Here is how I do it.  It'll take more time to explain than to do.

Materials:

Media separator:  I use a Lyman, but any rotary separator will work.

Plastic bowl:  I have a bunch of those cheap throwaway plastic containers for storing food that I use for everything.

~12" flat stainless fryer cover/strainer:  These are round and flat metal strainers you use to put on top of a frying pan.  They are fine weave so the stainless media doesn't fall through.

Procedure:  

Open your drums in the sink.  Pour off the major portion of dirty water, but don't dump the brass or media.

Dump the media and brass into your separator.  Tap the drums a few times and the last few pieces of media will just fall out into the separator.

Close the separator, spin a few times clock/counter clockwise.  The media and water will fall into the separator bin and the brass will be in the separator.

Dump brass in the plastic container.  Rinse.  I fill it up with water and dump the water off a few times until the water comes out clean.  You could rinse in a strainer instead, but soaking the brass in water  insures the insides are rinsed, too.

The media is now in dirty water in the bottom of the separator.  Add water, mix, and pour the major portion of water out by tipping it.  The media is heavy and will remain at the bottom if you don't jostle it too much.  Repeat until the water comes out clean.  You will still have a little water in the media.

Set you frying pan cover on a towel.  Slowly dump the media on top.  The rim of the frying pan cover/strainer will keep the media from falling off.  

Shake the frying pan cover/strainer side to side to get the major portion of water out and then spread the media out so it dries faster.

Let the media dry while it sits on the frying pan strainer.  It will dry over night.  You can tell when its dry because it won't stick to your hands.  At that point pour it back into your media storage container.  Again, I just use a throwaway plastic container with a lid to store it until next time.

Spread brass out on a towel, pat the main portion of water off with a towel and let it dry or put it in a dehydrator for a while (45-60 minutes).

This is what I winded up doing. I'm glad I purchased 5lbs of media instead of the bare-essentials 2lbs required





Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

First time posting, long time reader!

Got a chance to do my first batch on the HF tumbler with SSM. Ran it for 4 hours and the brass came out spit shine clean. However, I think I overdid it with the lemishine. Poured a case of 45 into my mixture. The brass is clean but very dark. I polished a few cases with brasso and as expected, the final result is a nice yellow shine. Is it possible to rerun the darker brass with 1/2 case of 9mm to achieve the yellow shine? I guess I can l shoot this darker brass and wait for the next reload.

Did another run this evening. 1/2 case of 9mm of lemishine for the HF tumbler is the way to go. Came out nice and yellow!

How many 223 brass make up a pound?

Depends on the brass but 75-80

I run that amount plus 1lb of SS media and water in my drums.

Have any of you guys that wet tumble tried any of the citric cleaners like "Orange Blast"?  I have soaked some brass in a 4-1 mix of OB and the cases come out very nice and shiny.  But the insides and primer pockets aren't as clean as you all are getting with the tumblers.

The Lemishine that lots of guys are using is also a citrus cleaner (citric acid).

That's what I was thinking.  The products like Orange Blast could be used and probably wouldn't have to use the Dawn soap.

I can’t take credit for this idea, but to seperate the pins from the water I use a paint strainer bag I got from Home Depot. The bags are like a nylon mesh with an elastic band at the top. They have both one and five gallon sizes. I use a media separator filled with water to separate the pins form the brass. The pins fall through the separator and sink to the bottom of the separator bucket. I have a second five gallon bucket I install the paint strainer bag in and then pour the water and pins into the second bucket. Then all you have to do is pull the bag out with all the pins in. Since the bag is mess I just leave the pins in the bag a couple of days to dry out. The bags seem to hold up pretty well. I’m new at this, but I’m still on the first bag after 10 uses or so. No damage or holes in the bag yet. IIRC they are less then five bucks for two bags.

So what problem's are there with this tumbler?

I have been using this tumbler for a month or so without any problems. So far it has worked great. I bought the  two year extended warranty for $10 so I should be covered for a long time.

My my skill level is,,,, CHEAP.

I only have 1k of .223,,, and maybe 1k of 9mm. So I'm a very low count shooter compared to some of you guy's. From what I've read, I think the dual Harbor Freight model will serve me well. But I am a little concerned when you said you got an IM about problem's. I hope the problem was it doesn't hold much brass.

Just ordered the dual tumbler from HF and media from Midway. I hate you all.

Ya. I'm chompin at the bit. I'm getting my tax refund Wednesday. I'm going to blow about half of it on guns and reloading stuff. My local Harbor Freight has 3 of the dual tumblers in stock. I hope they're still there Wednesday.

Does this work with 7.62x54r or 8mm brass?

All right. I'm in.  I got my tax refund a day early. Went shopping.

I hope I didn't mess up. I only ordered 2lb's of media from Buffalo Arms. I'm going to do all my rinsing in a utility tub I have in my basement. So I hope I don't loose any.

I don't have a 9mm case. Can anyone give a let's say,,,, more scientific measurement,,,,lol.

