243 replies to this topic

[Jerry Ward]

OK - Thanks again!!

[dc-65x]

Guys,

Since I started this thread I've done a lot of experimenting with Steve Okeefe. I've had chassis shine up like jewelry and then corrode while in storage even after WD40 soaks using Cabelas and Buffalo Arms liquid. Here is what works for sure. It's a process that Steve has refined and I use:

"Now, the polish... 8 or 9 hours (overnight) in the tumbler with an ounce or two of TIDE h-e (low suds for front loading machines). When you're done tumbling, the water in the drum will be gray.

Rinse thoroughly in clean water and blow dry with pressurized air. Now, to get the chassis really dry (especially in the hinges), 30 minutes in a 220 to 250 degree oven. As soon as the chassis comes out of the oven (while it's still hot) oil the hinges with tiny amounts of common motor oil. Handle ONLY while wearing cotton gloves and DO NOT set the chassis down anywhere! Slip the chassis into a heavy plastic storage bag, squeeze as much air out as you can and zip it up."

Try it. You'll like it .

PS: We are using Cabelas ceramic media with the drum filled with water to the top of the media.

[Chris Barnes]

Well, I bought the Thumlers AR-6, as it was available at McMaster-Carr. I used the above process and all I can say is that it works!

A side note, the AR-6 does not have to be assembled. Just remove it from the box and use.

I am very pleased with the results and thank all with their comments/recommendations.

Chris

[Cheater]

And have you or has anyone tried to do other chassis besides brass, one like spring steel or your JK Cheetah 7 or Flexi chassis?

At work, we have three vibratory tumblers (two with ceramic media and one with metal media) and I have run a few Flexis through them in the past.

I left them in just long enough to burnish the plating. I didn't process them long enough to go through the plating, so any "cleaning" was minimal. I haven't tumble a stainless chassis.

The effect I got was a softening or rounding of the stamped chassis' sharp edges.

[Rick]

Tumbling we go. I bought a large Harbor Freight Wet vibratoty tumbler about a year ago. The thing works well excpet it always seemed that the rotary tumblers looked better to me. SO I finally bought a rotary unit, A thumblers Tumbler. I found they make size that is perfect for slot chassis. SO i figured a full report on both types was in order.

The large Harbor Frieght unit, work fine. They say vibrating is faster then rotary? I am not so sure of that now. The vibrator is much noisier so it has to be in the garage or basement when being used. The rotary is almost silent. check one for the rotary unit.

The large HF unit is a PITA to clean and change media types. Picking up a bowl that weighs 20 pounds and bringing it to you cleaning area is a chore. The rotary one weighs 10 pounds and travels much easier. Plus one again for the rotary. Not to mention you need 20 pounds of media vs 9 pounds.

After tumbling completely a chassis in the rotary, it came out shinier than a new penny. I think better than the vibrator every did, using the same exact media. The ease of cleaning up after use is way easier with the rotary smaller machine, less media to deal with.

After looking around for a while I found this size available and its model number is A-R6 and its a 9" drum, round on the outside and segmented on the inside of the rubber to aide tumbling. At the finer raceways, they will also have full line hobby access and you can buy or order thru them. I know Mac's Tom Thmub has tumbers on the shelf there. They may not have this particular unit, in stock, but he could get you one, I am sure. Give Mike or Cindy McMasters a call.

Now for pricing. The HB large 18 pound machine costs $149.00, on sale and $189 regular. The large tumbler like Mr. Steube uses is about $180 everywhere, I have looked. The A-R6 is about $113.00. The A-R6 is perfect for slots! Could probably do 2 maybe 3 chassis at a time if you wanted. It did an A1 job with one chassis.

As an aside, Butch got some killer media and at a great price one time, BUT he had to buy a 100 pound bag!! If you could get enough people together to but up a 100 pounds I bet Butch would give it a go again? But he maight say, NO WAY, not interested. LOL

I think a track could buy one and offer the service to their racers for a small fee and everyone is happy.

After using both myself, IMO the rotary does a better job on the brass chassis. I will now change the media in my large HF model and use it for deburring parts.

