Wet Tumbler

[kmitchl]

I had heard for the last several years people discuss the benefits of wet tumbling reloading brass with stainless steel media. I've always used vibratory tumblers. I decided to see what I could put together on the cheap to give it a try to see if it was all as advertised. Most of the information I used in the design came from a thread on the AR-15.com forum by a poster named Biggdawg. Mine differs from his in a few respects. I drive both of the rollers. Biggdawg mounts his motor to the side of the rollers and mine is mounted below. Gives me a smaller footprint. I used a ACCU-Link belt instead of a conventional V-belt. Runs a little smoother. My bearings are made from a Delrin block instead of pillow block bearings. I used a 1/3 hp 1750 rpm motor that I salvaged from an old washing machine years ago. The motor pulley is 2" and the roller pulleys are 4". Rollers are 1/2" rod with 1/2" heater hose slipped over. Tumbler barrel is 6" SDR 35 PVC pipe. PVC pipe and fittings are available from Lowes. In the last photo is some 223 range brass I polished. This was in the done in about two hours and the SS pins clean the inside of the cases and the primer pockets. Would have taken 12 hours plus in the vibratory tumbler with walnut media.

[elkaholic9292]

Nicely done!

[Bjankowski]

Awesome; I've seen some made like that to stone wash knives. I'd love to have one.

[PondPopper]

Very cool.

[DesertDug]

Industrial size. Very cool.

[kmitchl]

Awesome; I've seen some made like that to stone wash knives. I'd love to have one.

It's a fairly simple project. My Dad and I built a rock tumbler when I was growing up on a piece of plywood. One place you can't scrimp in on the tumbler barrel. My first barrel was a one gallon wide mouth poly container. It lasted about two runs and began to leak. The next version was a one gallon poly paint can. It worked OK but the media wore the coating off the metal lid and it began to rust. The 6" PVC pipe barrel will set you back about $35 using the fittings from Lowes. You get 2' of pipe for that price so you can make a barrel to fit your needs. HD does not carry anything in 6".