can you over tumble brass?

I got a new toy. Lyman turbo 1200 tumbler. Question I have is can you over tumble brass?

How long is long enough when running a tumbler. Got it used so I didn't have a manual.

I don't think so. Sometimes my tumbler runs all night. Well actually most of the time it runs all night. The longer you tumble the shinier the brass gets.

Lyman's web site recommends about two to four hours. Lyman Turbo 1200 Instructions

I don't think you can overdo it. I tumble mine anywhere from 2 to 4 hours.

Depends on whether you want clean brass or shiny brass

I don't see any need in shiny brass...You wanna clean the crap off so it doesn't scratch your dies is the main objective

Corn cob to clean walnut shells to polish

If shiny turns you on gets some fritz polish and add a tablespoon to your media

A bounce dryer sheet in the bottom of bowl will circulate around and gather up a lot of crud

I won't tumble my "good" rifle brass

I don't think you can hurt it. I left some in the tumbler upstairs and went to a match. 28 days later went up and to my surprise there were some brass in my tumbler running. The a/c in the upstairs shop building masked the sound. Brass were clean but there was fine black dust all over everything, benches, tables, boxes, presses, air conditioner filter. A real mess to clean up. Lesson, don't trust a appliance timer 100%.

Agree with all the post above .... depending on the media use; some with shine more - some will give it a dull shine ... it all depends ...

i have taken the nickle off of some cases but they were fairly old

Joe, you've probably ruined all your brass. Bring it all to me tomorrow and I'll test it for you. I'll being back whatever checks out ok.

hey now that is a generous offer... i dont know what i would do without friends like you. lol

Ive tumbled brass for a couple weeks while i was out of town working..

With fresh media it only takes a couple hours and your Good to go.

I've run some in corn cob for a week that I forgot about. Man, it was shiny like jewelry!

Joe S. wrote:

I got a new toy. Lyman turbo 1200 tumbler.

Fired that baby up yet?

Oh yea. Ran it a couple hours actually. 30/30 looks good

I used to run some industrial tumblers (one of them could hold 4 Ford 460 BB cranks, for size reference) and the thing is, with enough time anything can come out looking like porn. I have a 302 crank I kept as a 'trophy' that looks like liquid chrome under glass. I'm partial to corn media with a little soap in it. I ran that 302 well over 300 hours and my mic still read in spec for the rod and main journals which is measure to .0001" so your not removing a measurable amount IMO.