UPDATED Stainless Tumbler Project

[Babaganoosh 192]

I have been using and ultrasonic to clean my brass. You really can't do a large volume at a time. A while ago I saw the whole stainless tumbling and knew I would eventually get into it. Especially since I have started shooting USPSA. The Thumblers Tumbler doesn't have the capacity I would want plus I like building my own stuff. So I decided to build my own.

 

I bought a motor for 40, bearings for 32, pulleys for approx 10, rubber hose 6 bucks, steel rod 5 bucks, the steel was scrap that my dad had laying around. I saw some pics of others on websites, used them for inspiration, then drew up my plans on a legal pad and went to work.

 

So far this is what I have come up with. The paint can gives you an idea of scale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a quick video of it rolling a paint can. Haven't built the drum yet.

 

 

 

 

I have to paint it, build a drum, and possibly add an on/off switch with a timer. Gotta order my media and a separator as well. Any suggestions from the stainless tumbler guys?

[hd2000fxdl 422]

I'll get you the approximate volume of the drum on mine and you can base that on how much SS Media you will need.

 

Mine uses 5 lbs of media and I'll be back to get you the other info in a few minutes.

 

Also if you take a look at the drum, it's not round, it has flat sides, Probably helps agitate the shells and media but if you had a round drum, you could probably put some sort of agitators, maybe something similar to what in a clothes dryer.

 

Harry

 

 

[matt6669 71]

Looks pretty good so far. You got a good speed for sure. The only thing I would of done differently was make it shorter and fatter instead of an enlongated drum setup.

 

Another thing with the thumblers is the inside is rubber coated and it does give a little padding and also quiets the machine down. Don't know how important that is to you, but there are spray on options for rubber that would probably work out if you needed to go that route.

 

If you need close up pictures of anything on the thumblers, just let me know, I have one sitting next to me.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

Well shes working right now but the Thumblers book has it listed as a 15 LB Cap rubber liner. I would say it holds about 1.25 gallons of liquid.

 

Like I said it's doing it's thing but if you want me to measure the actual capacity of liquid it will hold I can do that tomorrow night or Monday morning. A little busy tonight and Shooting USPSA tomorrow morning and going to work in the afternoon.

 

Let me know, by the way, Your setup is looking good.

 

Harry

[Babaganoosh 192]

The rollers are 5 inches apart. I made it longer so you can roll 1 longer drum or 2 shorter drums (9mm in one, .45 in the other as an example) if you want. I will be using 8 inch pvc pipe for the drums. Like HD2000 said, it will have agitators inside. Probably 2 of them. That will keep it all sloshing around nicely.

[matt6669 71]

Not a bad idea on the two drums never thought of that!!

 

Definitely keep the pictures coming

[hd2000fxdl 422]

You know I was thinking about building one. The one we had at the machine shop was not sitting horizontal or vertical but at a 45 degree angle and had a lid but you could tumble with no lid being the way the drum sat.

 

I was thinking how am I going to do this easily and not cost me more than what I could buy one for, now you come up with PVC, yea head slap, I could have done this cheaper and bigger, darn it.

 

Anyway, you might want to check with some large PVC supply places and see if they have any 12" cut pieces that are looking to get rid of, A lot of time you can fine 1' or 2' sections that they cut for a job and don't have anything they can do with it. It's not normal being most of the time they only sell pre cut lengths but I had lock in the past getting scrap for a project I was doing.

 

Used to also check out some of the welding shops around for some of the large scrap pieces that had, was always nice to have some of that around in different sizes and thicknesses for that spur of the moment project.

 

Harry

[Babaganoosh 192]

Placing an order for media tonight.

 

Was bored so I took a 5 gallon water jug, heated some spots with a torch and pressed some indents into it with the end of an adjustable wrench. Got a 2 inch rubber cap at Home Depot for it too. Then I threw in a couple hundred cases and some dish detergent. Then I took 2 vids.

 

First one is only half full of water, very loud and made a lot of suds. I then filled it all the way to the top with water and chucked it back on the tumbler. This weighs in at approx 48 pounds and it didn't even bow the bars a bit. This has the potential to clean a LOT of brass. The agitator bumps worked perfectly in my opinion. The RPMS were approx 42. Still going to build some pvc drums but this actually worked well.

 

 

 

This one you can get a really good look at the side and the tumbling action. Can't wait for my stainless media to get here.

