• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

Case drying after wet tumbling...

B

boisepaw

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 20, 2020
211
38
Queenstown, MD
If I don't want to have towels around the house with cases drying out after wet tumbling...what are the other options?

Specifically, are any of the dryers, like the one from Frankford, efficient and worth getting? For $50-60 can I get a dryer that will dry 120-150 30.06 cases in an hour or so?

I've heard people talk about putting them in the oven on a cookie sheet or putting them in the dryer...both possibilities but my reloading bench is in the back barn.

So I don't need the very cheapest method (putting them on a towel to let them dry). I would like something efficient (drying in 30-60 minutes) and evenn better would be something that is sitting on my reloading bench.

Ideas?
 
I stole a garment bag from the wife and toss them on the shoe rack in the clothes dryer. Works a treat.
 
Brass on top, Jerky on the bottom. 💪


https://www.amazon.com/COSORI-Food-...or+food&qid=1611252899&sr=8-3&tag=googhydr-20




1611252955569.png
 
svthuh said:
I stole a garment bag from the wife and toss them on the shoe rack in the clothes dryer. Works a treat.
Click to expand...
I tried something similar once...but just the garment bag. And when it had tumbled for a little while I had pretty much destroyed the garment bag. Sounds like the shoe rack might be just the trick.
 
boisepaw said:
How many cases...30.06 in this case...can you get into that unit and how long does it take to dry them?
Click to expand...


Depends. But 1st lets address you not asking for my Jerky Recipe. :ROFLMAO:

You can get a number of different Dehydrators that have different numbers of trays on them, and many are upgradeable to add more trays if needed. But to specifically answer your question regarding the one I posted a pic of, only cuz it's a popular model at that price point, I'd say around 30 per tray, so around 150. BUT, there are larger ones that will hold more per tray.

I pretty much stopped wet tumbling years ago though, so I don't deal with the pitfalls of it. Just like ultrasonic's. You'll probably revert back to media just like so many others for all the same reasons.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mpepin07 and 6.5SH
Just buy a cheap toaster oven from Walmart/target/Meijer/wherever and use it to dry your cases.

A small one will easily dry 200 large rifle cases, 300 small rifle cases, or 4 - 500 handgun cases in one go.

240 degrees for 30 minutes and done.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Papajohn, MCHOG, MarshallDodge and 1 other person
I use a Hornady dryer. It's the analog predecessor to this:

www.hornady.com

Digital Cases & Parts Dryer - Hornady Manufacturing, Inc

Digital Cases & Parts Dryer Item #053311 Dry hundreds of cartridge cases — as well as small and large gun parts — at the same time with the revolutionary Digital Cases & Parts Dryer. With an innovative top-mounted digital powerhead, cartrid...
www.hornady.com www.hornady.com
 
  • Like
Reactions: jd138
308pirate said:
Just buy a cheap toaster oven from Walmart/target/Meijer/wherever and use it to dry your cases.

A small one will easily dry 200 large rifle cases, 300 small rifle cases, or 4 - 500 handgun cases in one go.

240 degrees for 30 minutes and done.
Click to expand...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This!!!^^^^^^^^^^ been doing this for years! But I go 150-175 for a little longer (y)
 
A cheap food dehydrator is the best thing I've found.
Tried doing them in the oven on baking tray which worked fine but wasn't as easy as the dehydrator.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DellaDog and KZP
Get a food dehydrator. Takes about 20-30 minutes and they will be dry. I can dry about 250 .308 cases.
 
Literally buy a toaster oven off Facebook market place for 10 bucks or less, set to 150 for 30 mins and boom you’re done. I’ve yet to have an issue on the thousands of pieces I’ve sent through mine.
 
I have a second faster method: Wet tumble, rinse, small pancake compressor from Harbor Freight. I grab about 10-15 cases at a time in my hand, blow them out from primer and neck. Then I take a whole pan of cases and anneal them, natuarlly one at a time. Trust me no moisture. Just another way i do it, because I anneal after 1-2 firings. Just my two cents.
 
I dump them out on a black towel, wad it up and shake. I then take it out in the yard and lay it out in the Arizona sun for 30 minutes and it's done...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pvt.Donut and Expert684
i am going with an old oven that it's door was sort of busted it just sits there unused yea for repurposing it will have a new life for a while . also have an old toaster oven that still works yea for back ups .
 
