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I have been playing with the idea of going this method. How are you separating the SS media & brass after tumbling? I just use a regular cooking strainer for now, $4 at any store. I bought a new bigger one last night because the little white one kept falling into the bucket. Once I get my rotary separator back I'll be using that, if it works with dry media it will separate the SS rods. Usually I have 99.9% of the SS media out by the time I dry the cases. So far out of all the batches I did I only had one SS piece hang on in all the rifle brass, and two in a batch of 45 ACP that fell out in the cookie tray. But as Dryflash3 posted in his thread you still need to visually check the primer pockets, as they could get jammed in there. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile 
Some cases get media stuck in the flashole, others don't. As mentioned, I check the flashole on every case. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I have been playing with the idea of going this method. How are you separating the SS media & brass after tumbling? I just use a regular cooking strainer for now, $4 at any store. I bought a new bigger one last night because the little white one kept falling into the bucket. Once I get my rotary separator back I'll be using that, if it works with dry media it will separate the SS rods. Usually I have 99.9% of the SS media out by the time I dry the cases. So far out of all the batches I did I only had one SS piece hang on in all the rifle brass, and two in a batch of 45 ACP that fell out in the cookie tray. But as Dryflash3 posted in his thread you still need to visually check the primer pockets, as they could get jammed in there. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/Wet%20Tumbling/P4100005.jpg Some cases get media stuck in the flashole, others don't. As mentioned, I check the flashole on every case. Wow... What are the odds? I'm going to have to go check my .30 cal stuff. |
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http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/Wet%20Tumbling/P4100005.jpg Some cases get media stuck in the flashole, others don't. As mentioned, I check the flashole on every case. Wow... What are the odds? I'm going to have to go check my .30 cal stuff. I found a couple 30-06 cases like that, but a push with a punch and they came right out. Only 3 out of the 800 cases had media in the flash hole, but I still look at every one from now on just to be safe. |
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http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/Wet%20Tumbling/20110418_6.jpg Media stuck sideways in large primer pocket. This is a piece of short media and I picked it out and did not return it to the tumbler. With 12.5 pounds of SS media, I have found 3 pieces like this so far. Haven't found any more in about a month. Wow, thats an odd one. I havent ran into anything like that yet. Another good reason to inspect all the primer pockets just to be sure. But then again I bet a depriming die would push out anything out of the primer pocket. |
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http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/Wet%20Tumbling/20110418_6.jpg Media stuck sideways in large primer pocket. This is a piece of short media and I picked it out and did not return it to the tumbler. With 12.5 pounds of SS media, I have found 3 pieces like this so far. Haven't found any more in about a month. Wow, thats an odd one. I haven't ran into anything like that yet. Another good reason to inspect all the primer pockets just to be sure. But then again I bet a depriming die would push out anything out of the primer pocket. The way I first discovered the stuck media in the flashole was when resizing some previously wet tumbled 223 cases. Something felt wrong while resizing and I stopped before breaking a decapping pin. This was the 2 pieces of media stuck in the flashole. I'm sure the sideways stuck media will come out easily when resizing. |
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One way I found to decrease the number of stuck SS media in the primer hole that works best for pistol brass is to keep the brass in the media separator after most of the SS media has been removed and then just shaking the hell out of it. Obviously you want to do this in an area where you can catch the SS media that falls out. I do it in the washer tub in the basement with its high walls and the stopper in the drain. Then you can just pick up the media with a magnet. Would not recommend doing this for precision rifle brass as this manuver may ding your neck mouths. |
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One way I found to decrease the number of stuck SS media in the primer hole that works best for pistol brass is to keep the brass in the media separator after most of the SS media has been removed and then just shaking the hell out of it.
Obviously you want to do this in an area where you can catch the SS media that falls out. I do it in the washer tub in the basement with its high walls and the stopper in the drain. Then you can just pick up the media with a magnet. Would not recommend doing this for precision rifle brass as this manuver may ding your neck mouths. ^^^^ this is what i do and i only have 1 in 700-800 cases with pins in the primer pocket and i have never had a pistol case with pins stuck. |
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One way I found to decrease the number of stuck SS media in the primer hole that works best for pistol brass is to keep the brass in the media separator after most of the SS media has been removed and then just shaking the hell out of it.
