Wet Tumbler... Juice Worth the Squeeze?

[BigNate]

I've got a Harbor Freight vibrating tumbler (This One) that I use with some coarse media (don't remember what it is - walnut I think?) to clean brass. It works... but it is louder than I'd like... like - "if I leave it on, in the garage, with a big box over it, and a moving blanket over the box - I still hear it from the bedroom with the TV on" - kind of loud... The little devil on my shoulder is telling me that I really need to go buy a wet tumbler. It would probably be the Frankford Arsenal 7L unit (This One)that after buying pins would set me back like $200. Reading reviews leads me to believe that most people love them with the exception of a small group who have units that leak (my guess is that a good chunk of these folks are folks who don't tighten the lid enough).

So - juice worth the squeeze? I've got much brass that needs to be decapped and cleaned - and I keep talking myself out of doing it because I don't want to leave the other one running when I go to work - and don't want to listen to it in the evening.

So... are the wet tumblers worth having? If they are - is the Frankford one listed the right choice?

 

[omegaman]

I have both the wet tumbler sucks with bottleneck cases. With strait wall it is way faster than media tumbling and cleans the inside of the cases. 1-2 hrs cases look like new inside and out. I don't know about the Frankfort I have an old Thumler's Tumbler.

 

[Old Jeff H]

Nate,

I've had the Frankford Arsenal tumbler listed in your link for about 5 or 6 years.

Here are the pros:
- Gets cases looking better than new.

- Holds a lot of brass. 1,000 9mm or 223 is not a problem.

- Quicker than vibratory tumbler (if you're someone who runs your vibratory for more than 3 hours), as far as run time goes.

Here are the cons:
- Dealing with separating the stainless pins is a real PITA. It takes time, and you WILL get them everywhere.

- If you don't want your brass to tarnish/water spot you have to rinse it A LOT after running, final rinse with distilled water, and get it good and dry before you store the brass.

- The above two things are labor intensive and time consuming. You're not just running the brass through the separator and blowing it off with compressed air like with vibratory tumbling.

- If you don't want to face possible challenges with decapping, you need to decap before you wet tumble. Corrosion between the primer and the pocket can occur, and the primers will be very difficult to extract, including only partial removal of the primer.

- It's loud. Not as loud as my Dillon vibratory, but as loud our louder than my Berry's tumblers.

If you want to know more, feel free to give me a call!

 

[BigNate]

[mention]Old Jeff H[/mention] [mention]omegaman[/mention]
Thanks Gents... I'm reading your comments to mean something like: "they have their place - but they are not a huge step up across the board from your dry / vibratory tumbler..."

It sounds like the right answer might be to build a shed on the north end of the property, insulated it so my neighbors don't hate me - and bolt the vibratory tumbler to the bench and run it there...

 

[Old Jeff H]

You're welcome, Nate.

I should have added that it can be tricky sometimes to get the barrel to not leak. The surfaces of the drum and end caps have to be clean, the seals need to be wet on both sides, and you really have to crank on the caps sometimes.

Also, I picked up 2 stainless pins off my kitchen floor after I posted earlier. :lol:

 

[QuietM4]

I run the Harbor Freight wet tumbler, the single barrel model. It will tumble 100 9mm or 50 5.56 easily. I used to run the SS pins, but those kept getting stuck in case mouths, so I switched to 1/8" jewelers shot...nothing gets stuck.

Wet tumbling is awesome...no dust and much faster. Insert brass, a squirt of Dawn dish soap, a scoop of Lemishine, hot water filled to the top. Tumble for 30 minutes, and everything comes out shiny and better than new. Dump it all into a salad spinner I got from IKEA, and all the tumbling media falls out. Last stop is a cookie sheet in the oven @ 150 for 15 minutes to dry everything off.

The F.A.R.T. is nice, but not needed unless you do very large batches of brass.

 

[superduty38]

I have used the Frankford wet tumbler for years, not ever going back to dry tumbling. DO NOT use the pins. The cases will be clean as new without the pins. The pins may clean the inside of the case a little better but not worth it at all. I used them the first couple of times and never again. Not worth the effort and the brass is not any cleaner, in my opinion. I use a cap full of car wash soap with wax in it, a dash of Lemishine, a 1/4 cup of white vinegar and add water. The car wash soap with wax helps keep the brass from tarnishing if you store it for a long time.

 

[Doc]

I've got a Harbor Freight vibrating tumbler (This One) that I use with some coarse media (don't remember what it is - walnut I think?) to clean brass. It works... but it is louder than I'd like... like - "if I leave it on, in the garage, with a big box over it, and a moving blanket over the box - I still hear it from the bedroom with the TV on" - kind of loud... The little devil on my shoulder is telling me that I really need to go buy a wet tumbler. It would probably be the Frankford Arsenal 7L unit (This One)that after buying pins would set me back like $200. Reading reviews leads me to believe that most people love them with the exception of a small group who have units that leak (my guess is that a good chunk of these folks are folks who don't tighten the lid enough).

So - juice worth the squeeze? I've got much brass that needs to be decapped and cleaned - and I keep talking myself out of doing it because I don't want to leave the other one running when I go to work - and don't want to listen to it in the evening.

So... are the wet tumblers worth having? If they are - is the Frankford one listed the right choice?

Best thing I’ve coring to keep the noise down is place a foam kneeling board under my vibration machine.

