Media separator bucket/basket

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Zeede

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I bought a Frankford Arsenal media separate bucket/basket thing. You have this plastic basket you spin slowly so the media sifts into the bucket below. Helps especially with bottleneck cases as sometimes the media doesn't want to come out.

Unfortunately it makes for a ton of dust, and tumbler media dust is ripe w/ stuff I don't want to inhale! Any suggestions? I've used cut up used dryer sheets the last two batches of 100 cases, and they do get covered in gunk, but it's not "amazing", and the dust is still pretty prevalent. Should I try an unused sheet cut up into strips?

Tumblers are great, much better than using elbow grease, but they do create a lot of unwanted dust.

Cameron
 
I had the same experience, plus it was very loud when I was using it in my basement. I switched the whole operation outside and now de-prime before tumbling to limit lead dust exposure. I trashed the Frankford Arsenal media separator and bought RCBS version which is fully enclosed. I never looked back.

I still use the Frankford Arsenal vibratory case cleaner.
 
Use some Frankford polish and dabble a few drops of water in your media. It will keep down the dust. The drier sheets help your media last longer.
 
+1 on the RCBS (also sold as Cabelas I believe)

$30 for four pieces of molded HDPE was hard to swallow for a "frugal fanny" like me, but it is quick, quick, quick, completely seperates the media and is virtually dust free once you get the rythm down.

Spin it one direction for half a dozen turns, then reverse for half a dozen more, then let it sit for a minute so the dust settles. Pop it open and dump your brass, then button the clam shels back up with the media still in the bottom, or, pour the media back into the tumbler for the next batch.
 
it seems to me that the dust went down when i added the nu-finish car wax to my media. but i am using walnut shells. this may not work with corn.
 
This is what you want: http://www.berrysmfg.com/237.php

They make this for several other companies under other names, but Berry's owns the molds. They did sell them once to RCBS, but after ATK bought the old Blount Companies, Berry's bought the molds back and they make them again.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I found the case separators to be dusty too. I just fish out the cases with my hand. No dust!
 
I've found this type works well for me. Pour the media with brass in a bucket, put the separator basket on top of the tumbler, pour in the media brass mix, turn on the tumbler, rake the brass up the sides to make sure all the media falls out of the case and the media is shaken through the sieve bottom back into the tumbler bowl and the brass is left in the basket.
brassep.JPG
 
If dust is a concern, the Shop-Vac is your friend.

Turn it on and hold the hose a few inches away from the dust, and
Suck it Up!!

I use sheet-rock filter bags on mine and nothing gets buy them!

rcmodel
 
"Unfortunately it makes for a ton of dust, and tumbler media dust is ripe w/ stuff I don't want to inhale! Any suggestions?"

Suggestions yes, certain answers, no. We can't know exactly what you are encountering but many of us know in general terms what you mean.

Suggestion - Cut down on the polish. A lot.

It's unlikely you are seeing any significan amounts of poisionous dust, more likely it's polish dust. It takes very little polish to shine brass. Polishes, metal or auto, are ALL pretty much the same. They are just a finely ground soft materials that are carried in a liquid as a convienence for application, there is no magic in any brand or type. When the liquid carrier evaporates the polish reverts to a fine powder and an excess of it can easily cause the dust you are concerned about.

A couple of teaspoons full of liquid polish in your media is likely enough for tumbling cases for many cycles. Without the liquid, that's no more than maybe a quarter teaspoon of actual polish but it's plenty.

From what I read, I suspect many loaders are adding polish after each load! That's far more than what is needed, so it rapidly becomes "dust." The excess powered dust can be removed, slowly, by trapping it in loose weave materials like cut up dryer sheets, paper towel, tee-shirt, etc.

Adding water will surely cut down on dust for a day or so, until it dries out, but it can also cause media, especially cob, to clump inside cases. I prefer to add an ounce or two of paint thinner (oderless mineral thinner) which helps hold down dust, helps clean the brass, and won't cause clumps.

NOBAMA
 
I do believe there are lead compounds in that dust. It's from the priming compound, not bullets.

Pure elemental lead is only a mildly problem, unless it hits you at 1000 feet per second. Lead compounds and vapors are more easily absorbed by the body, especially by lung tissue.

Use caution. Read the Lead sticky at the top of this Handloading and Reloading subforum.
 
I repeat: "It's unlikely you are seeing any significant amounts of poisionous dust, more likely it's polish dust."

Didn't say there is NO lead dust, just not much and not in the density most folks seem to think. Caution in anything is wise but some seem to get into a panic over it and there simply isn't enough lead in the residue in cases to cause harm from tumbling. At least not without a few hundred years of exposure.

Raw lead in solid form is virtually harmless because it can't be absorbed in the body. It is the fine particulate forms that can be dangerous and it IS that form that is left in cases, but the concentration is so low that it's VIRTUALLY harmless, unless we lick the cases clean. ;)
 
Some people are so afraid of lead because of the hype from the "environmentalists", which is not based on science, but rather on hysteria and fear mongering. Simply washing your hands is the best way to guard against ingesting lead residue. I've been reloading since 1963, and casting bullets since about 1968, and my blood tests don't show any abnormal lead levels. It wasn't until just recently that all the warnings about lead exposure have become so prevalent. That's not to say that some common sense precautions shouldn't be taken, though.

