whats the best media for a tumbler?
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Sunray
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Either crushed walnut shells or corn cobs. Both of which you can get really cheap in a pet supply shop. It's sold as small animal bedding. Mind you, cases need to be clean, not shiny.
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cdrt
Member
Time depends on what kind of tumbler you're using, how dirty they are, and what you add to the media to help clean/polish.
Navy Vet & SWIFT Boat OIC
Navy Vet & SWIFT Boat OIC
Sunray
Member
Yep. They both do the same thing. How long tumbling takes depends on how dirty the cases are. A new tumbler will come with media, but when you need to replace it, buying it in a gun shop will cost a bunch more than a pet supply shop. Pet supply shop sell 50 lbs of the stuff for less than $20. Midway wants $21.99 plus shipping for 15 pounds of corn cob.
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I prefer a 50/50 mix of corn cob and walnut with a cap full of Nu Finish car polish and a used fabric softener dryer sheet. In two hours even the dirtiest brass will look like new and stained brass will start to look new after two or three cleanings.
The Real Wyatt
Member
Walnut, Nu-Finish and a dryer sheet cut into 16ths.
Tumble for 2 hours.
Tumble for 2 hours.
bigcim
Member
If you decide on the corn cob make sure its finely ground or it will get stuck in the brass and be a pain to get out
snuffy
Member
+1 on that!
The stuff I bought at petsmart,(ground corn cob), was so big it would ONLY work for 9mm on up. The chunks were just big enough to get into a .223 case, but not small enough to get out!
Fortunatly I suspected this might be the case, so I only did about 20 pieces. I had to use a 1/8 drill to hoe it out of those .223's!:banghead:ranger335v
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Both cob and walnut work fine, not a lot of difference. Nut is a little faster but not much, cob is a little softer so it gives a slightly better shine.
Time is as said above, we don't do this by the clock but by results, stopping when we are satisfied.
Time is as said above, we don't do this by the clock but by results, stopping when we are satisfied.
Fatelvis
Member
I've heard of using dryer sheets for your powder measure, but not in a tumbler. What exactly is the purpose of it?
ReloaderFred
Member
There is a difference in the way the two medias clean and polish. Ground walnut shell is hard and non absorbing. It cleans by friction.
Ground corn cob is soft and absorbant. It cleans first by soaking up the impurities and dirt, and then by friction. As mentioned, buy the 1/8" grind of corn cob when buying pet litter. The 1/4" grind will keep you busy for hours trying to get it out of bottlenecked cases.
Ground walnut shells will clean a little faster, but won't give you the high shine, if that's what you're looking for. Corn cob will give brass a high luster.
I run three tumblers, two with treated corn cob and one with untreated corn cob. The untreated cob is used as a final polish to give a really high luster and to remove any polish residue from the brass before sizing. If you've ever polished brass and then sized it in a carbide die and noticed really fine scratching, that's the polish residue causing it. I like my brass really shiny, since it belongs to me and I'm the one who determines how it should look.
Hope this helps.
Fred
Ground corn cob is soft and absorbant. It cleans first by soaking up the impurities and dirt, and then by friction. As mentioned, buy the 1/8" grind of corn cob when buying pet litter. The 1/4" grind will keep you busy for hours trying to get it out of bottlenecked cases.
Ground walnut shells will clean a little faster, but won't give you the high shine, if that's what you're looking for. Corn cob will give brass a high luster.
I run three tumblers, two with treated corn cob and one with untreated corn cob. The untreated cob is used as a final polish to give a really high luster and to remove any polish residue from the brass before sizing. If you've ever polished brass and then sized it in a carbide die and noticed really fine scratching, that's the polish residue causing it. I like my brass really shiny, since it belongs to me and I'm the one who determines how it should look.
Hope this helps.
Fred
SSN Vet
Member
I kind of like the polish residue on the cases, as it seems to act like lube and sizes a little more smoothly.
I haven't notices any scratching.....but will have to start checking more carefully.
Put your tumbler on a timer and go to bed knowing you'll wake up to shiny brass.....why not burn a few extra KWhrs......Maine can stand to be warmer!
I haven't notices any scratching.....but will have to start checking more carefully.
