Best way to control lead dust

[z7]

I am looking at a smarter/better way to clean brass and control/contain lead dust. I reload in the garage and My wife keeps a sewing table in the garage and my 2yr old has some toys out there. I want to minimize and risk to them.
Current steps are to deprime, wash in a milk jug with soap and lemishine and soak for an hour or two, dry overnight, corn cob tumble and so on.

I am considering ultrasonic or wet tumbling, thumlers model b is a little pricey. . .harbor freight has cheaper options but I can't find much on the capacity of their rotary tumblers.

As I said, my main goal is to minimize lead dust while getting clean cases. I sometimes clean dirty 7.62 machine gun fired brass, its a beast to clean where I get it from.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Tumble and sift outside.

 

[beeenbag]

I personally think the lead from tumbling is overstated, but if you are worried about it, go to a wet brass cleaning system.

 

[Blue68f100]

Does your tumbler have the vented top? If so seal the vents.

If your using the pet bedding for media you will get a lot of dust. Pet bedding is all the scrap that is left after the good part is used. Use commercial blast media and you will get very little dust. Even HF Walnut blast media is low dust than pet bedding. Adding NuFinish ( ~ 1 cap full) to my mix, along with 6 2x2 paper towels of cleaning patches collects the dust.

How do you separate your brass for the media? Do you use one of the spinners? If so stop or hook up a shop vac to remove the media.

Thinking of the shop vac. You can get HEPA quality filters for most these days. May want to setup to use the shop vac to remove the media. You will still need to empty shop vac back into the tumbler though.

I use the brass sorting bins set in a 5gal bucket. I pour then put the lid onto the bins and shack 96% out. I then hand sift them to get the remaining out. I do not see any dust when I'm doing this.

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

I personally think the lead from tumbling is overstated, but if you are worried about it, go to a wet brass cleaning system.

^^^That and deprime after cleaning.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I personally think the lead from tumbling is overstated, .

Me, too.

 

[jcwit]

I personally think the lead from tumbling is overstated,

Don't "think" and "wonder" about it. Get a test kit and check. Then and only then will 'you' "know".

 

[beeenbag]

Don't "think" and "wonder" about it. Get a test kit and check. Then and only then will 'you' "know".

Well, my blood work shows no elevated lead levels. I tumble in my reloading room, shoot upwards of 5000 lrn bullets a year, load all of them in tumbled brass. Granted I wont let my kids play in there or anything like that just because its not worth the risk, but I think I would show elevated lead levels if I was exposing myself to the amount of inhaled lead dust that some claim is in tumbling residue.

 

[Schwing]

Lead dust risk from tumbling media is NOT overstated. In my opinion, it is the most likely avenue of lead exposure for reloaders. It has been proven the majority of lead that people absorb is not from the gi tract but from the respiratory system so, basically, it is safer to eat lead than breath dust. The finer the dust, the more you absorb.

Most of it comes from lead stearate in the spent primers so decaping prior to tumbling will help but I would not do it in the house at all. If you do keep in in the garage, I would change my media frequently as well. Unlike lead itself, lead stearate is water soluble.

I had high lead last year. I was tumbling in my basement workshop. A home lead test kit revealed that my entire office was contaminated with lead dust. It was far from the end of the world though. A thorough cleaning of all surfaces and moving the tumbler outside resolved my issue.

I know that lead dangers are often overstated but it is a heavy metal and it is toxic. Taking simple measures, however, can mitigate the risk significantly. I know the majority of reloaders think they can eat the stuff for breakfast but I tend to lean on the cautious side.

 

[Catshooter]

I switched to the stainless steel pins/wet system and have never looked back.

It's more expensive to get set up, but once you are the costs drop to very low. And zero dust.


Cat