1J04 said:
Depends. But 1st lets address you not asking for my Jerky Recipe. :ROFLMAO:

You can get a number of different Dehydrators that have different numbers of trays on them, and many are upgradeable to add more trays if needed. But to specifically answer your question regarding the one I posted a pic of, only cuz it's a popular model at that price point, I'd say around 30 per tray, so around 150. BUT, there are larger ones that will hold more per tray.

I pretty much stopped wet tumbling years ago though, so I don't deal with the pitfalls of it. Just like ultrasonic's. You'll probably revert back to media just like so many others for all the same reasons.
Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't address the Jerky recipe. But given the responses I got to my other question about finding a FART (Franklin Arsenal Rotary Tumbler), I just didn't want to go there.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: 1J04
I rinse mine with hot water because it dries faster than cold water. And them dump them out on a couple of paper towels in front of a small space heater. I usually do a hundred or more cases at a time and they dry pretty fast.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Boatninja
Expert684 said:
I have a second faster method: Wet tumble, rinse, small pancake compressor from Harbor Freight. I grab about 10-15 cases at a time in my hand, blow them out from primer and neck. Then I take a whole pan of cases and anneal them, natuarlly one at a time. Trust me no moisture. Just another way i do it, because I anneal after 1-2 firings. Just my two cents.
Click to expand...

Did that before....sucks a fat dick.when your cleaning in batches of 250
 
  • Like
Reactions: clcustom1911 and 308pirate
I actually just got the Frankford Arsenal Brass Dryer yesterday, and it works really well. I ran it with about 100 pieces of mixed brass (6.5 CM, 223) and it dried in an hour. It has 5 trays and can hold up to 1000 pieces of 223, so still plenty big for larger brass. Definitely beats leaving them on a towel for 1-2 days on our dining table.
 
Here’s a cheap easy fast case dryer...oil drain pan $9 bucks...peg board $10 bucks? my wifes hair dryer free...theres 400ish 9mm on there in the pic and they get up to 117 deg.
 

Attachments

  • 5792F5FB-C9EA-4E29-9564-218658366383.jpeg
    5792F5FB-C9EA-4E29-9564-218658366383.jpeg
    416.3 KB · Views: 93
  • 0A304589-BDDE-47EC-9515-96F29FCA66E7.jpeg
    0A304589-BDDE-47EC-9515-96F29FCA66E7.jpeg
    418.5 KB · Views: 117
  • 022BB41A-0D2D-4127-B4BC-4E9160EC629D.jpeg
    022BB41A-0D2D-4127-B4BC-4E9160EC629D.jpeg
    567.2 KB · Views: 116
  • 3CB0A77A-46B0-4DD1-B7C8-52CA4169E004.jpeg
    3CB0A77A-46B0-4DD1-B7C8-52CA4169E004.jpeg
    382.1 KB · Views: 107
  • 50F3F711-E445-44EA-99E5-A5885502427B.jpeg
    50F3F711-E445-44EA-99E5-A5885502427B.jpeg
    404.3 KB · Views: 139
  • 05C8FD44-77C7-481A-92A9-170E2B670034.jpeg
    05C8FD44-77C7-481A-92A9-170E2B670034.jpeg
    585.1 KB · Views: 182
  • 864749A9-C914-4670-BDF8-1A97F8E11493.jpeg
    864749A9-C914-4670-BDF8-1A97F8E11493.jpeg
    247 KB · Views: 91
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: texastonk and clcustom1911
I was thinking about repurposing an old stove that was replaced because the door was busted and an old toaster oven , but while thinking about it I think I am going to go with a no cost to run plastic magnifying sheet and a wood trays and chicken wire bottoms and allow the sun to toast em dry .
he used the oven but the same screens i wanna use . but with this magnifier laid over top
sort of like this just not as extrema and much lighter .
 
