Wet tumbling VS vibratory brass cleaning?

[BitchinCamaro]

For me, no dust was key. The superior finish was icing on the cake!

[EDA]

I wet tumble with a Thumblers. Deprime my 5.56 brass, don't deprime pistol brass. It's pretty after a few hours with stainless pins, dawn, and lemishine. Living in Albuquerque, completely dry overnight, no baking required!

[vwpieces]

I just got a FART. Had it about a week... WOW is all I can say. No Dust, No dirty brass after it has been "cleaned".

Got mine in the Bargain Cave at my local cabelas. After coupon it was less than $110 out the door. I did add another 2.5lbs of pins to the 5# it came with.

One hour is all I have used for anything I have put into it, Rifle & pistol. I did have some Green funky 3006 brass I did have to put into another batch for another run to get it clean. No more buying media ever again as the pins will last a lifetime. Used Lemmi Shine with dollar dish detergent for the first couple batches & then just the dollar bottle of detergent & get the same results.

I have been there & done that per say. Horrible Freight Ultrasonic cleaner, Lyman 1200 vibratory & the FART is by far the best end result & easiest, least time involved with 2X larger batches done.

[Beastly]

I'm bulk processing lanolin-lubed 223 brass for a friend. Bits of various types of media building up with help from the lube. Jamming up the works. Used to my wet cleaned brass. Yuk.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Beastly

[jtrump]

I do both to my brass... First wet tumble with stainless media/lemi shine and blue coral car wash or dawn dish soap, dry it quickly and then put it into a media tumbler with fine grain walnut with dillion case polish..

The final product is super clean brass that feels like its been waxed, runs in the press really smooth..

[TANFARM]

I also use both methods.....I dry tumble may pistol brass primed. I process a fair amount of brass and I think I've got the mixes down.

I use a good dry media and never have a dust problem.

I S/S process all my rifle brass. I deprime all rounds prior to cleaning. With Dawn/Lemishine the results are nothing sort of amazing.

The down side...I think it's a very messy process and all the brass MUST be lubed prior to loading. My first load of S/S pistol brass was a disaster ........brass was so "clean" it hung up on the dies .......lesson learned .

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year.

[CrashDodson]

I started wet tumbling (with pins) a couple of years ago. Before that I went through the dry vibrator and ultrasonic cleaning methods. I changed because I shoot 40K to 50K a year and the other methods took too long. Now I clean 2.5K rounds per load. I tumble them for 1 hour, rinse them off after separating the pins from the brass in a media separator, then lay them on towels until dry. I don't deprime because to me that's an extra trip though the press. I have a lot of brass "in the system" so normally they lie on the towels for over a week or more before I use them so I've never had problems with moisture in the primer pockets. I have a heated shop so outside weather is not a consideration. I really don't understand the statement that wet tumbling takes more time, if I don't count the hour that the brass is in the tumbler(because I turn it on and go into the house and do something else), I spend about an hour total in brass prep for around 2500 cases. I used to spend an afternoon each week cleaning brass the old way and now I spend an hour every 3 weeks.Is

Is that a cement mixer?

[Bkreutz]

Yes, Harbor Freight special (it was right in my price range, cheap)

[Beastly]

I started wet tumbling (with pins) a couple of years ago. Before that I went through the dry vibrator and ultrasonic cleaning methods. I changed because I shoot 40K to 50K a year and the other methods took too long. Now I clean 2.5K rounds per load. I tumble them for 1 hour, rinse them off after separating the pins from the brass in a media separator, then lay them on towels until dry. I don't deprime because to me that's an extra trip though the press. I have a lot of brass "in the system" so normally they lie on the towels for over a week or more before I use them so I've never had problems with moisture in the primer pockets. I have a heated shop so outside weather is not a consideration. I really don't understand the statement that wet tumbling takes more time, if I don't count the hour that the brass is in the tumbler(because I turn it on and go into the house and do something else), I spend about an hour total in brass prep for around 2500 cases. I used to spend an afternoon each week cleaning brass the old way and now I spend an hour every 3 weeks.Is

Is that a cement mixer?

