do i need one or is ther any other way to clean brass? how is tubler work?

Tumblers are the easiest way to clean brass that I know of. I have tried baths, polishes and a few home remedies but the two tumblers that I have beat every other way to clean brass hands down!
I have a Thumblers Tumbler - a nine pound capacity drum that rotates by way of a well built motor. It will clean hundreds of cases at atime and do a good jobe of cleaning them in a couple of hours with crushed walnut shell media. The othe "tumbler" is a vibratory cleaner made by Lyman. It is like all the rest - they are big bowls set on top of a motor driving an excentric shaft that is counterweighted so that the bowl vibrates the brass and media together to clean off the tarnish and dirt. It is the big one and it is so loud that I have to set it on a throw rug that is folded twice (four layers of rug) to keep it quiet. It works better as an alarm than as a cleaning device when compared to the tumbler. It takes at least six hours to clean the brass with the same media and I use to set it down in the basement (on the folded carpet) over night to get the brass clean enough to reload. I can't do that anymore because our daughter and her son are in the bedrooms down there now. I can put the tumbler (its made for polishing rocks and gemstones) on a towel and you only hear the media and brass swishing - no motor sound at all. Even I can sleep through that level of noise. My brother was going to buy a vibrator until he tried mine - he bought a smaller "Thumblers Tumbler" of the web for less than you pay for used vibrator units. I may yet find somebody broke enough or that I really dislike enough to give that vibrator unit to. Maybe I should sell it on e-bay - they get an awful lot of money for those things - I don't understand it - maybe they sell to shooters who don't wear earplugs - but wouldn't their wives complain? Mine did - and so did my daughter. The two year old loved it! he would try to outshout it - to no avail.

PaulS, I'm with your two year old, I like my Lyman tumbler/vibrater. It makes noise, but, it's not unbearable. I set mine up in the garage & unless your in with it, no one knows it's there. Run time is about 3 hours & my brass looks new. No matter which you use, it's an important and worthy step in reloading.
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Wow, I have one of those vibrator types. Not sure the brand but the only time it gets noisy is if I over stuff it with brass. I can leave my hornet and 357 brass in there for about 30 to 40 minutes and they look pretty darn good coming out. It'll hold a couple of hundred 357s at a time.

PaulS, you say the tumbler works pretty well and quickly? I would never have thought that. My Dad's hobby is lapidary and he has a tumbler.....never thought of using it.

I have tried a vibrating cleaner once. It wasn't all that noisy, but it didn't do as well as I thought it would, although the media had been used a couple of times. I was disappointed with it.

Cheers, Vince

One thing to note about a vibrating tumbler. They work fine if the media you use is good. I found crushed walnut media to be the best. It's good for quite a few cleanings & not expensive at all.
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I have an RCBS vibratory tumbler from 1989 that does a great job. I do not mind the noise because it runs in another part of the house. My RCBS tumbler died last year. I called RCBS and got authorization to return it for repair of replacement. About ten days later it came back with a new motor free of charge. RCBS honors a lifetime warranty on their stuff.

The walnut media is very good, but my buddies swear by using rice from the grocery store. Rice is cheap and effective. All the best...
Gil

I use a Dilon tumbler with crushed Walnut hulls. I pour a little FLITZ Tumbler Media Additive into the Tumber (about a capful) with each cleaning. The brass comes out looking incredible. I highly reccomend this approach.

Live Long and Shoot Well

Thanks for the tip Gil, I never heard of using rice before. I'm going to try it.
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If you are going to use rice be sure to check it regularly. If you let rice sit out in the open it will absorb moisture and swell up, it can even get soft and create a bit of a mess. It has a lot to do with where you live and do your tumbling, its very humid here in NC and I do mine outside in a shed so it can't be heard. No AC or Heat in the shed as of yet.

Thanks for the heads up Flint54. It get's hot here in Arizona, but, as we say..."it's a dry heat". I'm familiar with rice and it's relationship to moisture. I didn't give it more than a passing thought though because of our climate.
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I tried rice once. It doesn't clean as well as walnut and the walnut is cheap if you buy it at the feed and tack store (or even pet supply houses). Corn cob gives a nicer shine to the brass but it won't clean as well and it doesn't last as long. The rice is the worst of both worlds - it doesn't shine like corn cob and it won't clean like walnut. It also gets stuck in the primer flash holes and can be a pain to get out.
I have never used any additives but I have washed my walnut shell media in alcohol to clean it. I found that it isn't worth doing - the stuff is cheap enough to just use it until it doesn't clean right (or as fast) and then replace it. $4 for a ten pound (4.3 Kilo) bag and you are good to go.

We use a old lapidary rock tumbler and it works great!!

I'd trade a dozen of the best tumblers made for one gallon of Iosso Case Cleaner.......

Other than the drying time of the freshly cleaned cases.....the only drawback I ever noticed is you don't have the immense enjoyment of picking tumbler media outta the flash holes..........<grin>

If you like fast and shinin' like new money.........Iosso is the game to play........

I use a Lyman Turbo tumbler with either corn cob or walnut media and other than the odd flash hole to clean, I like it. It does a great job unless the media is worn out or to dirty.