dry media in rotary tumbler

P

Prof Young

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So, does dry media work in a rotary tumbler for brass cleaning? I ask because I am learning to use my Frankford tumbler and I don't really have enough of one kind of brass to do each type and so dump them all in together. (Doing smaller loads with the steel pins and water etc would not be worth the effort.) Of course that means time spent pulling them apart etc. If dry media worked I'd just do that and keep them all separate. Anyone tried dry media in their rotary tumbler?

Life is good
Prof Young
 
The first batch I ever tumbled in my homemade rotary I used shelled corn...LOL. Farmers.....we improvise. I have to say it worked pretty well on brass that wasn't very ugly but needed a shining but left a dusty residue. I then made some of my own corncob media which seemed fine but my screening process kinda sucked and I had many 223 shells plugged with pieces. Went to wet and SS pins and would never do anything else. I don't do big batches-100 most the time- I don't think its too much effort. I like not having to clean pockets. I know it's been beat to death here, some guys like dry some like wet. Don't knock it till you try it:D
 
Rotary tumblers and dry media have worked for almost a century, vibrator tumblers are relatively new, and wet rotary cleaning is still wet behind the ears. Dry rotary tumbling is slow, but it works well.
 
I use dry media in my rotary prolly 80% of the time. The other 20% is in my wobbler. I only experimented with wet tumbling twice. When I started reloading the only "tumbling" I knew of was commercial finishing of machined parts. The parts cleaner/deburrer/finisher I saw was about 6' in diameter, mebbe 3 1/' deep and stood on a base about 3' tall. It was used with a solution and would have held 10,000 45 ACP cases with solution and ceramic media...
 
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In the beginning, there was crushed corn cobs or walnut shells. No wetness or polish is required. Guys made rotary tumblers out of coffee cans and electric motors. Other guys made 'em out of large plastic buckets. Vibrating machines were made too. Tumbling or vibrating machines really aren't terribly complicated things.
Wet cleaning was for the guys who couldn't afford to buy a tumbler.
 
I have a vibratory dry tumbler and a Frankfort rotary wet tumbler. I don't care about the primer pockets in most handgun brass. To avoid the hassle of separating media or pins I often tumble handgun brass with just hot water, a little simple green and a dash of lemi shine. The outsides get quite clean. If I have a real dirty or tarnished batch I throw in the pins.
 
I have used the Thumbler's Tumbler rock polishing tumbler for 40+ years and I have tried a lot of different media over that time. I use crushed walnut that I buy at the feed and grain store (it is actually blasting media). I add a teaspoon of silver polish (paste) to it when new and after I wash old media for reuse. It gets the brass clean in 1/2 hour when new and when it starts taking an hour I replace it with the last batch of cleaned media.

The only problem I have is that I have to interrupt my loading to load another batch of brass before I am done loading the first batch. There is no separating of pins or drying of brass - just pour the tumbler into the screen and shake it to separate the media from the brass. No muss no fuss just clean brass.
 
When I was a pup, I made a rotary tumbler out of a 5 gallon metal can. I used rice for the media and it did well, but the rice did not last a long time.

Later I bought a UltraVibe 45. It uses dry media as well.
 
I've used both with walnut shells. The rotary works just fine, but takes several hours. The vibratory tumbler will be faster and gives just as good results. Your vibratory tumbler will last only a few years, depending on the quality and how often you use it. The vibration tends to break down the motors and/or mounts after awhile. The rotary tumbler will last for decades.

I too have since gone wet with my rotary tumbler and porcelain balls instead of steel pins. If you de-prime all of your cases first, it cleans the pockets and makes re-priming depth more accurate.
 
That is really strange. I have both a vibratory and a rotary tumbler and I found that the vibratory was noisier and took over an hour with new media while the rotary tumbler takes a half hour with new media and is a lot quieter.

I use crushed walnut from the local feed and grain store with a teaspoon of silver polish put in when I change media. $15 for 25 pounds and I have used less than a pound in the last four years.
 
So I tried it . . .

So I tried it. Tumbled some 223 with dry walnut shell media. It cam out plenty clean. I think I'll be sticking with dry media in my rotary tumbler.

Life is good.

Prof Young
 
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