Franklin Rotary Brass Tumbler

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Prof Young

New member
Santa brought me a Franklin Rotary Brass Tumbler, with the stainless steel pins, for Christmas. I can tell that I'll be doing larger loads of brass and tumbling less often. Looks pretty straight forward and simple. However; any tips and advice would be appreciated.

Live well, be safe, Merry Christ Mass
Prof Young
 
The results are great. BUT, the pins are PIA. Get a magnet and strainer. Makes the job much easier. I use Frankfort's magnet and flat bottom pan (designed to fit a 5 gallon paint bucket). I dump the brass with the pin in the strainer on top of a 5 gallon bucket. I swirl the brass around while I pour water over the brass. That separates the pins from the brass. I then dump the pins back in the tumbler. Use the magnet to pickup stray pins that tend to go everywhere. Make sure you rinse the brass well or they'll spot.
 
Everything i read and been told in person (still dont have the tumbler) is water, squirt of dawn and a squirt of lemishine to get cases that look new. :cool:
 
Just a very small amount of Dawn and Lemonshine, you don't want sudsing inside the tumbler.

My biggest pain was recovering the steel pins until I ran across a post that mentioned paint strainer bags such as these:

https://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Elast...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=G33PSPCYQJNCJ0PF71XF

Dump the tumbler into one of these and then wash well. Dig out the cases and shake while inside the bag to remove the pins. If you can find the .047-inch size pins, they will stay out of the primer pocket flash holes. Use a magnet to pick up out of the paint strainer bag. Plastic wrap over the magnet will let you peel the pins off and not have to pick off the last few by hand.
 
Recipe for the F.A.R.T.

My recipe for the Frankford Aresenal Rotary Tumbler, or F.A.R.T. is the following:

1 gal cold water
5 lbs brass (I use a cheap-o food scale to weigh mine)
1/4 tsp Lemishine
3 tbsp Armor All Wash and Wax
The bag of pins

I run mine for three hours after decapping and sorting out the nasties, like NATO brass, or .45 ACP with small primer pockets.

Same formula I used with my Thumler Model B tumbler, which had a much smaller capacity.

Brass comes out looking like you bought it from Jared's.
 
You definitely should get the magnet. I use a rotary separator and spin it a little to separate mine. Then I gather the pins with the magnet.

Always make sure that your brass is fully dry before you put it in a container waiting to load. If you don't when you come back to look at it, it'll have light green nasty on it. Know how I know?:)
 
Tip for drying brass, but may not be useful for everybody.

A few years ago we bought a new washer and dryer. The dryer came with a plastic rack that is designed to put items on that you can't or dont necessarily want to tumble dry like tennis shoes, etc.

The holes in the rack are pretty big, so I put a towel over it so the brass doesn't fall through. Then I put my wet brass on the towel. Insert the thing into the dryer and about 30 minutes later you have dry brass.

I think that only newer model machines have this feature. Ours is an LG.

I have also found that most brass can get very clean in as little as 1.5 hours... not 3-4.

Also very good for tumbling other metal parts, not just brass.
 
Dillon CM-500

Began wet tumbling with stainless steel pins two years ago with great results. Only drawback was separating pins from brass until the Dillon CM-500 appeared via package delivery. A few turns of the separator and pins fall to the bottom of the tub and pin-less brass remains in the rotating apparatus. Cleanup is a bit time consuming but takes less time than tapping each case to remove pins. Only drawback is a pin or two remaining in a batch of .223 casing. That problem is easily resolved during inspection prior to sizing.
 
A rotary separator works much better if you fill the catch container with water so the cases are covered. The pins don't stick to the brass when submerged in water.
 
Those are some very good tips which I do also. To dry get a cheap food dehydrator with the fan on top. Casings will be dry in less than a half hour.;)
 
My recipe is as follows

For Full load 1/2 to 3/4 full of brass:
7.5lb of media
1/4 tsp Lemi-Shine
2 tbsp Armor All Wash & Wax
2-3 Hours

For 1/4 to 1/2 load of brass:
5lb of media
1/4 tsp Lemi-Shine
1-2 tbsp Armor All Wash & Wax
1-2 hours

I have the Lyman Cyclone. Anyway, to dry I have a cheap HF food dehydrator that has worked great, but I had to try the FA Dryer (dehydrator) also, it uses a fan (heater) and seems to be quicker. I also picked up the FA wet/dry media separator. Works GREAT! couldn't be easier and quicker for my purposes. A few spins either direction and the media is separated from the brass.
 
Thanks and . . .

Thanks for all the info. I already have a spin type media separator so that is a good thing. Will have to figure out how to dry my bass, but you have made some good suggestions.

Am wondering if anyone has tried putting wet brass in a pillowcase and tossing it in the dryer. Would make a heck of a noise. Maybe throw it in with some towels?

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
Prof Young, do you want clean brass or polished bling brass?

I want clean brass so as to reduce the amount of dirt that ends up in my reloading dies and in my chamber. I want clean primer pockets to ensure good seating of my primers. If I get bling at the same time - that is, for free - I'll take it. But bling isn't something I want or need, so for me it's not worth any extra expense or effort.

Having set the context, here's my 3-lb capacity drum formula (you'll need to adjust for the capacity of your drum):

  1. 1 lb. ss pins,
  2. 1 lb deprimed brass (roughly 70 .223 cases),
  3. 14 oz. cold water (just enough to cover the pins and brass)
  4. 2 teaspoons citric acid powder
The above formula goes into my drum on my Harbor Freight single-drum tumbler for 1 hour. The brass comes out completely clean. It's not bling, but it does have a semi-matte shine.

The nice things about the above formula are that it's inexpensive, reusable, rinses off quickly, and has no sudsing. I just fetch out the cleaned brass, put in a new load of dirty brass, set the drum on the tumbler, and quickly rinse the cleaned brass with cold water while the new load is tumbling.

