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After Tumbling...

Savage_Jake

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 6, 2009
148
0
Louisville, KY
The insides of my cases have the red residue from the walnut tumbling media. After I deprime them should I wash them real good or does it not matter?
 
Re: After Tumbling...

Is this "treated" media?
The treatments are likely abrasive.

I find regular walnut works fine for me and leaves nothing but a walnut dust residue. You can buy it for very cheap packaged as "cage bedding" Material at pet supply houses.
It might take longer to tumble it clean but the media is cheaper and you won't worry about abrasives being a part of things.
 
Re: After Tumbling...

I use about 2 caps of flitz in mine and I don't notice any residue, cuts down on the dust, too.
 
Re: After Tumbling...

I've taken the advice of other Hide members and added some used & cut up fabric softner sheets...works great at cutting down the media dust.

Also, after dumping the media out of the vibrator into the cage, I'll clean the tumbler with a dry paper towel.
 
Re: After Tumbling...

Junk inside the case is unlikely to affect much beyond the resizer ball. Cases should be wiped thoroughly with a soft clot after each stage of case prep anyway, so dust on the outside should not reach the inside of the dies anyway.

I don't favor abrasive additives, and don't use Flitz because I am unsure whether it contains ammonia.

I start my tumbler with just the media, and spray a solution containing vinegar (I sometimes substitute CLR for especially stubborn brass), and alcohol. This is allowed to run for a few minutes so whatever absorption and swelling that is going to happen takes place before he brass is introduced. This eliminates media packing inside the cases.

The dampened media works faster and more effectively. I wipe the cases after separating, sometimes I dampen the cloth with alcohol.

Greg
 
Re: After Tumbling...

I use untreated walnut media and when it gets real dusty, I'll add a few small pieces of wet (with water) fabric to soak up the dust. Once the media gets dirty and no longer shines the case, discard it and get new media. Media is cheap and the new stuff works great. I also have two sets of media. My clean new media for cleaning fired cases, and another batch of media that I use for tumbling case lube off. This second batch is used clean media. Since case lube cakes up, I don't want to use my good stuff for case lube.
Also, don't over tumble. When I over tumble, the media wears out much sooner. My tumbler takes about 6-8 hours to clean about 100-150 cases. Any longer and it gets really dusty (I've left it running for 24 hours once).
 
Re: After Tumbling...

So today I went to local pet store and got some lizard litter. I added a cap full of Nu Finish car polish and started the tumbler.
An hour later they look fantastic. More shine to than with the Lyman tufnut. I will continue to use the lyman but I will use it first them tumble with the lizard litter for the super shine.
 
Re: After Tumbling...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Savage_Jake</div><div class="ubbcode-body">So today I went to local pet store and got some lizard litter. I added a cap full of Nu Finish car polish and started the tumbler.
An hour later they look fantastic. More shine to than with the Lyman tufnut. I will continue to use the lyman but I will use it first them tumble with the lizard litter for the super shine.
</div></div>


Yup, that works for me...
 
Re: After Tumbling...

I've used the Lyman green corn cob media for years.Cleans nice and no residue, I'll usually leave 'em overnite in my Turbo vibrator.They come out looking like jewelry with 0 dust residue.
 
Re: After Tumbling...

savvy the supply houses that sell to painters that bead blast brick and wood......bags of walnut and corn come 40lbs for sub $20.00 in my AO

also an air compressor helps to rid the cases of pesky residue
 
Re: After Tumbling...

I always wash after everything else is done: more for a clean and lube-free neck than anything. Regime: Tumble w/ wax. Separate media. Blow out case, lube brass, resize/trim, wash-rinse-dry.

Deprime first is probably better but the media I use adds more effort with cleaning the primer pocket. It did'nt degrade anything moving away from it. The brass washing using the same large media basket/separater to lightly agitate in a tub has proven worth the added effort.

To me "going all out" is brushing the neck and flash hole attention.

My detergent mix for wash actually has a bit of ammonia in it for purpose.