Wet Tumbling

[omalley72]

I just picked up a wet tumbler with stainless steel media as I have heard that was the way to go for cleaning/polishing brass. Here is my frustration... when I first pull the brass from the tumbler, it looks amazing inside and out. As soon as I start to rinse it with water, it all turns a dark gold color. Can anyone shed some light on this? It's very frustrating!!

[Bigtls1]

When this happens to me it usually means you put too much lemishine in. What's your ingredients and how long do you run for?

[omalley72]

I run 2tbl of dawn with 1/4tbl of lemishine. Run that for 2-3 hrs

[Jasonaspears]

I just picked up a wet tumbler with stainless steel media as I have heard that was the way to go for cleaning/polishing brass. Here is my frustration... when I first pull the brass from the tumbler, it looks amazing inside and out. As soon as I start to rinse it with water, it all turns a dark gold color. Can anyone shed some light on this? It's very frustrating!!

I'm finishing up my home built wet tumbler now. How big is your container for that amount of product you mentioned using?

[stilly]

I just picked up a wet tumbler with stainless steel media as I have heard that was the way to go for cleaning/polishing brass. Here is my frustration... when I first pull the brass from the tumbler, it looks amazing inside and out. As soon as I start to rinse it with water, it all turns a dark gold color. Can anyone shed some light on this? It's very frustrating!!

Well, I have the same sometimes. I run 5cc of Citric Acid and close to 80oz water.

The last time I let the shells run for about 2 hours and then took my time emptying them out.

They DID darken up a tad, but they are still brass.

If I switch to all nickel shells I do not have that problem.

IF I switch to Basmati rice and tumble dry then the shells come out nice and very clean and shiny. But then there is that rice in your flashhole problem...

[Michael in California]

I run 2tbl of dawn with 1/4tbl of lemishine. Run that for 2-3 hrs

Try a 9mm case full of Lemishine. 1/4 TBS is more than I use.

I had that problem for a couple of runs and I figured out that I was being lazy with porportions of chemicals. In my case, I think it was too little soap.

I take the cases out and immediately rinse with plenty of warm water. Actually, I pour the cases into a collandar that sits in a bucket and fill the bucket to overflowing while I stir to remove the pins. I keep flooding the bucket until the water runs clear and then dump out the brass. Decant the water and toss the pins back in the tumbler for the next time.

For the discolored brass, I just tumbled it again for about 15 minutes and it was bright.

['ol shooter]

I don't use Lemishine in the tumbler. After tumbling, I rinse the brass in warm water, then fill a tub until it covers the brass, and mix in the Lemishine, in the amount suggested in the previous post. I let it soak for 20 minutes, and it comes out nice and bright.

[J-cat]

I run 2tbl of dawn with 1/4tbl of lemishine. Run that for 2-3 hrs

That's too much Lemishine. Use a quarter teaspoon not a quarter tablespoon.

[J-cat]

Try a 9mm case full of Lemishine.

That's too much.

Try half a case full.

[Michael in California]

That's too much.

Try half a case full.

Seems to work fine. If I can find my one lone .380 case, I use that. I'll try half and see if I like the results. I'm tumbling about 250 9mm cases at a time in an old hexagon rock tumbler drum with 2 1/2 lbs of pins.

[J-cat]

I use a Lee .7cc dipper full per gallon of water.

[Squid76]

some dish soap will actually stain the brass. Least harsh dish soap should due.

[damndave]

Sounds like too much Lemishine. What is the capacity of the tumbler? I use 1/4 tsp with 2 gallons of water.

[omalley72]

I'll try cutting back on lemishine and see where that takes me. I'll report back.