Wet Tumbling: Frankford Arsenal or HF Concrete Mixer

[madcow]

Just threw out the last batch of dirty media from my vibratory tumbler and was thinking of switching to wet tumbling. Reason being, less dust, guaranteed to get out that Georgia mud stuck inside cases, should eliminate 9mm cases from getting stuck in .40s which get stuck in .45s.

I looked at the Frankford Arsenal Platinum series which run about $200+ or I can pick up a small HF concrete mixer for $170 but would still have to buy the stainless pins.

Which do you think would be the better way to go? What are the pro's and con's aside from storage footprint and capacity?

 

[WhiteJEEPSmatter]

I've been debating the same thing today. I noticed the last few days my walnut media wasn't cleaning the brass like it use too.

 

[madcow]

I'm just tired of all the dust and having to put on a N95 mask every time I separate the media.

 

[Jackie Graham]

Get a rcbs rotory media separator. Will eliminate the dust from the media. No need for a mask.
Also, wet tumbling does not eleminate stacking. You will have to separate the brass by caliber in order prevent that.
Wet tumbling is better to get the brass clean though.
I use a cement mixer.
Frankfort tumbler is good for small batches.

 

[41mag]

I've been debating the same thing today. I noticed the last few days my walnut media wasn't cleaning the brass like it use too.

a tablespoon of liquid polish mixed in with the media will help if its not too dirty.
Just a bit though....not too much.

 

[Control for Smilers]

I bought a cheap ass chinese "jewelry" tumbler on ebay for like $70 shipped and 5lb of stainless pins. I am going to buy 1 or 2 more of the chinese tumblers for bigger batches. they are dirt cheap and work well.

 

[Control for Smilers]

Get a rcbs rotory media separator. Will eliminate the dust from the media. No need for a mask.
Also, wet tumbling does not eleminate stacking. You will have to separate the brass by caliber in order prevent that.
Wet tumbling is better to get the brass clean though.
I use a cement mixer.
Frankfort tumbler is good for small batches.

I use a media separator for the wet tumble too. same one as for the dry...just fill it with water. few cranks and all the pins are out.

 

[Jackie Graham]

I used treated walnut media for years.
It would leave a residue on the brass when it got old. I changed to 20-40 corn cob media and add turtle wax car polish and don't have that problem any more.

 

[madcow]

Get a rcbs rotory media separator. Will eliminate the dust from the media. No need for a mask.
Also, wet tumbling does not eleminate stacking. You will have to separate the brass by caliber in order prevent that.
Wet tumbling is better to get the brass clean though.
I use a cement mixer.
Frankfort tumbler is good for small batches.

I usually separate my brass but a few usually get by me, stacking I can deal with, it's when the media acts as a binder and separating becomes a pain.

Leaning towards a cement mixer since you could probably clean 5 gallon buckets of brass at a time.

 

[WhiteJEEPSmatter]

a tablespoon of liquid polish mixed in with the media will help if its not too dirty.
Just a bit though....not too much.

I use new polish every couple batches. I think its time to switch it out. I've ran thousands of pieces of brass through it. Probably over 10k in the same gallon of walnut media. It still cleans them just not as good as it use to lol.