I bought one of those Frankford vibrating media units for brass awhile back and some walnut shell media. I didn't like how it cleaned, it was dusty and messy and overall just didn't do a good job. It worked to cleanup the outside a bit however that was all.
Last week I was at Harbor Freight armed with a 25% off coupon and noticed the
Chicago Dual Drum Rotary Rock Tumbler was on sale for $49 bucks. This has 2 drums, each with a capacity of 3Lbs or 6Lbs total. Figured what the heck and brought it home. While I'm sure its not the quality of the several hundred dollar units available it seems to be decently well built. One thing of note is that it is VERY quiet while running. The first thing I did was give the inside of the drums a good washing with some hot soapy water as they we black inside. Once this was done I took the top cover off and lubed up a few areas.
I also ordered a 5Lb bag of Stainless Pellet Pins off Amazon (Sold by Bullseye Relading) with some Lemi Shine and waited for delivery. Cost was $49 bucks as the Stainless median runs about $10 bucks a pound. Arrived earlier today. I put 3/4Lbs of the Stainless media in each drum, added 2 drops of Dawn dish soap, about 3/4 cup of water and turned the unit on letting it run for about 2 hours before opening and rinsing everything down. The pins need to be cleaned first which is why I did this. Also, No Leaks! This is a good thing!
I grabbed 300 9mm brass casings that I had already de-primed and tossed 150 in each side along with .75Lbs of Stainless media in each, a drop of Dawn, about 1/4tsp of Lemi Shine and just enough cold water to cover everything. Note this was a bit more then 3Lbs in each but wanted to see how it worked. Turned the unit on, it seemed to take the weight easily and I went out grocery shopping. Returned home, unloaded, put away and had a bite to eat and played with my son for a bit. After 4 hours of it running I turned it off and emptied one drum into a Stainless screen. Rinsed it off and was quite happy with the results. Don't have a separator so I simply pulled each piece of brass out and the pins just dropped away not sticking at all. Tossed each piece on a light towel, rubbed down and then stacked then in trays. Wife asked how long it had been running and when I told her she said she hadn't heard it even being home all day.
The brass looks brand new inside and out as does the primer pockets. No dust. No replacing the media as the Stainless are pretty much a lifetime product. I tossed in another load just doing 100 in each side and the load on the unit didn't sound any different so I'll weigh the 150 rounds and likely stick to that weight for future cleanings. I don't think it was struggling at all with the 300 rounds.
Here is a quick iPad photo of the cleaned casings with a new 9mm sitting on top. If your not looking to clean a ton of brass at a time, this is a much better way to clean then using the vibrating media and all its dust. This cost about $90 bucks to setup with the HF coupon.