Has anyone who switched to wet tumbling gone back to dry?

Status
Not open for further replies.
What's a good price on a FART? What's the lowest you've seen them on sale for? I'll probably pick one up when someone has a decent sale on one. The results do look really nice. I can see myself still dry tumbling at times.
 
I don't see all the hoopla over cleaning brass. I dry tumble everything prior to decapping to keep the die clean, punch the primers then wet tumble with pins and my own potion. I then use a collander and magnets to both separate and clean/rinse everything. I then pop it all back into the walnut/cob with a little NuFinish to dry and shine. Since I do most of my seasonal handloading in the early spring...before the weather warms up...a few extra minutes aren't really that big of a deal. I won't just wet tumble...just doesn't get it as finished for my liking.
 
Dewey 68 said:
What's a good price on a FART? What's the lowest you've seen them on sale for? I'll probably pick one up when someone has a decent sale on one. The results do look really nice. I can see myself still dry tumbling at times.
Click to expand...
Believe or not, Amazon has them on sale from time to time...
I just had one in my private wish list for a while and checked back on it from time to time.(it's $179 now/free shipping)
I pulled the trigger and bought when it went on sale, but that was a while ago, maybe back to November as I recall.
I just bought this separator but haven't used it yet, it gets good reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B6S8JUC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
good luck on your quest,
:D
 
Started dry...discovered the FART and bought one. Recently wanted to clean some 300 Blackout cases...some new fired, and the rest recovered 223 that I cut down. So I threw it all in my dry tumbler...3 days in the garage. Remembered exactly why I quit dry. Outsides....absolutely beautiful, insides....meh...primer pockets....well, that’s why they make primer pocket tools. Media in the pockets....ridiculous.
Next, and significantly larger batch, FART. No Dawn and Lemishine...still have a large bottle of Frankford Arsenal Case Cleaner. Lasts a long time when you’re using 2 caps worth. 2 hours in the garage, rinse, rinse, 15 minutes in FART for final cycle. Insides....beautiful, primer pockets...beautiful, exterior cases...very shiny, but not as shiny as dry media, where I add scrapings of Jewelers Rouge.
Will keep my dry tumbler handy, just for grins...but anyone in the Dayton, OH area that wants Corn Cob and/or Walnut media, shoot me a PM. I have far too much and it’s taking up way too much garage space.
 
My main reason for switching was to try to keep the dust down. I know there are people that mix their media with mineral spirits , wax etc, but I never cared for that sort of goop consistency or the smell.

At the beginning of last year Cabela's had the FART kit on sale for $120 and I couldn't pass up the chance to try it. I've got my routine down and wouldn't go back to the dry media. My goal was not new looking brass, just no dust.

Dave
 
I may get one sooner rather than later! My Frankford Arsenal vibratory tumbler quit working overnight. :( It did this once before and I was able to clean it up and after a little lubrication it started working again. Maybe it's a sign from the reloading gods? :)
 
The big complaint about wet tumbling seems to be getting the pins out once you're done. I have the media separator that came with the kit, and it works fairly well. What I do that turns getting the pins out into a couple of minutes job is to use a magnet.

Got this one from Harbor Freight for a couple of bucks.
2Av5pjZ.jpg

I put the magnet in a small plastic bag then put that into a second plastic bag. It makes it easy to get the pins off the magnet and makes short work of the separation process. I weighed my pins when I first got the kit and as of last month the weight has gone down about 0.08 of an ounce. I attribute that to not having the magnet to start with.

Dave
 
I sometimes get tired of dealing with wet tumbling and go back to media. after a couple of firings i will gonback to the pins snd start the cycle again.

that brass just looks so nice when it comes out of the fart.
 
I do both. I have made some big and really big wet tumblers but I still use my dry ones too.
 
Dewey 68 said:
Was thinking about moving to a FART for preparing my brass. The results look great, but I'm not sure the extra steps would be worth it. My Dad has an old rock tumbler that I may borrow and buy some SS pins and give it a try before I shell out the money for a FART.

Has anyone on here tried wet tumbling and gone back to dry?
Click to expand...
I did the opposite and switched from dry to wet, well kind of.

I decap my brass and wet tumble with SS pins, dawn and lemishine, This cleans inside and outside of case and the primer pocket really well. I was having some primer seating issues on my LNL wich is probably more the press than the primer pockets being cleaned. After I build pistol rounds I dry tumble them for 20 minutes or so to get the lube off. For rifle rounds they are all wet tumbled after sizing I will dry tumble the empty cases to get the lube off. extra step yes worth it? who knows.
 
Texas10mm said:
If I wet clean my brass I don't use pins. I use chips. They are far superior to pins.
Click to expand...
I have been meaning to get some chips to try, just never got around it. When I first started wet tumbling, I heard about pins getting stuck in flash holes so I bought pins a different size to start with. I still have the original Frankford pins still in the bag.
 
As part of my initial experiments I started with plain water, then added Dawn to the solution, then tried adding citric acid to the solution, and then stopped. The soap added very little to the finished brass, probably because there was very little dirt/grease to wash off the brass. Same with the citric acid, perhaps my brass was not tarnished enough for the citric acid to have any effect. Actually, my experiment showed very little difference with any additions to plain old water, and wet tumbling with hard media is mostly a "mechanical" method of cleaning rather than a chemical cleaning. If I were to continue, I would try something to retard tarnish after tumbling...
 
When I went to the wet system I had a terrible time dealing with the pins. After a few cycles I cam up with a procedure that minimize me handling the pins. Now after a wash cycle I remove the top and take it to where I have a faucet. I turn the faucet on max and stuff the hose into the tub. I run this till the water comes out clean and no soap bubbles. I do stir the brass with the hose on full blast. Then I run the brass through the media separator. Transfer the brass to the drier, pour out any excess water in the bucket from the separator. Now if I'm making another run I just dump the pins back in and go. Other wise I will let the pins dry in the bucket before transferring them back to the tumbler. I have a dehumidifier in my shop so it will dry out in a couple of days, or during the summer just set the bucket outside in the sun.

For those not using any soap. The soap is used to suspend the dirt in solution so it does not go some where else. If you use too little your pins will be dirty. And you will have additional cleaning to do.
 
I've switched back to dry. Too much hassle to wet tumble, too much mess to clean up, too many pins to worry about dropping. I haven't used my FART in several years, but my vibro tumblers get regular use!
 
Texas10mm said:
If I wet clean my brass I don't use pins. I use chips. They are far superior to pins.
Click to expand...
Have considered getting the chips...ammobrass.com offers them for sale. My question - are they magnetic? I have the stainless pins that came with my FART, but perhaps 30% (could be less) are not magnetic, making retrieval during final rinse a bit of a pain. Not enough to do without them, but enough to make me consider different media.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Highland Lofts
DRY TUMBLING VERSES WET TUMBLING
2 3 4 5 6 7
Replies
156
Views
5K
hdwhit
H
B
  • Locked
Can you add wax while wet tumbling?
Replies
24
Views
6K
Toprudder
Toprudder
trigga
  • Locked
why do people dry tumble and not wet tumble?
2 3 4
Replies
91
Views
21K
Rule3
Rule3
lpsharp88
  • Locked
Wet Tumbling
2
Replies
42
Views
2K
MDphotographer
M
Nature Boy
  • Locked
Wet vs. Dry tumbling - effect on rifle accuracy
2
Replies
32
Views
4K
Dentite
D
Back
Top