How to get the 9MM brass from the carbine clean?

[canthelpit]

Detergent and a bucket is all you need to get the brass clean.  I drop mine into a small bucket with hot water and
let is soak for a few hours (or overnight, if I forget), rinse with hot water and I'm done.  If I want to shine 'em up
a bit more, 15 seconds in a vinegar/salt mixture and another rinse is all it takes.  I can't think of a reason to buy
a tumbler. 

[Crawl]

The reason to buy a tumbler with corn cob media and brass polish is because all you have to do is dump the brass in and walk away for a while. When you come back you run it through your separator for about 20 seconds, and you're completely finished with brass that looks brand new.

No dealing with water, no dealing with waiting on something to dry, you just pour it for one bucket into the other a couple of times and use a separator. The one downside is that you have to purchase the equipment, but it's really a one-time purchase and corn cob media and polish don't really cost significantly more than soap

[M1A4ME]

Well, got my PVC tumbler/tube/can finished up a couple days ago.

Can't take credit for it, I think it was someone here that sent me a link, or posted it in another thread, about a PVC pipe project he'd put together.

bought a two ft. section, cut it into two about 9.5' long pieces with a shorter piece left over.
Got a cap and gorilla glued it inside (might have to redo that, but it held through the first run) and a test cap for the load/unload end.

Filled it about half full of the dirty 9Mm brass and some dirty .223 brass this morning.  Added water, a tablespoon of lemi-shine and set the timer for 3 hrs.  Cold this morning.  The slick PVC pipe was slipping on the rubber shaft cover on the driven shaft of the Harbor Freight rock tumbler.  Put 5 rubber bands around the PVC tube.  Helped a little.  Tilted the tumbler base up a little bit to shift the weight heavier on the driven shaft and it was good to go.

Came back about 4 hrs. later and opened it up.  Beautiful 9MM and .223 brass that was wet and needed to be separated from the SS pins.  Got that done, put the pins in the drying jug (clear pretzel container with holes drilled in the bottom and holes drilled in the lid and set it in the sun.  Segregated the brass and put the .223 brass in one vibratory cleaner and the 9MM brass in the other (to dry it out and shine if up a bit).

I need to buy some vinegar and see if soaking it in the vinegar or vinegar and Dawn for a little bit will remove the smoke stains without having to use the pins and then separate everything afterwards.

Reason for the PVC tube = one of the two Harbor Freight containers had started turning the brass black (I guess the inside has deteriorated some.)

[jwc007]

I need to buy some vinegar and see if soaking it in the vinegar or vinegar and Dawn for a little bit will remove the smoke stains without having to use the pins and then separate everything afterwards.

Nix on the Vinegar AND Dawn idea, as the Vinegar WILL neutralize the Dawn.  IF you go the Vinegar route be sure to use Apple Cider Vinegar, as it seems to be more effective, and 7 minutes of exposure should be all that's needed.  Note that my previously posted process has both inside and outside of the cases coming clean.

[M1A4ME]

Thanks.  I just figured the Dawn might help with some of the cleaning/dissolving of the crud stuck to the case walls.

I've got to get some dog food today on the way back from the gym (big boy is eating a lot, he's still growing and it's winter time) so I need to make a store list or I'll forget to grab a gallon of the ACV.

[GMP]

I load too many to tumble.  I clean a bucket of range brass at a time,  1000s. First I deprime on a dedicated press.  Then I dump it all in a larger 5 gal bucket with some dish soap and water.  Aggregate, let sit a half hour, aggregate and rinse well.  I let it drain in a big spaghetti strainer. This gets the loose stuff off.  Next I get two gal of citrus degreaser from Home Depot.  Back in the bucket with this full strength.  Aggregate occasionally and let it in there for a few hours.  Drain and rinse as before.  I reclaim the cleaner for next use.  Citric acid in the degreaser is an excellent brass cleaner and all but the oldest dirtiest brass comes out very clean even inside with no harm like vinegar can do.  I dry in foil trays, winter over my pellet stove, summer in the sun.

[M1A4ME]

I've got something (bad) going on.  Not sure, yet, exactly what it is.

Took the brass out of the new tumbler tube and it looked real good.  Separated it, got the SS pins out of it, shook most of the water off of it and dropped the 9MM in one vibratory cleaner and the .223 in the other one (crushed walnut shell media).  I set the timer for a couple hours and turned them on and walked out of the garage.  Been drying brass like this for a two or three years.

