White rice for vibratory cleaner instead of walnut or corn cob media

Nope, never heard of anyone using rice, so never gave it any thought. Seems like it would work ok.

kingstrider said:

Nope I joined the wet tumblers guild years ago and never looked back.

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^^^^ DITTO!

Jack

Brilliant

I tried it and got dismal results. Went back to corn cob/walnut media.

I would it would not be a good source to polish brass. There are no sharp edges on it. It may be fine for removing case lube.
Plus is when it reaches it's life you would have plenty of rice for a long time.

I have heard of people using it with not so very good results, but why? all you do is ruin a good food item that could have been part of 2 or 3 meals

Brass comes out as shiny as the other media. I just avoid the toxic dust. I do this to dirty cases and after cleaning them, I run them through the press with little lube. I wipe the lube off with a paper towel. Only downside I see is after popping out the primer, You want to make sure there is no rice in the casing by tapping it upside down. I'm not trying to convince anyone, just saying what I tried. And Like.

I tried rice about 5 or 6 years ago after reading about it. It worked okay to begin with but after a while it seemed to not work as good. I think the rice gets wore down and itself gets polished. It also looked really nasty. I threw it out and went back to walnut media from Harbor Freight.

I tried rice, but it didn't clean. It just made the tarnished cases a bit more shiny. I went back to walnut shells.

If you're looking for cheaper, go to a pet box store and get a big bag of Lizard Litter. It's walnut shells, ground smaller--don't stick in the flash holes--and way cheaper than tumbling media. Use it 2-3 times then throw it out.

I wet tumble now. Much better results.

Maybe it is the kind of rice that makes a difference.
White rice is polished. Brown is unpolished still having the bran.

I would think that if there is any moisture or oils in the cases, that the rice starch would cause issues.
Andrew

sd336nut said:

I had the idea to try it. Looked for it on the web and gave it a shot. No more dust, seems to work just fine and is cheaper. Anybody else try this ?

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I did it 40 years ago. It cleans them fine, but I don't recall it polishing them at all. I used a rock tumbler too.

I've only used uncooked rice as a scrubbing agent to clean out radiator overflow, windshield washer reservoirs and similar containers.

paulo57509 said:

I've only used uncooked rice as a scrubbing agent to clean out radiator overflow, windshield washer reservoirs and similar containers.

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Never thought of doing that for the overflow tank. Did it work? If it did a good job I will be trying that too. Cleaned out my vehicle cooling system last summer and had to order a new overflow tank because it was so badly stained from the old polluted coolant. Now the new one is getting to look like that too.

leverbros said:

Never thought of doing that for the overflow tank. Did it work? If it did a good job I will be trying that too. Cleaned out my vehicle cooling system last summer and had to order a new overflow tank because it was so badly stained from the old polluted coolant. Now the new one is getting to look like that too.

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It will remove the dirt, grime and other scuzz. Stains, not so much. Now I'm wondering how well SS pins would work?

I also wonder if a Finish dishwasher tab and boiling water would clean the stains? This works great on coffee caraffes.

I cringe if I have to refill a dirty reservoir after I just went through the hassle of draining and refilling a cooling system with fresh coolant.

There are videos on YT showing how to clean the stains from a radiator overflow tank and they come out looking like new but the uploaders are hard to understand as they have a very heavy foreign accent like from India. Not sure I believe the results of their formula either.