I would suggest to some that if the fear factor gets to the extreme, then perhaps butterfly collecting may be a reasonable alternative to shooting and reloading. But then, that's just me.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
+1
Same here.

The only few folks I ever heard of who got lead poisoning were people who worked in lead-acid battery factories for years, worked in unventilated indoor ranges for years, or worked as house painters for years when lead-based paint was common.

Wash your hands after handling lead, and don't suck your thumb or chew your nails while you are handling it, and you will be fine.

There are some people in the U.S. who would like to classify lead danger up there right next to Plutonium.

Think about it!
No lead = No affordable bullets.
No affordable bullets = No guns eventually!

That would make some people very happy!

rcmodel
 
Good points, both of you.

I worked for several years as the site Safety Officer for a 300 man government research facility. It was astonishing, to me anyway, the number of people who would rush into my office and cry, in various ways, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" Several had just learned that our buildings, built in late 50s, actully had asbestoes insulation sprayed against the concrete ceilings. When I tried to calm them and assure them that it was encapsulated with an epoxy sealer so we were safe NONE of them believed me, just said I was a managment stooge. He77, I - and management - worked in those buildings too so we sure would have gone flapping around like them if there was a hazard about it.

Ditto with "radon" gas. And lead paint on the steel building framing. And tin/lead solder holding the copper water pipes together (I told one guy we had a much worse problem than that with the water pipes, they had dihydrogen oxide in them too - frightened him half to death!). Etc.

Most of this tree hugger type crap started when the electronics industry developed highly sensitive measurement equipment that detected trace levels of a lot of stuff that had always been there but few knew it. The potential for harm is real but very small and can be easily avoided by not eating the stuff and washing our hands.
 
It is also interesting to note that any of us older then 30-something spent our entire formative years breathing leaded gasoline fumes everywhere we went in an automobile.

A gazillion tons of lead was added to almost all gasoline between 1925 and 1975 when it was outlawed.

I would venture a guess that we breathed in more lead vapor on a trip across town then we were exposed too in years of shooting.

rcmodel
 
Also, when I was a kid and went fishing a lot, the only way we knew to get a split shot sinker to stay on your line was to bite it. We did that a whole lot back then.

In the 60's, when I worked for the phone company, all our cable was lead sheathed and we handled it all the time. Pole tags were made of lead and the numbers were filled in with white lead, which all of us carried and used all the time.

When I cast my first bullets, it was done on the kitchen stove (until my first spill, that is). When I moved it to the garage, I had a 4' x 4' sheet of 1/4" asbestos that I used for shielding the area I cast bullets on for about ten years. I didn't know anything about washing my hands or taking any other precautions at the time.

Today, I'm 64 years old and my doctor can't believe how good my health is. According to all the alarmists, I should have died of lead and asbestos exposure about 20 years ago, but I'm still trudging the mountains hunting elk and hauling it out on my back. It takes longer than it used to, but I'm still at it and planning another moose hunt in Canada in four years.

In my earlier post, I suggested that some would be better suited to butterfly collecting, but after some reflection on that suggestion, that pursuit may be too dangerous, since a person could trip and hurt themselves whilst attempting capture of those elusive critters. Perhaps stamp collecting would be a safer hobby......


Hope this helps.

Fred
 
FYI: The glue on the back of an old stamp is like a Petri Dish covered with flesh eating bacteria! :D


BTW: I am also reminded of the wood floor in my high school chemistry lab that had so much spilled Mercury on it, the cracks between the boards were silver. :what:

And coating silver coins with Mercury as a class project. :what:

And casting lead toy solders on moms kitchen stove when I was 7 or 8. :what:

And the radioactive fall-out clouds from bomb tests that dropped on our dairy cattle every time they set off another bomb in Nevada. :eek:

And washing my hands, and grease spots out of my work clothes, with carbon-tetrachloride every day before quiting time! :cuss:

I'm 65 and still tick'n!

I think if it's just your time to go, all that other stuff isn't going to make one whit of difference! :neener:

rcmodel
 
Yeah, but what do we know, we're old.............? All these 20 somethings that do all the picketing and protesting "know" so much more than we do......... Just try talking to one of them and you realize how much they're brainwashed.

Fred
 
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You can cut down on the dust by adding some mineral spirits to the tumbler. A few strips of paper towels will attract a lot of dust and dirt.

It also gives a little lube to the cases so they resize a little easier.

I think most of the dust is broken up walnut shells rather than lead dust anyway.
 
As I am the original poster, just to clarify, I am not freaked out about dying in three months from using a media separator. I'm just not a fan of breathing in a lot of dust when I don't have to, plus the enclosed one is even a bit cheaper than the Frankford Arsenal one I bought.

Cameron
 
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