Brass tumbling anomaly
- Thread starter Ike Clanton
- Start date
You should have enough media (walnut shells preferred) to fill the tumbler roughly half-way(+) up the bowl sides.
That way the media tumbles/slings itself up and over along those outside walls -- and into the center -- as it vibrates.
(Like an annular donut)
Otherwise you just have a cetrifugal tilt-a-whirl that plasters everything to the walls instead of actually tumbling
That way the media tumbles/slings itself up and over along those outside walls -- and into the center -- as it vibrates.
(Like an annular donut)
Otherwise you just have a cetrifugal tilt-a-whirl that plasters everything to the walls instead of actually tumbling
I believe most of the "tumblers" like this activate electromagnets in sequence to create the vibratory action. I suspect that you have encountered a "magic" combination of media volume, brass count/weight and diameter to match some interesting period of that sequence. More media seems like an easy thing to try, or less brass.
I know my tub looks a lot fuller.
I know my tub looks a lot fuller.
Smoke & Recoil
New member
You need to add another 2 inch height of media to the bowl.
Mine works that way, but you left out a step.....
If it uses an electric motor then yes, it uses electromagnets in sequence to spin the motor. But electric motors spin pretty smooth, and don't vibrate much.
It is the spinning shaft of the motor that powers the vibrating action, by spinning a flywheel disc that is "lopsided". Meaning the wheel is intentionally out of balance, heavier on one side than the other. It may not even be a complete wheel, but simply a bar heavier on one end than the other. Take a look at your tumbler from underneath, you'll probably see it
spinning the unbalanced wheel creates wobble. This wobble shakes the bowl, which is mounted on springs to allow it to shake. That is the vibration of a vibratory cleaner.
Ike, you need more media, fill the bowl up to about the top of the "dirt ring" (after you clean it off) on the center spindle. Also, remove the bottle necked case I see at 12o'clock in the picture. Never tumble cases of different sizes together, if one case can fit inside another, it will, and it will get jammed in there by the media.
More media allows a deeper "sea" for the brass to "float" in What you're seeing is your brass "washed up against the cliff" (bowl wall) and not enough media to "wash them off and suck them back out to sea" so they get stuck there, and base down because that's the heavy end of the case.
Ike Clanton
New member
Makes sense to me thanks guys!
Dang ... that is the first time I've seen brass do that in over 50 years tumbling brass.
It looks like you trained them to get all lined up and ready to remove !
This is a guess but try adding at least 1 inch more dry media ... 2 inches may be better .
It appears your tumbler is large enough and when dry tumbling more media works better and faster than less (not enough) media . When the unit is running , The cases should be covered and should circulate from the bottom , swirl around at the top and disappear under the media ... this swirling action + the vibrating action is what gets them clean & shiny .
Try adding new media and report back .
44AMP ... has sharp eye's , he spotted that one rifle case .
I agree with him ...only do one caliber at a time ... just seems to work better but the big reason is if one case can get inside another they will ... they don't polish and can be a bear to get apart .
Gary
It looks like you trained them to get all lined up and ready to remove !
This is a guess but try adding at least 1 inch more dry media ... 2 inches may be better .
It appears your tumbler is large enough and when dry tumbling more media works better and faster than less (not enough) media . When the unit is running , The cases should be covered and should circulate from the bottom , swirl around at the top and disappear under the media ... this swirling action + the vibrating action is what gets them clean & shiny .
Try adding new media and report back .
44AMP ... has sharp eye's , he spotted that one rifle case .
I agree with him ...only do one caliber at a time ... just seems to work better but the big reason is if one case can get inside another they will ... they don't polish and can be a bear to get apart .
Gary
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You can get away with tumbling some different size cases together, if the difference in size is great enough they won't get stuck.
.223 case necks generally won't get stuck in .35 cal cases, but .30 cal case necks can, and entire 9mm cases can get stuck in .45acp brass, and don't even think of tumbling 9mm with .45-70 brass, you're in a for a lot of aggravation if you do!
best practice is only tumble the same size brass at the same time. Also makes sorting them out easier.
.223 case necks generally won't get stuck in .35 cal cases, but .30 cal case necks can, and entire 9mm cases can get stuck in .45acp brass, and don't even think of tumbling 9mm with .45-70 brass, you're in a for a lot of aggravation if you do!
best practice is only tumble the same size brass at the same time. Also makes sorting them out easier.
Like Gary, I've never seen that before. As mentioned, the motors on the bottom have an eccentric lobe attached to the shaft to intentionally unbalance their spin, and they use shaft bearings designed for the resulting high lateral load. This creates a motor rpm-matching vibration in a horizontal circle. I suppose it could turn out to be a harmonic of the circular natural resonant frequency of the bowl and the mass inside it. If so, changing the mass inside the bowl should dampen that a bit. Also, causing the 45 cases to come up higher on the inside of the bowl, where the mouths will run into the inward-turning portion of the curve of the bowl, may push them over and back into the media. While I've not seen your neat little circle of cases, I have seen cases turning over along the bowl edge, sort of like a log circulating in the plunge of a short waterfall in a stream and forming a sort of circulating donut of cases around the outside edge. Try about a half-again more media. If that fails, maybe you can paint the bowl orange to see if that helps?
Ike Clanton
New member
Well I took the advice and added more media. It definitely fixed the problem. Crazy that no one has seen this before as I know I’m not the only one to run less media than needed. And as for the bottle neck cartridge in the mix… not mine it’s a 300 blk from a buddies gun that accidentally got placed in my brass. At the price of brass these days he wants me to ship it back haha.
jetinteriorguy
New member
I have the bowl on my tumbler filled up to about an inch from the rim. Works perfect.
Ike Clanton
New member
Haha well I can’t prove you wrong. I removed it then added more media and the problem went away
My first media tumbler failed after a bit more than a year. Not a biggie as I'd already converted to wet w/pins. Anyway, I took the case apart and found that the cheap tumbler had a motor driving a 4 bladed fan. One blade had a small weight glued to the outer edge, thus imparting a decent wobble to the media tub mounted above. Sadly, that wobble caused a break in the tiny lead to the wire core. I couldn't fish out the nub to resolder it...so out it went.
Naturally I bought a new Hornady tumbler that has still never been plugged in.