Thumler's vibratory case cleaner - worth the money??

[SidecarFlip]

One thing about an ultrasonic cleaner (with a sizeable tub and proper solvent), it makes a dandy action cleaning tool, especially for the hard to disassemble and clean Ruger pistol actions.

I have one and with STS and the FA tunbler, thats all I use it for now. If any of you out there in firearm land own a Ruger semi-auto, it will appreciate an ultrasonic cleaning.

I know, I shoot 50 foot indoor small bore handgun in the winter and and the ultrasonic cleaner has been a godsend. I use mineral spirits to clean my actions followed by a spritz of Rem Oil.

No more 'Q' tips and gun scrubber with a liberal amount of cussing.....lol

 

[SouthTXBowhunter]

For 160 bucks you can get an FA wet media (stainless steel pin) rotary tumbler that will do a better, quicker and less messy job than ANY dry media tumbler can ever hope to do and unlike dry media, you'll never clean a primer pocket again...ever.

No Brainer. In fact, if I hadn't given my dry vibrator tumbler away, I'd give it away on here... IMO, completely useless compared to wet media.

Is this the tumbler that you use?

Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Rotary Case Tumbler 110 Volt

 

[joe0121]

Well if you insist on using dry media like it's the dark ages. Spend that money and go to HF and buy 3 of their tumblers.

I have the Frankfert, The Hornady and the HF model. I only keep them around for HBN coating.

It is splitting hairs the difference in them.

The Thumler's is admittedly quieter. and I am sure much better but like the old saying fishing lures dont need to catch fish they just need to catch fishermen.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Is this the tumbler that you use?

Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Rotary Case Tumbler 110 Volt

Sure is. Graff's and Cabelas also have them and Cabelas has them on sale from time to time for $160 bucks, thats tumbler, pins (5 pounds) and a sample of cleaning solution. You also need the magnetic media picker upper ($15.00) and a media seperator (rotary) I use the one I had for the fry media (Cabelas 25 bucks on sale) optional but makes seperating the pins from the cases much easier....

I like the FA rotary because it holds about 1/3 again as much as the Thumlers Model B plus it has a built in times and no belts.... gear drive. Once you go rotary wet media, you'll never go back to dry.

I think the two things I don't like about cob / walnut sheel fry tumbling is the dust and the extra cleaning of the primer pockets, you don't get that with wet/stainless.

The wet method don't 'shine' the cases as pretty outside (no biggie with me) but it cleans the INSIDE as well as the outside and the pockets / flash holes. I notice a big difference when inserting pills in fired and resized cases. The pills insert (seat) just like a new case, no powder residue to drag on and no case neck lube needed.

My brass don't need to be mirror shiny anyway. The wet method imparts more of a matte finish, almost like bead blasted....

 

[SouthTXBowhunter]

Sure is. Graff's and Cabelas also have them and Cabelas has them on sale from time to time for $160 bucks, thats tumbler, pins (5 pounds) and a sample of cleaning solution. You also need the magnetic media picker upper ($15.00) and a media seperator (rotary) I use the one I had for the fry media (Cabelas 25 bucks on sale) optional but makes seperating the pins from the cases much easier....

I like the FA rotary because it holds about 1/3 again as much as the Thumlers Model B plus it has a built in times and no belts.... gear drive. Once you go rotary wet media, you'll never go back to dry.

I think the two things I don't like about cob / walnut sheel fry tumbling is the dust and the extra cleaning of the primer pockets, you don't get that with wet/stainless.

The wet method don't 'shine' the cases as pretty outside (no biggie with me) but it cleans the INSIDE as well as the outside and the pockets / flash holes. I notice a big difference when inserting pills in fired and resized cases. The pills insert (seat) just like a new case, no powder residue to drag on and no case neck lube needed.

My brass don't need to be mirror shiny anyway. The wet method imparts more of a matte finish, almost like bead blasted....

Thank you, sir! I could care less about to appearance of most things - it's the performance that counts. I found it for $152 on Amazon with free shipping!

 

[SidecarFlip]

Thank you, sir! I could care less about to appearance of most things - it's the performance that counts. I found it for $152 on Amazon with free shipping!

You won't be disapointed.....

Sure made reloading easier for me, eliminated the primer pocket / flash hole cleaning and bullet insertion issues. I load with bushing dies so neck tension is critical for me. I use a torque wrench to gage insertion pressure and seating depth consistency when loading.

