I have bought stuff from Midway in the past. I have read somewhere people were using lizard bedding? Is this a cheaper alternative? Will it take off the sizing lube and polish the cases? I wet tumble with pins when I deprime them but dishwasher soap and lemon shine just makes a mess when trying to get case lube off. I found out the hard way on that tonight. Lol. Thanks in advance.
Vibrating case cleaner media.
- Thread starter 2002ford
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Steve in PA
Member
Been using crushed walnut (pet store lizard litter) for years. Yes, it takes all that stuff off the case. It can be dusty, so I add some liquid case polish to the media.
bullseye308
Member
Lizard litter from the pet stores is what you want.
Blue68f100
Member
The pet media is whats left after all the good stuff is taken. You can get a 40# bag of corncob blast media for a little bit more and will not have all the dust. Will have sharper edges for cleaning. 40# last a long time.
https://www.grainger.com/product/2MVR5?gucid=N:N:FPL:Free:GGL:CSM-1946:tew63h3:20501231
https://www.grainger.com/product/2MVR5?gucid=N:N:FPL:Free:GGL:CSM-1946:tew63h3:20501231
lightman
Member
It sure does last a long time! I ordered a 40# sack a few years ago and I guess I fumble fingered the key board and 2 bags arrived!
rdnktrkr
Member
You can also get some blast media from Harbor Freight and Home Depot, I ordered some from Home Depot and had it shipped to the store, works great, A friend bought a bag at Harbor Freight, and he likes it also
GeoDudeFlorida
Member
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- Dec 1, 2020
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- 11,195
Yup. I used corn for cleaning and walnut for applying wax polish. Both last pretty much forever.
Charlie98
Member
I buy the big (25# or thereabouts) bags of lizard bedding off Amazon. My last batch was extremely dusty, more than any other batch previously... and thank goodness I have my tumbler in the garage, not the house.
I've found the 'media' you buy from the retailers... Midway, Natchez, etc... to be of better quality than the generic lizard bedding, but at the end of the day they both do the same thing. As was mentioned, dropping in some case polish... I use Dillon case polish since Midway discontinued their excellent product years ago... and it settles down the dust quite a bit. For what it's worth, I drape a shop towel over the bowl to keep any dust escaping from coating the entire garage...it also traps any hazardous dust as well...
CRN3-40 Blast Media,Corn Cob,20 to 40 Grit | Zoro.com
Order Zoro Select Blast Media, Corn Cob, 20 to 40 Grit, CRN3-40 at Zoro.com. Great prices & free shipping on orders over $50 when you sign in or sign up for an account.
www.zoro.com
Costs $5 to ship it to your door. You will be set for life!
irishlad
Contributing Member
This ^^^^^40 poundsCRN3-40 Blast Media,Corn Cob,20 to 40 Grit | Zoro.com
Order Zoro Select Blast Media, Corn Cob, 20 to 40 Grit, CRN3-40 at Zoro.com. Great prices & free shipping on orders over $50 when you sign in or sign up for an account.
Costs $5 to ship it to your door. You will be set for life!
I bought this 5 or 6 years ago. Probably still have 30+ pounds left. Works great. Goes through flash holes.
If you still have dust when using the media then have your wife save your used dryer sheets, cut them in fourths and add 5-7 in the bin when using either walnut or corncob media and it will keep the dust down. If you want polished brass add a cap full of auto polish (like Nu-Finish or Mothers) in the media and your brass with shine. After loading and using lube so the cases don't get stuck, I run the batch in the media for about 10-20 minutes, more for large amounts of brass and less for small amounts of brass.
JohnMc
Member
It's the "skeletons" of one-celled algae and it's about 90% silica.
It's a great polish.
It can also kill insects; it gets stuck in their joints and "polishes" them open, leaving the critter to dry out, something like that.
It can also be used for filtering water and other things.
It's neat stuff.
Blue68f100
Member
There is different mesh sizes to choose from. The 20/40 is the fine and will go through the primer holes, the larger size gets stuck.
Roverguy
Member
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- 898
It’s the abrasive element in toothpaste, for example. The lizard litter will do the clean and polish on its own; the diatomaceous earth just speeds up the process.
CQB45ACP
Member
And it just sounds cool when you say it.
Blue68f100
Member
Just make sure there is no abrasives on your brass when you start sizing. Also super clean brass will tarnish pretty quickly, the reason most add car wax/polish (NuFinish) to the media. I have some brass that was cleaned over 6 yrs ago that still has a shine, protected with NuFinsih.
I’ve no doubt it will clean effectively. Be aware that DE is a lung irritant, so handle with care. Don’t breathe the dust—don’t stir up the dust.
Charlie98
Member
It's also an inhalation hazard, along the lines of asbestos. Do NOT put it in your tumbler.
I work with Diatomaceous Earth (DE) every day... I'm in the pool business. There are 2 kinds of DE... pool filter DE, which also has silica in it, and natural DE... with no silica. If you want to run DE, get the natural kind... which actually is good for pest control, and some people ingest, believe it or not, for various reasons. Natural DE is not poisonous, per se, but does pose an inhalation hazard.
I like to wash the case lube off just with hot soapy water and dish soap. Works for me, just make sure the cases dry before loading. You can still use the dry tumbler as a final step with a little wax or whatever in the media to prevent tarnishing, but for whatever reason I don't like gumming up the media just to get case lube off the cases when I can just rinse it off with hot water.
CQB45ACP
Member
Silica...isn't that really bad to breathe? Edit: Didn't reload page before I posted mine...@Charlie98 got it.
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