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Tumbling cases indoors


Doc Flimshaw Sass# 73310

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Doc:

 

We do all ours indoors, have for years. In an apartment building I'd be a little leery of the potential noise, more than anything else, especially if your're taking the dusty bit outside. Our tumblers are in the basement, in an isolated store room with a well-fitted door,and they still can be heard, more like a background noise/vibration than in-your-face, but still, everyone knows when they are on...of course, we often run two at a time...!

 

CS

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I moved my tumbler to the garage after I read something about lead contamination from the dust a few years ago.

 

I would really like to see a definitive scientific study done to quantify the actual amount of lead in the dust from a tumbler...that is, real science done by reputable people with no agenda to push...if any of those people exist.

 

CS

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I have a piece of clear plastic sheet duct-taped inside the lid of mine to keep the dust down. If not it makes a big black or grey area on the floor of my shop.

Mine is pretty noisy and you can hear it 50 feet away from the shop building.

 

I can't see having it going in the house, much less an apartment. Could you run a power cord to the trunk of your car?

 

After I de-prime & re-size and / or bell the mouths, I toss my brass into a plastic paint can full of Coca-Cola and let it sit for a few hours. (it eats the carbon out of the primer pockets) Then I rinse them off in boiling water and let them sit on the wood stove in a stainless strainer basket until they are dry.

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The lid seals really well and I wasn't planning on opening it until it was outside. As for noise I'm over the laundry room and no one is beneath me, you can't hardly hear it from outside

My question is do you think the tight fitting lid is keeping the dust in the tumbler.

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The lid seals really well and I wasn't planning on opening it until it was outside. As for noise I'm over the laundry room and no one is beneath me, you can't hardly hear it from outside

My question is do you think the tight fitting lid is keeping the dust in the tumbler.

 

How about a test run with the tumbler sitting on a white poster board? You'll know soon enough.

 

CS

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If the tumbler is sitting on carpet in the apartment, that will absorb some of the sound. You could "engineer" other sound absorbing devices: a box to set the tumbler in that has insulation on all sides to absorb the sound.

 

Barry Sloe

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I use crushed walnut shells and keep my tumbler in the laundry room. As opposed to corncob media it's longer lived and quieter. I have polled the neighbors and no complaints above or below. Two hours seems to work just fine for sooty .45LC cases to tarnished ACP range pickups. Minus the Lemishine it's doing a good job.

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I moved my tumbler to the garage after I read something about lead contamination from the dust a few years ago.

Unless you're tumbling loaded rounds, you'll probably absorb more lead thru handling bullets during reloading than from tumbling media. I get my lead levels tested in my annual physical; no increase in 38 years of reloading, & 25 years of casting. Don't eat or drink while reloading, and wash your hands before you do, or touch your mouth, etc, until you've washed. Don;t stand over your melt and keep that activity in a well ventilated area.

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The lid seals really well and I wasn't planning on opening it until it was outside. As for noise I'm over the laundry room and no one is beneath me, you can't hardly hear it from outside

My question is do you think the tight fitting lid is keeping the dust in the tumbler.

 

No, in fact, folks who have had high lead levels on this very forum, have reported that their best results in cutting their lead levels back down to normal has been to make sure they don't get exposed to the dust from their tumbler.

 

Dryer sheets are a good start, but keeping the tumbler dust completely out of your house is the BEST solution. Got an outdoor balcony that you can run it on? Then sweep up after using it.

 

If you really had to do it, I would think about running the tumbler in a foot locker or similar closed compartment, then taking it outside to open and empty the shells and media out.

 

Primer compound is mainly lead styphnate. Some of that lead stays in the case and spent primer when the round is fired. Lead certainly ends up in the tumbling media. And, quoting a reference to lead styphnate, "As with other lead-containing compounds, lead styphnate is inherently toxic to humans if ingested i.e. can cause heavy metal poisoning."

 

This source is MUCH more likely to be inhaled or ingested than solid metallic lead from handling bullets.