As for the HF tumbler, it's gets a bad rap. Perhaps deservedly so. However, I think many people are overloading the capacity of the motor.

After watching a dozen or more YouTube videos of people using their HF tumblers, it seems to me that nearly all of them are overloading their drums beyond 3 pounds, especially when it comes to water, which is heavy (and the reason why I pay close attention to how many ounces I use). That puts extra strain on the motor. Also, the drum on my tumbler tends to move to the motor end while turning. It pretty quickly starts rubbing against the metal frame that separates the drum area from the motor, which adds additional friction and load. To counteract that, I put a piece of coat hanger wire with three nylon sleeves on it across the top of the machine (attached with Velcro) just in front of where the drum and the frame contact. The nylon sleeves, which look like small sections of thick soda straws, act as roller bearings, thus eliminating (or at least greatly reducing) the additional load on the motor due to rubbing friction. To reduce friction even more, I put a drop of synthetic oil on the wire so the sleeves could spin freely. So far, the fix has worked like a champ.
 
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Finally used it.

Finally used my Franklin rotary tumbler. The brass came out like new and it is a PIA to use. I can see how having the magnet they market for use with this machine would help a lot. Also you almost have to have a laundry tub and big work space to get the media all separated from the brass. Knowing what I know now I'm not sure it was a good choice for me. Although I may just start saving up all my brass and do a boat load all at once. The smaller cases do get jammed into larger ones with the steel pins in there too. Adds to the PIA part. Ah well, nonetheless life is good.

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
WhyteP38 said:
Prof Young, do you want clean brass or polished bling brass?



I want clean brass so as to reduce the amount of dirt that ends up in my reloading dies and in my chamber. I want clean primer pockets to ensure good seating of my primers. If I get bling at the same time - that is, for free - I'll take it. But bling isn't something I want or need, so for me it's not worth any extra expense or effort.



Having set the context, here's my 3-lb capacity drum formula (you'll need to adjust for the capacity of your drum):



  1. 1 lb. ss pins,
  2. 1 lb deprimed brass (roughly 70 .223 cases),
  3. 14 oz. cold water (just enough to cover the pins and brass)
  4. 2 teaspoons citric acid powder

The above formula goes into my drum on my Harbor Freight single-drum tumbler for 1 hour. The brass comes out completely clean. It's not bling, but it does have a semi-matte shine.



The nice things about the above formula are that it's inexpensive, reusable, rinses off quickly, and has no sudsing. I just fetch out the cleaned brass, put in a new load of dirty brass, set the drum on the tumbler, and quickly rinse the cleaned brass with cold water while the new load is tumbling.



As for the HF tumbler, it's gets a bad rap. Perhaps deservedly so. However, I think many people are overloading the capacity of the motor.



After watching a dozen or more YouTube videos of people using their HF tumblers, it seems to me that nearly all of them are overloading their drums beyond 3 pounds, especially when it comes to water, which is heavy (and the reason why I pay close attention to how many ounces I use). That puts extra strain on the motor. Also, the drum on my tumbler tends to move to the motor end while turning. It pretty quickly starts rubbing against the metal frame that separates the drum area from the motor, which adds additional friction and load. To counteract that, I put a piece of coat hanger wire with three nylon sleeves on it across the top of the machine (attached with Velcro) just in front of where the drum and the frame contact. The nylon sleeves, which look like small sections of thick soda straws, act as roller bearings, thus eliminating (or at least greatly reducing) the additional load on the motor due to rubbing friction. To reduce friction even more, I put a drop of synthetic oil on the wire so the sleeves could spin freely. So far, the fix has worked like a champ.
Click to expand...



My HF dual drum tumbler had 2 little plastic tabs that are mounted to the frame and pivot out to touch the lids to prevent them from rubbing on the frame. I put a little gun grease on them to lubricate them to reduce the friction.


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It is a bit of a PIA at first, but you learn techniques to make it go more smoothly after a few tries.

The magnet is a *must* as you mention, and I have the Franklin dryer also, which is really nice and makes drying a boatload of cases really fast and easy.

My rotary spinner is a Franklin model as well ***with the lid*** that is really made for wet tumbling. I also have one of their other models that I use for dry tumbling that is basically a shortened 5-gal bucket with a couple of notches. The one that is made for wet tumbling uses the lid to good use as you can fill the bottom half with water (essential to getting the SS pins out quickly) and the lid makes sure that nothing spills or splashes out of the separator.

I pour the cases/pins into the separator after rinsing the mixture several times while still in the drum. Then I fill the separator with water to cover the pins, put the lid on, and spin back and forth for a while.

I then remove the spinning drum, and shake a bit to get the excess water out, and pour the cases onto an old beach towel to give them a quick dry down. I then give them a pass with the magnet in case there are a few pins remaining, and then put them in the dryer for about an hour or so.

Once they are in the dryer, I go back to the separator where the pins have nicely settled by now, and then carefully pour out most of the water. Now, I just grab the magnet and start "sucking" up the pins. I put them into a coffee container to dry. It is amazing, but I can get pretty much every pin out of the separator this way.

It sounds like a lot of work, but honestly, it is pretty quick and painless once you have done it a few times.

And of course, the brass looks great!!!

 
Originally Posted by Originally Posted by rmelchiori

My HF dual drum tumbler had 2 little plastic tabs that are mounted to the frame and pivot out to touch the lids to prevent them from rubbing on the frame. I put a little gun grease on them to lubricate them to reduce the friction.
Click to expand...
I have the single-drum, 3-lb model, which has only one of those plastic tabs. A second plastic tab wouldn't work up against the rubber bottom of the drum.
 
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