Wet Tumbling Questions

[Mr. Neutron]

Hi, All! Sorry for dredging up an old topic, but as usual, I'm late to the party on this one. I did do a "SEARCH", but never saw answers to a question or three I have about wet tumbling. FWIW, my new-to-me tumbler is one of the Harbor Freight dual drum rotary gizzies, primarily aimed at the Rock Hound market. I have some steel pins coming from Amazon, due in a few days.

1. What "solution" seems to work best for y'all? By that, I mean amounts/types/brands of stuff that you put into the water, like Lemi Shine, Dawn detergent, or??? I realize this can be like a which brand of brass cases are best" (or whatever) kinda deal, and apologize for that up front. From my reading here, it seems like most prefer a 9mm case full of Lemi Shine with a small squirt of Dawn dish detergent, or some other stuff I don't understand what it is. I just wanna keep it simple. I'm already convinced this wet setup will likely gonna do a much better job than my poor tired vibratory tumbler w/walnut shell media.........

2. Is there a "right ratio" of steel pins to put into a drum? By weight, or ??? Just kinda loosely adjust the amount of pins to how much brass is in the load?

3. Again, this may fall into personal preference or whatever, but how do you/what do you dry your brass with after tumbling? Air drying really isn't much of an option here on the "wet side" of the Cascade Mtns., unless the brass is located close to my woodstove crankin' out some BTUs. Definitely not a year 'round option for me......

4. Has anyone with these Harbor Freight dual wet tumblers done the deal where a long single drum is made from 4" PVC? If so, how does it work for you? I see several videos out there on this deal. Two of the videos, here, seemed kinda helpful. To me, some sorta "agitators" similar to what a clothes dryer has makes sense for tumbling........

https://youtu.be/roN67_oGpx8

https://youtu.be/cNZaPU1Vf0o

I found this video interesting about the "additives" for the water, and tarnishing issues:
https://youtu.be/PPqK7yN0-4o

I'm sure I'll think of other questions as I go along.

[Mags]

...

Your last video url about additives goes to barrel fitting.
With your walnut media, have you used any media rejuvenater?
Lemi Shine info here: https://lemishine.com
Many product versions. Avoid any containing ammonia. They appear to be citric based, so probably don't have any ammonia.
Try drying your clean brass in the kitchen oven. 100-115'F or so. Might have to be sneaky about it.

[Travlin]

I use an ultrasonic cleaner for brass after it has been de-primed and I add a little Lemi Shine.

[Mr. Neutron]

I seemed to have the link fixed now, Mags. Thanks for the Head's Up on that! Must've copied the link as the Midway ad came on???

Try drying your clean brass in the kitchen oven. 100-115'F or so. Might have to be sneaky about it.

Hee hee, good one, Mags! And especially thanks for the idea about drying in an oven!

Since this ain't my first rodeo as far as NOT using the little woman's oven, I have a toaster oven in the barn. Use it for forming kydex, for everything from holsters to dirt bike parts, for heating up engine cases for bearing installs, & etc.......

Travlin, I won't very likely go the route of the sonic cleaner, but am interested in how they work? Everything I know about those is zilch.

[Hatchdog]

I use a Thumblers M/B wet tumbler and have great success with it. My understanding is I need to keep the total weight of the water, brass and pins to a certain weight. (I’ll come back with the details, not available to me right now). I use Dawn detergent and Lemi Shine and have gotten to the point that I just give the Dawn a squirt and the Lemi a shake. It’s not too critical on the ratios as long as you are in the ballpark. For drying I have an old cookie baking sheet that I place a towel on. I then put the polished brass along the edges with a slight downward angle to help them drain. I let them dry overnight.

One thing to watch for is pins getting stuck in the flash holes. I have this issue with .223 brass mostly and it’s just maybe 5-6 out of a hundred.

I have to get ready for a doc appt but when I get back I’ll post some pics with better info.

Back from the eye doc with dilated eyes and the world is a very bright blur.

Here’s the data I use for the 15 lb load my tumbler will hold. Depending on the capacity of yours you may put more or less in. The chart with the weight of some calibers of brass should be helpful.

8FB1A319-04E8-4900-8B87-0A0E880378FB.jpeg (4.45 MiB) Viewed 1013 times

22C323C3-7762-42F4-89C9-1F3EA5B7EA22.jpeg (3.16 MiB) Viewed 1013 times

0C2927DA-ECC2-44E1-9788-6F2C866C25F7.jpeg (4.22 MiB) Viewed 1013 times