! http://vid1078.photobucket.com/albums/w481/cundiff5535/IMG_2052_zps9b5d8adf.mp4 Edited August 2, 2014 by Cundiff5535 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 What are the dimensions of the container ?? It might fit in the Mixall that I mentioned. I've got the dimensions of the rack on the paint mixer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trgt Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 I think lemi-shine does more than cut the hard water, the citric acid helps with the shine. I think you can find at Walmart, or use the home brew citric acid recipe in link below, I'm not sure which is more cost effective: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?83572-Citric-acid-brass-cleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cundiff5535 Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 What are the dimensions of the container ?? It might fit in the Mixall that I mentioned. I've got the dimensions of the rack on the paint mixer. Ill have to measure it up... its at the shop... ill let you know when I get over there:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cundiff5535 Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 I think lemi-shine does more than cut the hard water, the citric acid helps with the shine. I think you can find at Walmart, or use the home brew citric acid recipe in link below, I'm not sure which is more cost effective: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?83572-Citric-acid-brass-cleaner From my experience the lemishine can start to turn the brass a different color and take some of the "yellow" out of it. For that reason along with others I am not getting into (we are not starting the dezinc debate again), I leave it out. The fact that most of my friends who use pins are not using lemishine with perfect results tells me its not 100% necessary to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SD1 Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 C&M if you need beast mode. http://www.candmtopline.com/tumblers.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjacobs Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Ive got the Big Dawg dual large 8" drums with the motor and timer upgrade. I can do 3k pieces of 5.56 at a time. Could probably squeeze a little more into them. Thats 21lbs of brass with 25lbs of media. You can go as high as 24lbs of brass so in theory you could get almost 1800 into it(1785), but I dont know if it would physically fit in the drum. Love it. Only issue's I have had were my sizing lube gets stuck to the walls of the drums, builds up and on the next run it seems to come off the walls and stick to the brass keeping my brass from coming out clean. I have started cleaning the drums/pins after each session with really hot water(as hot as my tap will run) and some simple green. Takes an extra 5 minutes per session to slosh it around and rinse the drums, but I havent had a single issues since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 By the time you get the water in them I imagine it's a good workout to just empty them. How much water do you add to the brass and pins ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Go big or go home: If you don't want to spend that much, here is more practical solution: http://www.gunsite.co.za/forums/showthread.php?26168-Yet-another-rotary-tumbler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cundiff5535 Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 ^thats pretty close to what I would need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 I'd think it would be slow/clumsy to unload, unless there is a larger port I can't see in the photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjacobs Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 I'd think it would be slow/clumsy to unload, unless there is a larger port I can't see in the photo. By the time you get the water in them I imagine it's a good workout to just empty them. How much water do you add to the brass and pins ??? I fill them up. I would say its less than 5 gallons total. I generally fill a 5 gallon bucket almost full and I still have a little left after its filled. Im guessing they weigh about 55-60lbs fully loaded. Its not that bad, but yea, thats the worst part, but I only do it once or maybe twice a day depending on what I am doing. I'd think it would be slow/clumsy to unload, unless there is a larger port I can't see in the photo. Yup a tiny hole like that would be a HUGE pain in the ass to empty. To the OP if you really have 5 gallon buckets to do, you could build a frame like was pictured which is very similar to the frames that Big Dawg makes, but size it for a 5 gallon bucket. Build your 5 gallon bucket with some "wings" in it to agitate the mix out of pvc cut into 1/4's. You can buy lids that snap on, but have a separate screw together top. I looked at building a few different things before spending the money on the Big Dawg. 50lbs of pins is a 300-400 bucks shipped, the bearings and steel rod for the barrels to ride on were like another 100, motor another 150-200 for the nice fan cooled motor, steel was another 100, PVC for the tubes, caps, etc... were like another 50-75, pulleys were 25 or so. Then all the time to build it and paint it. In the end the 1100 for the Big Dawg was WELL worth it IMO to just get it and start running it. I went to his shop to pick it up and shot the shit with him for a bit, he knows his stuff and gave me lots of tips and techniques for getting great results. I have the big Dillon media separator and I can just squeeze(if I am careful) the full 1500 pieces of 5.56 into it, but it takes a while to spin all the pins out. I do about half the barrel at a time and it seems to go much faster. I have 2 5 gallon buckets, 1 gets all the brass for rinsing, the other gets the dirty water and pins for rinsing. Then I head to the bathtub in the basement bathroom and rinse. It takes almost an hour to empty, rinse, and put everything away and have brass on towels drying with a full load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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