Shiloh Rifle Forums

I use the dillon fl2000 vibrator loaded with 8 lbs. of Dave Maurer's media. Pour in 1 measured cup of water and 1 cap full of his cleaning solution. To much water and soap slows down the action. I also put a 2x4. Under the edge of the base which helps keep the brass cycling around. Takes about 3 to 4 hours to clean. No peening No burrs. If you use the Dillon make sure to water proof the 6 bolts that hold the the bowl to the springs.

My Horrible Fright vibrator was DOA. Took it back for an exchange, when I asked to try it to see if the new one worked they say we can’t do that...got my money back.
R
I hope the ChiCom army, navy and air force performance is on par with the crap at HF.

I used to have a huge problem with case mouth peening - switched to porcelain polishing pins. You can get them at a couple of different websites that sell tumbling media for commercial use - same stuff that commercial metal finishers use . They sell porcelain pins, balls, triangles - I bought a 50lb sack - it'll last me more than a lifetime. The porcelain imparts a very fine polish - I tumble for about 1-1/2 hours. Come out sparkling clean and no peening.

Problem is with the quantity of stainless pins that can fit in a tumbling barrel - the pins are heavy so you cannot load the barrel up with the correct quantity of media. Because the volume of media is low compared to the volume of cases, most of the energy is thrown into banging the cases against each other and this is what causes the case mouth to peen over. You need more media to act as a cushion - tumbling 101. We do tons of metal polishing in barrel tumblers at work and not enough media is the number one reason that parts get damaged. Ceramic media is lighter so you can load up more media in the barrel to act as a cushion. Works in a high speed tumbler as well - no case mouth peening. The secret is using enough media to act as a cushion - you cannot do that with the stainless pins in a Thumbler's Tumbler - too heavy.

I see that there is some 1mm ball out there. When I first got my ceramic porcelain media I got the 4mm and it did a fine job but it left the soft brass cases looking like brushed brass, clean but dull.
I got another batch of 3mm, I really thought about 2mm but that could stick in the flash hole so I went with the 3mm and it does a fine job with no damage to the cases.
just don't drop these little balls on a concrete floor they bounce all over the place

MrE wrote: ↑Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:37 pm I use the dillon fl2000 vibrator loaded with 8 lbs. of Dave Maurer's media. Pour in 1 measured cup of water and 1 cap full of his cleaning solution. To much water and soap slows down the action. I also put a 2x4. Under the edge of the base which helps keep the brass cycling around. Takes about 3 to 4 hours to clean. No peening No burrs. If you use the Dillon make sure to water proof the 6 bolts that hold the the bowl to the springs.

The electric motor is directly under the bowl, and the Dillon was never built for wet media.

Lumpy Grits wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 9:26 am

MrE wrote: ↑Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:37 pm I use the dillon fl2000 vibrator loaded with 8 lbs. of Dave Maurer's media. Pour in 1 measured cup of water and 1 cap full of his cleaning solution. To much water and soap slows down the action. I also put a 2x4. Under the edge of the base which helps keep the brass cycling around. Takes about 3 to 4 hours to clean. No peening No burrs. If you use the Dillon make sure to water proof the 6 bolts that hold the the bowl to the springs.

The electric motor is directly under the bowl, and the Dillon was never built for wet media.

After waterproofing with gutter sealant the big dillon has held up for over 15 years with wet tumbling. I never had any luck with a Lyman turbo 1200. Not powerful enough for all the weight I imagine

Here's my deal: I use both the dual, small tumblers you can buy at Harbor Freight and the Lyman Vibrator. I use ceramic media and Shooter's II from Greg Vest. I also use a dental pic, which you can get at any gun show or ACE hardware, for testing peening.

In the tumbler, my media fills tumbler about 1/8 from bottom, maybe a bit more. I alternate my brass mouth up, mouth down around the inside wall of the tumbler; 18 pieces for 45-70/90. I then put mouth down 7 more in the center of the ring, two caps of Shooters II and fill with cold water. I tumble for no more than 2.5 hours.

For the Lyman shacker, I will lay my brass side by side, alternating mouth and rim pointing to outside. I get 45- 48 pieces. Then 2-4 laying laterally across top of the other brass. 3 caps of Shooters II and fill with water just below where center tightening thread comes through the shaker. I run no more than 2 - 2.5 hrs.

After, dumping and rinsing, I hang brass on Sage Brush drying racks over night to dry. I anneal all the brass with an Annealeze and then, using the dental pic, I will run the tip up the inside of the case to test for "peening". Out of a batch of 100 cases, I might get 3-5 with peened mouth's and I have found those come out of the tumbler vs the shaker.

My experience has been, the longer in the tumbler, the more peened case mouth's. Keeping the tumbling to 2.5 hours or less plus, placing cases alternately up/down around the wall, seems to eliminate the problem; not entirely but it makes a big difference. The shaker has not shown the problem.

Also, a very good cleaner absolutely minimizes the cleaning / polishing time. By adding a capful of Buffalo Arms or Sage Brush cleaner to Shooters II will actually make cases feel softer.

That's my story and I am sticking to it!

FYI: If you mix calibers; say 45 with 38, like the point of a fish hook which will always find the line threading hole of another hook; the 38 brass will always find it's way into the 45 case.

"There are no shortcuts in match, BPCR Shooting."

The mgr of Harbour Freight let me try out the 18# capacity vibrator and we found one that worked. I bought ten pound of angle cut ceramic media and concentrated cleaning solution from a Greg Vest...in came in today. I’m going to try a capful of cleaning solution, a capful of citrus concentrate and a cup of water for a start.
News at 11
Cheers Richard

Richard,

That Shooters II you got from Greg V. is really good stuff and the ceramic media will last you forever; I have had mine since 2003 and it still cleans perfectly. I add a capfull of the case cleaning stuff from Buffalo Arms or Sage Brush and for whatever the reason, it leaves a soft finish on the brass. I believe it has lanolin in it. I never tried the orange cleaner, I will be interested to hear how it does.

I found you can't add enough water to the tumbler. It seems the more water the better on dirty brass. Prior to cleaning, I also put my shot brass in a tub of dawn & water to soak overnight then I clean/polish.

To minimize the peening; minimal cleaning time which, is very dependent on a good cleaner. You'll like your results, you have good stuff.

"There are no shortcuts for match, BPCR Silhouette shooting."

Her are the results to date. At 1pm I added ten pounds of angle cut ceramic rods, they are about 3/32 x 3/8 inches in size, 1 cup of water with one capful of Gregs “soap” and 1 capful of lemon concentrate to the vibratory barrel. I vibrated them till 8 pm and the cases are clean but very dull looking. The media is not very wet. No preened cases, that’s good. Tomorrow I’ll add more water and see what happens.
Thanks for the help, Richard

The full looking is a result of two(2) or there(3) things, add 2 caps of Shooters II and more water. What I found was the water gets saturated from the residue and will leave cases dull. They will actually come out with a darker silvery look to them. Also, to long cleaning time will do the same and my guess, you left cases in to long. Check them after 2 - 2.5 hrs, 3 hours max; they should be like brand new.

Good luck!

"There are not shortcuts for match, BPCR Silhouette shooting."

Go two hours, then drain the dirty water off add new water and a capful and run 2 more hours.

The water will be very dirty again but brass looks new. You most use enough water to cover completely both times.

Kenny Wasserburger

Thanks Kenny, I’ll give your suggestion a whirl!
I added a couple of more cups of water and another capful of “detergent” and ran it for two more hours. They polished up a bit but not to the shine I want.
Will try Kenny’s idea and get back to all.
Thanks guys and
Cheers Richard