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Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 5:24 pm
by mcrump
Has anyone ever tried cleaning their 7075 k baffles in a wet brass cartridge tumbler using those .047 stainless steel pins? Just curious.

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:25 am
by RPM509
I suspect it would work fine, and over a period of time slowly, ever so slowly, start to damage the baffles.
Aluminum baffles getting bombarded by stainless steel pins....
Pins made of a softer aluminum may be ideal.

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 6:03 pm
by CMV
It doesn't' hurt cartridge brass which is also much softer than SS. The solution might be a problem - many people use the same solution for SS pin wet tumbling as you would for ultrasonic - a few drops of Dawn & LemiShine. Don't know how AL does in an acidic bath.

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:16 pm
by RPM509
Usually brass being cleaned in ss pins and solution only last X amount of reloads and then are tossed or recycled, usually before
any significant damage shows from it. SS pins can and will damage brass and aluminum over a period of time, acceptable on items that have a limited life expectancy, not for baffles.

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 1:23 am
by fastfire
RPM509 wrote:Usually brass being cleaned in ss pins and solution only last X amount of reloads and then are tossed or recycled, usually before
any significant damage shows from it. SS pins can and will damage brass and aluminum over a period of time, acceptable on items that have a limited life expectancy, not for baffles.
I have several hundred Lapua .223 brass that has more that 30 reloading's.
All these Lapua cases have been cleaned in a Tumbler's Tumbler using SS pins since they were new.
I anneal after each firing.
Never found any damage done from the SS pins.

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 6:30 am
by Historian
Anyone place a K in a lathe collet and brush
with fine brass brush dipped in baking soda - wearing face mask?

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 7:13 am
by RPM509
fastfire wrote:
RPM509 wrote:Usually brass being cleaned in ss pins and solution only last X amount of reloads and then are tossed or recycled, usually before
any significant damage shows from it. SS pins can and will damage brass and aluminum over a period of time, acceptable on items that have a limited life expectancy, not for baffles.
I have several hundred Lapua .223 brass that has more that 30 reloading's.
All these Lapua cases have been cleaned in a Tumbler's Tumbler using SS pins since they were new.
I anneal after each firing.
Never found any damage done from the SS pins.

Then you're not measuring very well.

It defies the laws of physics to state that amount of tumbling of brass cases, in stainless steel media, isn't doing any damage.
It might not be apparent to the naked eye, but I'd bet those walls are getting a tiny bit thinner.

Would you do the same with soft aluminum baffles? I wouldn't. At least not very many times or for extended periods.

30 reloads, even with annealing is an insane amount. All bolt-action, with high quality brass (Lapua is), and annealing after every firing, with minimal sizing
maybe 15-20 reloads, assuming low power at that. I would not trust brass, even it it didn't have any visible signs of stress or fracture showing with that many
reloads. :shock:

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 10:34 am
by fastfire
RPM509 wrote:
fastfire wrote:
RPM509 wrote:Usually brass being cleaned in ss pins and solution only last X amount of reloads and then are tossed or recycled, usually before
any significant damage shows from it. SS pins can and will damage brass and aluminum over a period of time, acceptable on items that have a limited life expectancy, not for baffles.
I have several hundred Lapua .223 brass that has more that 30 reloading's.
All these Lapua cases have been cleaned in a Tumbler's Tumbler using SS pins since they were new.
I anneal after each firing.
Never found any damage done from the SS pins.

Then you're not measuring very well.

It defies the laws of physics to state that amount of tumbling of brass cases, in stainless steel media, isn't doing any damage.
It might not be apparent to the naked eye, but I'd bet those walls are getting a tiny bit thinner.

Would you do the same with soft aluminum baffles? I wouldn't. At least not very many times or for extended periods.

30 reloads, even with annealing is an insane amount. All bolt-action, with high quality brass (Lapua is), and annealing after every firing, with minimal sizing
maybe 15-20 reloads, assuming low power at that. I would not trust brass, even it it didn't have any visible signs of stress or fracture showing with that many
reloads. :shock:

These all have been fired in the same AR15, NO BOLT GUN

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 11:13 am
by RPM509
Next batch of new brass I pick up, will mark and measure with some micrometers and see what kind of wear after tumbling/reloading they experience. Curious now.

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 11:14 am
by vaeevictiss
What i found works great for soft aluminum baffles is a blasting cabinet with walnut media. I have an SS tumbler i use for my brass but id never think of putting aluminum in there. I have however used it to clean the steel baffles in my Spectre and it does a phenomenal job.

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 12:35 pm
by fishman
Brass shells and baffles are nothing alike. After you tumble brass you resize, shoot it, and fire form it. Any dimensional changes from tumbling will be taken care of by resizing dies and fire forming. Baffles don't get that luxury.

Is the deformation from tumbling aluminum in stainless steel going to be significant, or even noticeable? I have no clue. But don't compare brass tumbling to baffle tumbling so closely for those reasons.

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 1:06 pm
by RPM509
fishman wrote:Brass shells and baffles are nothing alike. After you tumble brass you resize, shoot it, and fire form it. Any dimensional changes from tumbling will be taken care of by resizing dies and fire forming. Baffles don't get that luxury.

Is the deformation from tumbling aluminum in stainless steel going to be significant, or even noticeable? I have no clue. But don't compare brass tumbling to baffle tumbling so closely for those reasons.
Not talking about the outside dimension of the brass after sizing or fire-forming, rather it's thickness.
Simple science tells me that very thin layers are being ground away from the brass when tumbled in stainless media.
Mostly on the exterior, but also amounts of the interior, thinning the brass walls. Measurable? I suspect after many times yes.
To state that no material is being lost is patently false. Aluminum I am sure would lose much more, given everything being equal.
How long or many tumbles before it becomes an actual problem? I have no clue.
Still wouldn't tumble aluminum baffle in stainless media often, or for extended periods of time...unless I was an 02/SOT and could make my own
replacements willy-nilly that is.

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 1:14 pm
by fishman
I don't think material is going to be removed fast enough to matter. I do agree that minute amounts of material get removed during tumbling. However, I think surface finish changes are going to affect dimensions much more than material removal will. I have no data to back up this hypothesis.

Re: Cleaning K-Baffles

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 2:15 pm
by Tony M.
RPM509 wrote:
Not talking about the outside dimension of the brass after sizing or fire-forming, rather it's thickness.
Simple science tells me that very thin layers are being ground away from the brass when tumbled in stainless media.
Actually, the SS pins are doing more to burnish the brass than to abrade it. With aluminum, being less ductile than the brass, I would be more concerned with edge deformation than material loss. I would also worry more about the baffles causing damage to one another than the pins doing damage. Tumbling one at a time would be a solution, but too slow for my taste.

Citric acid (lemishine) will eat the aluminum, and should not be used, neither should any other particularly acidic or caustic cleaning agents.

If the baffles are anodized, I would expect to see the finish degrade over time due to the burnishing process breaking up the hard surface layer.