jmorris Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Great, now do that in the winter in Idaho. If I lived in Idaho, during the winter I would just sit by the fire and hand polish my brass. It was a winter project for me though and while not Idaho it can get cold down here. The first test batch I dried with a little forced air heater in my shop. Just like presses and even guns, no "one size fits all" solution. Also why I have both wet and dry, vibratory and rotating tumblers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russel Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Russel how do you dry the brass? During the hot summer days I lay them out on screened trays. Couple hours and there to hot to hold. During the winter I put them on the screened trays and load them up in a Large dehydrator that I got years back from cabelas ( think dorm room fridge for size). I have only been wet tumbling for the last year. The 25 years Before that it was crushed cob and walnut. Lemi shine and soap go a long way. The reason I use liquid laundry soap is simple not really much suds. Why I switched to wet tumbling. No lead dust in the air. Sure a couple of fabric sheets help but there is still dust. I remember how dirty my hands would get cleaning and sifting the brass. That is a thing of the past. Really it just comes down to personal preference both ways work well. Some don't want to deal with the dust and some don't want to deal with the drying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencerhut Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 You don't need to use liquid to clean brass, especially in a cement mixer. The entire process of adding in liquid adds considerable time and a bit of cost to a process that simply does not require it. Plain old walnut shell from the feed store in 50lb bags along with a small amount of mineral spirits or your favorite brass cleaner (Dillon or Flitz) and toss in a couple of used dryer sheets to cut down on the dust. Simple as that. The cost of liquid (dawn is real cheap, lemishine if desired is cheap per load and water is really cheap) is less than the cost of the walnut shells, mineral spirits and polish. I like to wash brass, well before I used stainless steel media tumbling I used to wash my brass in water and dawn in a tub with some hand agitation (pretty high tech). Those results alone were pretty good and one could have easily loaded the brass after that process. Washing the brass is more effective for some of the brass I pick up as a result of the amount of grit, sand and small stones that find its way into the brass. My drying technique is pretty expensive too, I let the brass air dry... You are using a cleaning technique intended for benchrest shooting with extensive brass prep investment on pistol brass churned out by the thousands. Are you depriming your pistol brass before you clean it? If you are there is one more brass handling step most people don't have. If you are not de-priming then at some point you will have water contamination in your primer pockets. It's just a matter of time. Using any liquid cleaning method on pistol brass, or rifle brass for intended for blasting ammo is a complete waste of time and effort. If you have time to burn, knock yourself out, I've got better things to do with my life than fuss over how shiny my brass is. Who said I was doing just pistol brass? My "brass prep investment", particularly with pistol, is not "extensive" or expensive. No matter what method you use, it takes some effort unless someone else does it for you. I let machines do most of the work for me these days. You have made your opinion clear, but your comparisons and observations aren't always accurate (cost, time, etc.) What have I said that is not accurate? My opinion was earned the hard way, by trying all of these methods. Wet, dry. Removing primers, leaving them in place. Commercial walnut media, feed store crushed walnut. Commercial corn cob, feed store corn cob. Stainless steel pins, ceramic pins. Various commercial and home brew wet solutions. Vibratory tumblers, rotary tumblers, cement mixers, sonic tanks. Flitz, Dillon, car polish, mineral spirits Clean your brass whatever way floats your boat. I'm just trying to save the newbs from being dragged into time wasting OCD insanity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkreutz Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 here's my approach. Dump the dirty brass (primers still in them) into my cement mixer, put in a gallon of water to 1500 pieces of brass, sprinkle of lemi shine, squirt of Turtle wax wash and wax. Run it for an hour or so. my high dollar mixer I pour the brass and pin mixture into a regular media separator full of water, the water is critical, otherwise the pins stick to the cases After a while tumbling, the pins are separate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkreutz Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I pour the pins back into the mixer for next time, and the brass into a 2 gallon bucket with 8mm holes drilled in the bottom and alternate rinsing them on a hole less bucket. usually about 10 rinses. I shake the water out as best I can and then pour the brass onto a table with 8 layers of towels. At each layer, I fold up the towel into a pocket (think burrito) and shake the brass back and forth to get as much water out of the brass as is possible. At the last towel, I spread the brass out and set it in the sun if its summertime, or in the corner of my heated shop in the winter. Takes a couple of hours in the summer, couple of 3 days in the winter. When dry, I spritz some Dillon case lube and shake the back and forth like I did in the drying stage. After that, the quality inspector gives her stamp of approval and I'm ready to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polizei1 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Curious, why are you using the bucket to do the cleaning, rather than just dumping them into the mixer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaskillo Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 The QC inspector is the key to the process!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkreutz Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 (edited) Curious, why are you using the bucket to do the cleaning, rather than just dumping them into the mixer? Are you talking about the bucket in the mixer? if so, that's so I don't take the paint off with the pins and get the flakes mixed up with the brass, if you're talking about the buckets in the sink, they are for rinsing after they've gone through the mixer and the separator. Edited January 19, 2015 by Bkreutz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueeyedme Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I am using a mixer. I have the Kobalt 4 cu yd from Lowes with the poly drum. I clean a 5 gal bucket of brass at a time. 1 bucket of brass and 2 buckets of media. I run 2 hrs in walnut blast media from Harbor Freight sift and then 2 hrs corn cob/nu Finish. Very dirty brass looks like new. Be sure to cover the mixer opening or you will have dust everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaskillo Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 The dust is one thing I don't like when I dry tumble. I use a heavy duty trash can bag secured to the poly drum using the elastic rope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polizei1 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Curious, why are you using the bucket to do the cleaning, rather than just dumping them into the mixer? Are you talking about the bucket in the mixer? if so, that's so I don't take the paint off with the pins and get the flakes mixed up with the brass, if you're talking about the buckets in the sink, they are for rinsing after they've gone through the mixer and the separator. I was talking about the bucket in the mixer. That makes sense, my paint has come off the inside, I don't mind it though, it washes out when I rinse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaskillo Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) Here is my High volume tumbler. 2hp motor I can Dry or WET tumble no problem. 5 gal of brass is nothing. Edited January 29, 2015 by Kaskillo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onepocket Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Kaskillo where did you get that mixer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaskillo Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) I don't remember where I bought it from. It is heavy duty mixer built to last you a lifetime if you take care of it. This one is similar but mine comes with the heavy duty drum tilt wheel with positive break. I think it was ~ $1500 The Industrial on/off switch does not come with the mixer......I just love to have tools that work and look cool. http://www.contractorsdirect.com/Concrete-Saw-Tile-Saw/Cleform-Gilson-Mixers/Cleform-Gilson-300UT-PL-Concrete-Mixer-59016A Edited January 29, 2015 by Kaskillo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencerhut Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I paid like $350 for mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdawgs56 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I paid like $350 for mine. You say you don't have the time to waste. Yet you have posted countless posts on this thread and some of them have been paragraphs. Does that not take your precious time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaskillo Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I paid like $350 for mine. Excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencerhut Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I paid like $350 for mine. You say you don't have the time to waste. Yet you have posted countless posts on this thread and some of them have been paragraphs. Does that not take your precious time? GFY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdawgs56 Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 hahaha whatever. I have better things to do than post on this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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