Anyone make their own tumbler or ********y cleaning system to strip and clean parts? Something big enough for intake manifolds, carbs, ch***is parts like spindles or brake parts, maybe something that would hold 10 to 15 gallons of media? I didn't see much but people's reports on the HF units. I also saw this link for a tumbler that looked pretty cool... http://www.metalsmith.org/edu/equipment/tumblers/foster.htm Anyone got anything to share? Seems like something like this would be run to build and useful around the shop. Throw your parts in it and walk away and just let it do it's thing.
That's pretty rad. I think I may have to try that. I probably have all those parts in my garage already. Thanks.
That is how agate shops clean and polish their stuff. I have also seen a very large one used to clean flame cut pieces in a machine shop. Also very similar to the cleaners used in ammo reloading. Depends on the media used in the process.
got a bullet tumbler for small stuff, that thing looks like the ticket for larger (brackets, etc) Was playing with some starblast & mineral spirits the other night & wondering, ( in a cold beer induced state) if a slurry would cut quicker & take some of the rough edges, etc off whatever was in the unit??
I can think of at least 100 uses for one of these things. Was even thinking that something that would move side to side, pitch, roll around, orbit and vibrate would be pretty cool. Like a small carnival ride for your parts.
Scooter, I can tell you first hand, since I have and have quit using it, a smaller ********y tumbler that they are not for smaller parts i.e. carbie parts. Ask Aaron(Plowboy). I used it on his internal parts and cleaned forever trying to get all the media that was wedged inside some of the orfices and galleys. I finally after tons of time thought everything was good to go. After playing with it, Aaron started finding issues with little pulverized pieces of the cleaning media (walnut shells) in some places they shouldn't have been. So tread with caution. As far as linkage pieces and brackets they do a super job of cleaning and polishing but take a whole day to do. Anyway, I think the bottom line is they are what you make of them. I got mine from Eastwood Company.
Yeah, I wondered about that with carbs. I was thinking that with media blasting too, but I guess blasting media is just way smaller and less likely to wedge itself in orifices.
hmmm. i got a cement mixer in the garage. Is this just a replacement for a blaster? seems like it would take a super long time for something that a blaster could do...but if you got a tumbler and no compressor might be good.
I would recommend against using small media particulates such as green cutting plastic or walnut shells on mechanical parts will small orifaces such as carbs, intakes, distributor shafts, etc... Carbs are best cleaned in a carb bath...as smelly and nasty as that stuff is, chemical cleaning is the only way to go. Now, I could see one of these being very useful for larger parts, but I would carefully inspect afterward as already stated by ****ster27. I personally have used the small tumbler sold by Eastwood and it did a great job cleaning bolts, latches, straps, etc.. and they all looked even better after I either painted, annodized or or cad plated them. But I will say this, the media gets everywhere, it takes forever to clean some parts, and you absolutely postively cannot add ANY chemical agent to the dry media process in an effort to speed up the process. Take it from a guy who burned a nice gaping hole right through my large tumbler withing the first week of having it...
Been around a lot of those. The size of the parts's openings and details determine your media size. There's all sizes and shapes of professional tumbling media and if you're serious, you'll need to stock several kinds of media. That's one nice thing about the bucket on the roller, you store the media in the same bucket that's used to spin, and keep several media buckets on the shelf. This can go REAL low tech. I used to work in a sheetmetal stamping shop, and when we did 1/4 or thicker and appearance wasn't a big concern, things like hidden brackets- We tumbled them in an old cement mixer full of river rock. Did a great job. So there's your other DIY tumbler, a cement mixer.
I have a pretty good size commercial one , probably 8-10 gallons , it has an electric motor to vibrate it..... First thing is that it is LOUD , then the commercial ones have a bolt thru the middle to hold on the lid , this really limits the size of parts you can put in it.... good for valves and springs etc , but not even a VW head , Ohh did I say its LOUD I like the cement mixer idea , but it will be real loud too ohh and they are not quick , it takes hours to clean anything....
I wondered when you were going to "Put on the foil". I know a guy who bult some ********y polishers that looked like parts washer tubs suspended with airbags. I don't know what made them vibrate. Maybe the motor from the "flashlight" in the wife's nightstand drawer?
I read something a long while ago about a guy taking an old laundry washer, tipping it sideways about about a 30-45 degree angle, filling it with some sort of media, and throwing his parts in it and letting them tumble overnight. If I remember correctly, he just took the drum and the motor out of the case, built a crude frame for it, and hooked up a simple s***ch to turn the motor on and let it keep running. If you keep the lid on it though, you'll keep the media cleaner and semidry. don't remember if he took that middle "agitation bar" out of the middle of it or not, but I think it'd be better without it. It's loud, and I think the guy had it set up behind his barn or shop in the country. I think I read about it on a site dedicated to old tools, and this is how he knocked the rust off old sockets and such without giving them that raw bead blasted look. Cleaned them up nicely. It'd be nice for vintage intakes, valve covers, etc. Cleaning things like that has two advantages: the finish is nicer than bead blasting, and you throw it in and walk away from it. -Brad
I use my kids' rock tumbler with drywall screws as the media for small hardware. Put in some water and dish soap to lube it and they come out great. I've always thought of using an old clothes dryer with the heater disconnected, the motor set up to run on 110v and a hasp to keep the door shut for big stuff
Try and buy an old paint shaker, like the ones the home improvement stores use to shake up cans of paint. Then you can load the can with media and parts 'n' shake away. It won't do huge parts, but it is quick on the smaller stuff than most hobby systems.
A cheap or old gas dryer would do it. Some of them run on 110 from new; we had an electric when I was younger that was 20+ years old and the only thing wrong with it was the fan in the heating duct stripped out inside. You'd probably have to put a plate over the air inlet holes, or take it apart and rig it to spin a shortened 55 gallon drum in place of the dryer drum, though.
Bumping this one back up to the top to see if anyone has some NEW ideas to make a horizontal parts tumbler. Much appreciated!
as far as i know all dryers use 110 volt motors,, many years repairing them. the only thing on the 220 is the heating elements
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