I noticed right away that with clean necks, prevailing torque was way more consistent across any number of cases being seated.

 

[J E Custom]

I know this will cloud the issue, But I have tried and own all three types of brass cleaners
and use each one for different uses/needs.

If I could only have one type of case cleaner, It would be the Stainless Steel Pin tumbler. It cleans the inside and outside of the case very well and leaves no residue in the cases. It does seem to be more labor intensive because of the rinsing and separating of the pins plus the drying steps required.

Next would be the Sonic cleaner because of its speed and convenience. It does a great job of cleaning but requires special chemicals. It does not shine the cases like the other systems, but they are very clean and it does a good job inside and out also the primer pockets are clean.

The old vibratory case cleaners don't clean the inside of the cases or the primer pockets at all and sometimes leave an abrasive dust stuck to the inside of the case and have to be thoroughly cleaned to prevent it from being pushed down the barrel when fired. They do leave a nice shine but they require long run times.

So If I am doing a small batch of brass I will use the Sonic cleaner. When doing large batches of cases, I use the pin tumbler. cases that have been vibratory cleaned normally have to be Sonic cleaned to remove all of the abrasives in the case so I don't use it much anymore.

To recap = My number one type of case cleaner would be the pin tumbler. Next would be the Sonic cleaner (I also use it for parts cleaning). Last would be the media vibratory system.

This is just my opinion based on using all three types.

J E CUSTOM

 

[SidecarFlip]

One thing not mentioned about sonic cleaners is your wife can use it for cleaning her jewelry too......

Sort of tit-for-tat. I 'borrow' my wife's oven for drying cases out of the wet media, she 'borrows' my sonic cleaner for her jewelry.... give and take in a marriage....

 

[7magcreedmoor]

The thing that convinced me on wet cleaning was a problem I noticed early on in reloading: When running max loads, after 4 or 5 reloads in a batch of cases I would start to get erratic shots. A charge weight that had been awesome downrange would get sloppy, and I would see pressure signs were there had been no issue in fresh brass. Suspecting that the accumulating fine residue inside the case might be the culprit, I coughed up the dollars for the SS media and the rotary tumbler. After one washing, the problems disappeared and have not been seen since. Since we are after consistency in all our little details in pursuit of accuracy, having the inside of the case spotlessly clean cannot hurt. Drying the cases might be a pain in some eyes, but I am happy to make the extra effort in exchange for the results I've seen.

 

[Engineering101]

I've used stainless media cleaning for years. Early on I figured out how to make drying the cases a snap. I just throw them in my vibratory tumbler. The key is to use Hornady One Shot media which leaves no visible residue and it dries the cases inside and out and adds a wee bit of shine you don't get from the stainless media cleaner. So..... don't get rid of the vib cleaner when you go stainless.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I've used stainless media cleaning for years. Early on I figured out how to make drying the cases a snap. I just throw them in my vibratory tumbler. The key is to use Hornady One Shot media which leaves no visible residue and it dries the cases inside and out and adds a wee bit of shine you don't get from the stainless media cleaner. So..... don't get rid of the vib cleaner when you go stainless.

How do you address the media lodging in the primer pockets and flash holes.... one of the primary reasons I went to wet media???


We completely hijacked this thread btw. It started out about vibrating tumblers and dry media....lol sorry.

 

[Engineering101]

SidecarFlip

If you run the vib cleaner with the Hornady One Shot media for an hour (starting with wet cases that came out of the stainless media cleaner and were just dumped onto a towel and then dumped into the vib cleanr) there is a occasional media particle in the flash hole (about 1 out of 30 cases) and I just poke it out with a paper clip. If you run the vib cleaner for only 5 minutes there is all kinds of media stuck in the primer pockets and inside.

 

[338edge]

I've used stainless media cleaning for years. Early on I figured out how to make drying the cases a snap. I just throw them in my vibratory tumbler. The key is to use Hornady One Shot media which leaves no visible residue and it dries the cases inside and out and adds a wee bit of shine you don't get from the stainless media cleaner. So..... don't get rid of the vib cleaner when you go stainless.

Does the Hornady one shot media cause the cases to be dusty?

 

[Engineering101]

338edge

No dust. I can't see that Hornady One Shot media does much of anything but dry the cases. You never need to replace it either since you only put clean (wet) cases in the media.