standles Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 All: I have followed bigdawgs designs and have read through mounds of postings here and on other sites. I always saw the diameter of the pipe mentioned but never the lengths. It also mentioned volume of water but not whether that was empty or loaded with brass and pins. So I have a question, When deciding on the length of the pvc pipe do you leave any headroom for water or just fill to top and water in and around brass is enough? I put 1500 308 cases in an 8 inch pvc and it was 18" deep. Is that good enough or should I add 4 inches for headspace? Thanks, Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mach1soldier Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 I don't leave more than an inch of headspace. That's just because I don't want to spill any while putting the lid on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 I leave about that amount and it works just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dddoo7 Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 (edited) The higher brass to pins ratio you have the longer you will have to tumble. If I have a really full drum I tumble for 6 hrs, but I always have more weight in pins than brass. You don't need any "extra" space for everything to tumble properly. I used to use a 4" pvc pipe 6" long and could fit 75 pieces of 223 and 3.5 lb of pins. Water filled in around everything and it would tumble just fine. I still have that chamber for tumbling very small batches of brass...but don't use it very often. Edited April 11, 2015 by dddoo7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standles Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share Posted April 11, 2015 Many thanks for your help. I have been worried about this all week. The 8" was purposefully designed for 1K batchs of 308 and 30-06. I will cut to 18". I have 20# of pins so I will make sure not to exceed that in brass weight. (Thanks for that pointer). I have some 6" I am going to make into smaller drums for pistol but I can get multiple drums on tumbler with them. Again thanks and I knew I should have just asked this community first. Seven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dddoo7 Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 (edited) I have a 6" drum to and don't use it since I put together the 8" drum. Even if it is not full it seems to work better....and your rpm's will be quite a bit higher with the 6" drum. The siZe of the drum changes the ratio of the final rpm in most tumbler designs. I have mine at about 55 rpm for the 8" pipe and close to 80 rpm for 6" which is border line. When I tumble the 4" pipe I put toilet flanges on either end to make it 6" on the tumbler. Just put all 20 lbs of pins in your 8" pipe and whatever brass you have and then fill the rest with water. You will be better off with another 5-10 lb of pins than a 6" drum. Edited April 11, 2015 by dddoo7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suncoastarmory Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 I searched but couldn't find plans. Can someone point me to thread on putting together this type of tumbler? Also, how are you drying the brass? Thanks! Firerarms, Parts and Accessories www.suncoastarmory.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Read all this, should answer all your questions: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=130815 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dddoo7 Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Read all this, should answer all your questions: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=130815 This...but read the whole thing before you start to build. His first prototype had many issues with it that were fixed in later versions. Mine is actually made with a 1hp Baldor motor and everything is bolted to a 3/4" piece of plywood. It has tumbled 1000's of rounds of brass with no problems. I built a round cage to separate pins after tumbling and it works great. I turn it in water to separate pins and then empty the water and tumble a few more turns to get the majority of the water out. Then I put them all in a towel and shake them around to remove more water. Then I lay them out on a square of carpet to air dry. They will dry twice as fast with the primers removed...probably because more water comes out in early stages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkreutz Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 I was too lazy to build my own, I stuffed a 5 gallon plastic bucket into a cheapo Harbor Freight cement mixer. I glued 3 strips of PVC inside the bucket to tumble the brass. I clean about 1500-2000 pieces of brass per load with 5# of pins. Takes about an hour, then I rinse in a media tumbler that was filled with water (otherwise the pins stick to the cases), then rinse a few times and spread them on a towel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dddoo7 Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 I was too lazy to build my own, I stuffed a 5 gallon plastic bucket into a cheapo Harbor Freight cement mixer. I glued 3 strips of PVC inside the bucket to tumble the brass. I clean about 1500-2000 pieces of brass per load with 5# of pins. Takes about an hour, then I rinse in a media tumbler that was filled with water (otherwise the pins stick to the cases), then rinse a few times and spread them on a towel. I actually considered a cement mixer, but I don't have that much room in my reloading room and I don't have a garage. If I had plenty of money to play with I would build a magnetic agitator that would spin under a 5gal bucket. I think it would work better and faster than a pipe, but the neo magnets alone would cost more than my whole tumbler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) Diameter has a lot more effect on tumbling than length because of distance traveled or circumference of the drum. The first ne I built used two 12.7 gal/100lb chlorine buckets (one connected. To the drive motor the other just nested inside the first one to make it easy to fill and empty. This is what a gallon of .223 and a few hundred 458 socom looks like in the bucket Best drying in Texas is in the sun during the summer. In 2.5 beers, the brass is not only dry but too hot to hold n you bare hands. One load of 3000+\- cases. I did build a few really big ones for a local business, they use an over head winch to load an unload the drums. Edited April 12, 2015 by jmorris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standles Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 Jmorris I did see your designs when I was researching. The dual drum big sucker was impressive. It was easier for me to find a motor and gear it down via pulleys than find/buy a geared motor like yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standles Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Now I find the motherload of tumbler drums, http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=9372319&convertTo=USD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaldor Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 A few pictures of mine. I got the idea from BigDawg on AR15.com. https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108191164546106790196/albums/6093507290552369281 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standles Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Thanks for pointers to pics. Nice work there. Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suncoastarmory Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 This may be crazy. But what about an old ice cream freezer?? Has a cylinder and motor?Firerarms, Parts and Accessories Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkreutz Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 This may be crazy. But what about an old ice cream freezer?? Has a cylinder and motor? Firerarms, Parts and Accessories www.suncoastarmory.com Might make the ice cream taste a bit "funny" (I think anything that turns would work) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suncoastarmory Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 For sure. I sure wouldnt eat any out of it! Might have to hit the thrift stores and see if I can find one to try.Firerarms, Parts and Accessories Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standles Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 I tried one a long time back with walnut media (not wet) and it was mediocre. You will have to find a way to make the aluminum cylinder watertight as it is not as built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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