question for those who use the stainless steel pins for brass

[rondog]

For those of you that use the stainless steel pins and the Thumler's Model B tumbler, what do you think of this little mixer? Does anybody have any experience with one? At $150, it's the same price range as the Thumler's but with a much larger capacity. It's just a 2 cu. ft mixer, made for one bag of cement at a time. The ratings on it as a small batch concrete mixer sound pretty good.

I'm intrigued.....think it would work? I'd love to try the SS pins, but the small amount of brass the Thumlers will handle at one time is what's stopping me.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200356928_200356928

 

[Certaindeaf]

I'd put some pneumatic tires on it.

 

[rondog]

I'd put some pneumatic tires on it.

For polishing brass? Why?

 

[JohnM]

First thing I'd end up doing if I had one of those is mix concrete in it.
I better stick with my old Thumlers and old fashioned dry media.

 

[Certaindeaf]

It would leave less of a mark on the brass were it run over. Yea, that's it!

 

[Canuck-IL]

From the description and pics I'd guess that the mixing blades are too small to provide the agitation needed for brass and the small pins ... probably would want 3 or 4 larger blades. Just guessing from pics and comments I've seen by guys who've made their own tumblers - I use a Thumler's myself.
/Bryan

 

[FROGO207]

The tumblers that are smaller do agitate the brass more efficiently for one. The rubber deadens the sound considerably and stops the SS media from chewing away on the drum and causing holes in it. And finally it helps retain the liquid/media/tumbled items within. There are larger tumblers out there but you want the stuff inside to SLOWLY tumble along not fall a foot or so like going over a waterfall and crash into a pile on the bottom. For fun one day I made a plastic cover for my Thumblers and ran it. Everything in side slowly surged along like a continuous wave from the ocean coming ashore. No large breaker type action. The paddles would cause too much agitation IMO and beat up your brass. You want the stuff inside to gently roll along and tumble slightly at the same time for maximum polishing.

 

[David Wile]

Hey Rondog,

A concrete mixer like that works well for cleaning up bigger stuff - even rusty stuff. Sometimes I would use sand for cleaning, and sometimes I would use small sandstone gravel. In my experience, it is just too big for the amount of brass that I clean. Besides that, I clean finished cartridges in a big vibratory cleaner, and never had a problem with a cartridge striking anything on the primer. If I were to put a bunch of cartridges in a concrete mixer, I don't think I would feel as safe as I do with a vibratory cleaner. It does work well for other big stuff though. Have some tools that were left out in the rain? They will clean up well in sand in the mixer.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile