Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler Lite

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  • alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,643
    PA
    Have a vibratory tumbler and ultrasonic cleaner, but have been looking into the FART, supposed to be awesome for steel/Ti suppressors too. I normally tumble range brass, size/decap/trim then clean again before loading, would be nice to just dump all the dirt from range brass instead of keeping it in the corncob media.
     

    Mdphotographer

    Active Member
    Feb 10, 2009
    176
    Frederick MD
    Have a vibratory tumbler and ultrasonic cleaner, but have been looking into the FART, supposed to be awesome for steel/Ti suppressors too. I normally tumble range brass, size/decap/trim then clean again before loading, would be nice to just dump all the dirt from range brass instead of keeping it in the corncob media.

    You still need to remove debris from your brass before you tumble in the FA-RT. Separating gravel etc. from the pins isn't easy. I use my FA media separator first to make sure nothing is in the brass before I load them in the barrel.
     

    KRC

    Active Member
    Sep 30, 2018
    615
    Cecil County MD
    I have a FA Lite tumbler, and use it for brass cleaning with SS pins. It does a good job, seems to be sturdy, and I would recommend it. However, I have identified two issues with it: one a design issue; and the other a use issue. I have modified the tumbler and my cleaning procedure to help with these issues.

    1) I noticed that cases and pins tumbling in the "round" sections of the barrel (as opposed to the hexagonal portion) simply did not tumble, but stayed in the same place as the tumbler went round and round. To address this I shaped and screwed in two small 1/2" wide acetyl plastic "paddles" into the grooves of the round sections, on alternate sides (180 degrees apart - top and bottom). Now there is no "dead spot" when the tumbler is in motion, and all cases get equally tumbled in the pins.

    INXwwlB.jpg


    20E0ksQ.jpg




    2) I've mentioned this here before. If you have cases with chamfered/deburred neck mouths, and even with non-deburred necks, and leave them in the tumbler running for too long, the brass edges at the case mouth can get flattened, and can actually form a lip that sticks out into the neck inside diameter space and outside, forming a definite lip. This inner and outer lip can affect or alter neck tension during neck sizing. While this may not be significant for "blasting ammo", it is for precision reloading. I've found that if tumbling is limited to 1 to 1.5 hours, no lip is formed.
     

    JB01

    Member
    Nov 11, 2017
    99
    Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler

    The Frankford Arsenal tumbler and rotary pin separator work well.

    However, since the wash water contains "heavy metals," I am concerned about the disposal of the wash water.

    My plan is to empty the wash water into plastic jugs and allow the water to evaporate and disposed of jugs with residue in hazardous waste.
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,818
    I have a FA Lite tumbler, and use it for brass cleaning with SS pins. It does a good job, seems to be sturdy, and I would recommend it. However, I have identified two issues with it: one a design issue; and the other a use issue. I have modified the tumbler and my cleaning procedure to help with these issues.

    1) I noticed that cases and pins tumbling in the "round" sections of the barrel (as opposed to the hexagonal portion) simply did not tumble, but stayed in the same place as the tumbler went round and round. To address this I shaped and screwed in two small 1/2" wide acetyl plastic "paddles" into the grooves of the round sections, on alternate sides (180 degrees apart - top and bottom). Now there is no "dead spot" when the tumbler is in motion, and all cases get equally tumbled in the pins.

    INXwwlB.jpg


    20E0ksQ.jpg




    2) I've mentioned this here before. If you have cases with chamfered/deburred neck mouths, and even with non-deburred necks, and leave them in the tumbler running for too long, the brass edges at the case mouth can get flattened, and can actually form a lip that sticks out into the neck inside diameter space and outside, forming a definite lip. This inner and outer lip can affect or alter neck tension during neck sizing. While this may not be significant for "blasting ammo", it is for precision reloading. I've found that if tumbling is limited to 1 to 1.5 hours, no lip is formed.

    I do remember reading about that in a few of the reviews. I wonder if that could be overcome by sitting it on a bit of a slant.

    I've seen mods like you did. Nice work. No leaks?
     

    Dalebert

    Active Member
    Apr 15, 2020
    105
    Baltimore County
    get the FART

    I recently purchased the full-size...so recently that I haven't even used it yet. But there were three things that made me finally decide on the full-size over the lite version:

    1) pins - the price difference is around $50-60, but the full-size comes with 5 pounds of pins, which is close to $40, making it only about a $10-20 upgrade for a little more than twice the size

    2) timer - the lite has an on/off switch, but the full-size has a timer switch, so I can set it when I'm going to bed and not have to worry about it going too long

    3) buy once, cry once - a little late for me, because I started with the Harbor Freight one (had some balancing issues, anyone want to trade me something for a used one?) but even though I don't currently reload enough to make it worth the larger unit, I want to so why go halfway, then need another one later.
     

    KRC

    Active Member
    Sep 30, 2018
    615
    Cecil County MD
    "I do remember reading about that in a few of the reviews. I wonder if that could be overcome by sitting it on a bit of a slant. . . . No leaks?"

    Slanting will not work, as the lower round portion would still not "turn over" properly, and more pins/cases would be at the bottom.
    I melted the screw holes with a hot punch, and used a bit of silicone with the screws.
    No leaks at all. I do use it with a small cheap household timer so I don't have to monitor it.
     

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