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Brass Dryers


Sarge

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Looks like I am committed to wet tumbling. I just can't pass up the bling. LOL However, I have come to realize I am way too busy to mess with brass in the summer. So I'm looking into brass dryers instead of leaving brass lay out in a cold garage for days on end. I stopped by the local Cabela's today to look things over and found the FA dryer at about $83, and a Cabela's basic model for $59. I know they are a pretty simple device but for those of you who use one what have you found to be a good unit?

Thanks

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8 minutes ago, 1911luvr said:

Couldn’t you just put them on a cookie sheet and bake them at low temp for an hour or so?


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No, I want to keep everything on one bench in the garage.

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24 minutes ago, Mcfoto said:

I found a used food dehydrator at Goodwill for $20. Same design and does the job well.

Yeah, we had a dehydrator in the 80's. Never used it and sold it in a garage sale. Who'd a think it would come in handy 30+ years later.

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FA dehydrator worked for a few months, then the heater died, so I had to fix it, very cheap design inside.

 

Also, there is no timer, and not even a switch.  I am using external timer with it.

 

Edited by Foxbat
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I picked up a cheap dehydrator from Wally World and have to complaints I only use it in the fall/winter time to dry brass. In the summer since it always over 100 I’ll just lay the brass out on a towel on the patio for a few hours and that does the trick.

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On 10/17/2018 at 6:43 PM, 1911luvr said:

Couldn’t you just put them on a cookie sheet and bake them at low temp for an hour or so?


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I used to do this, and if you don't get the brass incredibly well rinsed off it becomes very tarnished when heated too much.  I was only running my oven about 200F.

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On 10/18/2018 at 11:01 AM, Sarge said:

I ordered one last night.

I use a food dehydrator with this timer: 

 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DI5E00A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I set the timer for 45 minutes, and then let the brass cool for another 45 minutes.  The brass is bone dry, including the primer pockets.

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I've been using my gas oven but recently we had gas line explosion that has impacted us where I live. Thinking about getting a dehydrator but I want to make sure it can dry as fast as I run brass, I run my brass for an hour in the FART, so the dryer needs to work that fast too, which one would you guys think is most likely to do that? 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Rob,

 

I’ve, been using this one for the past few months:

 

https://www.cabelas.ca/product/86801/cabelas-10-tray-deluxe-dehydrator

 

Each tray is good for approx 400 pieces of brass and it dries them fast. The only mod I made was to lay down a mesh screen on each of the trays because 9mm brass can slip through the grid. Also, don’t overload the trays as they can flex and fall through the rails. 

 

I tried the round type food dehydrators that have the stacking trays. They work ok too as far as drying, but the stacking design slows down the overall process because the brass has to lay flat for the trays to stack properly. The overall capacity is lower too. 

 

The Cabela’s one isn’t cheap, but it’s on sale right now for $100 off.

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I bought an inexpensive round one off Amazon 5-years ago and was able to purchase an additional 6 trays for the mega stack.

 

A short length of PVC makes loading trays faster. I usually do this on a chest freezer so excess water isn't a problem, but set a tray down, stick a piece of PVC upright in the center hole. Dump your brass in. Place another tray on top. Dump brass in and repeat.

 

The PVC keeps brass from falling through the center hole so you can load trays faster. Doing it off the base keeps excess water from accumulating and extending the drying time as well.

 

Just remove the PVC and place the loaded stack on the base.

 

FWIW, depending on your brass size, you can assume 4 to 5 trays to comfortably handle a load from a Thumler's Tumbler.

 

M

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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14 hours ago, Want2BS8ed said:

The PVC keeps brass from falling through the center hole so you can load trays faster. Doing it off the base keeps excess water from accumulating and extending the drying time as well.

 

 

I am using a large rubber plug for the same reason.  Actually, it is a small size swimming pool plug, the one with wingnut on top.

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