Vibrator Brass Cleaner

[rondog]

If you're a true "brass rat" like me, and will pick up anything you can see, this stuff works pretty good at eating the crud off. Kinda expensive, get it at Midway or most other distributors. Might Google it for other sources.



I've brought these....



To this.....



To this....



Ain't perfect, but neither am I. They'll certainly work good enough for me and my can blasting needs.

 

[Ret.CWO]

I have to say that's impressive.

 

[snuffy]

That label on the IOSSO can is misleading. Says eliminates hours of polishing in dry media! Yeah, but I can take the shells right out of a vibratory tumbler, right to the loading press. IOSSO treated cases are WET! It takes a long time to air dry brass so you can load 'em. You can shorten the time in an oven, but care must be taken to NOT get them too hot.

 

[Noveldoc]

LOL Wobbly. Maybe get a harness for your dog? Guess I couldn't do that with my mini Schnauzer.

I had no problem using the Turtle soft paste polisher/wax. It spread around very quickly.

I noted post above. Going to add a bit of corncob to my walnut to see if that gets into primer pockets better.

Tom

 

[qajaq59]

I'm better now

I once was using Nu-Finish and left the tumbler ON over night by mistake. On opening the tumbler lid I was temporarily blinded and had to wear sun glasses and walk with a white cane for several days.

Be careful.

rfwobbly, I'm so glad to see you would never exaggerate. lol

 

[rondog]

That label on the IOSSO can is misleading. Says eliminates hours of polishing in dry media! Yeah, but I can take the shells right out of a vibratory tumbler, right to the loading press. IOSSO treated cases are WET! It takes a long time to air dry brass so you can load 'em. You can shorten the time in an oven, but care must be taken to NOT get them too hot.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that the label on the jug is total BS. It WILL clean the crud off, but there AIN'T no shiny to the cases, they still have to be tumbled/polished. I suppose if you had brass that was fresh from the range and just sooty, it would do OK with that, but I bought it for the nasty brass that I feel compelled to bring home. It's hell being a packrat sometimes, but I've got a LOT of brass stashed away.

 

[mrdo1]

Snuffy, go tto the local NAPA autoparts store, buy a couple of bottles of their 99.9% isopropyl alcohol, NOT the methyl alcohol, pour the alcohol over the wet brass swish it around then lay them on a towel, they will be dry in just a few minutes, save the alcohol, it can be reused until it's gone. Learned when I worked in the semiconductor assembly industry.

 

[glockmon]

Flitz takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours with walnut to return brass to like new . I've done about 3000 cases this week with 1 application . I'll recharge it tonight to finish the rest.

 

[cpermd]

My tumbler goes 24 hrs a day.
I use NuFinish 2 tsp in each load.
They go for 8 hrs due to my work and sleep schedule.
I love the stuff.

CP

 

[ole farmerbuck]

I got some fery fine liquid rubbing compound from the local John Deere store. I couldnt believe how much faster it cleaned the dirty brass than NuFinish does. 2 hours max on dirty brass makes em look new.

 

[BossHaug]

For those cruddy cases like rondog showed (or any discolored cases), I just use lemon juice. I put a quart of the cheapest variety I can find (Dollar General, $1.25) in a sealed rock tumbler (don't dilute), and tumble for an hour or so. The juice turns almost black, but can be reused for 2 or 3 batches before it loses it's punch. They come out bright, but not yet shiny. After they dry, I then run them in my vibratory tumbler with Nu-Finish.

 

[jjohnson]

Cheap

Okay, I'm a brass rat, too, and have tried a lot of things over the past 35 years of reloading.

If you're doing this stuff in quantity, and cash is tight, get a big vibratory cleaner with a warranty (I've burnt out a few). Find a cheap source of media (I get 40-pound bags of corncob at WW Grainger's for about $25). Find a cheap additive (Nu-Finish is the cheapest I've found, and Walmart sells it). Recycle your worn media when it gets too dirty to be effective anymore (I use mine on my icy driveway instead of sand).

Nu-Finish gives you the very mild abrasion you need to get real crud off. I let my vibratory cleaner run overnight or for a full workday and the stuff comes out looking like gold . Auto waxes do just that - they wax - they can coat the tarnish that's already there. Give it a try sometime - try some Turtle Wax in new media and test it against Nu-Finish in new media. I do believe in the Nu-Finish as the best and cheapest solution. No debate on ammonia.

Yes, it can clump up when first introduced to media, but if you let it break up while running without brass OR smoosh up the clumps by hand and let it break down a bit, as another guy says, no problems.
I bought a pound of jeweler's rouge from Powder Valley for about $12 some years ago and add a teaspoon to a load if the stuff looks like brass left over from WWI. That's never a requirement, but it speeds up the process for brass that looks hopeless. Nu-Finish by itself will still get you there.

A 40-pound bag of cheap media and one bottle of Nu-Finish will go a long way - for under $35 total - and I load maybe 10-12 thousand rounds a year.

 

[Radaray]

Nu-Finish Polish

I like all of the above suggestions except any that use ammonia. Put a case in a little Bo-Peep over night and see what happens to your case. Don't do it with one you want to use. It will disappear and your Bo-Peep will be a pretty saffire blue.

Also, don't throw away your used and dirty walnut cleaning media. Get some old used window screen mesh (preferably in a frame), and suspend it over a couple of saw horses. Then spread the dirty walnut media evenly over the screen. Hose it down real good. The dirt and grime will wash off the media, and it will be as good as new. Let the sun dry it out (doesn't take very long), re-treat it with whatever you use for cleaning your cases, and it will be as good as new. Walnut is so hard, it doesn't wear out~~~just gets dirty.

Don't try it with corn cob. Just walnut. I use the walnut for cleaning and the corn cob for polishing.