Rock Tumbler

[TheWoodCrafter]

I am using a sonic cleaner on my brass but it does not polish.

Anyone use a rock polisher for wet tumbling your brass?

A may try the cheap Harbor Freight rock tumbler.

Is the RPM right? Would it be usable for my brass?

[pdq_wizzard]

yes, if you are not tumbling much brass, they will work fine.

this is the first one that showed up for me.




I was looking into doing this and I even tried to make my own (it worked but was a pain in the butt). I was looking on Amazon and picked up a Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler for $152.00 they come with everything you need in the box and can do ~1000 .223 at once.

they are backup to ~$185 but if you keep an eye out it might go back down.

I'm a cheap A** but this is a buy once cry once.

[TheWoodCrafter]

Thanks for the info.
Great video.

[checkenbach]

Thumlers Tumblers are the industry standard, not cheap, but will last forever. I use mine with steel pins, never going back to walnut shells.

[1siksi]

Got me a Harbor Freight dual cylinder Rock Tumbler it works great with stainless steel pins. It cost me $48 with a coupon

[cwilliams]

If you go the HF route you should look into adding an agitator to the drum to keep the brass moving. I used a piece of rubber tarp strap and cemented it to the wall.

I picked up a used Frankford Arsenal tumbler shown above and haven't looked back. It's really well made and I don't think the Thumbler's is half the quality for the price.

[Eljay]

People seem to like the Frankford model a lot. If you're thinking of a Thumblers style there's a version where they use a lot of the same parts but made some modifications (The "rebel 17") - it's probably worth the $30 extra or whatever it is. You can get it in kit form here http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.co...e-package.html or you can buy it by itself.

Personally I use the Rebel 17 for brass and a Lortone 33b primarily for tumbling actual rocks with a spare barrel that I'll use for small batches of brass and other odd jobs and they both do the job just fine. But the 33b only holds like 50 cases of 45 (long) Colt per barrel. Which is perfect because that's how many I shoot in a session. Even the black powder cartridges come out looking great.

[stilly]

I am using a sonic cleaner on my brass but it does not polish.

Anyone use a rock polisher for wet tumbling your brass?

A may try the cheap Harbor Freight rock tumbler.

Is the RPM right? Would it be usable for my brass?

Typical rock tumblers turn too slow for polishing brass.

When I got my Thumler from some guy on Ebay I was all excited but it was taking about 4 hours per load.

THEN I bought the faster motor and swapped it out, cut the times in half. Then I played with various chemicals and acids and got times down to about 20 minutes-1 hour for a full load of about 10+ lbs of brass.

If your running the lemishine and pins then you need speed, if you are doing acid, then speed helps, but it is not that critical.

[Tom-ADC]

I have a vintage Scott Murray tumbler size wise its like a Thumblers Tumbler rotary except each end has a removable lid it runs just fine missing a couple of 1/4-20 wing nuts but I'm sure it would be good for SS pins.
Don't want to ship but I'm in the Chula Vista area $25.00. It sold.

not mine but this is the type.

[TheWoodCrafter]

Man, I would give you that for it but I am in upper Orange county and never get down into your neck of the woods.

Thank you though.

[Whiterabbit]

I am using a sonic cleaner on my brass but it does not polish.

Anyone use a rock polisher for wet tumbling your brass?

A may try the cheap Harbor Freight rock tumbler.

Is the RPM right? Would it be usable for my brass?

YES. Dual drum tumbler is the way to go. 1 pound of pins in the drum.fill brass to the brim, as much as you can get in there. few squeezes of dish soap, fill with water to the top. Run one drum at a time.

I have better results running for 2 hours than I do running for 4 (or more).

I wouldn't spend the money unless I could get it out the door for less than $50, or if you need a ball mill or some other purpose for it. one of my drums is a permanent ball mill. The other a permanent brass tumbler.

-----------

The process I outlined above is not the only way. It is just the way I use the HF tumbler, and it works for me. It's not good either if you tumble brass in quantities over ~100. But with only one exception, I can do any cartridge in my lineup in maximum 2 batches in those little drums. And the day that changes is the day I go buy a larger tumbler.

I can always go back to the vibratory tumbler for a large batch.

[Capybara]

I have the Harbor Freight dual drum tumbler. First one went belly up at 90 days but they exchanged it. Second one has been okay. Fine if you are cheap or for a first tumbler but I am upgrading to the Frankford, it's the best value on the market. HF works fine but the capacity is pretty low. So if you are a low volume reloader, it's fine. But if you want to clean 1k of brass, it takes a while with the HF whereas the Frankford or a larger tumbler will do them in one batch.

[diveRN]

I'm a cheap A** but this is a buy once cry once.

Just bought this one. With a little dawn and .40 case full of lemishine, it does a great job on .223/5.56. The timer function is great. Recent deals come with 5lbs of pins.

It's nice to be able to do a 1000 rounds of .223 at once. I could only dry tumble about 400 at a time and this does a better job.

Will still use a dry tumbler for small batches of pistol brass though.

[sl0re10]

I use one... you dry polish if you run it long enough. 10 hours in walnut and it's polished.

[TheWoodCrafter]

I think you guys convinced me.

I am looking at buying the Frankford.

Thanks for all the input.