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frankford arsenal wet tumbler?


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Foxbat, you must have seriously messed up water dude

We have very good quality well water, slightly hard, but I add the Rinse Aid to it.

I also tried the ArmorAll, and I like the shine I get with the Dawn better.

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Sarge:

Before you quit, try adding about two ounces of vinegar along with the ArmorAll and see if that helps. I use Dawn and vinegar but think I'll try the ArmorAll instead of the Dawn and see what happens.

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Hit the brass with a very light coat of One-Shot is you want to avoid tarnish. Also helps lube loading process.

I just started using Wash and Wax, brass hasn't set long enough to see if the 'wax' part is effective for me.

Vinegar is just a weak acid, assume same effect as Citric Acid/Lemishine.

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Wikipedia:

Edit

Citric acid is an excellent chelating agent, binding metals. It is used to remove limescale from boilers and evaporators.[10] It can be used to soften water, which makes it useful in soaps and laundry detergents. By chelating the metals in hard water, it lets these cleaners produce foam and work better without need for water softening. Citric acid is the active ingredient in some bathroom and kitchen cleaning solutions. A solution with a 6% concentration of citric acid will remove hard water stains from glass without scrubbing. In the industry, it is used to dissolve rust from steel. Citric acid can be used in shampoo to wash out wax and coloring from the hair.

http://coffeetime.wikidot.com/descaling-brass-and-copper

Brass is an alloy of metals primarily copper and zinc for the common brasses (roughly 70% copper 30% zinc. Using Citric acid on Brass dissolves a minute amount of the metal (don't worry it won't hurt it), but the dissolved copper can re deposit (the zinc doesn't) back onto the surface of the brass, giving a "salmon pink" colouration. This is such a thin layer that it can easily be cleaned off. With pure copper pipes this same effect redeposits fresh copper back onto the pipe, with a characteristic "salmon pink" tinge, that is quite distinctive compared to the "aged" copper patina.

I'm no chemist but I think the answer is that citric acid [Lemishine, AFAIK) both softwens water and dssolves a little of the surface layer off the brass.

Edited by Beastly
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I ran my first batch through the FART yesterday, and the results were so pretty I had to take a pic:

IMG_1532.jpg

That is after 90 minutes, a capful of armor all wash n wax, and a dash of lemishine, no pins. So far I am very pleased.

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Outstanding, right? Next time, try de-priming and use the pins....it will be even better.

I ran my first batch through the FART yesterday, and the results were so pretty I had to take a pic:

IMG_1532.jpg

That is after 90 minutes, a capful of armor all wash n wax, and a dash of lemishine, no pins. So far I am very pleased.

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I have found the key to shiny brass is in the rinse. I clean with pins for 2-3 hours, drain and remove pins. I fill it back up and rinse and dump. Fill one more time and runs it for 30 minutes with clean water.

I use armor all soap and lemishine for pistol and dish soap and lemishine for rifle. I use a pretty hefty amount of all the cleaners.

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I just bought my FART.

Guys that are loading precision rifle what ratio are you using for pins to brass? I size and then tumble for 15minutes. The way I tumble now is using a harbor freight tumbler that I made a container out of 4" PVC.


Do you guys notice the inside of the FART getting dirty/staining from the carbon? With PVC the carbon would continue to stain and get to a point where the brass would come out gray, dull. Think this is why the Thumbler uses the rubber insert, since the carbon will not stain it. The containers that came with the HF tumbler confirm this.

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Five pounds of pins, fill to about 70% full with brass, add water until brass is covered. Then toss in whatever additives (soap, Lemishine) you like and tumble 90-180 minutes depending on dirt level and amount of shine required.

Time to lock this thread I think. It's so long now no one's bothering to read everything and realize their questions have been answered a dozen times already.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Same size drum. Drum only opens on one end. Drum has no windows. Base takes up more space than FART. Pin size not listed. Similar (higher?) price.

Except for coming with a basket separator that won't work as well for separating and rinsing as the rotary type, I see no benefit and more than a few drawbacks to the Lyman over the FART.

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Same size drum. Drum only opens on one end. Drum has no windows. Base takes up more space than FART. Pin size not listed. Similar (higher?) price.

Except for coming with a basket separator that won't work as well for separating and rinsing as the rotary type, I see no benefit and more than a few drawbacks to the Lyman over the FART.

Yeah, I'm not sold on it either. And I'm certainly not going to trade my FA for it. I just found some of the design interesting as it clearly copies the FART in some instances...the drum material the drum liner, the timer. They probably had to make some changes for patent reasons (assuming FA has a patent, I don't know).

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  • 3 weeks later...

After using the FART for some months, I pulled my old Dillon tumbler out of its exile - call me silly, but I do love the shiny brass!

Ran a batch through it, and - Ahhhhhh!!!! - the timeless beauty of polished brass is back!

So now my process is as follows: dirty brass goes into the FART, then Case Pro for sizing, then it gets the polish in the vibro tumbler.

This way the tumbling media gets far less contaminated, and I get polished brass.

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After using the FART for some months, I pulled my old Dillon tumbler out of its exile - call me silly, but I do love the shiny brass!

Ran a batch through it, and - Ahhhhhh!!!! - the timeless beauty of polished brass is back!

So now my process is as follows: dirty brass goes into the FART, then Case Pro for sizing, then it gets the polish in the vibro tumbler.

This way the tumbling media gets far less contaminated, and I get polished brass.

I thought the FART is supposed to get the brass shinier than the tumbled brass?

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After using the FART for some months, I pulled my old Dillon tumbler out of its exile - call me silly, but I do love the shiny brass!

Ran a batch through it, and - Ahhhhhh!!!! - the timeless beauty of polished brass is back!

So now my process is as follows: dirty brass goes into the FART, then Case Pro for sizing, then it gets the polish in the vibro tumbler.

This way the tumbling media gets far less contaminated, and I get polished brass.

I thought the FART is supposed to get the brass shinier than the tumbled brass?

When used with pins, but they add another layer of pain in the ass. Vibro tumbles is easier for me to use, less mess too.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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