THEN a box over the top followed by a blanket.

Almost nothing to hear.

But if you have an itch to wet tumble, then that’s real solution.

 

[knockonit]

when i first used the cement mixer, i destroyed a couple buckets of 223 brass, thinking i had it dry enough, and stashed it, months later it was that ugly black, tarnish, and nope wouldn't come clean, learned my lesson, have the FA tube tumblers, and run's long and fast, have the cleaner and pins, tried it a few times and decided the dry stuff works fine, without themess and hassle of the wet. might try sometime in future again, but not on the list presently, good luck with selection. also have the tub type vibrators the dillons are reasonabl y quiet, and have to admit some of those sobs are louder than my old hot rod.
rj

 

[Feal]

I’ve switched to wet and like it better. But I use chips instead of pins- https://sleepinggiantbrass.com/product/stainless-steel-tumbling-media/

 

[BigNate]

I’ve switched to wet and like it better. But I use chips instead of pins- https://sleepinggiantbrass.com/product/stainless-steel-tumbling-media/

Thanks for the link... That said... I got a good laugh when I looked at it... those are some seriously expensive chips! Guessing I'd be about $39,990,000.00 before I had enough to run a batch of brass.

 

[jrleen]

I almost gave up on Frankford after 4 or 5 batches. Pain in the a** recovering pins (which you never get them all) clean up and watching for the stuck ones while loading. The lemishine and car wax works as well in my experiance. I do large batches during the summer months. Shake and lay in the sun. The carwax/cleaner seemed to get rid of any long term discoloration which I got even with dry media. I still have the old dry media unit for small batches, special runs and cleaning other stuff.

 

[Remow2112]

I never bother with the pins. Mine get plenty clean. A little Dawn and Lemishine.

 

[338lapua]

I had to buy a new cement mixer recently, in my world the cement mixer is a brass tumbler. First batch of 90 pounds of 9mm with 2 gallons of water and tried some brass juice and they came out really clean. The rinse water gets dumped in a steel vat and the water is boiled off and the vat is scraped. So far I like the results but my bet is the brass juice is cheap soap marketed at $100 a gallon. I dont have time for pins. Will be trying different soaps to get it as cheap as possible.

 

[Old Jeff H]

For what it's worth, I have had good luck using a small amount of citric acid and the combo car wash/wax like the Turtle or Jay Leno's Garage brands.

If the brass is already clean, and you're just looking for shine, you can forego the soap altogether and just use a bit of citric acid. That only takes about an hour, possibly less. However, unless it's heavily tarnished, I've decided that the rinsing and drying just isn't worth it. I've gone back to corncob and Nu-Finish for light polishing.

 

[BigNate]

For what it's worth, I have had good luck using a small amount of citric acid and the combo car wash/wax like the Turtle or Jay Leno's Garage brands.

If the brass is already clean, and you're just looking for shine, you can forego the soap altogether and just use a bit of citric acid. That only takes about an hour, possibly less. However, unless it's heavily tarnished, I've decided that the rinsing and drying just isn't worth it. I've gone back to corncob and Nu-Finish for light polishing.

I'm a "function over form" guy... I mostly don't care how shiny they are... but I do want them to be clean, primer pockets clean, etc... for consistency in reloading...

 

[BigNate]

Thanks for all the advice to avoid the pins... sounds like that is generally the consensus...

I'm thinking that for now I'll try the idea of insulating the vibratory cleaner from the ground and then doing the box with a blanket over it... I may actually get ambitious and line the box with the Styrofoam insulation too... maybe that will be enough that it does not keep me awake...

 

[Old Jeff H]

Well the pins will get your primer pockets clean. That's the one thing that they really are good for. And getting the inside of straight-walled brass clean.

However, if you're uniforming your primer pockets like I do on all my rifle brass, getting the pockets clean beforehand is redundant.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if I want really really clean pistol brass, I'll use the wet tumbler with pins. :lol:

 

[condition_0ne]

I have a Frankfort rortary wet tumbler with pins for sale if you're interested. That said, wet tumbling w/ pins vs vibratory with corn/walnut media gives very different results and might be good or bad depending on what you're trying to accomplish. For my process with rifle cases I went back to walnut/corn media vs. the pins/wet tumbling as I get more consistent case neck tension with the corn media. The pins actually get the case necks *too* clean and the case neck grip is slightly less consistent. For pistol cases, particularly .357/.44 mag rounds the steel media works great.

 

[condition_0ne]

when i first used the cement mixer, i destroyed a couple buckets of 223 brass, thinking i had it dry enough, and stashed it, months later it was that ugly black, tarnish, and nope wouldn't come clean, learned my lesson, have the FA tube tumblers, and run's long and fast, have the cleaner and pins, tried it a few times and decided the dry stuff works fine, without themess and hassle of the wet. might try sometime in future again, but not on the list presently, good luck with selection. also have the tub type vibrators the dillons are reasonabl y quiet, and have to admit some of those sobs are louder than my old hot rod.
rj

Got your PM, can't send PMs yet due to new account (lol?). Please text me, 442.271.5798 for the tumbler etc. The tumbler I have: https://www.frankfordarsenal.com/case-cleaning/case-cleaning-media/platinum-series-rotary-tumbler-7l/909544.html plus a full helping of steel pins.