tumbling media

[Jboutfishn]

I have a Cabela's vibratory case tumbler that I have had for 15 years. I use Cabela's brass cleaner and corn cob media. Inexpensive and does a good job.

 

[hotrod150]

I hit on the idea of using a kitchen sieve to wash the excess rouge out of a tumblerfull of the treated tufnut media. Worked pretty good, a lot of red stuff ran down the drain. The media is still red, but it doesn't rub off on my hands. I spread it out on a couple newspapers on the kitchen counter to dry, which didn't take too long as it didn't really absorb any water. The problem with the tumbler itself was that the edge of the drum as well as the driver rollers got glazed over time, so with a heavy load the drum didn't want to turn- it just spun it's wheels so to speak, which just made the glazing worse. I took a small disc sander and roughed up the surfaces & it works real well (for now anyway).
I've got a small batch of 38 cases tumbling now, guess I'll see in a little while how well the de-rouged media works.

 

[Elliott41]

I use pet store crushed walnut for bird cages and Flitz tumbler media additive. The cases come out clean and shiny in 90 minutes, but don't have the high gloss you get with a finer abrasive like corncob media.

 

[hotrod150]

Before I hit on the idea of washing the treated tufnut, I tried tumbling a small lot of brass in some beach sand fr a couple hours. It came out quite clean but with a sort of matte finish. Tumbling the same batch in the washed tufnut put a shine on it. I wonder if mixing some sand or similar into the washed tufnut might help with the cleaning part.

 

[41 fan]

I have used Brasso and other brass cleaners for years with no ill effect. After the brass is clean, I run it through a second tumbler with untreated corn cobb media. I still use the only batch of Remington .45 AR brass I have ever purchased in 1988 or 1989 (for my 625-2 model of 1988). I have had very few pieces of that brass split. One of the commercial reloaders around Atlanta told me he used brasso exclusively. Dean

 

[chief38]

Dillon Vibratory Tumbler with a shot of their Blue case Cleaner. Walnut shell media changed only twice in 30 years. Works great!

 

[Moonman]

chief38,

If you had that media analyzed, the EPA, Ralph Nader, Bloomburg and a few others would be looking for you.

Media is CHEAP, change it Sir, your well being is more important.