Handy items for rotary, wet tumbling

[straightShot]

If I pick up a Rebel 17 rotary tumbler and media separator from StainlessTumblingMedia, what other things are handy for someone moving from a dry, vibratory tumbler? Is a food dehydrator a good thing to have? Is some sort of magnet necessary? Do I need extra steel pins or cleaning solution? Am I missing anything else, like a filter for my sink to prevent accidental pin spillage? Lessons learned are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[cheygriz]

I've never used pins, so I can't address that part of your question.

I use a small splash of liquid tide and a tiny bit of lemi-shine and tumble for ~30 minutes.

For drying, I put the well washed, well rinsed brass on cookie shoots in the oven at 180-200 degrees for an hour.

 

[Tilos]

2 for $4 paint strainer bags from Home Depot:

works for me

 

[Blue68f100]

A magnet with a release is good for moving the pins. I also have a small Brown & Sharp magnet that is the size of a pen. It has a release and is great for picking up the pins that try to escape. The food dehydrator or specially drier is good so you can get them dry faster so you can continue the process.

I've come up with a different process for rinsing the cleaning solution out. I remove the top and inset a garden hose on full flow. I use the hose to agitate and move the brass around till the water comes clean. Then I use the media separator to remove the pins, then dump any excess water. I let the pins dry in the bucket before transferring back to the drum. I have a de-humidifier in my shop so it does not take more than a couple of days.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Not exactly an item. If you have in floor heat in your house, garage or shop, put your wet tumbled brass on the floor in a media sifter or on a towel in front of a fan.
It will dry overnight.

 

[Tilos]

I never chase run away pins when I use the bag posted above.
Pull the bag/pins out of the bucket
Empty the bucket, put the bag/pins back in, and rinse the pins, still in the bag.
Take the bag/pins out of the bucket, spread the pins out to dry, still in the bag.
Once dry, put the open end of the bag in the tumbler, shake the pins back in the tumbler.
done

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I also use a cookie sheet for drying my brass but I had to ceiling mounted inferred heaters in my garage when I live in PA. I took them with me when I moved to North Carolina.
I mounted one on the wall over my work bench in the garage. It works great for drying brass, it take about an hour to dry a full cookie sheet. They will be hot enough when I pull them out that I know it if I pick one up. But they don't get hot enough to mess with the annealing.
If you have one laying around they really work well and if your working out in the garage in the winter months I can tip it up and turn it on and it will heat you up. They are about $49.95 which is cheaper than a de-hydrator, not by much but it serves a dual role for me.

 

[Allen One1]

A magnet like the Frankfort Arsenal one is a must! If you are dumping in the sink you will need to be careful or have a strainer to catch any pins and brass that slip out. I dump mine on the driveway so it's not such a big issue, just pore the water out slowly so they don't float too far. You really shouldn't need extra pins. Just Dawn and a very little bit of Lemonshine. I just dry them spread out on a towel for a few days.

 

[CKweigand]

I use the FA brass dryer. In 20 minutes all of the brass is dry. Well worth it.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I use the FA brass dryer. In 20 minutes all of the brass is dry. Well worth it.

Are they that fast?

 

[Jim Watson]

I am low tech because I wet tumble only black powder brass.
I open the tumbler in the yard and hose it out. When I am draining clear water I dump the contents into a large strainer, colander size.
Pick up a .40-65, shake off clinging pins, drop it in a box.
Put brass in a bread pan in a preheated 225 oven.
Use a magnet in a baggie to recover stray pins. Leave them in the strainer until next time.

 

[lightman]

I have my own dedicated baking sheet to use for drying brass. 30-45 minutes in the oven, on bake at 180-200º dries my brass fine. If I'm working around a sink I'll put a magnet across the drain. Nearly overtime I remove it there are pins stuck to it. Over the time I have been wet tumbling it has caught a lot of pins. I also had my Wife sew up an old towel in the form of a pillow case that I use to help dry brass. I'll dump the brass in and shake, rattle and roll it around. This cuts down on the oven time.

 

[CKweigand]

Are they that fast?

Yes, the trick to it is to not over fill each tray and allow for some air movement but if I’m not wrong I think I was doing batches of 300-500 pcs depending on caliber

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I looked at one of those on the Black Friday sales (Hornady I think) but I got in enough trouble with what I had already bought. My inferred heater works really well though so I guess I'm good.

 

[Dudedog]

Wash and Wax, I use whatever I am using on my car.
Citric acid from the canning section of the supermarket. About a .45 case full per batch
How much citric acid depends on the PH of your water, more basic PH water needs more acid, note to much acid is not good.so don't dump in a bunch,
that said 2 or 3 .45 cases full should be fine.

Media Magnet is handy,

great for picking up the pins that try to escape

Yes, the pins like to try to escape!!!

I dump the case out into the trays that came with my Lyman Cyclone tumbler then rinse them off (collendar would work)
then I use my old Frankford rotary dry media separator to get the rest of the pins out.
Summer I just put them on an old towel in the sun, winter on an old towel in the corner of a room.
Summer in the sun dry in a couple hours, in the house in winter dry in a day.