Obviously you want to do this in an area where you can catch the SS media that falls out. I do it in the washer tub in the basement with its high walls and the stopper in the drain. Then you can just pick up the media with a magnet. Would not recommend doing this for precision rifle brass as this manuver may ding your neck mouths. ^^^^ this is what i do and i only have 1 in 700-800 cases with pins in the primer pocket and i have never had a pistol case with pins stuck. Basically the same here. I hand-tumble pretty vigorously under running water as the final "tumble". Once in a great while I'll still find one or two cases with media in the flash hole but it's rare anymore. |
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The cases in my pics needed the media poked out with a punch.
I use a Lee manual decapper punch. I will try some shaking with my next batch. At present I'm doing no shaking. BIGGDAWG, sorry to see your great "how to make your own wet tumbler thread" got locked. Some people just have a hard time following the rules. Was not your fault that thread got locked. |
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The cases in my pics needed the media poked out with a punch. I use a Lee manual decapper punch. I will try some shaking with my next batch. At present I'm doing no shaking. BIGGDAWG, sorry to see your great "how to make your own wet tumbler thread" got locked. Some people just have a hard time following the rules. Was not your fault that thread got locked. kinda sucks my thread gets locked because of someone else oh well i will just have to put together another one. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: One way I found to decrease the number of stuck SS media in the primer hole that works best for pistol brass is to keep the brass in the media separator after most of the SS media has been removed and then just shaking the hell out of it. Obviously you want to do this in an area where you can catch the SS media that falls out. I do it in the washer tub in the basement with its high walls and the stopper in the drain. Then you can just pick up the media with a magnet. Would not recommend doing this for precision rifle brass as this manuver may ding your neck mouths. ^^^^ this is what i do and i only have 1 in 700-800 cases with pins in the primer pocket and i have never had a pistol case with pins stuck. Basically the same here. I hand-tumble pretty vigorously under running water as the final "tumble". Once in a great while I'll still find one or two cases with media in the flash hole but it's rare anymore. Yes, I just want to make sure that everyone understand that the "shaking the hell out of it" is an additional step after tumbling vigorously under running water. That step involves pulling the tumbler out of the water and shaking in the air so that the brass impacts the inside surface of the tumbler pretty hard (thus the reason why I don’t do it for precision brass).
The regular tumble gets rid of 99.9% of the media but the stubborn ones will hold on since they are jammed in the primer hole and takes that little extra persuasion. Cannot say it is 100% but I find quite a few more media dropping out after this extra effort and would recommend it since it is so easy. Would suggest still checking the primer hole for the sake of your decapper.  |
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The cases in my pics needed the media poked out with a punch. I use a Lee manual decapper punch. I will try some shaking with my next batch. At present I'm doing no shaking. BIGGDAWG, sorry to see your great "how to make your own wet tumbler thread" got locked. Some people just have a hard time following the rules. Was not your fault that thread got locked. kinda sucks my thread gets locked because of someone else oh well i will just have to put together another one. Read the last page of the thread. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/344986_How_i_built_my_own_rotary_tumbler.html&page=5 There were three contributors to the thread lock on that page, BIGGDAWG, jayfitt, and hrt4me. I didn't feel like editing the three posts after dryflash3 posted a warning in a post he had to edit. So I locked the thread, the rules in the Conduct Code are clear, and the site owner has a zero tolerance policy on the topic. Since I'm a nice guy, I'm going to unlock the thread and edit the non compliant posts. |
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I think I figured something out about the media in the flash holes.
It seems the longer I let the brass tumble the more media I get stuck in the holes. I didn't get back to my tumbler until it had ran for almost 7 hours today and I had 8 30-06 cases in my batch of 200 that had 2 rods in the flash hole. Previously before this I had only had 3 out of the whole lot of 800 cases. So I think I may need to get a timer and set it to run for 4 hours and make sure to only let it run for 4 hours max now. |
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The cases in my pics needed the media poked out with a punch. I use a Lee manual decapper punch. I will try some shaking with my next batch. At present I'm doing no shaking. BIGGDAWG, sorry to see your great "how to make your own wet tumbler thread" got locked. Some people just have a hard time following the rules. Was not your fault that thread got locked. kinda sucks my thread gets locked because of someone else oh well i will just have to put together another one. Read the last page of the thread. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/344986_How_i_built_my_own_rotary_tumbler.html&page=5 There were three contributors to the thread lock on that page, BIGGDAWG, jayfitt, and hrt4me. I didn't feel like editing the three posts after dryflash3 posted a warning in a post he had to edit. So I locked the thread, the rules in the Conduct Code are clear, and the site owner has a zero tolerance policy on the topic. Since I'm a nice guy, I'm going to unlock the thread and edit the non compliant posts. I stand corrected. Thanks AeroE. |
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Rotary tumblers: http://www.lapidary-solutions.com/shop/page/category/Category/24203382f170f81e2d6dbbe89b880763.html http://www.indco.com/shop/product?Sku=1-5154 You could probably fabricate something like this fairly easy. |
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To those of you who purchased the Thumlers, did you go low or high speed? I got a good price on a low speed... $119... works fine for me... 