 

[hd2000fxdl 422]

Very nice, What did you order, 20 or 25 lbs of media??

 

And the media separators work great, I put the brass and media in the basket, a couple turns and it's all gone.

 

I do put all the cases in trays and inspect all the cases before I put them in the container thats ready to load brass, Juts want to make sure none of the SS media is stuck in the case or empty primer pockets.

[Babaganoosh 192]

I'm starting with 10 pounds because I don't think I will be using that 5 gallon jug to tumble. Was just a bored experiment. 10 pounds of media to 9 pounds of brass. See how that works out and adjust from there.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

I'm starting with 10 pounds because I don't think I will be using that 5 gallon jug to tumble. Was just a bored experiment. 10 pounds of media to 9 pounds of brass. See how that works out and adjust from there.

 

Tell us how that works out for you, not looking at ratios but off the top of my head I would think a 1.5:1 ratio of Media to Brass would be about right with what I think the ratio is on what I have.

 

Here is the other side of coin, my original batches were at the recommended ratio 1.5:1 but the last batch I did I packed in a bunch more brass and it was closer to 1 :1 (more like .08 or .09) and I could not tell the difference at all, so the recommendation of adding a little more brass than recommended by the manufacturer works very well. Also the only reason they have that ratio is probably not to burn out the motor but looking at your setup I doubt you have anything to worry about.

 

Pic's of Shinny brass yet?????

[Babaganoosh 192]

Tell us how that works out for you, not looking at ratios but off the top of my head I would think a 1.5:1 ratio of Media to Brass would be about right with what I think the ratio is on what I have.

 

Here is the other side of coin, my original batches were at the recommended ratio 1.5:1 but the last batch I did I packed in a bunch more brass and it was closer to 1 :1 (more like .08 or .09) and I could not tell the difference at all, so the recommendation of adding a little more brass than recommended by the manufacturer works very well. Also the only reason they have that ratio is probably not to burn out the motor but looking at your setup I doubt you have anything to worry about.

 

Pic's of Shinny brass yet?????

 

The pics of the shiny brass will be up a few hours after the media gets here!

 

In the meantime I think I'll work on a drying box.

[raz-0 1,259]

FYI, your water jug lookss like a decent solution.

 

Be careful when building your PVC containers if you actually get around to that. You want your brass to fall early like your jug does. If you put paddles in it that move that height up, you can actually peen the mouth of your cases, which can then gouge your bullets when you reload. I know at least one person who decided to clean their brass in a cement mixer and trashed many thousands of rounds of brass in one shot.

[Babaganoosh 192]

FYI, your water jug lookss like a decent solution.

 

Be careful when building your PVC containers if you actually get around to that. You want your brass to fall early like your jug does. If you put paddles in it that move that height up, you can actually peen the mouth of your cases, which can then gouge your bullets when you reload. I know at least one person who decided to clean their brass in a cement mixer and trashed many thousands of rounds of brass in one shot.

 

 

Thanks for the info. I don't want to be peening casemouths.

 

Bought some Lemishine at Walmart today. Just waiting on the stainless media. I was thinking that the tumbling action looks so good that you might not even need stainless media. I think the media would be great for getting primer pockets spotless, but I am going to do a run with soap, lemishine and no media and see what happens. I will post the results.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

Thanks for the info. I don't want to be peening casemouths.

 

Bought some Lemishine at Walmart today. Just waiting on the stainless media. I was thinking that the tumbling action looks so good that you might not even need stainless media. I think the media would be great for getting primer pockets spotless, but I am going to do a run with soap, lemishine and no media and see what happens. I will post the results.

 

First off, Nice catch Raz-o on the large drop with paddles.

 

Now as far as tumbling with no media, I'd skip that Idea, there would be nothing in there to clean the primer pockets or inside the cases, the outer surfaces might get clean but anything not in contact with something probably wont.

[Babaganoosh 192]

First off, Nice catch Raz-o on the large drop with paddles.

 

Now as far as tumbling with no media, I'd skip that Idea, there would be nothing in there to clean the primer pockets or inside the cases, the outer surfaces might get clean but anything not in contact with something probably wont.

 

 

I know what you are saying and I agree to a point. Especially since the whole point of a stainless wet tumbler is to clean the primer pockets. However, You don't need to have spotless primer pockets and you don't need to have the inside of your cases spotless. Especially for pistol.

 

Gonna use the scientific method. My hypothesis is that between the tumbling action and the detergent, the cases might turn out pretty well. Who really knows though. I will experiment tomo and post pics and results of the experiment.