Came back the next morning, dumped the brass/media into the separator and then pulled the brass out.  The brass, not all of it but a substantial part of both calibers, has black/dark gray stains on it.  Those were not visible when I took the brass out of the wet/SS tumbler.

I set the vibratory cleaners for another 4 hrs. and dropped the brass back in.

Not sure, at this point, whether the media isn't drying out due to the cold temperatures and the moist media contact with the brass is tarnishing them over night or, the media is so dirty it's somehow staining the brass.

I've got to do all this again and dump one vibratory cleaner and put new media in it and see if the one with new media gives me shiny brass with no tarnish.  I need to insure the old material in the other unit is dry first, so I have DRY dirty media and DRY clean media for the test.

I still need to look at the brass after the 4 hr. extra polishing to see if it finally came clean (dumped it yesterday, didn't really sort through it.

[canthelpit]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5y_dsP3dsM

Here's how Jerry Miculek cleans brass...
I think I'm going to buy a cement mixer.

[M1A4ME]

Well, I set the vibratory cleaners outside in the sun and ran them about 4 hrs. to circulate/dry the media (as much as it would in that time).

I was running the same batches of 9MM and .223 brass in the SS pins/water/lemishine rock tumbler again.  That brass came out as shiny as new brass.

I put the 9MM brass in the cleanest (still looks like the new stuff in the bag) and the .223 brass in the darker (dirty) looking crushed walnut shell media and set the timer for 3 hrs.

I'll look at in the morning and see if clean/dirty makes any difference.

I the dirty media brass is nasty again I'll dump the media.  If both are nasty I'll still dump the dirty stuff and try to dry out the cleaner looking stuff with a heat gun and repeat this stuff for the third time.

[painter]

Maybe the issue is letting sit overnight in the damp media.

[M1A4ME]

Hopefully I'll have some different results later this morning when I go check.  I left the brass in the cleaners all night but I don't know if the media truly dried yesterday (then again, the brass wasn't dry when I put it in them last night and hit the buttons on the timer.

Could be, in the summer, the media dries out pretty quickly due to the temps, but stays damp much longer in the winter.  We'll see.

If it looks bad this morning I may have to just wait till summer months to do the really nasty brass - or come up with a brass drying method for winter months.

[double-d]

I have about 85% of the material to build one of these.  Just need the remaining 15%....... and some free time.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/How_i_built_my_own_rotary_tumbler/42-344986/

[M1A4ME]

Watching the JM video it occurred to me that I rinsed the brass/tumbler drum out several times before pulling the brass out.

I hadn't been doing that the last couple of times when I had the gray/black tarnish show up later.  And, as we know, the water in the drum is very dark gray/black at the end of a run.  I may have really loaded up the walnut media with crud in the previous 3 or 4 runs.

So many variables (I know some of you guys love it) that it would take some time to run several trials to see (absolutely for sure) what is going on.  I'll be happy if the brass is nice and shiny this morning.  Might as well head out and see.

[Wobbly]

I have about 85% of the material to build one of these.  Just need the remaining 15%....... and some free time.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/How_i_built_my_own_rotary_tumbler/42-344986/

? For those of you not gifted with metal cutting tools, let me point out that a similar frame made of 2x4's will work just as well... maybe even better. The trick for a long lasting wooden frame is to assemble it with 3" long deck screws, and not nails.

? By standing the 2x4 on edge and presenting the broad face, opens up another area of cost saving. In place of buying bearings pre-mounted in metal frames, as the guy on AR15.Com did, you can bore 1-1/8" holes in the wood and use "flanged bearings" such as THESE ON EBAY. That will save you half the cost of the bearings.

Those bearings have 1/2" ID and can be used with 1/2" shafts. 1/2" should be easy to find V-belt pulleys (sheaves) for.

By placing the flange of the bearing on the inside, the wooden frame would capture and locate both shafts. I've shown the short shaft (with bearings) removed from the wooden frame to help better explain.

Would then look like this...


 

[Dan_69GTX]

I have about 85% of the material to build one of these.  Just need the remaining 15%....... and some free time.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/How_i_built_my_own_rotary_tumbler/42-344986/

Thanks for posting that link.  A guy I shoot with built something similar, I've been contemplating it, just too lazy to lay it out myself. (read that as too many other fires burning).

Now if I can get past the contemplating part.