New Cleaning Solution - Sparkling Brass in 15 Minutes!

[John Boy]

I put these brass in the rotary tumblers with ceramic media - Strat-O-Sheen and Dawn Ultra ...

 

45 ACP Range Pickups

 

9mm Range Pickups

 

Mix of 45 ACP from the one stage after CAS yesterday - mix of Sandy Storm & yesterdays CAS match

 

Then I ran the tumblers for about 15 minutes and opened one, then all to see what the brass looked like ... What You See Is What the New Additive Accomplished! I was totally amazed!

 

Now, I wanted to determine if the 15 minutes was accurate and I didn't have a memory lapse. So pulled a container 380 Range Pickups that I previously had used Dawn as the addative

 

Picture of 380's before running the test with the new addative

 

380 brass after

Set my phone stop watch to 15 minutes and started the rotary with the 380 brass. When the stop watch said 15 minutes was up, emptied the rotary, washed and dried the 380 brass ...

 

Anyone want my gallon of Dawn Ultra because my new additive is Scrubbing Bubbles!

[Hurricane Deck 100366]

Those look pretty darned good! I'd choot 'em!

[Sedalia Dave]

What happens if you leave them in the solution for a longer period of time? Say a couple of hours or you forget to take them out for a day or two?

[Hurricane Deck 100366]

I was wondering the same thing. Does the scrubbing bubbles have any ammonia in it? Would there be anything in there that might 'eat at' the brass?

[Rancho Roy]

Pretty amazing. I wonder how it would work with stainless steel pins?

 

What "Scrubbing Bubbles" did you use? I thought it only came in a spray can.

[Rancho Roy]

I had no idea there were so many versions of Scubbing Bubbles!

 

http://www.scrubbingbubbles.com/Products/Pages/default.aspx

[Rancho Roy]

Ingredients:

 

Water: Provides a liquid base for a product.

ButoxypropanolCleaning Agent: Breaks down dirt and deposits.

Alkyl PolyglycosideCleaning Agent: Breaks down dirt and deposits.

Polyethylene OxideCleaning Agent: Breaks down dirt and deposits.

Ethoxylated AlcoholCleaning Agent: Breaks down dirt and deposits.

Tetrasodium EDTAChelator: Removes soap scum and soils.

Sodium HydroxidepH Adjuster: Adjusts the pH of a product to improve stability.

FragranceFragrance: Adds scent to a product.

Liquitint® Blue HP DyeDye: Provides a pleasing color.

Liquitint® Red ST DyeDye: Provides a pleasing color.

[Billy Bristol]

Did those little scrubing guys survive the 15 minutes ? :D :D

[Brother King, SASS #69031]

WOW...those are pretty..which tumbler/ media are you using?

[Rancho Roy]

POPPY

 

MINDY

 

SCRUBBY

 

SUDSY

 

I understand they are all Pro Gun and prefer Black Powder over that Smokeless fad.

[Noz]

The "heavy duty" variations have ammonia as their main ingredient.

[Michigan Slim]

I see 'fragrance' listed. Fresh smellin' brass is a definite plus. I wonder how 'Summers Eve' would work........

[John Boy]

Wire Members ... I took all the pictures with my cell phone and no flash - natural light. With a flash, the true sparkle of the brass would have been seen. Over the years, I have tried many additives in addition to the burnishing solution and this is the best any of my brass has ever looked!

 

Brother King, today I used 2 Harbor Freight rotary barrels and one six lb barrel on the Lortone. The media is Kramer 3mm K-Polish triangle ceramic and the burnishing solution is Strat-O-Sheen ... and the squirt of 'Bubbles'

 

Dave, the only negative of ANY liquid rotary cleaning letting it run for a day or two is ... if the brass was reloaded with black powder and the the potassium sulfide remaining on the brass foul after washing ... will turn brass a light shade of gray. It's an easy fix - emptily the rotary and wash the media - load with fresh burnishing solution and in 2 - 3 hrs running they will turn bright brass again.