[raz-0 1,259]

I know what you are saying and I agree to a point. Especially since the whole point of a stainless wet tumbler is to clean the primer pockets. However, You don't need to have spotless primer pockets and you don't need to have the inside of your cases spotless. Especially for pistol.

 

Gonna use the scientific method. My hypothesis is that between the tumbling action and the detergent, the cases might turn out pretty well. Who really knows though. I will experiment tomo and post pics and results of the experiment.

 

there have been lots of people who got decent results with the lemishine mix and no media. Detergent+agitation will do a lot. detergent+agitation+media does more. PErsonally, I HATE waiting for wet brass to dry, so abandoned my experiments with wet media cleaning.

[dwvcfii 1]

Stupid question, but to aid drying of the brass, couldn't one just put the brass into one of those mesh bags and throw it in the dryer for a half hour or something?

 

Main reason I like the idea of wet media cleaning is the elimination of (possibly toxic) dust. Dump the water and you're done.

[Babaganoosh 192]

Stupid question, but to aid drying of the brass, couldn't one just put the brass into one of those mesh bags and throw it in the dryer for a half hour or something?

 

Main reason I like the idea of wet media cleaning is the elimination of (possibly toxic) dust. Dump the water and you're done.

 

You could try it, but you might ruin your brass or dryer. I have heard that you can dip the brass in alcohol to disperse the water and it dries very quickly. Haven't tried it yet. I am going to build a drying box. Just dump brass into a box that has a mesh bottom and turn on the fan. Maybe add a heater. Dunno yet. Planning on making that in the next few days.

[Babaganoosh 192]

An update on this project.

 

Got my 10 pounds of media. Played around with the tumbler. Dumped approx 600 rounds of still primed .40 into the tumbler, 5 pounds of media, 2 tablespoons detergent, and a .40 case of lemishine.

 

As I predicted the bottle sprang a small leak. The plastic becomes too brittle when you heat the areas that I pushed into. However the tumbler ran for 25 minutes.

 

All I can say is WOW. This process is no joke. I think it can easily become the future of cleaning brass. I could dry and load the ammo with only a 25 minute cycle. It's not 100% clean but it's def clean enough for loading. The outside of the brass was sparkling. Inside still a little dirty but not that bad.

 

I can't wait to get this project up and running 100%. The tumbler I build held 55 pounds on it today and worked without a hiccup. Just gotta work on my permanent drum.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

You could try it, but you might ruin your brass or dryer. I have heard that you can dip the brass in alcohol to disperse the water and it dries very quickly. Haven't tried it yet. I am going to build a drying box. Just dump brass into a box that has a mesh bottom and turn on the fan. Maybe add a heater. Dunno yet. Planning on making that in the next few days.

 

The drying box sounds good, but with my Thumblers unit I just did 2 loads of 400, and I use a tray with a towel on it, after spinning it in the media separator and rinsing the brass off well I just lay it out and let it dry overnight. Next morning I have clean dry brass ready to go. I could probably even lay the try with the clean brass on the towel on the ground and blow a fan over it and have it all dry in less than an hour if I really needed to, but I am building up my brass supply to 5K of 9mm and 5K of 40 and rotate through that for now. I figure I'll keep at least 2500 loaded at any given time, and do a couple day of brass cleaning every once once in a while being I remove the primers prior to cleaning and I will have a separate tool head for doing that.

 

Being your able to do larger loads of brass, and if I was able to do that much at a time I would get a couple of the big cookie sheets and used then with a towel on it to dry out the brass. I figure with that water bottle if you did it in that you could probably do 2500 rounds at a time and 2 cookies sheet with towels, tumble for 3 or 4 hours, let dry for 8 and your good for a while in 12 hours or less. I consider that very respectable rate.

[dwvcfii 1]

Babaganoosh, assuming you have no plans for production, would you mind publishing your parts list (primarily where you got the bearings) and maybe a rough diagram with some basic measurements on it?

[Babaganoosh 192]

Babaganoosh, assuming you have no plans for production, would you mind publishing your parts list (primarily where you got the bearings) and maybe a rough diagram with some basic measurements on it?

 

Sure. I'll make up a list and post it for everyone. I already have a few ideas how to make it better. Maybe I will sell this one and make another for myself.

