Couple of wet tumbling questions

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1. What ratio of steel pins to brass do you use ? Lbs of pins to lbs. of brass.....I presently use 10lbs. Brass to 12 lbs. of pins...

2. Will TSP (trisodium phosphate) hurt brass cases.

3. How much lemishine and Palmolive would you use with my weights above ?

Thanks
 
1. I have a Franklin wet tumbler with 5 lbs of pins. Generally I don't overload the vessel. Probably if you had too much brass for the pins I would think it would take longer. I'm at about 2 hours.
2. Can't help
3. I use about a teaspoon of Dawn for my tumbler. Depends how much grime on brass. Probably about a 45 case for Lemishine. I find too much and it will tarnish after the cases are dry. Again depends how dirty the cases are to begin with. Separating the pins out afterward is a pain. A magnet is a great help. And these little buggers tend to go everywhere no matter how careful you are.
 
I use 5 lbs. of pins and some lemi.

As far as removing the pins, I drilled a ton if holes in a bucket and pour everything into it and shake it around a bit. The pins fall through but the brass stays. Rinse and repeat.
 
I use 5 pounds of pins and don't fill the tumbler more than half way with brass. I use about 2 tablespoons of dish soap and about a teaspoon of lemishine. I add a gallon of water and tumble for 2 hours. The dirtiest brass comes out looking like new brass.
 
Plain citric acid is less expensive than lemi shine. TSP is alkaline, so I suspect it would react with the citric acid or lemi shine and it would lose its effectiveness.
Instead of dish soap I use a car wash and wax liquid. It lightly coats the brass for lubricity and corrosion resistance.
Definitely need the magnet for the steel pins.
Frankford Arsenal makes a media separator tray for under $10 that fits over a standard 5 gallon plastic bucket and is well worth it.
 
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