Wet Tumbling; how do you separate brass and stainless pins?

[dave300]

Thought it'd be interesting to see if someone has a quicker process than what I'm using to separate the brass and pins; an old kitchen strainer. Even still it's a bit of a pain and I lose a few pins through it.
Got to be something better/faster?

 

[Kyskeet]

For small batches I pick and dump individual cases individually from the tumbler, for large batches, I use a Dillon media separator.
,

 

[GreenBlood10]

I pick my brass out of the tumbler manually making sure I give it a couple taps on the inside of the tumbler to get the pins out. I then dump the dirty water and media into a Home Depot bucket where I carefully rinse the pins and drain the water. I use a Papa John's pizza fridge magnet to catch any pins before they go down the drain. Certainly not the quickest but it works for me.

 

[BRU15]

I use the Frankford Arsenal Wet/Dry media separator, it's a very handy tool, I'm not sure why it took me so long to buy one!

 

[GIXXER2000]

I still use the trusty old strainer. (LOL) I strain then put into a bucket then strain again 2nd rinse in a 2nd bucket the strain shake out the water then place in a 3rd bucket of rubbing alcohol to displace the water out of the case then place them on a towel neck down to drain

 

[quietmike]

Another Dillon media separator user here. Add water until part of the basket is submerged and spin.

 

[Xinarin13]

I hand pick and dump the casings with a single tap on the side of the tumbler, then I drop them into a bowl overflowing with running water... once I am done separating the casings I dump and refill the water a few times in the bowl while stirring the casings around to fully rinse them... then I hand pick and dump the water out and drop them into a wire mesh colander that sits over the sink. I shake the colander a bit to get rid of the rest of the water and then dump into a baking pan and put in oven at 250 for 30 minutes or so to dry. I have never had any pins make it past the initial dump, but if they did, the wire mesh colander is small enough to catch them.

 

[z7.jled]

Get media strainer unless you are only doing 20 or 50.pcs at a time, even then it is faster

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[Xinarin13]

Get media strainer unless you are only doing 20 or 50.pcs at a time, even then it is faster

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How much faster could it be? Stainless media just falls right out and I would wind up double checking the casings by hand as I pulled them out of the media separator... so for me it would wind up taking longer :S

 

[missed]

I have one of the media separators it works great.

 

[GhengisAhn175]

Go to your local Korean or Asian market and go to the accessories aisle.

pick up one of the plastic basket sieves like the photo attached.

Go go to Walmart and get a plastic tub that's slightly bigger.

Use sieve to get gross media out and hand dump the ones in the case

 

[Citius7]

Stainless separates in about 30 seconds using half full water and the rebel 17 setup. The basket rolls the brass in and out of the half full water and within about 10 revolutions I have no more pins in my brass. Whether it be 50 or 400 rounds. It's clears out fast.

 

[Devildog]

After trying a few different methods I to ended up getting the Dillon media separater and it works!

 

[poke_53]

I use a salad spinner with great results.

 

[canezach]

I''m still looking for the perfect sieve. I don't have "standard" (if there is such a thing) sized or shaped media. The pins I have are smaller than the ones offered by companies like STM, so even in a fine wire mesh strainer, a few will still pass through the mesh, but they do a phenomenal job on primer pockets!

I rinse a few times, then I'll hand pick my brass out of the tumbler, which I leave full of water. I grab about 5 or 6 pieces of brass, line up the mouths and dunk them in the tumbler a few times, then turn them over. As the water drains out, it pulls any media with it. I'll slowly drain about 90% of the water, so no pins get dumped,then media gets picked up with one of those giant magnets made for stainless tumbling and dumped into a tupperware

 

[elfster1234]

Thought it'd be interesting to see if someone has a quicker process than what I'm using to separate the brass and pins; an old kitchen strainer. Even still it's a bit of a pain and I lose a few pins through it.
Got to be something better/faster?

I went to Walmart, or dollar store, got a popcorn bowl, went over to the plastic strainers, made sure the two worked together for the purpose, drilled some extra holes smaller than the diameter of 223 brass, presto $4 invested and works awesome. See video for it in action


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QsXp79pPCq4

 

[GhengisAhn175]

Canezach,

do what I posted then. The Asian plastic sieves are made of all different shapes and sizes. I get ones that have holes the size of 9MM cases and it holds all my rifle cases while having no issues dropping media though.

 

[canezach]

Canezach,

do what I posted then. The Asian plastic sieves are made of all different shapes and sizes. I get ones that have holes the size of 9MM cases and it holds all my rifle cases while having no issues dropping media though.

I'm going to look into it, but like I said, my media is smaller than the pins sold by STM. Here's a link discussing the media I have and there's a link to the manufacturer in the discussion:

http://forums.brianenos.com/index.php?/topic/225390-southern-shine-tumblers-media/

 

[canezach]

Here's what the "pins" look like

 

[flyright]

The STM separator works great with only a few pins sticking inside of the cases. Haven't tried it yet - maybe next batch - but a friend told me to use Turtle Wax Wash and Wax in place of Dawn. He says the pins don't stick in the cases as much since the tiny amount of wax makes everything slippery.

 

[Threadcutter308]

I bought the STM kit, which includes the tumbler. It isn't as beefy (or expensive)as the Dillon though. I hand pick and dump the casings while the open drum is in the sink with fresh water running into it. I then tumble the brass briefly, but usually, the pins are already removed. I then throw the brass in a large bath towel to remove exterior water, to eliminate water spots. The brass then goes into the oven for ~ 1.5 hrs @175 degrees or so. Because of all the handling, It's slower than corncob vibratory tumbling, but much better results.

 

[Xinarin13]

The STM separator works great with only a few pins sticking inside of the cases. Haven't tried it yet - maybe next batch - but a friend told me to use Turtle Wax Wash and Wax in place of Dawn. He says the pins don't stick in the cases as much since the tiny amount of wax makes everything slippery.

Something about the idea of putting wax on the inside of the casing worries me... and I don't know why...

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[JRM]

Hand pick everyone one of them. Also have on standby a small regular screwdriver to push any stuck pins downwards into the case to dislodge. Time consuming but I hate dealing with those tiny wet pins stuck on everything.

 

[spaniel]

Pan setup where the top pan catches brass and the bottom pins. Shake, then pick up piles of cases by hand to shake the pins out. Rinse before, then submerge in bowl and wash again after.

I'm sure a rotary setup is more efficient, I just haven't gone there yet.

 

[Xinarin13]

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[NewsShooter]

I pick my brass out of the tumbler manually making sure I give it a couple taps on the inside of the tumbler to get the pins out. I then dump the dirty water and media into a Home Depot bucket where I carefully rinse the pins and drain the water. I use a Papa John's pizza fridge magnet to catch any pins before they go down the drain. Certainly not the quickest but it works for me.

This is what I do as well, probably not the most efficient way but it works well.

 

[devldogs55]

Stainless steel pins fall out real easily for me. I have a cheap sifter that looks like a gold pan with slots in the bottom. A few seconds of shaking it and they're out. I put them all on a baking sheet and throw then in the over for an hour or so at its lowest setting - usually around 170 - 180.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

One day my wife was throwing away an old lettuce container with a basket in it, the kind you keep lettuce in the refrigerator. I had an idea. I got it out of the trash, and I now use it to seperate my brass and SS. Pour my brass/SS into the basket, fill the bowl up with water, spin it back and forth and all the SS pins fall through. I have an STM separator, and a I've seperate them by hand, but so far, this is the quickest and easiest.

Inalso put strong rare earth magnets in the sink strainer to catch any SS pins that try to escape.