ultrasonic vs SS wet cleaning ?

I have my home built tumbler running at 100fpm on the outside of the drum. Much faster than that and it becomes inefficient. Things inside tend to go centrifugal and stop tumbling.
 
Nick_C_S,

Many thanks for checking. Pretty sure it was a pain counting those revs, and WOW that is way faster than mine is turning. I am using an old two speed 1/2 H.P. Kenmore washer motor and via lots of pulley reduction (and a bunch of math) I am turning 36/53 RPMs. When I made it a number of years ago, I was afraid of it turning too fast and ending up with the cases being pressed to the walls of the drum.

My drums are made from heavy duty blue PVC water pipe with 5/8" high glued in PVC vanes for tumbling. OD=9" (ID=8.25") and 20.5" long. Calculating inside dimensions I have 1,069 cubic inches. I have one shorter, 9"X10.5" without vanes (for degreasing loaded rounds in walnut/corn cob media), and another smaller 6"X20" with vanes. The 6" diameter drum turns at 47/72 RPMs.

I use about 12 pounds of pins for the big drum (less depending on numbers of brass). Add in the brass and up to 3.5 gallons of water equals HEAVY, but a piece of cake for the 1/ HP motor. I don't usually run longer than 3 hours. That will get my primer pockets 90% clean. Just don't see the need for spotlessly clean primer pockets.

It seems pretty obvious, I am not turning too fast. Again thanks for checking those RPMs.
 
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Never gave RPM's a thought , just motion with pins , soap and water . I keep mine running for three hours , that's it .
 
The ultrasonic does an adequate job cleaning the brass but doesn't put as much of a high polish shine on the brass as the steel pins do. If that doesn't matter to you then the ultrasonic does a good enough job and you won't have to worry about getting all the steel pins out of your brass.
 
If you use a pickle jar for small batches, should the pickle jar stay off of the metal bottom of the US container, or is it ok for the glass jar to sit directly on the metal container?
 
Glass containers, like my beakers in the photo, tend to absorb ultrasonic energy, making the process less efficient. Something like the plastic mesh bags oranges come in would be better. Touching the bottom dampens the oscillation before it gets into the liquid. Also, a way to defeat your purpose. As Lamarw pointed out, a high energy density unit would be best. Unfortunately, they tend to start around $1700 and up, so you have to want it as badly as your next new gun. The smaller, weaker ones take longer.
 
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