Sonic cleaning vs dry tumbling

N

Nathan

New member
Talk to me about this...

I hear sonic has these negatives....
Cleans necks too much affecting accuracy
Too small to run like 50x458 Lott, 250 223 or like 500 9mm cases? Talking 2.5l models
Too messy....dirty water disposal...down mom’s kitchen sink ok? What do you do with the water/cleaner
Drying sucks.


It seems better than dry due to....
no media in flash holes
No getting media out
Shorter run times
Quieter

BTW, my dry tumbler just died....or mostly died....smelled like an electrical fire, but still runs.
 
One advantage I see in dry tumbling as opposed to any kind of wet processing is that the cases are ready to go when taken from tumbling media...do not have to wait for the cases to dry. No concern about undetected water in the cases.

No need to deprime before dry tumble...media does not get stuck in the flash holes.

If one does not use wet additives (or uses it correctly), there is very little chance of media lodging in the cases.

In short, dry tumbling strikes me as better suited for the majority of handloaders rather than the bother of wet. However, I can see the utility of those comparatively few people who sell used brass and want to make good-looking (shinny and clean inside and out including primer pockets) cases for resale.
 
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I switched from dry (media) tumbling almost as quickly as I started. Poking media out of the flash holes just isn’t the best use of my time. I have a F.A.R.T. and recently acquired a Bald Eagle 6.0L / 1.6gal Ultrasonic cleaner. You can pile a huge amount of brass in either cleaner.

Between the two, the FART is a lot more work, and noisy as well, but it does the best job of cleaning really grimy brass. However, I run the Bald Eagle in my reloading room (spare bedroom), the cleaning solution CAN be reused, and if the brass is recently fired, cleans nearly as good as pin tumbling, without the hassle of pins or lugging that heavy drum around.

I use the same solution in the ultrasonic as I use in the FART. My quart bottle of Frankford Arsenal Brass Cleaning Solution has lasted 2 years...it’s highly concentrated - 40:1 mix with tap water.

As to drying, after separating the brass from the solution I dump it onto a used beach towel that’s been converted to reloading. I towel dry a bit, then load the brass into a cheap, 6 rack food dehydrator that we never used. It dries inside and out in in 45 minutes (on medium) then I switch to fan only which cools the brass in minutes.

I use a lot of colored Sharpies on my cases during load work up, and neither dry tumbling nor wet pin tumbling removed all of it. The Bald Eagle cleans everything off of the cases.

Everyone has to fine their comfort level. For me, having the ultrasonic allows to me efficiently clean small batches of brass without hassling with the FART, while also having the capacity to clean hundreds of cases when needed. My largest batch was about 1200 mixed .380 ACP/9mm. Due to the massive quantity of brass I ran 2 40 minute cycles just to be sure.
 
I would say dry. I have a Thumler’s Tumbler…put the brass in, turn it on for 2 hrs, dump it in a Dillon separator then drop into bucket, once I place it in the tumbler I don’t touch it again until I’m loading it. I looked into the wet once and I twas too much a PITA for me, plus if I would happen to spill it (has happened), I sweep it up and put it back in the tumbler…try that with the wet stuff.
 
why limit yourself, get a rotary. I have a FART but use lizard litter instead of water and pins most of the time. My precision brass does never hits the ground so wipe down before lubing followed by a quick dry spin after sizing to remove lube it is all it takes. If I get a bunch of grungy pick up brass I just toss in the pins and water and chems.

I always laugh at the dry media in flash hole stuff. My SD's end up in the single digits and never cleaned a piece of lizard litter from a flash hole yet. If any has ever been in there that primer vaporizes it. I Did have a steel pin get in a .060 once hole once, now in that battle the pin won
 
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I have both and continue to use both. For example, I buy once fired brass. 1st clean in FART with their solution and no pins. This is to clean the brass before handling it. Then I Deprime, using the Frankfort Deprime hand tool. Then back into the FART with pins, and less of their solution. I find 2-3 hours gets the primer pockets clean. I use RO water through for all wash and rinse steps. Since the FA solution has citric acid it makes the black water suitable to flush down my toilet where it travels to the sewage plant. I do a final rinse with auto wash & wax, which gives a long lasting shine. I sift using several bucket top sifters, pouring back and forth, letting the liquid and pins collect in a bucket. Then, primarily for rifle, I tumble in clean corn cob (used only on already cleaned brass) with a couple of squirts of Nufinish and run until I like the shine.
My last few batches were pistol range brass that shined up well with just the auto wash and wax.
Having clean shiny brass makes case inspection much quicker and very easy to spot bulges brass. After sorting by headstamps, and sizing, I may dry tumble as above, to keep ready to load brass shiny. I think the labor/time involved is only justifiable working with 1000 cases at a time.
 
