Vibratory Tumblers?

[Offroader5]

I am looking at purchasing one. I want to be able to throw aluminum parts in and let it do the work for me. Nothing too fancy and nothing too large. If it's large enough to fit a link plate...or a beadlock...that would be big enough.

Anyone have any ideas of a good entry level one? Anyone already use one at home? What abrasive works best for a good deburr and shine?

[2JSC]

What about a small rock tumbler? Would work the same no? I've seen them at Harbor Frieght before for cheap.

[Bigcatnearmiss]

+1 Rock tumbler is the first thing I thought too.

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpis...bler&Submit=Go

Amazon.com gots a bunch of them too...

[Mnster]

I've been curious of the harbor freight ones. I wonder how loud the vibratory one is. I don't want that thing as loud as my shop vac running for hours on end. Though I've never heard one run so who knows.

[2JSC]

Well, you can be the first!

[jetboat]

I have the 5# harbor freight Vibrating Tumbler... Its not as bad as a shop vac but, usually turn it on and go in the house. My garage is about 25' from the house and I can hear the vibrator running even with all the doors shut. I use the ceramic media that Harbor Freight carries but, if you read the manual for the vibrator, it says not to use it.

Its does a decent job, I find that it takes about 90min to remove most burrs.

[mental]

i use to use these at work and they work best with a ceramic media and some sort of cleaner. but for the best shine we would use stainless steel shot instead of ceramic and they are considerably loud

[dkf]

We use vibratory tumblers in the machine shop. The large ones can get loud and depending on the metal being finished may require 2-3 days of tumbling. I'd set it up in a shed somewhere so you don't have to listen to it.

[Sydwaiz]

Thumlers Tumblers are quiet but considerably more expensive than Harbor freight. Bowl material plays a huge part in noise as well as the media. I have a Thumlers and a Hornady that I use for ammo reloading. I have a small bowl with steel shot that I use for moly coating .50 cal bullets that can get a little loud but you can place a bucket or trashcan over it to muffle it some. My larger bowls that I use for brass casings with corn cob media are whisper quiet. All bets are off if you get a Dillion tumbler. My neighbor has one and it can wake the dead!

[Krawler Freak]

I use a vibratory tumbler to deburr and shine up my parts i do a two step process first is green pyramid media with water and simple green (to keep it lubed and quiet) then a second round of walnutshell with a polish compound.
I use the 20lb vib tunmbler from harbor freight it was cheap and there return policy is awesome so i can always get a new one every year

[Mayhem Eng.]

I have a small tumbler in the shop that we don't use anymore $60.00 + shipping and it's yours. I paid like $250.00 a couple of years ago. It's a sidewinder case tumbler it's made to tumble bullet casings. You will need to get tumbling media for it. Great for small parts. Let me know.

[Offroader5]

Originally Posted by Mayhem Eng.

I have a small tumbler in the shop that we don't use anymore $60.00 + shipping and it's yours. I paid like $250.00 a couple of years ago. It's a sidewinder case tumbler it's made to tumble bullet casings. You will need to get tumbling media for it. Great for small parts. Let me know.

Hmmmm. Tempting. Think the drum tumbler would do the same kinda job on polishing as the vibratory?

[Blackvelvet]

as a manufacturing jeweller, tumbler/tumbler in the quieter one of the two in my opinion. Mind you, the vibe we had was huge, almost the size of a spa pool.

Ruff castings into ceramic media, with a detergent/water and abrasive. We used pumice powder on brass, worked really well.
Just remember you have stuff in the tumbler (all our tumblers were on timers, so they shut down if you forgot)
Watch your rumbling times with the pumice ... otherwise you'll have bugger all left of what you put in.

Use the shot/detergent/water mix to give a polished (burnished) finish.
If you use shot plus the pointed ended media, it will also get into the smaller area's. Much better than if you tried to polish finish it.
We also used steel shot, worked fine, just remember when it's not in use, keep it in a barrel, covered in soapy water to prevent it rusting. We were using it every day, never got the chance to rust.