Moisture in my dry tumbler, Why?

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  • 71silverbullet

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    Oct 30, 2010
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    I ran my tumbler today while I was at work, it ran for about 11 hours. When I opened it up it was all wet inside, water dripping off of the lid wet. The media was saturated. The tumbler is a Dillon CV-500, the media is Lyman TUFNUT, and it is new, second run with it. And had a little Lyman Turbo brite polish in it. I probably had 300-400 pieces of 357 brass in it. The rubber seal on the lid is good . So what would cause it to be so wet? I've let it run all day before with no issues but I think that was with corncob media. Could that be the difference? I still have half a jug of this stuff.
     

    ghitch75

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    how much in a little polish?......i used less than a teaspoon.....never have had a moisture problem with either of my tumblers........have had them many years....
     

    71silverbullet

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    how much in a little polish?......i used less than a teaspoon.....never have had a moisture problem with either of my tumblers........have had them many years....
    Probably a teaspoon, no more than that.
    The last thing I ran through it was 10mm, and I noticed tonight on my press some red residue\dust from the media. I never noticed that before with other media.
     

    ghitch75

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    i have never used tufnut......i have only used ground walnut hulls and ground corn cobs with a little car polish.......is the tufnut red color?......
     
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    Nov 23, 2008
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    Tufnut has a rouge in it for the polishing and yes it does leave a red residue on the brass. Adding a couple squares from a dryer sheet may help that. I was told rouge is not good for the dies. As far as the wetness I can only speculate the added polish but can't say for sure. When I add polish I let it run without brass for about a half hour to get it distributed into the media.
     

    71silverbullet

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    Tufnut has a rouge in it for the polishing and yes it does leave a red residue on the brass. Adding a couple squares from a dryer sheet may help that. I was told rouge is not good for the dies. As far as the wetness I can only speculate the added polish but can't say for sure. When I add polish I let it run without brass for about a half hour to get it distributed into the media.
    Thats one thing I didn't do is let it run for a while. Only about 4 or 5 minutes and stirred it in with a spoon.
    I've only loaded about 400 rounds using this stuff, I think my dies are fine for now. I'm gonna just throw this stuff out and get some corn cob media.
    And I was ready to come home this evening and knock out some 357. Now I have to wait till they dry.:(
     

    Sling10mm

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    I used one jug of Tuf Nut many years ago and never used it again. Can't say for sure, but the polish may not absorb into the media much at all. I thought the rouge had an almost clay-like feel to it. I switched to corn cob, and don't even use polish, but I use a drawn out process that involves tumbling in corn cob, sizing, and then tumbling in a wet tumbler. Totally unnecessary, but I like nice shiny brass, including the primer pockets.
     

    Old Dog

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    Here's my theory: Heat from motor rises, warms bowl bottom and contents, room is cooler than contents in bowl, after 11 hours the resulting condensation on inside of lid has everything wet. The only time I ever had any wet media was when I over applied polishing liquid and I knew it right away. Cob media was very sticky. I would not trash the Tuf-Nut, just air dry it and try again.
     

    ckcollins2003

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    Apr 29, 2011
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    I used to use Tufnut with a polish, I would let it run with nothing but the polish for about 15 minutes to make sure the polish was mixed in good. The Tufnut will always leave the red residue because of the dust.

    I've found that unless your brass is extremely dirty, corn cob works just as good in the same amount of time without the dust.
     

    throttletony

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    Jul 11, 2011
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    My original guess was condensation from vastly different temps of some of the items or the room/tumbler itself.

    Please tell us what u figure out.

    I wet tumble, so lots of moisture does not surprise me :)
     

    Michigan Slim

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    Jan 19, 2014
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    Mine had moisture in it this weekend. Took it out of a cold garage to use. Humidity and temp change I'm figuring. I ran t with the lid off in the sun and it dried right up.
     

    71silverbullet

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    My best guess is heat from the motor and possibly too much polish caused excess condensation. I dumped the wet media, then ran the brass in fresh media that didn't have polish in it. Ran it for about 45 minutes just to dry it out.
    I bought the Tufnut on sale last fall, I'm going to go back to corn cob next time I go for supplies.
     

    ilcaveman

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    Aug 25, 2013
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    elizabeth
    I had the same issue with corncob, long run time and too much polish. It was on the lid and the corncob was fine. I cut the run time down and no issues.
     

    JerryN

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    Feb 4, 2017
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    Columbus
    I use Tuf Nut all the time but more as as a rougher to clean range brass. But I've never add anything to it.It could be that it's cool in your garage "just assuming " and after 11 hours of running has generated enough heat to cause the condensation on the lid due to the temperature difference. Thanks to our beautiful and unpredictable Indiana weather.
     
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