Last tip, do the cleanup in the basement sink. The media plays hell on a disposal. LMAO, not to mention the wife stays happier. The little media gets away from you easily and will require taking apart disposal in the kicthen...........

[dc-65x]

Hi Rick,

Yup, the rotary tumbler and wet ceramic media tumbling with a little low suds detergent is the way to go.

Last tip, do the cleanup in the basement sink. The media plays hell on a disposal. LMAO, not to mention the wife stays happier. The little media gets away from you easily and will require taking apart disposal in the kicthen...........

The first time I rinsed a chassis off on the disposal side of the sink and a few pieces of media fell off the chassis, bounced around and headed for the disposal I about *hit . Luckily they didn't go down inside. I use the other side of the sink now..........when my wife's not around .

[Phil Irvin]

I finnally got mine out and have done 2 chassis. I got the ULTRA FINE ceramic media and use low sudsing laundry soap. I does a very good polish on fresh brass but takes soo long to do it. I can almoist build another chassis it tales so long.

What grade ceramic media do most work with and why? Corse, medium, fine, and I already have the extra fine.

GLAD I DON'T BUILD FAST
PHIL I.

[dc-65x]

Hi Phil,

I'm using the ceramic media from Cabelas. They don't say what "grade" it is. I tumble a chassis for about 8 hours. I'm going to be testing a recipe with some extra ingredients besides just soap. Maybe it will work faster.

Rick

[Phil Irvin]

I got mine from Rio Grande in Albq. NM and they have 4 levals. I wonder what leval Cabales is?

PHIL IU.

[Pablo]

I re-tumbled a well used IRRA chassis today, using Buffalo Arms ceramic media and the liquid that comes with it.
It came out absolutely beautiful, like they all do, after 5 hours.

I have a theory. Rick T. (and Steve O) swear by another type detergent, I tried it, it pitted badly. Rick T. says the type liquid I use pits his chassis. Now, you know I inherently trust Rick T. My conclusion ? It must surely be a function of what the local water supply is, soft or hard. My local water is VERY soft here in the deep south, and the Buffalo Arms liquid works super.
That's my theory. Chose your detergent based on hardness or softness factor of your water.
Rick T, and Steve O, what do you guys think ?

[gascarnut]

I have used the Buffalo Arms media and soap with water in both Colorado and Califormia, always with excellent results after 3-4 hours of tumbling.

The major cleaning happens in the first 1-2 hours, the rest is just for "Bling".......

[Phil Irvin]

Water here is harder than rocks.....JEES...I also found out DO NOT USE DISH SOAP DESIGNED FOR A DISH WASHING MACHINE...... They come out a nice BLACK .....It looked neet but the tarnish came off to easily. 10 min. with a wire brush in the Dremem fixed that...I too use a low sudsing soap & a dash of baking soda....Wonder how Comet would work..... Like in the ol'days with the wire brushes mmmm?

PHIL I.

[dc-65x]

That's my theory. Chose your detergent based on hardness or softness factor of your water.
Rick T, and Steve O, what do you guys think ?

Hi Pablo,

I guess since we got exactly the opposit results everyone should experiment and do what works for them. It's interesting you got pitting from Tide laundry soap . I know my water is very hard. I'm not sure what steve's is like...........

Tumble on to your own beat gentlemen

[Rick]

Water here is harder than rocks.....JEES...I also found out DO NOT USE DISH SOAP DESIGNED FOR A DISH WASHING MACHINE...... They come out a nice BLACK .....It looked neet but the tarnish came off to easily. 10 min. with a wire brush in the Dremem fixed that...I too use a low sudsing soap & a dash of baking soda....Wonder how Comet would work..... Like in the ol'days with the wire brushes mmmm?

PHIL I.

I had the same result using automatic dishwashing liquid. It blackened the brass in several places. So no more of that stuff for me. Maybe it ws just the brand and not an across the board thing?

[Bill from NH]

Wonder how Comet would work..... Like in the ol'days with the wire brushes mmmm?

It still works great like it always did. I use an old toothbrush so as not to mess up my braid brush.

[Zippity]

Besides water, what is the name of the mysterious liquid that you experts add to your ceramic media?

