Liquid brass cleaning with a vibratory unit

Well I have parts and pieces of a rotary tumbler but it's incomplete. I didn't like the dust on media cleaned shells.

 even when separated outdoors, they have a coating of dust that gets on my hands etc.

I have a large Dillon vibro unit with a one piece bowl and l thought, lf l don't fill it all thevway, l won't get liquid in the motor. So here goes, I filled it with fired non deprimed brass, a gallon of water with some Dawn dish soap, a teaspoon of Lemishine, and a squirt of car wash sosp and turned it on, outdoors.

Ran for one hour, poured off into a 5 gal bucket with a hardware cloth sieve on top. Rinsed in another bucket.

Shook out and left on the deck to dry.

Nice clean shiny brass and no dust, no pins, and nothing beyond what l already had.

Primer pockets are dry in a day or so. I deprimed just to verify.

Method works well if you're not in a hurry to use the brass.

Bruce,

  I’m intrigued by this and have a couple questions. Did you put a lid on it or use it open?  Why did you do this outside?  Curios if it creates a lot of suds and/or overflowed.  Sounds like a good idea vs using the the ss pins method since I too have a traditional cleaner.

Thanks.
John

Outside just in case it spilled or foamed.

I left the lid off and it didn't suds up and I could keep an eye on progress. I do not want to handle fired brass anymore. It goes into a bucket and when enough is there, into the cleaner. I wouldn't mind decapping after it's clean. I have no concern for primer pocket cleanliness

Wet tumbling is very common in the metal finishing industry.  Most processes have ceramic media that the parts tumble in.  For brass cases in small quantities, media is seldom required in wet tumbling.  I wet tumble without media as my goal is to clean the exterior and impart a luster.  I do not deprime pistol only rifle because rifle cases dry quicker deprimed.

This system of polishing sounds great. I check Harbor Freight and found a bowl that does dry and wet polishing; it has a drain tube on the side. The reviews are good, 4 1/2 stars, but I'm wondering if anyone here has tried it.