Home made media separator

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Once Fired

New member
A while back I was musing about how I should build my home made bulk media separator. I use a cement mixer for a tumbler, and I wanted to build something that could match the output that thing is capable of. Something that could work for water/SS pins or for walnut/cob as desired.

I have now built a big chunk of it since I now am back in Texas and have a garage again. I have space for my reloading bench (a reinforced table really) plus the mixer, the separator and even a drying table.

So, here's the media separator:



It's built on the same screen & frame I had been using previously. I just put a single course of 2x4 above the last one, attached with brass hinges & catches, and finished the rest of the hardware cloth enclosure.

Drilling a 1-3/4 inch hole on center lengthwise allows me to put a 4' long 1-1/2 inch wooden dowel in there. Now it'll spin and dump the media out below.

I bought a big tub to rotate over and catch all the media. Now I just need to build the frame to hold it in just the right spot.

Here it is up close. I'm more of a computer geek than a handyman, so I was pretty proud I built something that actually works. hahahaha



It'll hold about 10 gallons of brass, with room for the tumbling action so media shakes out. Haven't tried it with water yet, or with the full 10 gallons of brass. Might need a deeper tub or reinforce it for the amount of weight that much brass would be.
 
Smaller, Cheaper, and less materials and labor

Smaller, Cheaper, and less materials and labor.
These are "mesh pots" made to fit 5 gallon buckets.
It turns out that the bigger one is perfect for holding brass but dropping the media - into a 5 gallon bucket! I found it works well to lift, tilt, and rotate the mesh pot to fully empty bottleneck 223 and 308.:)
 

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OK, since you've shared the "case cleaner" you now owe us pictures of the shop. If the cleaner is super-sized I can only imagine what it serves.

So, fess up, expecting pictures by tomorrow......
 
No Dillon progressive press here, I am afraid. :( Not yet.

I took the advice here, and that of my dad, and learned on his old single stage press. Even the bench itself is light duty - had to brace it against the wall.

But the shelves of ammo cans - now that is a wonderful sight. :)

 
homemadetools guy here, not a spammer (PROOF: Hundreds of forums that like us :) )

An oldie but a goodie. Just a note that we featured this clever tool in our HomemadeTools.net newsletter: http://mailchi.mp/buildthreads/dial-indicator-attachment-shop-air-cleaner-chuck-jaw-truing-tool

We know this site as a good source of homemade tool builds; we have 13 total tools listed from TheFiringLine.com, each one fully credited to its builder, and manually reviewed and categorized. I hope we've been able to send you lots of good visitors. Here they all are: Homemade tools from TheFiringLine.com

Cheers gentlemen, and keep on making homemade tools.
hat_tip.gif
 
All pretty impressive I would say. Are all of those 5 gallon buckets full of brass? I think you are ready for a progressive. The Dillon 550, now version C, is the flagship. You know you will do it eventually so why not now?
 
@homemadetools

Thanks for the shout out. I had fun building it, and it works great. It works best when I put down a black tarp under it on concrete, because clean up is easy & if we use steel pins they are WAY easier to see & grab with a magnet since they tend to bounce.

@condor bravo

Yes, most of those buckets were full or at least mostly full of brass. The first lot of brass I got from a miltary surplus auction was ~1000lbs of brass that came in those ammo cans.

Hence the need for the freakishly huge tumbler.

Still working on getting a Dillon, although we have our sights set on the 1050 & motorizing it.
 
I believe that is very likely the best system for bulk processing of brass that I have ever seen. When you come up with an annealer that can process brass on that scale I want to see it!:)
Great job and beautiful craftsmanship!:D
 
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