And I don't want to 'postwhore' your thread, but I was debating something today as I was making the kids lunch, can't wait to give it a try.
Regarding precleaning parts before tumbling. I'm curious if it's the windex, the heat, or the combination of both that help out here.
One tool in my toolbox that I use sometimes is an ultrasonic cleaner. I typically use the ultrasonic to clean the little black #555 lamp holders - the ones that screw into the lamp PCBs - with 91% rubbing alcohol.
It stays pretty clean after you just clean 1 'batch' in it
But after a bunch, it starts to get really dirty and awful looking, like you mentioned the 'coppery' or 'tea' colored..
The ultrasonic is nice, but frankly, I've not found that it has 'paid for itself' at all, the investment is not cheap, and I've not found a lot of applications where it does a great job. I know several other US collectors who swear by them, though, and have told me you just have to keep trying different cleaners til you get the results you like.
The ultrasonic doesn't get boiling hot, but it does get too warm to fish parts out of if you leave it on long enough - and some of the higher end ones do have heaters built in. Mine just heats itself up due to the action of running I guess.
