OH Boy, another weekly tumbling thread.
Yup, it does get old to those of us who have been here for some time (give 'em a break)..... but here goes.................
`I have an old rock tumbler with a rubber liner.
Here is what I do.
4 pounds on S/S pins put in tumbler barrel..
Add brass.
Add hot water till about 3/4 full.
Dissolve one tablespoon of Lemi-shine in a separate cup of hot water. The reason I do this as in the past if one would just add it to the tumbler, some would settle on the brass and etch it.
Add Lemi-shine solution, give a bit of a stir.
I then add 1/3 cup of Turtle Wax Zip Wax car wash and wax.
Adding the soap at the end aids one in seeing the volume of water with no suds blocking your view.
I also have added a 12 X 12 inch micro fiber towel cut into quarters. Not sure if that helps or not.
Fill tumbler with water until about an inch from the top.
Seal the lid, I usually run it for 3 & 1/2 hours.
How you separate the pins from the brass is up to you. There are different methods you can research.
This is what I do:
A blue media separator, (Frankford?) sits in the top of a five gallon pail.
Pail in laundry sink with strainer set in it.
Gently pour brass, water and pins into strainer. Gently because the pins like to bounce and end up everywhere.
I'll use lukewarm water to fill the 5 gallon bucket, then let it trickle in as I pull the brass out, mouth down, allows the pin to fall through the water and strainer to the bottom of the pail.
Okay, brass and pins are separated.
Gently pour the water off the pins that are in the bottom of the 5 gallon pail.
Add water to pins, a gallon or so is ok. Stir and pour off water leaving pins in pail Rinse and repeat 3 times total. This will clean the pins and wash the dirt down the drain
I have a screen that the pins are poured on. Set aside to allow the pins to dry.
Using the pail, rinse your brass 3 times, straining through the blue plastic strainer. don't use hot water in this step as it will darken the brass prematurely.
I dry the brass 3 different ways depending on the time of year or urgency.
On a towel in the hot summer sun.(Cheapest!)
In an old food dehydrator for an hour,
or on top of my garage furnace in a steel pan.
I have found that there are no ill effects from using the Turtle wash and wax, if that is a concern, plus it seems to help slow down the tarnishing of brass, plus the straight walled brass seem to go through the carbide re-sizing die easier.