Problems wet tumbling? Brass is dingy gray, or tarnished reddish hue? Here are my lessons learned.

Went out and pick up the ZEP and followed your advice and pins are really nice and shinny and brass is coming out like new again. Thanks Soooooo Much ! ! !

Every 5 tumbles I clean the pins. I use ONLY Lemmishine and Dawn. 2 hours ONLY. Longer will also tarnish the brass and start to darken it. I have a Thumler Tumbler with a 1gal drum and have been doing this for years. My brass comes out like factory new.

I know this is and old vid, but i gavd up on the steel pins. I use 8mm diameter ceramic polishing balls. Work great.

I've never had a problem with a teaspoon or so of regular Dawn dish soap and a pinch (1/4 teaspoon) of pure citric acid, the key is using as little citric acid as possible with very hot water to avoid discoloring the cases, I've run cases that were completely caked green inside and out that came out shining like gold. For the stubborn oily/greasy ones (like after resizing) I like to add 1/8 the total fluid volume of 90% Isopropyl alcohol on top of the dish soap and citric acid, it cuts right through any oil and grease as long as hot water is used, though I'm sure any degreaser like what was used here is a great option too, so long as it's an effective detergent. I like the low cost of using pure citric acid (I got a 5 pound bag for like $30, it will last me the rest of my life lol) and dawn soap, 95% of the time it gets the job done but its good to have a heavy duty backup plan like alcohol or a degreaser for the last 5%.

Has anyone ever tried "biodegradable degreaser" sold for bicycle drive chains?
FYI: I live in an apartment so I don't reload, but I do my own bicycle maintenance.

I JUST PUT MY BRASS INTO A JUG,like a milk jug. with vinger, water, 1 real lemon squeeze the juice into jug,some simple green,just cover the brass about 1 inch above, shake and shake turn and shake, for about 10 mins maybe 15mins and dump out, rinse the brass with hot water real good and let dry in the sunn..they come out great..

finally, some information based with science.

Ty good information 👍👍

Saw your 5 year old video. I found the perfect solution to your tarnished brass. The best formula to clean your brass in a wet tumbler is hot water, a pinch of Lemon Shine, 2 cap fulls of car wash and wax along with the stainless steel pins. Tumble for 3 to 4 hours and then drain and rinse until all dirty water is gone. Separate pins from brass and place brass in a bath towel. Fold towel over and roll brass flat with your hands to remove water drops. Lay brass on a cookie sheet and place in oven at 120 degrees for 20 minutes. Your brass will turn out perfect every time.

I use the Frankford tumbler with the stainless pins. Dawn and small amount of lemon shine. I rinse the brass submerged in water. Then put them in my spinner to get the pins out. I then dip in a bright dip solution 1 O/Z Sulphuric acid (battery acid buy a pint at Oriellys auto parts) to 1 gal of water. Then I submerge rinse in water. Then I put it in my spinner to get the water out of the case. I dump them brass on a beach towel hand roll them around to dry them. This neutralize any alkaline or other acids. The bras will not tarnish after this process.

TreeTopFlier, how did you make the tumbler barrel? Thanks

I stopped using the pins a long time ago and it made a world of difference. One teaspoon Limon shine one teaspoon dish soap makes brass look new.

Well, after watching your vid. I to had dingy brass. So After getting the tumbler and pins cleaned again. I thought, what if I just took cases with spent primers, filled the tumbler, and threw in a heavy amount of dawn and pins, then tumble. The water came out black, the brass was shiny, and there was no residue. So then the other thing I did. Now took the lubed shells and threw them in a rectangular plastic box. Took really hot water and covered the brass. Well, an oil slick came to the surface of the water. So I added dawn again and sloshed the brass around with the dish scrub brush, then drained off the water and let them dry for inspection for nasty coating. They were really clean. So next round I am throwing dirty brass in a tumbler with dawn and hot water. And no pins, then Rinse and dry. Lube then process and then into hot water and soap to remove the lube. Then tumble in the standard way. Pins, lemi, and dawn. And see if I can stay away from that messy black crap and then have nice shiny brass regularly. With no muss or fuss. Will also be checking how much lemi is needed with the litmus paper. Using litmus paper is a genius idea. Thank you.

Bronzing is the word you were looking fir

Does the Hornady solution specifically formulated for brass not work?

Sure, its $30 a jug, but all these random cleaning products you are accumulating probably arent much cheaper.

I did the same shit for several months trying different cocktails in my cleaner. At the end of the day, just paying the extra for the gun company version of the solution is easiest. (And of course I agree, there are many circumstances where the 'gun company brand' of a thing is simply a rip off, but this isn't one of those circumstances.)

Very helpful indeed. Thank you. I think maybe a strong acid and a strong alkaline May dissolve the zinc but I am not sure on that. But that is why I have not tried the vinegar bit. Vinegar is a pretty strong acid when it is not diluted

Dawn dish soap and a little citric acid. Comes out looking brand new. No pins needed.

water , dawn dish soap and lemon juice, comes out like brand new , my neighbor has a dry tumbler, he was amazed.

Is the Zep degreaser safe on rubber? My Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler has rubber lining, so was wondering if it is.

Thanks for the video, I'm thinking already. If you want to save a few bucks just buy a pound of citric acid for a couple bucks instead of Lemi-Shine. Same stuff.