Put your tumbler on a timer and go to bed knowing you'll wake up to shiny brass.....why not burn a few extra KWhrs......Maine can stand to be warmer!
DaveInFloweryBranchGA
Member
I do the same thing Idano does, with the same good results.
Regards,
Dave
Regards,
Dave
media, media and more media
I find that the best size corn media to use is 10/14 and the best size walnut media to use is 12/20 - and mix them together for the best results - the shape of the tumbler bowl is the most important part of the tumber - I had a hornady
tumbler and dropped it on the floor and it terminated the bowl- it never really worked that well - but the motor was still working so I put a frankford arsenal tumbler bowl on and it works much better and is more effective - also - a pound of cases to a pound of media is very effective up to a size .308 case - once the cases get bigger than that a larger tumbler seems more effective - I don't try and clean 100 or less cases at a time (except rifle cases) I am a pistol shooter so 300-400 cases to approx 3-4 pounds of media is what I usually tumble - to me the more noise the better - shake rattle and roll tumbling is what I am after - when it is just humming along, to me, there is something wrong -
I find that the best size corn media to use is 10/14 and the best size walnut media to use is 12/20 - and mix them together for the best results - the shape of the tumbler bowl is the most important part of the tumber - I had a hornady
tumbler and dropped it on the floor and it terminated the bowl- it never really worked that well - but the motor was still working so I put a frankford arsenal tumbler bowl on and it works much better and is more effective - also - a pound of cases to a pound of media is very effective up to a size .308 case - once the cases get bigger than that a larger tumbler seems more effective - I don't try and clean 100 or less cases at a time (except rifle cases) I am a pistol shooter so 300-400 cases to approx 3-4 pounds of media is what I usually tumble - to me the more noise the better - shake rattle and roll tumbling is what I am after - when it is just humming along, to me, there is something wrong -
Yeah, I wired in one of those timers that you see in bathroom fan & heat light applications. I was able to get the one I got through a local electric supply and it was set up for "hours" instead of minutes.
I can run from 1 hr. to 6 hrs., and I have 3 tumblers that run off of that circuit. One large VibrShine-VS30, a Lyman 2500 Turbo Magnum, and an old Lyman Turbo 1200.
I use Walnut medium treated with Lyman's cream turbo brite in the large VS30, and in the other tumbler's I use regular corn cob media treated with a non-etching brass polish......
After years of doing it.....this works the best for me.
Bob
Black_Talon
Member
Handgunr said:
What brand of "non-etching brass polish" do you use?
Black Talon,
I've used Iosso (case cleaner) with real good results in the past, but cheaper yet, and reportedly with great results, many guys have been using a couple of capfull's of mineral spirits in their tumblers.
I tried Mother's Mag Wheel polish in the past and it worked great, but that black residue really makes a mess out of the media.
Ammonia is the big killer for brass, and if you find a good liquid brass cleaner that is devoid of it, it should work just fine in the tumbler.
I've used 3M Imperial Handglaze on cars in the past, and although it's about $30.00 a bottle at NAPA, I've tried it on brass by hand with a rag. It worked exceptionally well, and I think it'd work great in a tumbler also.
Like it was mentioned here, walnut media is really non-absorbent, and adding liquids might not work as well. A cream cleaner, or rubbing compound, that dries down to a fine abrasive (1500-2000 grit) probably would be a better choice to work with the walnut media.
Hope this helps....
Bob
I've used Iosso (case cleaner) with real good results in the past, but cheaper yet, and reportedly with great results, many guys have been using a couple of capfull's of mineral spirits in their tumblers.
I tried Mother's Mag Wheel polish in the past and it worked great, but that black residue really makes a mess out of the media.
Ammonia is the big killer for brass, and if you find a good liquid brass cleaner that is devoid of it, it should work just fine in the tumbler.
I've used 3M Imperial Handglaze on cars in the past, and although it's about $30.00 a bottle at NAPA, I've tried it on brass by hand with a rag. It worked exceptionally well, and I think it'd work great in a tumbler also.
Like it was mentioned here, walnut media is really non-absorbent, and adding liquids might not work as well. A cream cleaner, or rubbing compound, that dries down to a fine abrasive (1500-2000 grit) probably would be a better choice to work with the walnut media.
Hope this helps....
Bob
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