Brass Cleaning, Steel Pins vs Corn Cob/Walnut Media

First topic message reminder :

Last year I had a rude awakening. Big Brother gave me a call after a blood test showed elevated blood levels.  Since then I have managed to 
get my lead levels back down.  One of the areas of concern for me was handling the media while cleaning brass.  I have always used walnut media with flitz.
The results have been fine.  When separating the brass and media, you can't help but generate dust.  My question is do the steel pins and solvent eliminate this problem?
What do you do with remaining liquid?  Should I ask?
Thanks for any advise.
Alex

I recommend Simple Green for cleaning brass. I use it in my ultrasonic cleaner where the brass goes first.

Also, consider the air flow in your indoor range and where you are located while shooting. At my local range, I know not to get Lane 1 or 8. The air is drawn out, but if you are on an end lane the air circles back up into them before getting drawn out through the middle of the range. You get to inhale the fumes of every shooter on the range.

Soupy44 wrote:My wife asked me to switch since we just had our first kid in October.  I don't have any lead level data, but I simply feel cleaner after switching.  I used gloves and a mask with dry media and saw a buildup after a big batch.

With my FART, I only touch the dirty brass loading the tumbler.  After that, I can sift and drain without touching the dirty water.  Heck, seeing how dirty the water is made me wonder about what I was dealing with before.

I don't remember the weight limit on the FART, but I know I don't get close to it.  I only do a few hundred 45 cases at a time.  It came with 5lbs of media, but I only use half in any one load after my initial experiments.  The bonus of this is you can dump an old load and immediately get another one started while you process the first.  Smaller loads get them cleaner anyways!  VERY shiny brass!

I’ve loaded mine 2/3 full of range 9mm, water to cover the brass plus an inch and lemishine and soap.  Weighs a lot.  3 hours later shiny clean brass.

willnewton wrote:I recommend Simple Green for cleaning brass.  I use it in my ultrasonic cleaner where the brass goes first.

Also, consider the air flow in your indoor range and where you are located while shooting.  At my local range, I know not to get Lane 1 or 8. The air is drawn out, but if you are on an end lane the air circles back up into them before getting drawn out through the middle of the range.  You get to inhale the fumes of every shooter on the range.

Will,
The indoor range I shoot at is only a couple of years old.  Air flow is excellent.  Probably a better environment than shooting outdoors, other than I would much rather be outdoors.
I had my lead levels checked on a whim. The results caught me completely off guard.  I thought my reloading habits were sound.  A real eye opener.
Worth taking a look at if you have the opportunity.
Alex

What levels are your doctors calling high?

Above 10ug/dl is what prompted a call from the Health Dept.  Mine were at 12.  Back to 7ug/dl now.
Alex

+1 on the Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Rotary Tumbler 7L. I do have a couple of the dry tumblers, but now only use to put NuFinish on the brass after wet cleaning and drying, to keep the brass from tarnishing quickly. No more nasty dust! Have an ultrasonic (relegated now to gun parts cleaning) but can only clean small quantities of brass at a time. The Frankford Rotary rules the roost, no contest!
It comes with the steel pins and a sample pack of their brass cleaning solution. Use their wet/dry media separator and the magnet for the pins and you are good to go. The separator made a very easy job of separating the steel pins from the brass and rinsing the brass in fresh water without losing any of the pins. Used the kitchen oven for a bit to dry the brass, but eventually settled on the beehive food dehydrator type of unit mentioned earlier in this post, Frankford Arsenal makes one of those as well.

I don't know why you would need the separator for the stainless pin tumbler, it comes with strainer end caps for the tumbler. Just screw on a strainer, drain the water then start shaking the tumbler upside down and the pins come out easy. Use the magnet after you pour out your brass on a towel to get the remainder of the pins. Seems like an unnecessary $50 gizmo that take up room in the shop.

I had levels of almost 50 in 2006. 

I was a caster, I lived alone and had bullets and brass all over my home.   Dillon 550 was in my bedroom.   I cleaned up my act.

I stopped shooting altogether. Then it was only 22 sporter rifle for a couple years.  Then I started shooting on the pistol team again.    I HAD to shoot centerfire.  

Now I buy coated lead, only load in the basement.   Levels have stayed at 20.   Last year I shot indoors both rimfire and center fire Bullseye and shot Sporter rifle indoors for the winter.   I switched to wet tumbling.   Levels did not go up from the winter shooting for the first time.  

Back to shooting full swing,  twice a week at least.  I load for my wife and daughter.  They both shoot centerfire.   The frankford tumbler is a great thing.  I can tumble more brass, it comes out cleaner.  I don't sort brass until its cleaned.  I dry it in a cheap dehydrator over night.    