Will Simple Green work just as well?

[Phil Irvin]

It still works great like it always did. I use an old toothbrush so as not to mess up my braid brush.

In the tumbler.....In the tumbler..... Tastes horrible but does clean you teeth ....

JEESE
PHIL I.

[J&B Bear]

Found the AR6 at http://www.e-hobbyland.com/thtu.html for 115.99 with free shipping. Seems ok since Lock Stock & Barrel is out of stock. Jerry Ward races at my Track, J&B Raceways in Fremont, Oh. and always has nice chassis`s and he`ll tell you I have the ugliest steel chassis`s in the joint.
So I guess since Jerry gave me a car to run some Retro in the last month in the Penn Ohio Series race #1 and the warmup race prior. I`m in the process of building a couple Can Am cars I might as well do it right. I raced my own chassis`s from the mid 60`s to Mid 70`s when it wasn`t Retro and I was just a pup but SOS pads and water was about all we did to clean them up back then.

Also would like to try and polish some of my Original Aurora Thunder Jet HO gears my buddy Wire EDM`s and makes much lighter. He uses a Lyman dry tumbler with corn cob media and tumbles them for about 3 days. They`re ready to use, polished & deburred so I`m curious. Probably will be a pain finding them in the tumbler but from the sounds of it from some of the earlier posts I better empty, drain, and dry it since I won`t be using it all that frequently once the initial surge of cleaning is thru. Or maybe I could offer it as a service at the Raceway like I read in the earlier posts also. It might as well pay for itself a little at a time. Thanks again Gentlemen!

Here`s a link to my gears in case anyone is curious or just wants to see something pretty cool. http://cgi.ebay.com/...e=STRK:MESOX:IT

Alot of good info all you guys Posted in this thread. Thanks! Saved me alot of time doing research.

Cheers!
Bear

[Pablo]

Anybody have any experience tumbling old Dynamic aluminum chassis parts ?

[Rick]

I have found a recipe that has worked so well for me, it's incrediable. I shared it with blog friend and he had disastrous results from the same recipe. SO I warm you, try it at your own risk but it makes my chassis and wire and solder joints shine like a new penny.

I use a dash of Dawn, a couple of shakes of Old Dutch Cleanser and a couple of tablespoons of baking soda. I tumble from 3 to 8 hours and they come out like they have been polished with brasso. I have a mixture of several different medias in my tumbler, from Buffalo Arms to Butchs stuff and another. The great thing about this mxture is I can use it for 4 to 7 chassis before it needs changing. It even seems to work better on the 2nd , 3rd etc. It will foam up some but not that bad.

As I said, it about ate up one that tried it. Could it really be different water? What are they putting in some water systems?

Someone else has to try the recipe and let me know how it works for you? IMO opinion, I think BonAmi would work just the same, but who knows? ,..................

[Pablo]

I tried tumbling the Dynamic parts, if anybody cares.......it worked perfectly
I did several pieces at the same time.

Disclaimer: Your results may vary, depending on water chemistry, types of media, and soap used
I used super soft, Mississippi tap water, Buffalo Arms ceramic media and liquid polishing soap.

No Zippity, I have not tried Simple Green

[Horsepower]

When you say worked perfectly, do you mean it shines better than new or just clean? I'd like to get a couple of those chassis to shine like the sun without using a wire wheel. If you haven't tried Simple Green you should. I haven't put it in a case tumbler but for everything else I've used it for it works superb and doesn't screw up paint or metal finishes.

[Pablo]

Well, since 1966 was a long time ago, I don't really remember how shiny they were then
Mine came out, I would say, a little shinier than new. Better looking than a wire wheel would do, for sure.

Why would I want to change my polishing agent ? Buffalo Arms liquid is working super for me.
I'm pretty sure my theory about water chemistry being the determining factor as to what works is right on the money.
Manta Ray tried one of the above methods and ended up with a black mess.
I know what works for me and my Mississippi water and I'm not going to change.
The water here is clean and soft.

[Pablo]

Gary, now that I'm home looking at the tumbled Dynamic pieces, I'll modify my answer a little:
They look absolutely brand new. Not shinier than new. