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OnceFired wrote:The media separator will go underneath the cement mixer, but mounted on support arms off the ground. The idea is to put it in the sweet spot so it is above whatever tray I use to catch the water or walnut media, but under the mouth of the mixer when pointed fully downward.

Here's a photo. The temporary setup was just the dowel resting on the storage totes, which wasn't high enough to clear the tray as-is. That's about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket of 5.56mm brass in there. So, in terms of volume it would handle 10 gallons of brass at once, with room for it all to move around and allow the media to fall out.

[ Image ]2013-10-21 21.02.25 by OnceFiredLakeCityBrass, on Flickr

OnceFired wrote:Okay, I finally have a good update here. I got into our rental house about 3 weeks ago, and the past two weekends after recovering from the act of MOVING, I got industrious again and got a few things done.

Got my first batch of citric acid in the mixer without other media - that worked nicely. About one 5 gallon bucket of brass, another 5 gallons of water, and not a lot of time elapsed. Maybe 30 minutes. I think I spent more time on rinsing than the initial acid bath & agitation, in fact.

I didn't have a great way of separating the brass from the water at this point. I originally did so by running them several more rounds in the mixer - each just for a handful of revolutions. But I don't like doing that - it makes me have to hand-cull more brass out due to dings from hitting steel.

So, in the spirit of having enough space now (just in my garage, not a separate shop yet!) I decided to have some fun and I am building my dedicated home made media separator.

I used 2x4's, 1/4" hardware cloth, 1-3/4" circular saw drill attachment, a 4 foot 1-1/2" wooden dowel, brass hinges and brass catches, a whole mess of 1" roof nails, and a handful of 3" deck screws. And a scrap piece of plywood because I ran out of hardware cloth. I of course already had the bottom portion of my tray built from previous efforts, so now I could focus on making the whole thing far more functional.


It opens up 180 degrees, allows me to easily replace the dowel, functions as a pass-through sieve if needed, etc.

All I have left to do now is build the support frame to hold the dowel. I hope to do this with 2x4's as well, and have a couple galvanized fence post type U-shaped braces to help it spin nicely. More to come.

Update: Fixed images from Flickr that weren't working.

Once Fired

ZombieApoc wrote:Thanks for the ideas, gents. I do appreciate the help.

Yeah, the can't build much permanent problem is the big sticking point right now. I am currently using a sheet metal storage shed to do this in - can't attach anything structural anywhere. I have now moved to the Springfield area, and am trying to get situated here. Once I land permanently somewhere (instead of in the RV park) then I will work toward a more permanent solution.

The wheel barrow idea is interesting. I would need to devise a method to secure the shaker box on top of it. The problem I see is that it won't really agitate the brass enough - no tumbling per se, just jostling. An improvement to be sure, but I think it wouldn't work great overall.

I did find a 16"x16" plastic modular pegboard at the local Home Depot. With a little effort, I could bolt that onto my cement mixer, perhaps even with a hinge, and turn it into the mixer door idea. The opening is 15.5" across, so with a few bolts & brackets, this would work, and also be easily replaced as it wears out from the weight put against it.

ZA

ZombieApoc wrote:Learned something new again today. I had never considered washing either my corn cob or walnut media. Clearly washing corn cob works based on his statements in the video.

I'll have to try washing my walnut, too.

ZA