I like to do a quick clean then deprime them and do another.
They will dry faster with the primers out.

 

[Louca]

Yes, as others have mentioned, a good strong magnet can be very handy when trying to pick up the pins.

Please see the PM I sent you. I highly recommend a media separator as Tilos shows above. It can save you a lot of time. Separating pins from brass is the ONLY part of reloading I do not care much for at all.

 

[labnoti]

I switched from dry to a Rebel 17. I use 5 gallon buckets and the simple blue plastic Frankford Arsenal strainer (the $8 one)
I dump the tumbler through the strainer into a 5 gallon bucket.
Swish it around and bounce it and most of the pins are in the dirty water bucket.
I put the brass in a bucket quarter full of clean, hot water and swish them around to rinse them and dislodge any sticking pins.
I pour that bucket through the strainer into the first bucket of dirty water and pins.
Now the strainer has the cleaned, rinsed brass in it. It is rare for it to have any pins at all. I use one of those super strong neodymium magnets and swish it around in the brash. That thing will pull a pin from 4 or 5 inches away. If there are any pins in there, it'll grab 'em.

I air dry my brass -- but learned not to depend on that alone (had a squib load because of wet powder).
After letting my brass air dry for a day or so, I dry tumble and polish it.
I find even bare, untreated corn cob media gives the brass a lubricity than handles much nicer than wet-tumbled brass. With a little polish in the media, it's very nice indeed. The dry tumbling also makes certain the brass is dry.

Beware of lead contamination of your tumbling media. If you dry tumble brass shot with lead styphnate primers, your media and its dust will be an inhalation hazard. Wet tumbling keeps the lead in suspension but your effluent will have heavy metal. I figure it's better there than in dust all over my workshop.

Also consider whether you'll decap before you wet tumble, and whether you'll resize at the same time as you decap or separately. I've done all the different combinations. What I recommend if you shoot lead primers, pickup brass out of the dirt, and decap on the press, is to wet tumble first, even for a short tumble. Then decap or decap/resize, and wet tumble again. If you use a hand decapping tool, you could also keep the mess off your press and bench that way. I shoot all lead-free primers and lead-safe bullets, and it happens that at the time I only reload for guns that don't throw the brass in the dirt. So I decap and resize dirty brass and then tumble it.


EDIT: I forgot to describe what I do with the dirty water and pin bucket. I slowly pour out the dirty water and the pins stay in the bottom of the bucket. I half-fill the bucket with clean water to rinse the pins, and pour the water off again. The pins really tend to stay in the bottom of the bucket and I can pour off nearly all the water so the pins are usually dry by the next day. But there's no reason the pins can't sit in water.

 

[Strat Rider]

I was fortunate to come across round magnets that perfectly fit the opening to my garbage disposal (came out of some old Muzak speakers).
If a pin ever gets by my paint strainer bag - it never makes it past that magnet - and I've found several on that magnet.
I also picked up a very strong neodymium magnet that I wave over all of the brass after I pour it out. If even one pin is left inside of a .223 case - it will lift off of the towel.
Also, I bought an attachment for my air compressor so I can blow any water out of the primers on pistol cases. It's amazing how much is left in there. Then I just air dry them overnight with no worries.

 

[labnoti]

While I've got my way of doing things, this thread has given me some new ideas or things to try, like the paint strainer bags. I also like the suggestion to use an air compressor to blow dry the brass. I have one in my shop I use for a lot of things. Among reloading tasks, it blows leaked powder and brass bits off the press, it blows powder and dust out of Akro bins. It blows out the pockets of MTM cases. It blows out dies. It blows off the bench. I never thought of blowing off the wet brass, but that's a good idea. I also like the idea of the bag sewn from a towel to speed brass drying.

I would add this if anyone is having trouble separating brass from pins. Try rinsing in hot water. I think I got that tip here too. I found if I use hot water, the pins don't stick. I still use a magnet to make sure. I also like the idea of putting the magnet in a baggie to aid in clearing the pins off the magnet.

 

[Dudedog]

pickup brass out of the dirt, and decap on the press, is to wet tumble first, even for a short tumble. Then decap or decap/resize, and wet tumble again

This works well for me. Takes two passes but not that much trouble. My range has nice 30-40grit mud/sand that likes to get inside cases.

 

[HDMontana]

I use an rcbs rotary media separator to remove pins from brass. Top and bottom are both notched for cage to set in. I put enough clean water in bottom section to come up into the cage. That way when I spin it, the water helps flush out the pins. I then remove the cage, put in a few crumpled up paper towels in with the brass and spin it over the top section of separator that has no water in it. Paper towels get a lot of the water off of cases to help eliminate any potential water spotting. I let the paper towels dry out for a day or two so they can be used again. I remove the pins in the water of the bottom section of the separator with a magnet.