Toaster oven or dehydrator?

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The best way I found to dry brass is to just toss a few small towels in after rinsing and tumble for about ten minutes longer. The brass will come out slightly damp but will be completely dry in under an hour. If I want to reload directly after tumbling, I run a hair dryer over the brass for about a minute, and it's completely dry and ready.
 
Dry..always have, always will. I only do 100 to 200 hundred at a time caliber dependent.

Only occosionally and for really DIRTY / MUDDY range pick up I put in a large plastic jug that dog cookies come in (approx 2 gal) with water and dish soap; shake and let soak awhile, shake again and soak. Pour in sifter pan and wash with hose. Soak time depends on how dirty it is and what else you are doing.

Pour back in sifter and agitate while using an old hair dryer I modified so it can't shut off from overheat, and in 3-4 min you can't hold the dry brass.

Process as you normally would.
 
I picked up a used hair dryer at the local thrift store for $3. It's an older low temp model. Rigged that up to blow through my pile of wet brass and it works great without local hot spots. Everything is dry in 15 min.

That way you get the heater and the fan in one small, easy to purchase unit.
 
Allow me to expand on the process above...

I use a metal container to wash and rinse my brass. Now this could be an old pot drilled full of holes, a colander from a thrift store, or a minnow bucket (any metal container with holes or screen in the bottom). To this container is added 3 equally spaced, horizontal legs or brackets. These legs are long enough to support the container over the open end of a common 5 gal plastic bucket. A hole is cut into the side of the bucket about 1/3 up from the bottom. This hole is sized so that the hair dryer can be wedged into the hole and hold itself.

So what we have is a bucket on the bottom filled with blown, hot air. And suspended over the mouth of the bucket (where the hot air is exiting) is the container full of brass.

What makes this attractive for me is that the same container is used to separate the tumbling media, then used to wash and rinse, then used for drying over the heater. The brass doesn't need to be transferred over and over to get the complete job done. So handling is minimized.

Hope this helps.
 
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I have the old stove we replaced and use it for drying brass. I have seen no difference in color of brass using it or air drying. I use Armour All wash wax for soap.
 
A toaster oven? You could dry that much brass with q-tips. You can dry more using wire hardware cloth mesh framed by 2x4's out in the sun and use a leaf blower. I have a heavy-duty gas-powered air compressor, so I use that.
 
I found some cases that were cleaned a few years ago, and they had oxidized slightly. So I ran about 150-200 in a harbor freight rock tumbler with a pinch of lemishine and some coral wax car wash. 45 minutes later, they were clean and wet. Not really shiny, but clean. I used a 4 inch slotted drain cap with the slits in it to drain off the water, shaking the tumbler to try and get water out. I rinsed them a few times. Then I put them on a towel. Then I rolled them back and forth in the towel by holding two corners in each hand. I used a couple of 45 trays to stand them up. (like this ) I put a paper towel over the 45 tray to hold them in place, and the flip them onto a piece of 1x6. (The paper towel is between the upstanding brass and the 1x6. The case mouth is pointing down, and the primer holes point up.) Once they are dry, this is a great time to pull out the military crimps, if you are so inclined.

My house water has too much ammonia in it. (They call it chloramines, which is clorine and ammonia.) I clean that out with a zero water filter, and that is what I use to wash, but the rinsing was at the hose outside. So I wanted to get them dry quickly.

A harbor freight dehydrator will work. It does not heat up the brass much. So I would not worry about the heat harming the brass. I tried it, and it works ok. It does, however, cause them to tarnish a little while drying. If you are living in a very humid area, then you may need a dehydrator. I live in a desert, so I have very little humidity.

You didn't say whether you were doing straight walled or necked cases. Necked cases are a little tougher, because the water may be pooled up inside the case. And thus may require more work.

Overall, this process is very quick.
 
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