My View of Stainless Media Cleaning

[c-ne-elk]

I have been using the stainless media system for a little over a year now, here is what I have found.

POSITIVES:

MUCH better job of cleaning the brass than a vibrating tumbler, hands down, no comparison.

I no longer have little pieces of corn cob to clean up when they fall out onto my workbench.

No corncob media stuck in primer pockets.

1 small bottle of Dawn and 1 bottle of Lemon Shine will probably last me 10 years or longer.

When you take the brass out of the water if you rub in all on a towel (in one batch) and get most of the surface water off your brass will not be water stained.

NEGATIVES:

Thumblers tumbler is maybe, a little louder than my old 20 year old RCBS vibatory tumbler but if it is it's not much and since I clean brass in the garage, I don't care. So I guess this should not be a negative, maybe a neutral.

The only real drawback is that you can't reload the brass right after you take it out of the water as the inside of the case will be wet. I let mine dry overnight before loading.

All in all, the stainless media is the way to go!

 

[hiwall22]

.then use the

I have been using the stainless media system for a little over a year now, here is what I have found.

POSITIVES:

MUCH better job of cleaning the brass than a vibrating tumbler, hands down, no comparison.

I no longer have little pieces of corn cob to clean up when they fall out onto my workbench.

No corncob media stuck in primer pockets.

1 small bottle of Dawn and 1 bottle of Lemon Shine will probably last me 10 years or longer.

When you take the brass out of the water if you rub in all on a towel (in one batch) and get most of the surface water off your brass will not be water stained.

NEGATIVES:

Thumblers tumbler is maybe, a little louder than my old 20 year old RCBS vibatory tumbler but if it is it's not much and since I clean brass in the garage, I don't care. So I guess this should not be a negative, maybe a neutral.

The only real drawback is that you can't reload the brass right after you take it out of the water as the inside of the case will be wet. I let mine dry overnight before loading.

All in all, the stainless media is the way to go!

 

[hiwall22]

if you rinse your brass in boiling hot water then use your strainer and old towel your brass will dry instantley . works for me.

 

[Skyking]

Jeff thanks for the review. I am glad you are liking it. Welcome to the club.

For the rest of you guys that are on the fence. We are running a discount code

hide10 for$10.00 off your order.

Cory

 

[P Squared]

I have the same set up as featured, except I pieced it together a couple of years ago before this became as popular as it is today.

I've started adding about a cup to two cups of white vinegar to the mix, especially with once fired military brass. You can take brass that looks antique going in, and it comes out like new. If you want to get the stain from annealing off, try the vinegar trick.

Good luck,

Pete

 

[mdw717]

I've been using SS media for about a year now with similar results. Of course I've always made my own tumblers and never used a vibratory unit, but I believe the rollers clean brass better than the shakers. Thats comparing my roller to my brothers shaker. But this media will beat anything I've used before.

I have 2 homemade tumblers; one with walnuts shells for polishing relatively clean brass or previously SS media cleaned brass and, one with stainless media for dirty "range" brass or thrice fired brass needing internal cleaning. Both are pretty noisy so I cover with a foam insulated cardboard box while using it in my garage.

Tumblers are not hard to make if you can weld. An old swamp cooler fan motor works great. Need a couple pulleys and an old car engine v-belt or large rubber O-ring (i've used both). Some metal plate to build a base. Couple 1/2" rods with heater hose sheaths for rollers and brass or nylon bushings for bearing surface. The barrel you can make from 8, 10 or 12" tubing or roll/form sheet metal in to a cylinder. Seal one end and make a hand hole in the other with a removeable door. Add some baffles to the inside to force brass to tumble. I don't line mine with rubber or anything hence the cardboard silencer requirement (if I want to be in the garage while operating).

I dump all my brass into a large plastic collander I bought at the dollar store for media and brass separation. The SS media is a little messier and takes a little longer than dry media but I think it's well worth it. After rinsing, I dump the brass on to a large bath towel and allow to dry overnight.

A word of caution, go easy on the dish soap.....unless you want to rinse suds for hours.

Anybody want pictures or details to build one, just holler.
MDW ([email protected])

 

[arnie]

If you want to cut the tumbling time way down ,run your brass through the heated sonic cleaner first for about 30 minutes or more.That turns the fouling to a soft mush like stuff and then tumble for 30 to 60 minutes .Arnie

 

[shootnmoa]

I have been doing the stainless method for a few months now. Here are my observations.

I have the older Thumlers tumbler. There is a difference in the motors, as the older ones are 1550 rpm. The newer ones are 3000rpm. You can buy a new motor for your old tumbler, they run about $55. Mine is about 20yo and still going strong.

I had some really grungy brass from a carboard box, that sat on a dirt floor in the crawlspace until I needed the brass. Some was green with white residue on it, and after a 4hr tumble in the SS media, it came out as clean as new cases.

I use hot tap water when I fill the tumbler, but cool rinse. That seems to keep them from re-tarnishing during the rinse process.

Too much lemishine will tarnish them after the final rinse. I stick with a .45ACP case full on a batch. Dawn amount isn't as critical.