Nathan,
I prefer my sonic cleaner for cleaning brass and yes, you can dump it right down the drain when your done.
There is a member on THR that works for or owns, runs, what ever, a water treatment plant and he insists that lead residue that has been treated with Citric acid is perfectly safe to dump down the drain and it was preferred that lead residue be treated with Citric acid as it is the accepted method of safe disposal.
Uncle Nick also has some good information on chellating lead that he has shared in the past to the same effect.

I don't care if it makes extra work for me or not, I'm sticking to my wet cleaning for this reason if nothing else.

I dry my cases under an infered heater in my garage so it only takes less than an hour to dry them.
I don't mind my process at all.
 
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Never had an issue with case necks; in fact I've never heard of this before. We get plenty of hot sun most days, so that's hoiw I dry my brass. Takes around 2 hours. Mine's a 2L model, and I can run about 250 9mm cases in 15 minutes.
Nathan said:
Talk to me about this...

I hear sonic has these negatives....
Cleans necks too much affecting accuracy
Too small to run like 50x458 Lott, 250 223 or like 500 9mm cases? Talking 2.5l models
Too messy....dirty water disposal...down mom’s kitchen sink ok? What do you do with the water/cleaner
Drying sucks.


It seems better than dry due to....
no media in flash holes
No getting media out
Shorter run times
Quieter

BTW, my dry tumbler just died....or mostly died....smelled like an electrical fire, but still runs.
Click to expand...



They come out like new, even better than the brass.
Nathan said:
So, what happens when I dump nickel cases in sonic?
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Nathan,

I don't think I've ever cleaned nickel-plated cases in the ultrasonic, but my best guess is that what it will do is get them clean. If there is any of the blue-green nickel oxide on them anywhere, the citric acid will attack that, but the unoxidized nickel itself is less prone to chemical attack than brass is (the reason it is put on brass cases to begin with) so I don't expect it to be removed easily. If there is nickel oxidation, it is possible you will see discoloration of brass cases that are mixed in with the nickel ones by reduction reaction. Just clean the two separately to avoid that possibility.

As to getting cases too clean, there have been complaints about that with stainless steel pin tumbled cases grabbing the bullet as it is seated or, in the case of pistol brass, as it is flared. I have not observed that with US cleaned brass, as its surface is not the same shiny smooth surface you get with pin tumbling. It is slightly matte in appearance and if you want shiny brass you have to dry tumble it afterward.

That post-US tumble for shiny brass works well, by the way. Unlike dry tumbling dirty brass, the media does not pick up toxic lead compounds left by the primers. So where dry tumbling dirty brass creates lead contamination around the machine and separator, US first and dry tumbling aftward does not, assuming your cases get really clean in the US, which can take some time if you don't have one with 100W/gallon energy density or more.

Personally, I don't bother with a shining step when I clean brass in the US. The slightly more dull yellow color left by that process is as easy to find in the grass as polished cases are, and being able to find my brass in the grass and weeds has always been the main reason I've had for appearance-related cleaning.
 
GE-Minigun said:
I would say dry. I have a Thumler’s Tumbler…put the brass in, turn it on for 2 hrs, dump it in a Dillon separator then drop into bucket, once I place it in the tumbler I don’t touch it again until I’m loading it. I looked into the wet once and I twas too much a PITA for me, plus if I would happen to spill it (has happened), I sweep it up and put it back in the tumbler…try that with the wet stuff.
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I have the same setup. I agree completely.
 
Just be sure you don't let the dust from separating land where children or pets that interact with children go. We had a member with a friend who tested for excess lead levels professionally. He tested the member's loading benches and equipment and even his bullet casting bench without finding toxic lead contamination levels until he got to the dry tumbler. There it shot up.
 
For the ultrasonic or wet media tumbling, it is covered in post #7. But it has to be dissolved in water to chelate lead, so in a dry tumbler it won't help.
 
So, what happens when I dump nickel cases in sonic?
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Sorry I've been away so long Nathan.

I've cleaned thousands of nickle plated brass in my ultrasonic cleaner and like Uncle Nick said, It just comes out clean. No problems.

I've had some of it in storage for several years and it still looks good.

There is no problem with cleaning it in Citric acid solution in an ultra sonic cleaner.
 
I have the XL Hornady that I use for a lot of range brass. It cleans everything nicely inside and out. Part of my shooting kit includes a toaster oven I have in the garage for drying or annealing brass. I do use a tumbler to polish brass but I don't leave it as long as many shooter do. I only tumble for 20 to 30 minutes and this is so that I may inspect the brass for imperfections such as cracks and what not. I also use the sonic cleaner to clean my guns or gun parts.
 
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