Another thing you could try is distilled water when you tumble.

Was that a drahthaar or wire hair I seen in the background? Lol

So my question is I use a Hornady wet Tumblr I use lemme shine and dawn after I clean my cases they come out beautiful nice and bright but after a couple days they start turning a darker color why is that? And do you think I could just re-run them but what solution would you recommend maybe I put too much lemon shine in it

I wet tumble ( Dawn/Lemi Shine ) Brass comes out great, but later turns gold :-((

i use vinegar and a grease cleaner called super clean. it doesn't seem to hurt the case. then again i don't have to run my brass very long.

Enjoyed the video. I do this sometimes also.

It appears that you're not utilizing a surfactant (e.g. soap) which would help remove and suspend the oils in solution thus limiting and/or remove having to use a harsh industrial degreaser....

Shot of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of dish soap...just covered brass with water....shake about once an hour when I'm awake. 24 hours later I drain and rinse real well.....looks good....better then a walnut shell tumble.

Why not just use brass cleaner walmart sells it

For over a year I’ve used the Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbler. In addition to using stainless steel media, Lemon Shine, and dishwashing liquid I use the following ingredients: distilled water (not tap water), a half cup of white vinegar. My brass is not shiny; it stays shiny for weeks and even months! Try it. You’ll like it! Cooper, Springfield, MO

The Lemon Shine (citrus) cleans the GSR (gun shot residue) What you are experiencing is less is better more is not better. Soap is a surfactant and keeps the dirt and oil suspended in solution.

I used about two teaspoons of the ZEP Orange and about a teaspoon of Lemon Shine, with the pins. Brass comes out brand new. Water is the most filthy I have ever seen.

I used to much lemishine they had a. Red tint first time around. Thanks

Upvoted! The wife went by and picked-up the Purple Industrial Grade Zep for me (do not got the citrus orange - make sure it is the purple) and WOW were my pins dirty! What a difference it makes! I'll add one more thing in addition to keeping your pins clean (which you'll have to do every three or four batches) and that is I now prewash and rinse my cases, hot and fast so that the alkaline doesn't turn the brass rose colored, prior to running the brass in my tumbler. Rubber gloves in a big stainless steel mixing bowl in a very light solution of a capful of Zep and a gallon of very hot tap water ... it gets rid of a lot of crud prior to the tumbling. I rinse well then I go back to Dawn and clean pins and Lemishine and voila ... every batch is a like new batch. This video was da bomb! Most excellent! Muchos gracias! (EDITED: capful of Zep NOT cupful ... I hate autocorrect.)

I see you're using the HF rock tumbler. Do you have a video describing how you built the tumbling tube? I've been using the two tumblers that came with the HF tumbler and they're a PIA.

Thanks.

The solution needs Phosphoric acid to get them super clean. Simple green has some if you don't want to spend much money (in conjunction with dawn) or just spend the money and get brass juice if you don't want to mess with ratios. I stopped using lemi shine or citric, I don't have hard water.

Best I found in my platinum fart, 9mm case of lemmon shine and a teaspoon of dawn (takes grease out of your way) for 2 to 3 hours

Great video, great explanation, one of the best out there

Wow. Great video. Very informative. Thank you for sharing.

Have you ever had problems with the traction pads on the rollers wearing off? It seems mine are wearing very fast!

In my HF double rock tumbler 1/4 tsp of lemi shine, 1 TBS of dish washing liquid and four hours of tumbling for 4 hours in most scenarios makes my brass looks mirror finish. Sometimes I let my tumbler go overnight and they still look like a mirror finish. To little lemi shine will give your brass a military green look. To much will turn them orange/pink in color. Leave them on to long and they get matte green regardless if my mix is correct or not. It kinda looks neat...Like lacquered steel cases. Been experimenting when I bought my HF tumbler since 2014’.

You put about one 9mm cartridge of lemon shine to finish cleaning. How much of the Zep purple do you use?

Dawn dish washing liquid and a table spoon of Lemon juice. use tumbler and stainless steel pins. Bright shine and clean pockets. inside and out. No problem

So after watching this video a couple of times and getting down what you did I went out to Lowes and bought the ZEP product you suggested as a cleaner for the media and the brass. WORKED INCREDIBLY WELL! I left the de-greaser and the media/brass and tumbled for 10 minutes as you suggested. Drained and rinsed and then did the dawn and lemishine for 2 hours. BOOM! The brass was incredibly clean! The brass was super dull originally from the different chemical reactions you were outlining and just couldn't get it clean and shiney. Thus why I found your video. This worked perfect.. And I will do this every time. Thankyou!

You're Absolutely correct, when I started wet tumbling I thought more lemon shine equal better results. I didn't realize what was happening. To make my cases rose color. Until I backed off on the lem shine. Now 2 9mm case fulls for a very large batches at most. But I'm gonna get that test paper just to be sure. 👍👌

well to each their own, I'll stick with walnut, corn cobb and a some dillon blue or nu finish

I was at my wits end and then I saw this video. I think my results look better than yours using your recipe.

Brass Juice... done! Nuff said!

Why not use citric acid? It's miles cheaper than that cleaner and is the only active ingredient in it. Ph 7 is neutral.