I ended up with both and a fun show find. Get the high speed, 4 hour run instead of 8 hour run. No difference in the cleaning between the two, just time. Also get a timer, mine were $5 at Home Depot. |
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I've never had two pins in a flashole (I use LC cases) I have had a cross-wise pin .... I take it out and toss that pin. some more pics http://www.danpassaro.com/img/v18/p284457920.jpg http://www.danpassaro.com/img/v9/p1018551606-4.jpg http://www.danpassaro.com/img/v13/p65883175.jpg What is Soln? |
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I just got some & tried it for the first time in my tumbler & man did the water come out black .
I think its from my tumbler , first time its seen water . Twenty five or so years of tumbling & no cleaning , just a wipe out . The brass had a black smudgy stuff on them ,could be because I still had some Dillon spray lube on them from sizing . After the third batch of solution , they came out like expected & the water solution was not as black ,but still black . The inside of my tumbler is black of course. They do look to be like shot peened in appearance , like the SS media polished down all the pores in the case. Primer pockets & inside of case clean. This experiment was some what of a hassle , because of changing the water solution three times & polishing for about eleven hours total. Much longer than with treated corn cob. I'm not giving up yet , I will degrease the cases before I tumble them & see if the blackness clears up & tumbling time decreases . The last is important , if I have to tumble them longer than with treated media , with all the draining baloney that goes with it ,\. I will stay with the old way . I also had one case that had two of the SS rods stuck in flash hole & one that was stuck side ways in the primer pocket. The testing goes on more tonight. I use about a half of a teaspoon of Lemishine & a shot of liquid dish soap & about half of my tumbler of hot water . Is that about right ? |
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It took me a second to figure out your post ............. because I clean, then resize.
Deprime (Lee universal deprimer) Clean (wet SS) resize Then rinse in Dawn/water. I use Lee lube which comes off easy in this manner. My thing is precision though so this works for me in terms of volume. The water comes out dark as well each time. I figure its a 70/30 combo of carbon/rubber (being taken off the liner). |
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I just got some & tried it for the first time in my tumbler & man did the water come out black . I think its from my tumbler , first time its seen water . Twenty five or so years of tumbling & no cleaning , just a wipe out . The brass had a black smudgy stuff on them ,could be because I still had some Dillon spray lube on them from sizing . After the third batch of solution , they came out like expected & the water solution was not as black ,but still black . The inside of my tumbler is black of course. They do look to be like shot peened in appearance , like the SS media polished down all the pores in the case. Primer pockets & inside of case clean. This experiment was some what of a hassle , because of changing the water solution three times & polishing for about eleven hours total. Much longer than with treated corn cob. I'm not giving up yet , I will degrease the cases before I tumble them & see if the blackness clears up & tumbling time decreases . The last is important , if I have to tumble them longer than with treated media , with all the draining baloney that goes with it ,\. I will stay with the old way . I also had one case that had two of the SS rods stuck in flash hole & one that was stuck side ways in the primer pocket. The testing goes on more tonight. I use about a half of a teaspoon of Lemishine & a shot of liquid dish soap & about half of my tumbler of hot water . Is that about right ? Here is my wet tumbling thread. Black water is normal, that's the carbon and dirt going away. Fill drum with water, 2 inches from the top. 45 ACP case full of Lemishine, 2 squirts of Dawn. Tumbling will remove lube, you are not using enough soap and too much Lemishine. good luck. |
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I just got some & tried it for the first time in my tumbler & man did the water come out black . I think its from my tumbler , first time its seen water . Twenty five or so years of tumbling & no cleaning , just a wipe out . The brass had a black smudgy stuff on them ,could be because I still had some Dillon spray lube on them from sizing . After the third batch of solution , they came out like expected & the water solution was not as black ,but still black . The inside of my tumbler is black of course. They do look to be like shot peened in appearance , like the SS media polished down all the pores in the case. Primer pockets & inside of case clean. This experiment was some what of a hassle , because of changing the water solution three times & polishing for about eleven hours total. Much longer than with treated corn cob. I'm not giving up yet , I will degrease the cases before I tumble them & see if the blackness clears up & tumbling time decreases . The last is important , if I have to tumble them longer than with treated media , with all the draining baloney that goes with it ,\. I will stay with the old way . I also had one case that had two of the SS rods stuck in flash hole & one that was stuck side ways in the primer pocket. The testing goes on more tonight. I use about a half of a teaspoon of Lemishine & a shot of liquid dish soap & about half of my tumbler of hot water . Is that about right ? What kind of tumbler are you using? