Dabbler
ersatz engineer
I also weigh each piece of brass and group them according to weight. I guess you could track the mass loss after each tumble (!!)
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Parts Washer Solvent
- Thread starter thestelster
- Start date
I also weigh each piece of brass and group them according to weight. I guess you could track the mass loss after each tumble (!!)
I’m deeply concerned about what this sentence means.
Former Member
Guest
Hate to burst your bubble on a couple of issues:
Walnut while being softer also abrades your brass, likely more than you expect. (Hint....you polish diamonds with abrasives a lot softer than the diamond, cloth is softer than brass and using a cloth to clean brass can actually leave marks/cuts from the fibers in the brass, this is material removed, so yes softer removes harder). Second part is even though the brass it is in a media, it still makes contact with its self additional removal. I've tried the SS pins and love them. The nooks and crannies actually get cleaned, particularly the primer pockets. Shorter polish time longer final prep time.
Second, not annealing is actually causing more harm than not annealing. Just of process of loading and firing has work hardened the brass. This means the next cycle you are causing micro cracking in the work hardened brass. The secret is the temperature/time/consistency used. Not too much or too little, just right as the saying goes, to achieve the best results for the longest/best performance
Wives tales or sound methodology to achieve best practice.
Think about it, but then again another saying comes to mind....old dog new tricks.....
Walnut while being softer also abrades your brass, likely more than you expect. (Hint....you polish diamonds with abrasives a lot softer than the diamond, cloth is softer than brass and using a cloth to clean brass can actually leave marks/cuts from the fibers in the brass, this is material removed, so yes softer removes harder). Second part is even though the brass it is in a media, it still makes contact with its self additional removal. I've tried the SS pins and love them. The nooks and crannies actually get cleaned, particularly the primer pockets. Shorter polish time longer final prep time.
Second, not annealing is actually causing more harm than not annealing. Just of process of loading and firing has work hardened the brass. This means the next cycle you are causing micro cracking in the work hardened brass. The secret is the temperature/time/consistency used. Not too much or too little, just right as the saying goes, to achieve the best results for the longest/best performance
Wives tales or sound methodology to achieve best practice.
Think about it, but then again another saying comes to mind....old dog new tricks.....
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This is a great idea.
You would have to start with already cleaned brass, but it doesn't need to be good brass.
You would also need a precision scale. They do sell such scales that they claim meet high standards, but every one I ever bought was junk. I'm still looking for an affordable weigh scale with 0.01gr accuracy/precision that actually works as claimed. In the meantime, the best I know of is a plain balance beam that can be read to a precision of about 0.03 with care. I have no idea about the accuracy at this level but for this purpose the absolute accuracy wouldn't matter.
It would be interesting to try it - if I had the SS tumbler...
Think about it, but then again another saying comes to mind....old dog new tricks.....
When/if you can ever out shoot this one eyed shaky old dog, I'll be listening.
Former Member
Guest
When/if you can ever out shoot this one eyed shaky old dog, I'll be listening.
Damn its the ammo, the wind, the scopes off, the brass isn't right, there's a pebble under my blanky...
Long range shooter have all the excuses.
If you happen to have a cement mixer on the farm they make great wet tumblers.
I am a high volume pistol shooter, and have tried both wet and dry tumbling. I ran wet with stainless pins for years with great results but ultimately got sick of separating the pins. This is especially true for bottle neck rifle cartridges. I switched to a product called “Brass Juice” that is an additive you add to your water and wet tumble without pins. It works pretty well but I know guys that are just wet tumbling with dish soap and lemishine that are claiming similar results without pins.
On pistol cartridges you would have a hard time identifying which cases were tumbled with pins vs without. Rifle cartridges I suspect the case interior might not get as clean? Someone would need to do the experiment.
I am a high volume pistol shooter, and have tried both wet and dry tumbling. I ran wet with stainless pins for years with great results but ultimately got sick of separating the pins. This is especially true for bottle neck rifle cartridges. I switched to a product called “Brass Juice” that is an additive you add to your water and wet tumble without pins. It works pretty well but I know guys that are just wet tumbling with dish soap and lemishine that are claiming similar results without pins.
On pistol cartridges you would have a hard time identifying which cases were tumbled with pins vs without. Rifle cartridges I suspect the case interior might not get as clean? Someone would need to do the experiment.
We hijacked this thread toward reloading when @GlenG said:
I really like this idea for cleaning stuff other than brass.
I wanna know more about affordable bigger ultrasonic cleaners for small and medium sized parts that need a good cleaning.
I really like this idea for cleaning stuff other than brass.
I wanna know more about affordable bigger ultrasonic cleaners for small and medium sized parts that need a good cleaning.
Rauce
Ultra Member
I have a 15l I got on Amazon. I can’t remember the brand but it’s identical to the Vevor one I see on there now that goes for $300. I think I paid closer $200 but that was a few years ago.
I got it for cleaning grimy bike parts but I’ve also used it for cleaning other stuff like lathe chucks. I’ve used it with simple green and a spray nine brand concentrated degreaser. It works fairly well but it doesn’t get really heavy greasy grime off. In that situation I’ve used varsol to do a pre clean and break up the heavy grime before putting the parts in the cleaner.
The only thing I find annoying about it is the heater doesn’t have a lot of power. If you fill it up with cold water and concentrate it takes a couple hours to get up to temp. My solution is just to go inside to the laundry sink with a 5g bucket and get hot water.
Sounds like a great solution. I have fast hot water in the shop already so no issue at all for me.
I'll check them out. $300 is steep for my needs but I don't think I need 15L either.
Dabbler
ersatz engineer
15 litres seems pretty big - perhaps 5 litres is what I might need. Most of my parts are very small. I have a really old used lab ultrasonic cleaner, about .5 litre. Works okay for cleaning triggers and muzzle breaks, but not much bigger. I do know you need about 2cm all around the object to get the best cleaning effect, so a little bigger does no harm.
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Pretty good. I’ve used it with various solvents such as varsol, simple green and pine sol. Pine sol did a nice job on some carbs.
The heater is ‘meh’ and takes an hour to heat, and then there is flashpoint to consider.
Parts don’t come out spotless, it’s not a caustic bath.
I have a small 1.5l ultrasonic cleaner that I picked up from Grizzly years ago. Works great, best thing ever for cleaning scooter carbs. Hot water and a bit of dish soap. I don’t use any of the standard cleaners, most of the time I’m cleaning aluminum and even mild caustics make a mess.
For aluminum and stainless, adding some powdered stainless cleaner (oxalic acid, like Batman’s Friend Stainless or All-Clad Stainless Cleaner) works wonders.
All-Clad will remove heat tint from stainless.
For aluminum and stainless, adding some powdered stainless cleaner (oxalic acid, like Batman’s Friend Stainless or All-Clad Stainless Cleaner) works wonders.
All-Clad will remove heat tint from stainless.
Jeez, how did I miss that? And what sort of algorithm corrects Barkeepers (even spelled wrong) to Batman’s?
Chicken lights
Forum Pony Express Driver
I'll happily "dispose" of unwanted nickel brass for you. I've got a bunch now that half the nickel has worn off and they still load and go pop
"Probably" in benchrest that's not up to snuff but for us mortals it's good enough
Although 3 gr of powder probably produces less case pressure than 42 gr does
