I saw this and got to thinking, "would this work for tumbling brass?"

I know a lot of you complain about banged up case mouths from vibratory tumblers, so I thought this might be an alternative. Also, it might work well for coating bullets with moly or BN.

What do you think? Anybody have any experience in this area?

http://www.harborfreight.com/c...l&utm_campaign=1010A

My orginal brass cleaner was an old style rotary tumbler. Just a larger version of the harbor freight version. I found it slower and did far more damage than the vibrator I replaced it with. Actually I've never really seen damage from my vibrator. If I remember the rotary was slower as well.

I've been using an "old" Sears rock polishing tumbler for years. Works great and never a problem. Clean out the rock polishing media thoroughly though.

I started with a thumblers tumbler in 1978.I still have it but the drum is cracking and brittle now.
I bought 2 viberating ones now that hold about 150 30-06m at a time,they are faster.

Owned three and still have two rotary tumblers. Only use one when the vibrator already has a big load. Never had and damage that I know of from either type.The rotory is definitely slower and does not have the same scrubing action of the vibrator.In fact I have a Chicago (Harbor Freight) Brand new in box that I'd be willing to part with. roger

IIRC, my old rock tumbler was SLOW .. i mean REALLY slow .. then again, I haven't touched a rock tumbler since the 70s

My rotary had ledges on the inside. When I would tumble 45-70 type cases and not have enough media inside I would get dent on the lip every now and then. It would normally work itself out when I would trim and deburr. Either way not a major issue. Just slooowww.

They work, I had a Thumblers for years, but IMO, the vibrating ones work a bit better. FWIW, I've never had a vibrating tumbler dnet a peice of brass.

Thanks for all of the opinions. I have used a vibrating tumbler for years as well. I have never experienced dented or dinged case mouths. Also, I don't understand the argument that the vibrating tumblers "work harden the brass."

I find this hard to believe since the brass isn't being "worked".

I think I'll continue to use my vibrating tumbler. If I want to do any moly or BN coating, I'll go with the pill bottle in the tumbler method.

I have one of harbor freight's double tumblers and it just eats belts in just a few hours. They are the worst POS going. There is no reinforcement webbing in the belt to keep it from breaking and at $3 a whack it is expensive to polish cases with it. I ended up buying one of their vibrators for half price. May try to see if a belt from Thumblers will work.

Rad

quote:

Originally posted by HerrMesser:
"vibrators for half price"

Rad

Be careful with those 1/2 price vibrators... you never know where they've been! Haha Just kidding. Sorry. I couldn't resist.

I always wondered how the Harbor Freight tumblers worked. It looks IDENTICAL to my 6 year old Frankford Arsenal tumbler.

Do they work? Yes. Are they slow? Yes. Do they damage brass? Mine didn't. Do vibrating units work better? I think so. My first tumbler was bought at auction for $5.00 and it had been used to polish silverware in an "high-class" restuarant. I know that is what it was used for because inside it there were several pieces of silverware! It had a fairly large interior capacity and it was rubber-coated. It originally used a wet slurry (I used dry media) and some small steel ballbearings to do the polishing. It was chain driven and it was still going strong when I finally traded it to a friend in return for some electrical work I needed done. As far as I know it is still going strong!

My first tumbler was a home made thing that needed "adjustments" frquently. I probably still have it in a box somewhere. Haven't looked back when I got a vibrator.

Lately, I've been doing without a brass cleaning machine, since I had to set up a new reloading bench. I'm surprised how easy it is to do without one. So far, I just clean the lube off the brass with a paper towel and some electrical parts cleaner from a spray can, which wipes off most of the the carbon too. The cleaner evaporates with no residue, so doesn't affect the primer or powder when I assemble the cartridge later. On a really dirty case, tarnished or whatever, Brasso works well. If the case is too bad, I just toss it.

KB

HerrMesser---I had belt troubles when I used the rubber belts that came with the unit. Many commercial sewing machines use leather belts and you could probably buy a length of leather to make one if you don't want to make your own. Making one is easy but does require a couple leather tools. Take thick leather--an old western type belt would work. Using a strip knife, cut a strip the width of the thickness of the leather. You now have a square strip. Using an edger chamfer all four edges and it is now closer to round. Roll this on a hard surface and it will round it more. Then butt the two ends and connect with a large staple. You need to bend the prongs of the staple inwards, if you leave them at 90 degtrees they come out. In use the belt will stretch in time so you cut off a little and reattach staple. I get years out of them where I only got weeks out of rubber belts. In lieu of staple you can also punch small hole near the ends and attach using strong fishing line.

I just buy some more o-rings whem they break.If you want to you can get some superglue and put them back together.
They can be found at the auto parts store.

I bought an o-ring once and it lasted the best but haven't been able to find any lately that fit.

If I had a lathe and mill I would have made gears to replace the pulleys.

Rad

Check out the RCBS Sidewinder.
Great tumbler but you can get a bunch of the vibratory tumblers for what you have to give for a new sidewinder. The only real advantage of the RCBS unit is that it comes with a timer. Will run up to 12 hours and will automatically shut off. I think this is a big plus. But you can buy a timer to plug your vibratory tumbler into to get the same benefit.

muck