I am wanting to do some light vibratory tumbling on some aluminum parts, but most of the vibratory tumblers are expensive. HF has a unit for inexpensive, but it does not get good reviews. I have found that Cabela's has a tumbler that is geared towards brass casing cleaning and was wondering if something like that would work for tumbling the occasional 6061 piece. I would not be tumbling nonstop, like a lot of shooters do, and I wouldn't ever have it filled to capacity, so I think it should work, but was just wanting to source the collective's opinion. Any thoughts on vibratory tumbling in general would be cool too. Thanks!
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Anyone Use A Vibratory Casing Tumbler?
- Thread starter Ripthorn
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That will depend on what type of media you want to use, and whether or not it is wet or dry. I use a Burr King tumbler for about everything BUT cases.....I have a Dillon for that.
I do a lot of 6061 in the Burr King, and use the HF plastic pyramid media with a re-circulating solution. 6061 cleans up very well, and if I want an absolute mirror finish, I run it in the Dillon with walnut media after the wet tumble.
I do a lot of 6061 in the Burr King, and use the HF plastic pyramid media with a re-circulating solution. 6061 cleans up very well, and if I want an absolute mirror finish, I run it in the Dillon with walnut media after the wet tumble.
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how much would you want to spend on one?
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i run lots of parts for a day then throw them in the dishwasher for the finish.
Since I wouldn't be polishing/tumbling a lot of parts, I don't want to spend a lot. The Cabela's unit is about $50, which sounds great, but I would be willing to spend up to around the $100 mark if something is going to be significantly better. I know that's not very much as some of the vibratory machines can get up there a ways, but mine would see a couple days usage a year, probably. I just don't want to have to deal with scotch brite by hand....
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I built a case tumbler. I use stainless pins. No futzing with walnut dust and no worries about rust. Had to buy a used motor for it but all total musta cost only about $80 but it'll outlive most of the tumblers you can buy.
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I use a regular rock tumbler with a mix of motor oil and mill swarf to clean rust off of small parts and hardware. It has two drums so the other one can be used for dry polishing without having to clean out the other. I have a Lortone three drum tumbler and this one from Harbor Freight:
http://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html
Both work well.
I did see that several people have made tumblers out of tires like this:
As a general rule I never fill a tumbler more than 2/3 of the way. You need free space for the tumbling action.
http://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html
Both work well.
I did see that several people have made tumblers out of tires like this:
As a general rule I never fill a tumbler more than 2/3 of the way. You need free space for the tumbling action.
Thanks for the thoughts. Building one is a possibility, but I have so many projects already going on that buying an inexpensive one would be much preferred for me. I had read that vibratory was preferable to rotary for things like polishing time and the like, but I have no idea of that is actually true.