  • Like
Reactions: MCHOG
But....I don't wet
Expert684 said:
Not really, I built my own annealing machine with an auto feed. I load a hopper and it does about 6 per minute. I just watch TV and throw brass in the hopper. I can do 150-180 cases watching Gilligan's Island . :love:
Click to expand...
Huh? What does that have to do with hand blowing water out of cases with an air hose?
It works, but you have to handle every case and hope it got all the water out. Used to do it all the time. Vs throwing on a pan, setting a time and walking away
 
padom said:
But....I don't wet

Huh? What does that have to do with hand blowing water out of cases with an air hose?
It works, but you have to handle every case and hope it got all the water out. Used to do it all the time. Vs throwing on a pan, setting a time and walking away
Click to expand...
Blowing them out gets maybe 80% of the water out. I can hold 10-15 at a time, I anneal anyway, the heat from the annealing process dries them almost immediately. I can stack 20-30 in the hopper at one time. My machine has a feeder drum to the annealer then just drops in a pan. Done! I guess you would have to see it.
 
Last edited:
Get a Frankford Arsenal brass dryer, or food dehydrator... They cost about the same. I've used the Frankford unit for years, and it's been phenomenal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rathmatik
Here is what I learned from a few YouTube videos. I use a Frakford arsenal wet tumbling with SS pins. I use the Frakford Arsenal cleaner (only 1 capful maybe 2 if really dirty. Tumble for 2 hours, dump the dirty water (after removing the normal cap and putting on the strainer cap) into a five gallon pail with a painters strainer filter for 5 gal pails (has elastic around the opening to fit over the pails top). Then I run hot water into the tumbler to rinse and pour back into same pail (I do this twice) Then I carefully remove the strainer from the bucket which is full of most of the pins, dump the water out of the pail. Then I carefully hold the strainer full of pins under a stream of warm water and agitate the pins around under the water. Then I set them aside be careful not to spill any.. Now I get my Frankford Media separator and pour what is left in the tumbler following instructions. Fill it up to the mark advised, close it, tumble it back and forth a few times. Now the rest of the pins are in the bottom of the media separator. Put the strainer back into the 5 gal bucket and dump the pins from the media separator into that and rinse the pins again. Now for the good part. Take your brass and put it back in the tumbler with a couple of really absorbent rags (I use 12" x 12" micro cloths) and tumble for about twenty minutes! They are almost completely dry now and I just pour them out onto a towel and let them sit overnight. Nice dry and shiny brass. No need for lemishine. The Frankford cleaner works wonders. It also helps to have a magnet around to pick up stray pins (not many or none at all if you are careful. This had worked wonders for me and I can't believe more people don't know about the painters strainer trick. Makes it all so easy.
 
just another company that sells stainless steel media pins could be cheaper not really sure did not get into all the different prices out there
www.bcprecision.com

Tumbling Media

304 Stainless Steel Tumbling Media For Polishing Jewelry, Brass, and Other Metal Items.
www.bcprecision.com www.bcprecision.com
a piece of window screen should be small enough to catch all the media while allowing you to drain the water .
 
Last edited:
I got a couple of extra reloading cartridge trays. Drill holes in the bottom, stand the brass up. Place the trays on the heat register. From the tumbler to dry inside and out in about 20 minutes. If the heats not on, I put a box fan flat on the floor and place the trays on it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: acudaowner
How about a box with an old-fashioned 100-watt light bulb / shop light set up inside, or perhaps a second-hand Goodwill hair dryer?

I've also seen guys rig up a fat-50 or 40mm ammo can with the same single-bulb as the heating element. Like a biltong box.
 
