Anyone ever use a food dehydrator for drying brass after wet media tumbling?

[Texasbeanman]

Saw Graf and Sons had a brass dryer listed.
Noticed this unit was the same as a food dehydrator.
Has anyone tried one?

[fltbed]

I've never wet tumbled myself, (the old Lyman turbo still works fine for me) but from what I understand, a food dehydrator is preferred to dry the brass.

Jeff

[sqlbullet]

rinse with hot water, spead on a towel and let it sit overnight.  Spend money on components.

[bobonit]

i have an old food dehydrator that has been sitting in the garage that I haven't used in years.  Like you, I saw that they are now selling the same exact devices as brass dryers.  I wet tumbled some 223 brass a couple of weeks ago and put in the dehydrator.  Worked like a charm!

[Texasbeanman]

Thanks for letting me k ow. Looks like the wife's old unused dehydrator now has a new use.

[Aegis]

rinse with hot water, spead on a towel and let it sit overnight.  Spend money on components.

Agree this is what I do..

[sep]

I use a sonic cleaner to clean brass from time to time. Fired it up last week and after cleaning, I rinsed the cases in hot running tap water, laid them on a large beach towel on the floor. I lifted up one end of the towel and all the cases rolled to the other end. Did the same thing with the other end and after rolling them back and forth a few times  they were pretty well dry. I set them in two loading blocks for an hour or two and loaded em up. It's the first time I tried using a large towel that way and it worked pretty well.

Sounds like the dehydrator would be good to, very little chance of accidently annealing the cases.       

[sqlbullet]

Pretty sure annealing brass requires a minimum temperature of about 600° F.  Leaving them in an oven for an hour on "warm" won't affect the brass.  In fact, I think you could leave them in at that temp for days.

[DM1906]

Pretty sure annealing brass requires a minimum temperature of about 600° F.  Leaving them in an oven for an hour on "warm" won't affect the brass.  In fact, I think you could leave them in at that temp for days.

I dry mine in a tabletop convection oven at 400 for 15 minutes. A Fry-Daddy aluminum basket holds about a batch of tumbled brass. Dry as a bone after they air cool enough for handling (about an hour total), and no water stains. No related case failure issues I've seen, but I have noticed MANY less case mouth splits (across many calibers) since I started drying this way. I haven't noticed any case neck tension loss, or symptoms of it, loading or firing. Much of the brass included is military '06 and .45, dating back to the 40's. They look as new as new can be, which is nice.

[sep]

I anneal rifle cases and when I do I use a product called Templiaq. It changes color at 475 degrees F indicating it's done and time to water quench the case.  So, I guess as long as you kept your oven temperature low enough, you could use your wife's cookie sheets to dry some brass. Not sure what the wife would think of that though.   

[sqlbullet]

My wife doesn't mind at all.

Or course I do 80% of the cooking.

[DM1906]

My wife doesn't mind at all.

Or course I do 80% of the cooking.

Ditto. No problems there.

[Pablo]

Thanks for letting me k ow. Looks like the wife's old unused dehydrator now has a new use.

Problem solved. Lot's of people use them once or never used them and......sell them at garage sales. I bought mine, under $10. Brand new. Works like an absolute champ, less than a minute to load all the racks and stack, switch on and come back to warm, dry, super shiny brass.

[gmerkt]

I might be up for trying that method.  I've had a vibratory tumbler for years, but rarely use it now.  Long ago, I changed to using liquid case cleaners.  First, it was Birchwood-Casey; then I changed to Iosso.  My object is to remove all carbon deposits, which doesn't always happen in a tumbler in a reasonable amount of time.  I clean lots of rifle cases and depending upon the propellant, some get pretty stubborn carbon on the necks of the cases.  Iosso does a very good job of removing it.  Liquid case cleaners can be reused over and over again, and of course there is a bit of loss with each batch done.  I've never costed it out as against replacing oily/worn-out tumbling media. 

At any rate, after washing in liquid case cleaner, thorough rinsing is required, then drying.  For cases that need sizing with lube, these need a rinse again, so a second drying.  At present, when the Pacific Northwest rain is in session, I set them out to dry on a terrycloth towel in front of the wood stove.  In sunny weather, I dry them on old sheet pans in the sun.   The food dehydrator might be a good alternative. 

Oh, and not long ago, I discovered that it is possible to over-tumble brass.  At a local gun show, an old-timer was selling some of his dead hunting partner's left-over stuff.  One item that I got was a cigar box of 7.62mm NATO brass for one dollar.  Gee what a bargain.  That was in the dim, dark, gloomy recesses of a gun show hall.  Closer examination showed that these cases had been tumbled way too long.  The mouths had rolled-under and had a kind of inner lip on them.  The rims on the heads were rounded off.   They are still usable but I'd never tumble brass that long.

[sqlbullet]

I wonder how long you have to tumble to have that effect.  I have forgotten stuff overnight once in walnut media, to no ill effect.

I recently bought a Frankford Arsenal wet pin tumbler.  It makes a HUGE difference in how clean the brass is.  Shiny and new inside and out.