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Quoted: I think his problem is that he is using a dirty tumbler i.e. "first time its seen water . Twenty five or so years of tumbling & no cleaning , just a wipe out". Would suggest tumbling without brass but with hot water and Dawn until the water comes out clean before you start using it to clean brass. Quoted: I just got some & tried it for the first time in my tumbler & man did the water come out black . I think its from my tumbler , first time its seen water . Twenty five or so years of tumbling & no cleaning , just a wipe out . The brass had a black smudgy stuff on them ,could be because I still had some Dillon spray lube on them from sizing . After the third batch of solution , they came out like expected & the water solution was not as black ,but still black . The inside of my tumbler is black of course. They do look to be like shot peened in appearance , like the SS media polished down all the pores in the case. Primer pockets & inside of case clean. This experiment was some what of a hassle , because of changing the water solution three times & polishing for about eleven hours total. Much longer than with treated corn cob. I'm not giving up yet , I will degrease the cases before I tumble them & see if the blackness clears up & tumbling time decreases . The last is important , if I have to tumble them longer than with treated media , with all the draining baloney that goes with it ,\. I will stay with the old way . I also had one case that had two of the SS rods stuck in flash hole & one that was stuck side ways in the primer pocket. The testing goes on more tonight. I use about a half of a teaspoon of Lemishine & a shot of liquid dish soap & about half of my tumbler of hot water . Is that about right ? What kind of tumbler are you using? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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I think his problem is that he is using a dirty tumbler i.e. "first time its seen water . Twenty five or so years of tumbling & no cleaning , just a wipe out". Would suggest tumbling without brass but with hot water and Dawn until the water comes out clean before you start using it to clean brass. I think he's using a vibratory tumbler instead of a rotary tumbler. If I let brass go for 11 hours in my wet tumbler rotary tumbler I think the brass would look like gold. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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I'm using a Lortone rotary tumble , used for rock polishing.
They didn't have them vib. tumblers twenty five years ago. My second batch came out much better after altering the mix . More water , just a 45acp case of Lemishine & a two second squirt of liquid dish soap. I put in some range pick up 5.56 (w/spent primer still in ) Just to see how clean they really come out , because all my shooting brass is relatively clean to begin with. Tumbled for three & a half hours & did a real nice job . I also put in some 44mag. brass that I shot Friday & they come out nice & clean. I had another SS pin stuck side ways in a 308 primer pocket . I do like the way the primer pockets are almost spotless. I think a lot of this is because of a wet solution , the SS media beats the tough stuff out , but also peens the brass & makes it smoother , may even help with extraction ,because of its smoothness. Water not as black ,but still black , guess its the way it will be , as was said . The experiment continues, but more promising |
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I'm using a Lortone rotary tumble , used for rock polishing. They didn't have them vib. tumblers twenty five years ago. My second batch came out much better after altering the mix . More water , just a 45acp case of Lemishine & a two second squirt of liquid dish soap. I put in some range pick up 5.56 (w/spent primer still in ) Just to see how clean they really come out , because all my shooting brass is relatively clean to begin with. Tumbled for three & a half hours & did a real nice job . I also put in some 44mag. brass that I shot Friday & they come out nice & clean. I had another SS pin stuck side ways in a 308 primer pocket . I do like the way the primer pockets are almost spotless. I think a lot of this is because of a wet solution , the SS media beats the tough stuff out , but also peens the brass & makes it smoother , may even help with extraction ,because of its smoothness. Water not as black ,but still black , guess its the way it will be , as was said . The experiment continues, but more promising Ah, interesting that the first cases were not clean. It may have been buildup in the tumbler too. All the water I have ever dumped has been a dark milky black. Keep us posted as to how it goes and post pics if you can. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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I'm using a Lortone rotary tumble , used for rock polishing. They didn't have them vib. tumblers twenty five years ago. My second batch came out much better after altering the mix . More water , just a 45acp case of Lemishine & a two second squirt of liquid dish soap. I put in some range pick up 5.56 (w/spent primer still in ) Just to see how clean they really come out , because all my shooting brass is relatively clean to begin with. Tumbled for three & a half hours & did a real nice job . I also put in some 44mag. brass that I shot Friday & they come out nice & clean. I had another SS pin stuck side ways in a 308 primer pocket . I do like the way the primer pockets are almost spotless. I think a lot of this is because of a wet solution , the SS media beats the tough stuff out , but also peens the brass & makes it smoother , may even help with extraction ,because of its smoothness. Water not as black ,but still black , guess its the way it will be , as was said . The experiment continues, but more promising Don't return the sideways stuck media to your media mix. It's a short piece that will haunt you over and over. Glad you are getting better results. |
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I'm using a Lortone rotary tumble , used for rock polishing. They didn't have them vib. tumblers twenty five years ago. My second batch came out much better after altering the mix . More water , just a 45acp case of Lemishine & a two second squirt of liquid dish soap. I put in some range pick up 5.56 (w/spent primer still in ) Just to see how clean they really come out , because all my shooting brass is relatively clean to begin with. Tumbled for three & a half hours & did a real nice job . I also put in some 44mag. brass that I shot Friday & they come out nice & clean. I had another SS pin stuck side ways in a 308 primer pocket . I do like the way the primer pockets are almost spotless. I think a lot of this is because of a wet solution , the SS media beats the tough stuff out , but also peens the brass & makes it smoother , may even help with extraction ,because of its smoothness. Water not as black ,but still black , guess its the way it will be , as was said . The experiment continues, but more promising Don't return the sideways stuck media to your media mix. It's a short piece that will haunt you over and over. Damn it ! I'll have to wait for it to rear its ugly head again . I have some range pick up 30'06 brass going in next . |
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I'm using a Lortone rotary tumble , used for rock polishing. They didn't have them vib. tumblers twenty five years ago. My second batch came out much better after altering the mix . More water , just a 45acp case of Lemishine & a two second squirt of liquid dish soap. I put in some range pick up 5.56 (w/spent primer still in ) Just to see how clean they really come out , because all my shooting brass is relatively clean to begin with. Tumbled for three & a half hours & did a real nice job . I also put in some 44mag. brass that I shot Friday & they come out nice & clean. I had another SS pin stuck side ways in a 308 primer pocket . I do like the way the primer pockets are almost spotless. I think a lot of this is because of a wet solution , the SS media beats the tough stuff out , but also peens the brass & makes it smoother , may even help with extraction ,because of its smoothness. Water not as black ,but still black , guess its the way it will be , as was said . The experiment continues, but more promising Don't return the sideways stuck media to your media mix. It's a short piece that will haunt you over and over. Damn it ! I'll have to wait for it to rear its ugly head again . I have some range pick up 30'06 brass going in next . I'm sure it will rear its ugly head. 
I haven't had any get stuck sideways yet, but I have been having a few double up in the flash hole. Just a push with a 1/16" punch and they fall out. |
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Hey guys, just a thought. I wonder how this process would work when you upscale it to a Harbor Freight cement mixer? I have alot of brass to clean  Don't bother,, BTDT, got the T shirt. Because you have to tilt the mixer up, all the media goes to the big end and the brass "floats" on top and doesn't get clean. 'Borg |
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Hey guys, just a thought. I wonder how this process would work when you upscale it to a Harbor Freight cement mixer? I have alot of brass to clean Don't bother,, BTDT, got the T shirt. Because you have to tilt the mixer up, all the media goes to the big end and the brass "floats" on top and doesn't get clean. 'Borg Dang, I was thinking bigger and better. |
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Hey guys, just a thought. I wonder how this process would work when you upscale it to a Harbor Freight cement mixer? I have alot of brass to clean Don't bother,, BTDT, got the T shirt. Because you have to tilt the mixer up, all the media goes to the big end and the brass "floats" on top and doesn't get clean. 'Borg Thanks for the update 'Borg. Hope you can still put your cement mixer to use for something. The homemade wet tumblers sounds like the best way to upscale over the Tumblers tumbler. The "I made my own wet tumbler" threads by BIGGDAWG and Flamethrower have a lot of good ideas. |
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I use a cement mixer........it's working fine for me.......although I have 10 pounds of media in mine and I may try adding more........and I'm still experimenting with paddles.....that may be the key.......you need a scooping action Borg what did you use for paddles?..........and were you only using 5 pounds of SS media? |
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