 

I would produce some of these for people who don't have the tools to make them. I do have to perfect a drum at this point though.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

Being that you weld, maybe put together weld some flat panels into a pentagon or hexagon and weld 2 round strap around the end like the Thumblers unit and use some sort of liner. Not sure if the rubber liners you would put under a stand-up shower would work with the seams to well but maybe, some sort of spray rubber liner. Just tossing ideas out.

[dwvcfii 1]

Sure. I'll make up a list and post it for everyone. I already have a few ideas how to make it better. Maybe I will sell this one and make another for myself.

 

I would produce some of these for people who don't have the tools to make them. I do have to perfect a drum at this point though.

 

Thanks. I'm hoping to teach myself how to weld (mig/tig) over the winter and this would be a great first project...largely because the tolerances aren't exactly critical.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

If anyone is thinking about building a setup and is stuck on what to do and needs a drum to tumble in DVOR_RCBS_DRUM is on sale today at the DVOR website.

[Babaganoosh 192]

If anyone is thinking about building a setup and is stuck on what to do and needs a drum to tumble in DVOR_RCBS_DRUM is on sale today at the DVOR website.

 

Not a member of DVOR, how much? I'm prob going to get a small drum like the Thumblers or that one in case I feel like doing a small batch.

 

Waiting on a PVC reducer fitting from Grainger and I should be ready to go with my permanent drum.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

Not a member of DVOR, how much? I'm prob going to get a small drum like the Thumblers or that one in case I feel like doing a small batch.

 

Waiting on a PVC reducer fitting from Grainger and I should be ready to go with my permanent drum.

[John Boy 6]

... to aid drying of the brass, couldn't one just put the brass into one of those mesh bags and throw it in the dryer for a half hour or something?

The 2 Minute Blowing Drying of Brass ... http://www.theopenrange.net/forum/index.php?topic=7653.0

 

If the Mrs won't let you use her's - Big Lots has them for $15.00

[Babaganoosh 192]

Ok a quick update on this. I let this project slide for a bit since I have been busy. I have finished a prototype drum and have been tumbling some brass for the last week. The prototype drum could actually be a final drum because it works very well. I will post some detailed pics of the drum in a few days.

 

I have 2 main things here. 1 is that my dad bought a thumblers tumbler drum to mess with the tumbler. He just couldn't wait for me to finish my drum I guess. I know the directions are that you can only load 2 pounds of brass in there. I believe that's because anything heavier will burn out the motor. The drum will tumble 4 and 5 pounds of brass. I loaded it with 5 pounds of brass and 6 pounds of media. The finished product looked great. I think the weak link in the chain is the actual thumblers tumbler itself. The only problem we ran into was that the drum leaks. Tried tightening it only a little, leaks, tried tightening it a lot, leaks. Noticed that the plate that goes on flexes a lot when you tighten it down. That and the fact that the rubber gasket that's built into the drum doesn't surround the bolts. I'll post pictures of that on a later date as well so people can see what I mean. I told him to send it back for a refund but he is opting to get it replaced. He wants it in case he feels like doing some small batches. Customer service hasn't gotten back to him in days. Thumbs down for that.

 

Ok, moving along. My drum is 6 inch PVC. I put 2 agitators inside. I cut a piece of PVC in half lengthwise then cemented, bolted, and caulked the bolt holes. I put 2 stainless bolts thru it. Not sure if it needs them. Unsure if the agitators would come loose from the constant beating of the brass/media. Better safe then sorry. The drum is approx 2 feet long with a rubber cap on the end. I'm pretty sure my neighbor thought it was a bomb when she saw it in my backyard. It's pretty freaken big.

 

So on to the good part. I tossed in 8 pounds of 9mm brass and 10 pounds of SS media. A squirt of Dawn and a sprinkle of Lemishine. I stopped it an hour and 45 minutes later. Dumped most of the water then a few cycles of adding water and dumping to get all the scuzz out. That water was very dirty. Ran the brass and media thru a media separator. Then dumped them in an old towel for a quick drying. I then used the blowdryer method that is in this thread and my brass was dry in a few minutes. I took a few pics. I put my Beretta in the pic for scale. Hard to discern how much brass it really is without something to show scale.

 

Anyway I gotta go to bed, I get up very early. I've got more info to add as well as answer any questions. I still will make a parts list up for anyone who wants it. Oh and 9mm brass is approx 117 cases per pound. I did approx 8 pounds in my tumbler at once. So that's in the neighborhood of 900 cases.