Opps !

[gamestalker]

I threw 100 pieces of .270 win. brass in the tumbler, 3 DAYS AGO. A buddy I load for now and then, has been accumulating this brass for a few years now. So it was really bad looking, so I did intend to tumble it for at least a few hours, but not 3 days, actually it tumbled for about 86 hrs.. Even the primer pockets are clean and shinny. And being that they were completely prepped and ready for loading, I won't need to do anything to them other than prime and load.

I have an Ultra Vide 10 and it has an amazing motor, considering the excessive number of hours of use I've gotten out of it thus far.

GS

 

[rcmodel]

I use a plug-in lamp timer on mine.

Just set it to however long, and it shuts it off.

Course, it would also turn it back on every 24 hours too!

Maybe post-it notes on the kitchen table??

rc

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

As rcmodel said, a timer would make an obvious addition for you on this.

They make any number of timers, including timer switches, which you could use. You can get a variety of inexpensive switches to power the outlet you use for your tumbler. Many come with timers up to 60 minutes. And you can get programmable ones with weekly cycles...so you don't have to worry about your tumbler coming on each 24 hour period as for some daily timers.

Check out Lowes website...or Home Depot, Amazon, etc. You can get timers or timer switches starting for about $7 and up.


On the bright side...at least you have some purty brass now...

 

[Jenrick]

I use a rotary tumbler, as their designed for rock tumbling they are built to run for days if not weeks at a time. 30 mins for brass barely gets it warmed up.

-Jenrick

 

[mgmorden]

I use a plug-in lamp timer on mine.

Just set it to however long, and it shuts it off.

Course, it would also turn it back on every 24 hours too!

Maybe post-it notes on the kitchen table??

rc

The timer I use is a digital lamp timer. Only paid like $15 for it at Home Depot but it has a "countdown" mode. Basically you set the amount of time you want for a countdown (mine is set to 5 hours) and then you just press two buttons together and it runs for that long and shuts off (doesn't turn back on on a schedule).

This is one the I use:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...ads-_-pla-_-100685884&ci_gpa=pla#.UR1ZUaXql8E

I'm sure that there are other models that have a "countdown" feature like that. Best bet if you're curious is to lookup their instruction manuals online before you buy. Not all of them advertise it on the packaging. If it explains how to do it in the manual though, then you know it can be done .

 

[SD624]

Yup after leaving mine on for days at a time more than once I pulled out an outlet and replaced to with a timer.

 

[gamestalker]

A timer, great idea! After having done this more than once over the past few years I think I better run out and grab one, that is if I can remember? What can I say, my old mind just isn't as sharp as it was 20 yrs. ago.

GS

 

[tightgroup tiger]

None of our older minds are as sharp as they use to be. A timer for christmas tree lights works also.

 

[45lcshooter]

Its nice to have electrical knowledge, I have mine hard wired to a exhaust fan timer. But anyone could do that. But I also rewired my buddies chop top 32 Ford.

 

[Hondo 60]

Of course it's not gonna hurt the brass any to tumble for 86 hrs.
When my media gets old, I sometimes let it tumble for 12 hrs or more (intentionally)

 

[mbopp]

Yeah, I've got a 12-hour wind-up timer on my extension cord for my tumbler. I also use it for charging my drill / dremel batteries, no use cooking them longer than I have to.

 

[vtail]

Tumbling some mil surplus, my tumbler would sometimes run for weeks straight.

 

[hueyville]

Have run my ultra vibes months on end going through barrels of mil surplus. It just makes a Thumler's Tumbler happy when you show it some real work.

 

[witchhunter]

Uh oh, thanks for reminding me. I gotta go turn off the tumbler!

 

[gamestalker]

Oh, and since I tumbled that drum of media down to almost dust, I decided to try and salvage some of it, I'm cheap ya know. So what I did was fill a couple of socks up with media, filled a bucket with hot soapy water, and then twist tied the socks closed, and then squished the socks around real good in the soap and water and then let them soak for an hour or so more. After that, I used the garden hose to rinse the media off from the top of the sock so the dust would settle to the bottom. Then I carefully emptied the media out of the socks, so as to not empty the dust out with it on to a cookie sheet, (that my Wife unknowingly let me borrow) and sun dry.

We'll see how it worked tomorrow after it has had ample time to completely dry, that is if I don't forget about it.

GS

 

[Jesse Heywood]

I have my tumbler in the basement. I would usually let it run all day and well into the evening. My ex hated the noise, and if I wasn't in the basement she would turn it off.

Now I only run it for a couple of hours. That's all it really needs.

 

[jcwit]

Probably more likely getting into trouble reloading for your buddy than tumbling his brass for hours on end.

 

[tbob38]

Uh oh, thanks for reminding me. I gotta go turn off the tumbler!

Me too.

 

[quaid]

McMaster Carr rotary switches- I *think* part number 7014k5. 0-6 hr timer minimum 60 minutes. ~$30

 

[jjjitters]

Yup did it myself way back in the late nineties. put a batch in my Lyman Twin turbo vibratory. Went upstairs to watch tv, went to bed. several days later needed something downstairs and well...... the brass was done!!.. Still have and use the unit only with SS pins, overweighted and all, still going. Made by Energizer!

Have several timers now.