Wet tumbling was worth it for quantity, quality and lead.   I dump the water down the wash basin in the basement.   My wife owns a car wash, so I get low PH soap and high quality wax.  

Wish I would have done it a LONG time ago.

David

I do use the magnet along with a Cabela's rotary separator to try and get the pins out.  Using a kitchen strainer that has a fine mesh to dump the water through out of the tumbler to rinse.  Fill it up, swirl around, dump.  Repeat a couple times.  Pins are so small and seem to stick to the wet brass a little.  Been leaving brass in the separator overnight then a couple more minutes of spinning the separator then into a Frankford dryer.  Still find a few here and there.  I do like the end result though and there is no dust.

Five gallon paint strainer with an elastic band. Amazon 3 for three bucks. Dump the whole works through a large strainer with openings that the pins pass but the brass stays..

+1 on the FART and FA magnet to deal with the pins. I'm going to get the FA media separator kit, because after tumbling and rinsing my first batch of brass, my arms and shoulders hurt like a son-of-a-gun.

I also bought a cheap food dehydrator from Ebay to dry the brass after dumping them out on a towel to separate.

V

I'm going to get the FA media separator kit....

Makes a tedious job easy. Works really well if you fill the non drain half with water and then rotate/separate the brass with all the pins stuck to the cases in the water. Separates all the pins and drops them to the bottom very quickly and easily without losing any pins + rinses the brass. Once done, pull the brass out and stick in dryer. Use magnet and pick up all pins, dry and store. Done.

And look over the various separators, I found the Lyman cheaper and just as useful

Aprilian wrote:I found that my body's hanging onto lead was also related to the kidney stones I was growing.   I have been taking calcium and drinking a lot of lemon juice, it will be interesting to see if my numbers have dropped further.

So, your post made me look stuff up out of interest. Was wondering about the lemon juice. Seems as far as nutrition is concerned it seems there's agreement on calcium, iron, and vitamin C.
While I need to get myself tested, if I was to try the above I would be trying for the healthy eating but looking at supplements. And only drink the lemon juice if you're particularly fond of it.

(Scary to find that artificial turf sports fiends that are made with nylon or nylon blend can have significant lead dust levels. I've read that the rubber stabilised fields can be dangerous for heavy metal exposure depending on the source of the rubber granules)

This would make rinsing a little easier

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/001221097883/frankford-arsenal-rotary-tumbler-straining-caps?trk_msg=GVCQP4EO9CTKB1PA6A3D0HGTLS&trk_contact=QHE3NALVAPNEJ40RUP448V8T6O&trk_sid=5GM6C4V0Q675DDFRF4OGB1IAD8&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=turn+on+images+and+shop+frankford+arsenal+straining+caps&utm_campaign=Get+the+New+Frankford+Arsenal+Lite+Media+Tumber!

My technique is to not use the pins.  Just the solution.  One tablespoon of Dawn and a teaspoon of lemishine in the tumbler half full of brass and hot tap water to cover plus one inch.  Tumble for two hours.  Dump the dirty water using the strainer over one end and fill the tumble back to overflowing then dump three times.  Spread the brass on a towel in the sun or the oven at 200 for an hour if no sun.

Compiling my list for new cleaning solution in expectation of the call. 
I was doing great until your post, Wobbley. 
Now I need to by an oven, - no way I'll be allowed to use one in the house.
Alternatives for drying, everyone?
AP

Food dehydrator...

Question about water.... Our house is on private well, and hence we have water cleaning systems installed, - iron breaker and salt based water softener.  Garden and lawn is irrigated by water directly out of the well, - separate contour after pressure tank.  Which one is recommended to use for wet brass cleaning, - "salty" or "dirty"?
Thanks,
AP

Try both and see what gives best results.  Buy some “baby” water as it’s the purest, fill it up as described in my post.  Then check the pH.  Try and match that with both waters by adjusting the Lemishine.  Lemishine is crystal citric acid and it is the slight etching of the brass that cleans the tarnish. Too much and the brass gets “frosty” too little and the duration goes up.

I use salty.

Throw all the voodoo recipes away, the vinegar, the lemi shine, the crystals, the salt, the soft water, the dawn, the car wash soap, the pumice, and GYSOT !

Boy, and I just used any old tap water....who knew that it was this complicated!!!! 

Greetings Wobbley,

"Lemishine is crystal citric acid"

I wrote to the company to ask what was in the Lemishine. They told me it was proprietary.

The MSDS sheet did not offer much help either.

I now use food grade Citric Acid crystals as I know what the composition is.

By chance, did you have your sample of Lemishine analyzed?

Cheers,

Dave

No,  but this guy did and he’s a chemist.

http://www.chemistry-blog.com/2012/05/18/whats-in-lemi-shine/