 

Now, if you are having early signs of dementia letting your rotary run for a day or two - set the timer on your cell phone to vibrate and beep in 15 minutes like I did.

[John Boy]

Roy, your post is a

 

[Sedalia Dave]

Wire Members ... I took all the pictures with my cell phone and no flash - natural light. With a flash, the true sparkle of the brass would have been seen. Over the years, I have tried many additives in addition to the burnishing solution and this is the best any of my brass has ever looked!

 

Brother King, today I used 2 Harbor Freight rotary barrels and one six lb barrel on the Lortone. The media is Kramer 3mm K-Polish triangle ceramic and the burnishing solution is Strat-O-Sheen ... and the squirt of 'Bubbles'

 

Dave, the only negative of ANY liquid rotary cleaning letting it run for a day or two is ... if the brass was reloaded with black powder and the the potassium sulfide remaining on the brass foul after washing ... will turn brass a light shade of gray. It's an easy fix - emptily the rotary and wash the media - load with fresh burnishing solution and in 2 - 3 hrs running they will turn bright brass again.

 

Now, if you are having early signs of dementia letting your rotary run for a day or two - set the timer on your cell phone to vibrate and beep in 15 minutes like I did.

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking of the scenario of setting the timer and turn it on and then forget to unload it till the next day.

 

Right now I am using a Dillon Vibratory tumbler. Cannot forget it is on because I can hear it when I am in the master bath getting ready for bed.

 

Discovered that if I take my wana-be BP cases (I occasionally shoot APP) and put them in water/dish soap solution when I leave the range and then when I get home rinse them really well, put them in my media seperator cage and get rid of as much water as I can and then I throw the still damp cases in the tumbler with fine walnut media I bough from harbor freight. Leave on for a couple of hours and the cases come out as clean if not cleaner than the smokeless cases even on the inside.

 

Someday I'll get a wet tumbler and I'll use your solution. Thanks for sharing

[captqueeze]

John Boy; What exactly is the "formula" , i.e. how much Strat-o-Sheen and how much Scrubbing Bubbles?

[John Henry Quick]

I have to wonder if it's irritating to the respiratory tract, eyes and skin, is it damaging to the enzymes that break down septic water in a septic tank?

 

http://www.riogrande.com/Content/Strat-O-Sheen-Powder-Burnishing-Compound-MSDS-pdf?Pos=5

[Sedalia Dave]

I have to wonder if it's irritating to the respiratory tract, eyes and skin, is it damaging to the enzymes that break down septic water in a septic tank?

 

http://www.riogrande.com/Content/Strat-O-Sheen-Powder-Burnishing-Compound-MSDS-pdf?Pos=5

Looking at the MSDS it looks like the irritation is because of the boric acid. Unless you were dumping vast quantities into a septic system I doubt that it would hurt the bacteria living there.

 

All that anti-bacterial crap in dish and hand soap is what's killing septic systems. Very few people use it properly by leaving on their hands long enough but once down the drain it does a bang up job of killing the bacteria in septic systems.

[John Boy]

What exactly is the "formula" , i.e. how much Strat-o-Sheen and how much Scrubbing Bubbles?

Capt - the formula is:

Strat-O-Sheen - is a concentrated powder. Comes in a 5 or25 lb box. 3 oz to 1 gal water is the formula

The proper way to fill a tumbler for proper cleaning is: 1/8 to 1/4" media - burnishing solution to cover the brass and the tumbler should be no more than 2/3 full of brass for proper agitation

http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Strat-O-Sheen-Powder-Burnishing-Compounds/33901725

 

Scrubbing Bubbles: I have a 34oz bottle. Yesterday I just gave a squirt into the tumbler. Today I got scientific - put in 1 oz of Bubbles and the brass looked like new

 

Again DAVE - set the the cell phone to 15 minutes and I cleaned 2 cans of 45's today that were dull colored from being under salt water from Super Storm Sandy - results, they looked like new and I am not exaggerating