 

Good luck, GJ

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I wouldn't even consider tumbling indoors and exposing myself and my family needlessly. I tumble outside and wear gloves and a mask when emptying the tumbler. Call me a wimp.

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Primer compound is mainly lead styphnate. Some of that lead stays in the case and spent primer when the round is fired. Lead certainly ends up in the tumbling media. And, quoting a reference to lead styphnate, "As with other lead-containing compounds, lead styphnate is inherently toxic to humans if ingested i.e. can cause heavy metal poisoning."

 

This source is MUCH more likely to be inhaled or ingested than solid metallic lead from handling bullets.

 

Good luck, GJ

Hmm...I'm learning something today. I run my tumbler indoors but empty it outdoors. Based on some of the posts here it would appear that it would be safer to deprime the brass prior to tumbling them to further reduce the lead content in the tumbler "dust."

 

I collect my 38SP shot brass in a large coffee container and when I have enough to process (about 1,000) I first "wash" the brass in a mixture of Dawn, lemon juice, white vinegar and water. This removes the dust and helps shine them up a little bit. I let them dry for a couple of days and then tumble them...they are not deprimed. Seems to me I should be de-priming them first to reduce the lead content in the tumbler.

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I collect my 38SP shot brass in a large coffee container and when I have enough to process (about 1,000) I first "wash" the brass in a mixture of Dawn, lemon juice, white vinegar and water. This removes the dust and helps shine them up a little bit. I let them dry for a couple of days and then tumble them...they are not deprimed. Seems to me I should be de-priming them first to reduce the lead content in the tumbler.

You could, but I would guess it won't make much difference.

 

Consider what happens when a primer fires - most of it's lead compounds spray out of the primer into the cartridge case, igniting the powder. Although there is a bunch of crud in the spent primer, most of that is probably the "friction" material (silica, fine glass, etc) added to the lead styphnate to help increase the probability the primer will fire. The lead compound probably virtually all explodes. Where then does the lead from the burnt primer compound go? Most goes down the barrel with the other combustion gases. (Experiment - fire just a primer in you gun, shotgun being a good test. Look at your barrel afterwards - coated with a black somewhat gummy residue. If you ran a lead test strip on that, I bet you would find beaucoup lead) Some lead can stick to the inside of the case, then be cleaned out in your tumbler (and into the media). So, popping primers would make a very little difference in your exposure. Just my guess.

 

Some folks do pop out primers before tumbling, mainly because they are trying to get cleaner pockets.

 

Makes more sense to discard your tumbler media every 10 batches or so. And use dryer sheets.

 

Good luck, GJ

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Be carefull covering a tumbler in plastic...you want air to be able to circulate and cool the motor. I bet that bugger would get pretty hot and burn out, or up, if totally enclosed.

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Some states have fire codes that do not permit the storage of gunpowder (of any quantity) in multi tenant buildings. If you are reloading in an apartment, you may want to check local fire codes before you have to explain any noise coming from a case tumbler.

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Regardless of the laws, (as if hair spray, finger nail polish, rubbing alcohol, cooking oil, and 100 other things is the apartment were not even more flammable than powder) I would tell the neighbors it is a rock tumbler.

No use making a thief curious...

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Some states have fire codes that do not permit the storage of gunpowder (of any quantity) in multi tenant buildings. If you are reloading in an apartment, you may want to check local fire codes before you have to explain any noise coming from a case tumbler.

It's California....what kind of laws could there be? :rolleyes:

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Some states have fire codes that do not permit the storage of gunpowder (of any quantity) in multi tenant buildings. If you are reloading in an apartment, you may want to check local fire codes before you have to explain any noise coming from a case tumbler.

 

Check your lease as well, you may find terms/conditions that prohibit such activity or components.

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WONDERFUL!!!! Finally found a use for Coca Cola :rolleyes:

 

Coffinmaker

 

A use for Coca Cola? I use it for coloring my Jack Daniels.

BTW:

I have my 2 large tumblers running in the garage. I put plastic blue drums [cut in half] over them to keep the dust that leaks out somewhat contained in a small area.

 

Mustang Gregg

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