Finally... Something that I bought from Harbor Freight that actually worked!

Whenever I am taking something apart; engines, bodies, farm tractors, etc, I aways throw the old dirty greasy fasteners in a box in my garage and when I get a couple pounds worth I take them to work and put them in the glass beader to clean them up.

I was in Harbor Freight today returning some crap and noticed a 5lbs metal vibrating/tumbler parts cleaner that was on sale for $39.95 so I bought it. I set it up on the floor in the corner of my garage, put half a coffee can worth of dirty and rusted fasteners in it, and 8-cups of regular play sand. I turned it on and let it run for about an hour. When I opened the lid I was amazed that all the fasteners were clean and looked like they had just come out of the glass beader. Best thing is that I didn't have to stand there for an hour like I do when using the glass beader. Best $40 that I have spent in that place yet.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93252

 

Damn, that's a good idea...thanks for the tip, I should pick one up next time...

 

Wow, that is sweet. Hope it stays working, damn harbor freight.

 

Good score! looks like a tumbler for polishing brass cartridges. price is about half of what you'd pay for decent reloading equipment.

 

check out ad , price went up to 59.95 ,but if it works that well it will still be worth it .
keith

 

Thanks for the tip, I don't have a bead blaster, I'm still playing "wire wheel roulette" when I clean up hardware. One of those could save a lot of wear and tear on my fingers.

 

I have use a fibrating//orbital sander for cleaning small odel airplane engine parts and mixing smallbottles of model paints. I strap a small bottle containiing the parts and some cheap carb cleaner to the sander with heavy rubber bands or a large hose clamp. Put it in a vice and turn it on and let it run for a few minutes until parts are clean. Parts come out like brand new. Works the same with paint too. I never tried it with sand and parts. I will have to try that sometime.

 

As much as I admire the "tricks" of cleaning USED hardware; there are a couple of applications that even "bright and shiny" doesn't CUT IT!

When rod bolts, head bolts, (or studs) main bearing cap bolts, (or studs) are FIRST used; they STRETCH!!
When torqued to their proper settings, load is placed on the threads and the body of the fastener, PULLING them from their ORIGINAL dimensions.
(not detectable by the naked eye, but there IS DEFORMATION!!)

Depending on how OLD the fastener is; CORROSION of the threads may have taken place as well.
(again, maybe not enough to see with the naked eye)

REUSING OLD FASTENERS; - ESPECIALLY on suspensions - is a bit like playing POKER!!
You don't know what will happen next!!

 

The part of your story, "I was returning some crap", worries me that while it works now, it won't last. Good luck.

 

I've been to Harbor freight a dozen times and have walked out shaking my head everytime. I love the idea of inexpensive tools but just have a problem with cheap tool.
I keep thinking that something that just gets used once or twice a year would be OK then I get my hand on it and say I'd rather pay an extra hundred and pass it on to my grand kids (Great Grand kids now)

 

Thier bandsaw blades aren't bad, either.

 

I'm with you Dave, my problem is I don't trust 80% of the new stuff sold either.
these foreign countries seem to have different spec's for grading fasteners

 

I agree wih Digger Dave- Notice in my reply I only mentioned small parts and model paints. No fasteners unless they are for decorative use only.

 

Any body ever put a carb in this thing and polish it? If so what abrasive did you use?

 

Oh fuck no... I am not talking internal fasteners like rod, head and main cap bolt - just stuff the non-critical stuff like intakes, accessories and the sorts. And don't have a flase sense of security that just because you are buying new stuff from ARP, that you are getting nothing but A-1 fasteners. I got a bad set of APR-2000 rod bolts from them.

I am also into vintage Farmall tractors and you cannot purchase the correct fasteners ANYWHERE.

 

The $39.95 price is a in-store sale that they are having.

 

I think its pretty small. I doubt you could even fit a 1 brl carb in there. Besides, the contents probably need to be light enough to move around.

 

The tumbler is around 9" round and has a 7-3/4" opening. The size of it is about the same as a one-gallon milk jug but the problem with getting something that size is that there is a post in the center of the tumbler to screw down the lid. I could probably get a one-barrel zenith (Farmall tractor) carbs in there if I took it all apart. I think those carbs are almost exactly the same size as an original Model A carb.

 

HF = throwaway/disposable tools. Sometimes you can take them back broken, no questions asked and they just give you another one. My brother had a HF 4" grinder, it burned up and caught on fire in his hand !!!

 

Works by vibration Huh/ Can you, Uhhhmh, get any Uhhhmh, aahhh, "Attchments" for that thing? Just kidd'n man - good luck!

 

I was just reading about passing it on and thought about a story. I got a 4.5 angle grinder so long ago that I forget how old it was. It was a royobi or however you spell it. I rewound the armature 4 times before the bearings went out! I got one from the discount store about a year ago and didn't finish 1 d$#%m job with it before it was smoking and whining. If only I had had some cheese to go with it!

 

Thanks for the heads up, I picked one up on saturday in Detroit for $40 so the sale is still on.

I haven't used it yet but I made the mistake of reading the manual for it and they don't recommend using silica media in it since it will wear the bowl excessively. I wonder if it would be worth coating the interior with something to protect it.

Ron