 

 

 

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

JB- Jet-Dry Finish, that you use in your dishwasher does the same also--

OLG

[Krazy Kajun]

Capt - the formula is:

Strat-O-Sheen - is a concentrated powder. Comes in a 5 or25 lb box. 3 oz to 1 gal water is the formula

The proper way to fill a tumbler for proper cleaning is: 1/8 to 1/4" media - burnishing solution to cover the brass and the tumbler should be no more than 2/3 full of brass for proper agitation

http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Strat-O-Sheen-Powder-Burnishing-Compounds/33901725

 

Scrubbing Bubbles: I have a 34oz bottle. Yesterday I just gave a squirt into the tumbler. Today I got scientific - put in 1 oz of Bubbles and the brass looked like new

 

Again DAVE - set the the cell phone to 15 minutes and I cleaned 2 cans of 45's today that were dull colored from being under salt water from Super Storm Sandy - results, they looked like new and I am not exaggerating

 

 

 

So...I've been reading this with great interest....running brass for 15 minutes and getting it that clean is pretty good. So John Boy I've got this Harbor Freight dual drum tumbler and also have a cheap lamp timer that I plug the tumbler into so I don't run it for a week at a time.

 

I looked at the weblinks for the other items to see about pricing....what will it cost to convert to this cleaning method instead of the walnut tumbler media that I am using now.

 

1. Krammer 3mm K polish triangle media....here for $79.95 plus shipping for a 3 lb box

2. Strato sheen...here for @26.25 plus shipping for a 5 lb box

3. Scrubbing Bubbles at most any department store for a few bucks.

 

So I'd be out about $125 to get set up with this type of brass cleaning setup since I already have the drum tumbler. Couple of questions..

1. Does the ceramic media "wear out"....how long can you use it before having to replace it?

2. How do you clean the ceramic media after using it?

3. How many pounds of ceramic media does it take to fill up the drum....ie would a 3 lb box last for a while?

 

The media is the most expensive part of the equation and I'm trying to get a feel for how much of this would need to be bought to set up this type of tumbling.

 

Also, thanks for sharing this with the Wire.

 

Kajun

[Tombstone Tex]

I gotta be honest, those 380s in the before pictures didn't look all that bad to begin with, I had to really focus to see the difference haha.

[John Boy]

1. Does the ceramic media "wear out"....how long can you use it before having to replace it?

2. How do you clean the ceramic media after using it?

3. How many pounds of ceramic media does it take to fill up the drum....ie would a 3 lb box last for a while?

 

Kajun - here we go:

1. Wear out? No. I've been using the same K-Polish 2mm Kramer since about 2005 and just bought 3 lbs of the 3mm's. Believe never have to replace it

2. Rinse with hot water & decant the the water until it is clear. Foul does not stick to the ceramic media

3. Depends on the size of your tumbler drum. One should only put 1/8 to 1/4" of media in the drum. My last Kramer order was 3 lbs of K-Polish. I run 2 Harbor Freight 3 pounders and the Lotrone QT66 with 2 six lb drums ... have enough 2mm & 3mm to last me several lifetimes. Using only one 6 lb drum with 1/4" of K-Polish 3mm triangle ceramic media, it weighs 11.6oz

Three pounds of the K-Polish should be sufficient for two 6lb drums and two 3 lb ones or one 12lb and the Harbor Freight dual 3lb drums

This type of ceramic polishing media is made of high alumina and does not contain abrasives ...Produces a high luster finish and is suitable for use in all types of finishing equipment.

http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/PC.html

[Cheyenne Culpepper 32827]

have you tried firing any of the cases as loaded cartridges yet,,,,?

 

I once thot I had found the ideal cleaner,,,,,wrong!! at least 10% of the loaded cartridges were squibs,,,,, whatever was in the cleaner degenerated the powder. When I broke them down the bad ones were fine like dust, the good was still flakes...

