Rotary tumbler

[beerhog]

so i just bought a tumbler off fleabay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-5Kg-Rota ... e79&_uhb=1

Also got the reloaders pack of pins and burnishing compound from Aussie sapphire. now while I'm waiting in anticipation for it all to arrive I thought that id ask the experienced users on here about separators.

Do you think they are necessary to buy one or is it just as easy to use a cheap plastic colander to separate the brass out? if I buy a separator which would people recommend?

I was looking at the dillon or the rcbs ones that come in at a similar price to each other any thoughts either way? or any others you could recommend?

I can't wait for it all to arrive so I can have some shiny brass to show off, it might mean I will have to go shooting next weekend to empty some brass to give it a good test run when it arrives. tough work but I'm sure I'll get through alright

[brett1868]

Curious to see how this works out for you so please provide an update once you're all sorted. I use a pair of Lyman 1200 tumblers with corncob media which apart from some dust does an excellent job of polishing the brass. Have been pondering the move to rotary tumbler and stainless pins to eliminate the dust issue. Capacity may be my only issue as I'm not sure how this style of tumbler will handle 50BMG brass.

[Norton]

I'm about due to give a rotary tumbler a go too.

My old media one is on it's last legs. The day it burns our I'll order myself one of these I think too.

[pip]

I also just got a rotary, I bought the whole setup from Aussie sapphire. Done a batch today, it works excellent in and out, and quick, just few times fired brass needs only half to an hour rinse and dry - done. I got the 6 pound one and this will do fine. Wouldn't get the 4 pound.

[pip]

Oh at this stage just used a colander, the pins are heavy and fall out very easy.

[Seik]

I dunno if I'm doing something wrong here, there have definitely been half a dozen topics go through here with pics of peoples rotary tumbler setups.

Can't find them in search ATM though.

Mods? Help?

[sarki]

I remember Fozzy uses one...

That's all I got soz

[fawksel]

Read this topic mate - Taking a tumble into brass cleaners

[beerhog]

I got the tumbler actually of days ago and I am happy as he'll with it. First run was with some 45/70 brass that had been used with black powder and after an hour in the tumbler it come out looking brand new.second run was with around 50 22 hornet brass and 70 222 rimmed brass and that lot only took half an hour to gleam.I'm just using the burnishing compound that came with the pins but may try some citric and dish soap when that runs out to see which is better

rotary-tumbled-brass.jpg (98.39 KiB) Viewed 4984 times

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[sarki]

They be shiny!

[franc]

beerhog,

Is there a reason you do the different brass separately?

Can't just put it all in at once?

[beerhog]

The smaller brass can end up inside the larger brass. the 222 can fit in the 45 /70 and be a pain to get out.

[franc]

Gotcha. Thanks

[Silver87]

Welcome to the club Beerhog!
If you want to start experimenting with getting an even better shine you'll find the biggest gains are in running it longer. I run mine for about 3 hours with warm water, one table spoon of the burnishing compound and a small squirt of "morning fresh" dishwashing liquid. Been getting very good results with the brass coming out almost silvery gold in colour.

[stevy]

I run mine for about 3 hours with warm water, one table spoon of the burnishing compound and a small squirt of "morning fresh" dishwashing liquid. Been getting very good results with the brass coming out almost silvery gold in colour.

Adding for those without a rotary tumbler, I washed my walnut media after someone put up some pics of their results too.

Made my brass heaps shinier with the cleaned media.

A half measure for anyone who can't move to a rotary unit yet

[Silver87]

The stainless pins are expensive at $80 or so but a homemade rotary tumbler can be made on the cheap, here is my set up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bXLq_9CW4c

[stevy]

Can't remember who it is but pretty sure one of the guys here made his out of a bucket

[Silver87]

Haha yeah that's me, been using it regularly for about 6 months and hasn't skipped a beat. Ran it for a total of 9 hours yesterday and the motor only got a bit warm but comfortable to hold, not bad for an old wiper motor

[stevy]

Oh ha ha.

Yeah it's good work mate

[Harts]

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