I use a .5cc Lee yellow scoop per drum.  Sometimes I shake a little out.  You'll have to experiment a little to get the right amount.  I find less Lemi Shine is better than too much, and it doesn't take as much as it seems it would.  If your brass comes out dark or with a weird tint back off the Lemi shine.

Each drum is made up of brass (I think someone mentioned number per caliber), 1 lb media, water to just over the top of the brass and then a good squirt of Dawn.  The drum will be about 3/4 full when everything is in it.

Why such a small tumbler?

Some people don't need to tumble a ton at once.  I can do 250 9mm at once or 150 223 at once which will cover a range day for me.  Best part is with dual drums if I didn't shoot much or just need to clean a lil bit I can run 9mm and 223 in separate drums at the same time.

Hell if I don't care about super clean primer pockets (which I don't in 9mm) I can run it without the SS Media and put 200 per drum for 400 9mm total.

It's a great way to get into wet tumbling on the cheap.

I shoot very little. I only have 1k of brass. That will last me a very long time. So for me it doesn't make sense to tie up a lot of money in a tumbler.

And you do realize that this thread is about this cheap LITTLE tumbler.  If you want to go big, check out the other wet tumbler thread,,,, in case you missed that one.  

COl, did you know you can get a two year extended warranty on the tumbler for $10? I don't usally do that, but 2 years for ten is a deal.

Ya, I knew,,, but forgot about it in the mass confusion.  I went to Graf's, Bass Pro, and Cabelas all before hitting Harbor Freight on the way home. They were getting ready to close when I got there. Then no body knew were it was at. Everyone was panicing trying to find the damn thing so they could get out of there. The cashier didn't ask if I wanted it,,,wich I would have took,.

On my way home I remembered. I have to go back that way to try and exchange a tool at Cabelas that someone switched packages on.  I wonder if they will let me get it now.

I think you can still buy the warranty for 30 days after the purchase. My local store never had the double tumbler in stock so I had to order it. Once it arrived I took the receipt to the local store and purchased the warranty.

i  love my HF tumbler

How long did it take you guy's to get your media from Buffalo Arms.

Question:

I got my tumbler this weekend but I want to wait till the oversized pins gets back in stock before I order the media. Just because I was bored I tumbled about 150 pieces of .45 acp last night with no media just Dawn and Lemishine. After 4 hours I was impressed by how clean they where on the outside but the pockets and the insides where still kida dirty. How clean do the insides of your brass need to be to keep from harming your dies? Could I get away with this for now or do I need to sit on my hands for another week or two?

Don't kill me!

When i'm sick, I can be looking at something like the thread title and it won't register with my brain.

wait on the oversized pins once you keep an eye on your dies you'll be ok just clean them after every session



 

Well mine's kinda dead before I ever plugged it up.  I guess technically I could still run it. But I don't have my media yet so I'll go ahead and fix it.

Per the instruction's I went to adjust the belt. Out of the 4 motor mount/adjusting screw's, 2 are stripped. Well what do you expect for $50.

Instead of driving a 50 mile round trip I'm just going to put longer screw's with nut's on there. Chance's are they will all do it eventually. Cheesy nut thing, and cheap screw's. I'll fix it. I work at a hardware store. Grade 8 it is.  

I wasn't paying attention when I took the screw out, but can you guy's confirm that the green ground wire goes under the nut thingy  for the motor screw. It has to. I just want confirmation. Thanks.  Guess I better go back and get that warranty.

Ordered one for $49 shipped.  On Sale and coupon code for 20% off. Media is next.  

ETA:

Buffalo Arms - 5 lbs ordered -  Appear to be 5 days behind on shipping according to webpage.  

Now the wait begins

Tag

Remember guys to use your 20% off coupon too!  This will get you down to $40+ tax

Should have another batch of brass to tumble this weekend...haven't had a chance to go shooting the past few weeks.

where is this coupon?  i found one of these at my local HF, was going to pick it up this weekend.

The coupons can sometimes be found on the ads in store.  If not the ones you receive in the mail and in magazines (NRA, Field and Stream, etc) all have them.

You cant combine them with another coupon but they can be used on sale items.  

At any time I seem to have 6+

just found one in guns and ammo.  thanks for the tip!

It works. Well that's just great! Now I have to go buy some pillow bearings and 3/4" rod and build a bigger one! And here I was, perfectly content to tumble my brass with walnut shells, but no, try wet tumbling they said, you'll like it they said.



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Another highly satisfied HF economical wet tumbler checking in...No pics, but did the first batch last night and they turned out great. Couldn't find lemishine but found dish soap with citric acid in it and it worked. I now have lemishine and will see how much blingier i can get my brass

HF in Madison, WI has 4 of the dual tumblers for anyone looking in the area.

BuffArms took about 10 days to ship my order. I ordered 2 lbs but got probably close to 3.

Ahhh. Wish I didn't look at this thread...Brass is so shiny...

My Precious...



 

Fedex dropped off the HF tumbler today.  Media is slated for 2/28.