[Krazy Kajun]

Capt - the formula is:

Strat-O-Sheen - is a concentrated powder. Comes in a 5 or25 lb box. 3 oz to 1 gal water is the formula

The proper way to fill a tumbler for proper cleaning is: 1/8 to 1/4" media - burnishing solution to cover the brass and the tumbler should be no more than 2/3 full of brass for proper agitation

 

Thanks for the info John Boy....one more question. In the post above you talked about the proper way to fill a tumbler for proper cleaning. I don't know for sure that I've got it correct so I'm going to try and interpret what I understand and please let me know if this is correct.

1. Pour brass in tumbler drum...no more than 2/3rds full.

2. On top of the brass pour in the media 1/8" - 1/4" high. (That's a very LITTLE bit of media...wanted to make sure this was correct.)

3. Pour in the mixture of water and strato-sheen to a level high enough to cover the brass and media.

4. Spray in a little of the scrubbing bubbles solution.

5. Put on the cover, tighten everything up and tumble for about 15 minutes.

 

Is this correct?

[MBFields]

Wire Members ... I took all the pictures with my cell phone and no flash - natural light. With a flash, the true sparkle of the brass would have been seen. Over the years, I have tried many additives in addition to the burnishing solution and this is the best any of my brass has ever looked!

 

Brother King, today I used 2 Harbor Freight rotary barrels and one six lb barrel on the Lortone. The media is Kramer 3mm K-Polish triangle ceramic and the burnishing solution is Strat-O-Sheen ... and the squirt of 'Bubbles'

 

Dave, the only negative of ANY liquid rotary cleaning letting it run for a day or two is ... if the brass was reloaded with black powder and the the potassium sulfide remaining on the brass foul after washing ... will turn brass a light shade of gray. It's an easy fix - emptily the rotary and wash the media - load with fresh burnishing solution and in 2 - 3 hrs running they will turn bright brass again.

 

Now, if you are having early signs of dementia letting your rotary run for a day or two - set the timer on your cell phone to vibrate and beep in 15 minutes like I did.

No muss no fuss. So if I set my phone to vibrate for 15 min I can sit back and when done all my brass will be shiny. Cool.

[John Boy]

Kajun, here's what I do:

* Pour 1/8 to 1/4" of the K-Polish ceramic media into the tumbler ... and leave it in the tumbler

* Put your brass in so the tumbler is 2/3rds filled

* Pour the burnishing solution in the tumbler so the liquid covers the brass

* Add about 1 oz of Bubbles

Run tumbler for the 15 minutes ... don't forget to use your cell phone stop watch!

* Then, pour the complete contents of the tumbler onto a sieve (with holes) with a bucket underneath it so the media & solution can drain into the bucket

* Shake the sieve so the media goes into the bucket

* Drain off the excess solution in the bucket with enough solution left that I pour back into the barrel with it not over flowing. The media will stay in the bottom of the bucket

* Then I decant all the solution in the barrel and fill with hot tap water

* Pour the barrel water onto the sieve while shaking it to remove all the media from the sieve. Do this multiple times using hot tap water. The purpose for the multiple times is to rinse the brass in the sieve with hot water abd drain all the media into the bucket ... Cheyenne, there will be no burnishing solution in the inside of the cases for your concern about squibs because the inside & outside of the cases are rinsed with hot water

* The bucket is going to fill up, so now pour off enough bucket water so that the media and the water being poured into the barrel of the tumbler does not overflow. You now have an empty bucket. Put it somewhere for your next brass cleaning

* Your results now are:

.... a sieve with brass cleaned with hot water

.... a tumbler barrel with hot water and the media back in the drum

* Decant the water in the barrel only insuring that it is clear. This identifies that the media in the barrel is clean

* Pour all the water out of the barrel and leave the media in it until your next brass cleaning I leave the top of the barrel off so the wet media dries out

This whole process takes about 5 - 10 minutes if you don't wander off doing something else or go to lunch!

