clarity from an old post

[therealwormey]

Originally Posted by Springfield0612
I use the Harbor Freight dual drum tumbler, and when I go OCD and do 1# of SS pins and 1# of brass and 1# of water (yes I weigh it on an electronic digital kitchen scale), which is the max load for each drum, my brass comes out perfect. If I go overboard on the brass and light on the water I get bad results like you descibe. I'm thinking the same as was listed above with the water holding the dirty stuff in suspenion. If you over load what the water can hold off the brass, the dirty stuff has to go somewhere.
+1 on the experiment with and without the lemishine/simple green. Trial and error.

i want to be clear on something as i want to start using stainless in a cement mixer and need ratio info..."1# of SS pins and 1# of brass and 1# of water "
so does this mean when using pins its a 1 to 1 to 1 ratio. example being 10Lbs SS + 10LBS brass +10LBS water(1.1982844 gallons)

 

[medalguy]

Not necessarily but the more pins you use, the cleaner the brass and the quicker the job will be done. Weight is important as that's what causes the brass and pins to rub together harder, resulting in cleaner brass in less time. Too little weight (pins are heavier by volume BTW) and there's little scrubbing/rubbing pressure. I doubt you could use too any pins.

One piece of brass in a tumbler full of pins would polish the brass pretty quickly.

I generally fill my tumbler about 1/2 full max of pins and brass, then add water and chemicals to about 3/4 full.

 

[LiveLife]

FYI, Lowes sells cement mixer with poly drum so you don't have to contend with rust contaminating your brass/SS pins - http://www.lowes.com/pd_241568-47120-SGY-CM1_0__?productId=3591096

 

[therealwormey]

thanks yall,, i have a mixer with a polydrum much like the one posted above,i dont even know the brand, almost free brand,,,anyhow sounds like and correct me please if i'm wrong, when i load i need to keep the pins to brass mix at least half an half and the more pins the merrier. with enuff water/cleaner/polish to be say a 2-3 inches above the brass/pins before i start tumbling.

currently i can tumble just brass and a water/cleaning solution and it cleans but i get no shine. then i have a corncob/nufinish/fine grit liquid pollish combo i use but it takes a long time to get a almost acceptable shine. i was thinking in the long long run i might be better off to spend the $$ on the stainless pins. IDK but i hear pins are all the rage so i thought i might try em on my big bulk calibers like 9s an 40s

 

[joustin]

The Thumblers kits use 5lbs of SS media with 2lbs of brass and about 8lbs of water. Ive ran up to 2.75lbs of brass and it still comes out clean.