Last edited:
Dean1157 said:
Here is what I learned from a few YouTube videos. I use a Frakford arsenal wet tumbling with SS pins. I use the Frakford Arsenal cleaner (only 1 capful maybe 2 if really dirty. Tumble for 2 hours, dump the dirty water (after removing the normal cap and putting on the strainer cap) into a five gallon pail with a painters strainer filter for 5 gal pails (has elastic around the opening to fit over the pails top). Then I run hot water into the tumbler to rinse and pour back into same pail (I do this twice) Then I carefully remove the strainer from the bucket which is full of most of the pins, dump the water out of the pail. Then I carefully hold the strainer full of pins under a stream of warm water and agitate the pins around under the water. Then I set them aside be careful not to spill any.. Now I get my Frankford Media separator and pour what is left in the tumbler following instructions. Fill it up to the mark advised, close it, tumble it back and forth a few times. Now the rest of the pins are in the bottom of the media separator. Put the strainer back into the 5 gal bucket and dump the pins from the media separator into that and rinse the pins again. Now for the good part. Take your brass and put it back in the tumbler with a couple of really absorbent rags (I use 12" x 12" micro cloths) and tumble for about twenty minutes! They are almost completely dry now and I just pour them out onto a towel and let them sit overnight. Nice dry and shiny brass. No need for lemishine. The Frankford cleaner works wonders. It also helps to have a magnet around to pick up stray pins (not many or none at all if you are careful. This had worked wonders for me and I can't believe more people don't know about the painters strainer trick. Makes it all so easy.
Click to expand...
I do pretty much as you do with the 5 gal paint strainer bags except after dumping the brass on an old towel to remove excess moisture I dump them on a cookie sheet and into an oven preheated to 200 and then shut off. The brass is dry and ready to reload in about 15 min. I don't know why people make drying brass such a chore? FWIW
 
Walmart dehydrator. I think I paid $25 for the four-tier unit, it does 300 .260 cases and you can buy additional trays if you desire. I let it run for 20 minutes and cases come out dry.
 

Attachments

  • 4.jpg
    4.jpg
    870.6 KB · Views: 44
I don't know how those of you who bake your cases in an oven at temperatures below the boiling point of water don't end up with wet powder or primers. I tried it once (175 for 30 min) and still had moisture.

By jacking the temp up to 230 - 240 and baking for the same half hour, I know for a fact there won't be a trace of moisture left in them. Because physics.

And 240 degrees is waaaaaaaaayyyyyy under any transformation temperature for brass so there's no annealing or embrittlement going on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PFG and NiteQwill
308pirate said:
I don't know how those of you who bake your cases in an oven at temperatures below the boiling point of water don't end up with wet powder or primers. I tried it once (175 for 30 min) and still had moisture.

By jacking the temp up to 230 - 240 and baking for the same half hour, I know for a fact there won't be a trace of moisture left in them. Because physics.

And 240 degrees is waaaaaaaaayyyyyy under any transformation temperature for brass so there's no annealing or embrittlement going on.
Click to expand...
My sentiments exactly! The one time I let them air dry overnight the next day when I tapped on the cases I had moisture come out of the primer pocket on some of them. Oven drying eliminates that.
 
3-0-hate said:
I stole a garment bag from the wife and toss them on the shoe rack in the clothes dryer. Works a treat.
Click to expand...
I use the dryer rack too, I just put the brass on a towel. I’ve done thousands of rounds of brass like that until I gave up on wet tumbling.
 
I've also been drying mine out in the oven on a baking sheet at 240 degrees or so. The only unintended consequence that I've seen from doing it this way was that the brass appears to tarnish quicker. They'll go in bright and shiny, and come out a dull gold color.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2aBaC̶a̶
I've started using rice instead of wet SS tumbling.
Don't quite come up as clean but it's a lot quicker and easier than needing to dry them out. Not sure I'll go back to SS tumbling.
 
I only use the wet tumbler (a big ass cement mixer) in the summer and I use a screen nailed over a 2x4 frame like the brass sorting frames in the army. I try to stock up on brass that way and resort to vibratory tumblers in the winter if I run out or need something specific.

The Dillon media separator is a must have IMO too, it helps shed water and also pin, oh the goddamn pins... I think fear of loading those goddamn things slows it down to the point of making it not worth it sometimes.

The US cleaner uses hot water and that dries a lot faster on it's own.
 
So that’s what I normally do... a capful of Armorall car wash liquid and 1 teaspoon of the lemishine. But they still darken if I bake them at 220 afterwords.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Best tumble media/method for removing lube
Replies
26
Views
1K
Carlos Danger
Carlos Danger
padom
SS Wet Tumbling: Chips vs Pins
Replies
123
Views
2K
Herb Stoner
Herb Stoner
E
Problem with Redding Premium Die set for 300 Win Mag
Replies
31
Views
640
shoot4fun
shoot4fun
S
Dry tumbled primed cases.
Replies
16
Views
459
spife7980
spife7980
T
Bulk Lube, Tumbling, and Case Mouth Lubrication
Replies
4
Views
456
acudaowner
acudaowner
Top Bottom
Back