I haven't tried drying the cases in a food dehydrator, but I hear it works well.

You can get replacement belts for the Thumlers at Walmart, take an old one with you and match the size in the vacuum cleaner section. They fit the same, and run about 2 for $3.

This is easily half the noise of my Frankford arsenal vibratory cleaner. I close the door on the reloading room and can't hear the tumbler upstairs. The vibratory one can be heard.

I wish I had started this when I bought the tumbler way back.

 

[19elkhunter51]

I went for the whole package from STM, tumbler, media and separator. My wife made the comment during the first useage that it was more quiet than she thought it would be. I have run six loads of pistol brass through the tumbler and have been completely satisfied with the results.

I am having an issue with the brass tarnishing after I dry it off. I will go back and read the other posts regarding this issue. Any help or comments on this issue will be appreciated.

I was an avid reloader for many years and then moved into a new house. The new house did not lend itself to reloading so it has been a while since I did any reloading. The new tumbler works very well but I remember being able to put a lot more brass in my old vibratory tumbler. Also it seems like it takes a lot of time and effort to get the brass out of the tumbler and dry. I may not be doing something correct.

I will say that the brass when it comes out of the tumbler is just the way I always thought brass should look when you clean it; like brand new bright and shiny inside and out!

 

[Skyking]

I went for the whole package from STM, tumbler, media and separator.
I am having an issue with the brass tarnishing after I dry it off. I will go back and read the other posts regarding this issue. Any help or comments on this issue will be appreciated.


I will say that the brass when it comes out of the tumbler is just the way I always thought brass should look when you clean it; like brand new bright and shiny inside and out!

This is what we have found out about the brass tarnishing soon after drying.
Everyone's PH of there water is different.
Try using less Lemishine. To much or too little will have this affect.
Also if you are using hot water during any step of cleaning, or drying the brass in the oven can also tarnish the brass sooner. Heat seams to have an effect with different brands of brass.

Normally after you have use this system a few times on the same brass, you will find the tumble times will go down.

Here are my steps.
Deprime using lee universal tool.
50-100.. 7wsm, 243AI, 7mag 7saum,
Tumble time 50min
Dry outside of the cases with a towel
Anneal brass with Bench Source. This drys out the cases.
Go right into resizing. I use RCBS slick shot case lube
Then I put the brass back into the tumbler with a new batch of water.
Tumble 8 minutes in warm water to get the lube and annealed marks off the brass.
Towel off and blow out primer pockets.

 

[shootnmoa]

The poster above is correct on differing ph levels of the local water.

I have found that a cold rinse is better to keep from tarnishing the brass, after tumbling.

Also, my experience has been that too much lemishine will do this also. And not much over the normal amount will cause the brass to tarnish. As little as spilling over the .45 case during measuring the lemishine is enough to cause it to tarnish. Just adjust your recipe according to your water and you will learn what works.

When I first fill the tumbler with the water, I use as hot as tap water as I can get, but by the time its done tumbling, it will be cold.

And the Lee universal decapper is well worth the money. Decap first and your primer pockets will be as clean as the rest of the cases. One less step to do during the processing stages.

I give them a quick towel dry on the exterior, then lay them out on a t-shirt to finish air drying. They are done the next day, ready to load. Then I resize, and put them into the vibratory tumbler for an hour to get the lube off. I use imperial sizing wax for the lube.

 

[lachoneus]

I went for the whole package from STM, tumbler, media and separator. My wife made the comment during the first useage that it was more quiet than she thought it would be. I have run six loads of pistol brass through the tumbler and have been completely satisfied with the results.

I am having an issue with the brass tarnishing after I dry it off. I will go back and read the other posts regarding this issue. Any help or comments on this issue will be appreciated.

I was an avid reloader for many years and then moved into a new house. The new house did not lend itself to reloading so it has been a while since I did any reloading. The new tumbler works very well but I remember being able to put a lot more brass in my old vibratory tumbler. Also it seems like it takes a lot of time and effort to get the brass out of the tumbler and dry. I may not be doing something correct.

I will say that the brass when it comes out of the tumbler is just the way I always thought brass should look when you clean it; like brand new bright and shiny inside and out!

I had tarnish and water spot problems at first when I tried to dry the cases with heat. Now I rinse the tumbled brass in the drum first, then dump everything into my media separator. After a few turns of the separator to removed the steel pins, I put paper towels or a dry rag in the separator and give it a few more turns. The process takes maybe two minutes. Perhaps because the towels dry off the outside of the cases completely, I no longer have any issues with water spots or tarnish.

 

[19elkhunter51]

Wow! Thank you all for the information. I will try all of the above tips.

 

[specweldtom]

I just talked with Cory at STM. He has some customers that use the Sidewinder and gave me some tips on the STM process, including the probability that the Lemishine can be found at Walmart. I ordered the 5 lb package of media from him at a good price and am getting out an old Dillon media separator. I'll be ready when it gets here. Over 400 big Weatherby cases are in for their first real cleaning.

Jeff, good thread. Thanks for taking the time.

Thanks to all for their input.

Tom