Tumbler Timer Trick

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alfsauve

alfsauve

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I use to travel a lot and I would put a batch of brass in the tumbler on Sunday night then be on the road all week. Since my vibrator type tumbler only needed 24hours to do the trick I needed a way to turn it off automatically. Let me rephrase: I wanted a CHEAP way to turn it off.

Found one of these timers with removable on/off pins. Simple removed the ON pin. Turn it until the tumbler starts and then 24hours later... presto it cuts off. I realize I could have gotten a wall timer, but they didn't go up to a full 24hours and this was much CHEAPER and easier to implement.


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I thought same - 24 hrs is a lot. No idea the media being used, but I use walnut and would be just turning good media to dust with no further cleaning/polishing to the brass after a few hrs. Won't hurt anything, just wastes media you could have reused some more....

I use those same timers for lamps & stuff when we're away. They are nice in that they're so simple - would work great for what you want to do. I forget what minimum interval is - if the pins are too close it doesn't work, but think it's 30 min. So you could do 30 min a day for 7 days and save 20 hrs on the media :)

I haven't messed with mine in a while, but aren't the pins the same just different color? In what you describe, it would run 24 hrs, hit the pin & cut off, 24 hrs later hit the pin and turn on for 24 hrs, then off 24 hrs....I *think* it would run for 24 hrs every other day with just one pin if you weren't there to intervene after the first cycle?
 
My Sunday-go-to-Church brass might get 3 hours, but everyday brass gets an hour.

And I do have a wind-up wall timed in the circuit!
 
CMV said:
I haven't messed with mine in a while, but aren't the pins the same just different color? In what you describe, it would run 24 hrs, hit the pin & cut off, 24 hrs later hit the pin and turn on for 24 hrs, then off 24 hrs....I *think* it would run for 24 hrs every other day with just one pin if you weren't there to intervene after the first cycle?
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No with this type of timer the green pin turns it on and the red pin turns it off. No green pin, no on.

Rule3 said:
I found this on Amazon preset number of hours/
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That's cool though it's only 12hrs and I wanted 24. Not sure that was available when I was looking. Heck. I'm not sure AMAZON was available when I was looking! ;)


The exact length of time isn't the point of the thread. FYI: I dry tumble my brass in crushed walnut shells without any additives. I like 24hours. Purely personal. Then I've only been reloading a few decades and I'm probably set in my habits, wrong as they may be.
 
forty_caliber said:
Get some WEMO's. I have several of these in use around the house. They connect to your WiFi network and schedules can be set with an app on your phone. Supports Alexa and Google Home devices.
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Oh yeah. That's not exactly my idea of simple and cheap. "Alexa!
 
Rule3 said:
24 hours to tumble some brass? Excessive.

Perhaps change your media and add some "polish" I run mine for 2-3 hours and the brass is pretty darn bling worthy.

I had those pin timers the suck!

I found this on Amazon preset number of hours/

https://www.amazon.com/Century-Mechanical-Countdown-Timer-Grounded/dp/B00MVDTEXS
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This is exactly the same timer I use. Works great! I seem to be getting good results with Nufinish and only a three hour run. I use an inexpensive FA vibrator and corncob or walnut shell and recently a mix of both.
 
alfsauve said:
No with this type of timer the green pin turns it on and the red pin turns it off. No green pin, no on.



That's cool though it's only 12hrs and I wanted 24. Not sure that was available when I was looking. Heck. I'm not sure AMAZON was available when I was looking! ;)


The exact length of time isn't the point of the thread. FYI: I dry tumble my brass in crushed walnut shells without any additives. I like 24hours. Purely personal. Then I've only been reloading a few decades and I'm probably set in my habits, wrong as they may be.
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You should change your walnut every decade if it needs it or not. Might cost you .79 cents.:)
But heck if 24 hours is what it takes.:uhoh:
 
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Yup, old trick. We forget what not everyone else knows so good to post. And good suggestions for smart ones these days.

I don't do my own loading now (lazy!) but friend had his shop far from where he slept. Tumbler was loud enough to be annoying when he was in the shop (he'd watch TV etc while loading or doing other work) so he'd flip it on at night, set a lamp timer to turn it off after a few hours. Fresh tumbled when he gets up in the morning.
 
I use the same exact pin timer .... I do corn cob and usually run mine five hours.... and that depends on the condition of the brass .... sometimes more ... sometimes less....

I don't worry about using the correct time of day ....I just adjust the dial until the cut off pin is however many hours I want to tumble...

If you were to plug the timer in (just as it is in the OP photo).... it would cut off in about four hours...
 
You should change your walnut every decade if it needs it or not. Might cost you .79 cents.:)
But heck if 24 hours is what it takes.
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I just changed my walnut media recently, I bought it in 1992 so I figured I ought to get some fresh stuff. I put the old walnut media in the tumbler that my corncob was in. The old walnut is still faster than corncob after all these years and makes just as much shine.
The new walnut I put in my rotary tumbler is really fast and doesn't put so much shine on it which is what I want.
I do need to put timers on both my tumblers.
 
alfsauve said:
That often?
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Well if you remove it and wash it in the family washing machine you could probably get indefinite life out of it.
(yes, I have read of someone doing that)

No wonder why folks get crazy about dust and lead exposure.

Yes, I know the point wasn't about media changing.:oops:
 
I have a Woods timer for mine. Its not infinitely adjustable but has buttons for 1 hr, 2 hrs, 4 hrs and 8 hrs. When wet tumbling I usually use the 2 hour setting.
 
Reading this thread made me think of Rube Goldberg. Where is he when you need him. ;)

Interesting way of using the timer, with the "on" pin removed. Maximum utilization of available resources. :thumbup:
 
I like those old timers, I pick them up at garage sales every time I see one.

I thought I left my brass in long, guess not lol

I'm sure most people here know but just in case, the media cleans because the sharp edges remove the fouling. Even if the media looks clean it the sharp edges are now rounded out will take longer to clean brass or hardly clean it. If the media can't clean normal shot brass within a few hours it's spent.

If 24 hours is what you want you found the perfect timer to do it...
 
Back in the 1980's I was shooting a lot of .32 S&W Long in a Pardini competition pistol - I decided to make myself a small tumbler, in a local surplus shot I found some cheap motors and some clockwork 6 hour cooker timers. The whole thing worked brilliantly, I ended up making about 50.

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ArchAngelCD said:
I like those old timers, I pick them up at garage sales every time I see one.

I thought I left my brass in long, guess not lol

I'm sure most people here know but just in case, the media cleans because the sharp edges remove the fouling. Even if the media looks clean it the sharp edges are now rounded out will take longer to clean brass or hardly clean it. If the media can't clean normal shot brass within a few hours it's spent.

If 24 hours is what you want you found the perfect timer to do it...
Click to expand...

But so many people just don't "believe" in that;)

mulder-and-i-want-to-believe-poster.jpg
 
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