Harbor Freight cement mixer: http://www.doodieproject.com/index.php?/topic/4421-brass-monkey-that-funky-monkey/

[Jim Norman]

I wet tumble with a Thumblers. Deprime my 5.56 brass, don't deprime pistol brass. It's pretty after a few hours with stainless pins, dawn, and lemishine. Living in Albuquerque, completely dry overnight, no baking required!

I have a large Thumbler Vibratory cleaner. You say you tumble wet with pins. Do you have a drain in the tub? I think this might be a possibility. I really don't like the dust. I think it would be good to eliminate it.

[CrashDodson]

Ive tried searching for a "thumbler" but not coming up with anything. What brand is it? Is the cement mixer a good alternative to the frankford rotary? They are about the same price. Obviously the cement mixer will hold more.

[Steve RA]

http://www.thumlerstumbler.com/

For the money, a FART is better.

http://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Arsenal-909544-Parent-Rotary-Tumbler/dp/B017VDSP28

[bzt]

What about this one?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IOE5K5Y?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

[Steve RA]

Somewhat more expensive than the FART, have seen good reviews on it.

[bzt]

Ya, it is more. I didnt like the plastic on the FART. It made me nervous.

[r4ndy]

Harbor Freight has a meat dehydrator for about 20. After wet tumble I put the brass in there to dry. Leave the brass in for a 2-3 hours and it is dry, never had a problem with wet primer pockets. You can dry about 2000 9mm cases in the unit at a time.

[Bkreutz]

Ya, it is more. I didnt like the plastic on the FART. It made me nervous.

plastic doesn't rust.

[Jim Norman]

http://www.thumlerstumbler.com/

For the money, a FART is better.

http://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Arsenal-909544-Parent-Rotary-Tumbler/dp/B017VDSP28

McMaster Carr has the large size. Last time I looked they were north of $400.00!, but.... They Work! That said, I am seriously considering wet with SS pins. One time cost for pins, no dust. HF does have the small cement mixers. I thought about one of them years back for dry tumbling. Figured I'd just fashion a lid, then build a wire mesh sifter box to separate the media from the cases.

[Gooldylocks]

My buddy and I just started wet tumbling. We have done 2 loads so far, about 4500 cases per load. He is a contractor, but the weather here in the willamette valley this time of year isn't exactly cement pouring weather so we just pulled the fins out of his cement mixer and tried it.

We are doing 25 pounds of pins, ~40# of brass, 1/2 teaspoon lemishine, and 3 tablespoons of hornady one shot sonic case cleaner.

Tumble 45 minutes, rinse, separate, done.

[slavex]

Other than a cement mixer I have yet to see a tumbler on the market that holds as much as the FART. I don't understand why anyone would buy any of the competitors honestly. Even if one did hold more, their costs are much higher and you could just run two FARTs instead.

[Dirtchevy841]

Same here ss pins first and load. Then dry tumble to get lube off. Bling bling.

[Gooldylocks]

We did a load of about 3600 40 cases this afternoon. Gotta love it.

[EDA]

I wet tumble with a Thumblers. Deprime my 5.56 brass, don't deprime pistol brass. It's pretty after a few hours with stainless pins, dawn, and lemishine. Living in Albuquerque, completely dry overnight, no baking required!

I have a large Thumbler Vibratory cleaner. You say you tumble wet with pins. Do you have a drain in the tub? I think this might be a possibility. I really don't like the dust. I think it would be good to eliminate it.

I pour off most of the liquid, then dump the brass and pins into a RCBS media separator. After a bunch of cranks, the stainless pins and lots of water fall out and the brass stays in the cage. I pour off the liquid from the pins, rinse several times, then pour the damp pins back into the tumbler. With the lid off, my pins are dry after a couple days here.

I then take the top off the cage, put the lower half with the brass in a big water filled tub and rinse multiple times. I then run the brass through the media separator again to get most of the water off. I then lay the brass out over a large bath towel. By the following day, they are all dry, clean, and shiny.

Edited January 12, 2016 by EDA

[BigPapa]

Is there any down side to just throwing your brass on a cookie sheet in the oven for 15min?

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[Slipperhead]

I bake mine at 250 for about 30 minutes. If there is still water in the cookie sheet I bake some more!

Dry pins are SO much easier to separate than wet pins!