 

* Now, take the sieve with the rinsed clean brass and spread out on a cotton towel and get out your hairdryer

* Then I dry my brass in under 2 minutes using this procedure ...

http://www.theopenrange.net/forum/index.php?topic=7653.msg56565

* Using a pick, pick out the few pieces of brass that have media stuck in the primer hole. If you put more than a 1/4" of media in the barrel, you are going to have many more pieces of brass with media in the primer holes

* Put the cleaned brass in a container and add several desiccants. Desiccants are free if you ask your pharmacist to save them for you

DONE

[Krazy Kajun]

Thanks for the detailed info John Boy.

[Noz]

I tried the Scrubbing Bubbles in my Thumlers with stainless pins.

Not as good results as you have with ceramic. They were clean (reloadable) but not shiney outside or in in 1 hour.

 

The price of the media is offputting.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

I tried the Scrubbing Bubbles in my Thumlers with stainless pins.

Not as good results as you have with ceramic. They were clean (reloadable) but not shiney outside or in in 1 hour.

 

The price of the media is offputting.

Ceramic media will outlast us ALL-

You only buy it once.

Been using the stuff I have, for almost 10 yrs now.

OLG

[Fairshake]

I have been friends with John Boy for a few years now and he is very exacting with his projects. I have shot BP for many years and have tried all types of cleaning methods with both guns and brass. I thought I was getting good results with the ceramic that is stick shaped and putting that in my Thumblers Tumblers with good old Dawn. It is the chosen product to clean up after oil spills here in Louisiana. I then decided to try the new steel media when it came out. It is cheap in price when compared to ceramic. It also does as good as I have ever seen as my brass looks just like it looked when I purchased it new. Once I figured out to use a magnet in my clean up, my life became simple again. I'm speaking about being able to pick up all the media as it falls from the cases when being taken from the tumbler. I use just enough water to cover the brass and media, then add two good squirts of Dawn w/Oxy and then a teaspoon of Lemi-Shine which is an additive for a dishwasher. It may be purchased from Wally world at half the price of many reloading sites. This is what I have shown to many other BP shooters and they now use this process. The one draw back if you want to call it that is it takes about 2 hours of running to come out like shiney new. The Thumblers model B is designed to run continuous for days on end so I don't think that a few hours will do much harm. I did not post this to say it is better than that which was posted by John Boy as I stated he is a friend. I just wanted to show another way to go about it if you choose to do so. He changed me over to using EEzox gun lube about 5 years ago after another of his experiments. Take care Fairshake Hey John Boy I'll give you a holler

[John Henry Quick]

I just gave Scrubbing Bubbles a try and it worked! To be sure this was an easy test - it was brass that was already clean, but satiny and dingy looking because I used a cheap Walmart blue dishsoap and Lemishine. This time I dropped the brass into the pins, added a gallon of water and then three tablespoons of Scrubbing Bubbles from a "Foaming Disinfectant" spray bottle. Nothing else - no Lemishine, nothing. I then tumbled it for about an hour and it came out looking like brand new, shiny brass. We'll see how it does with dirty brass after my next range session!

[Warden Callaway]

I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 and have the loudest ring chime I can find set as high as it'll go and vibration on. But unless I'm holding it in my hand, I almost never hear it or feel it. Mary often tells me, "Your phone is going off.", and I reply, "What?".

[Nickel City Dude]

I got this plug in timer off ebay for about $18. I just plug it into powder then plug the tumbler into the timer, set the timer and I am good to go. It shuts off automatically.

 

Here is a link. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Woods-Import-Digital-Countdown-Timer-/171536970602?rd=1&ssPageName=STRK:MEAFB:IT

[John Henry Quick]

I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 and have the loudest ring chime I can find set as high as it'll go and vibration on. But unless I'm holding it in my hand, I almost never hear it or feel it. Mary often tells me, "Your phone is going off.", and I reply, "What?".

 

Huh?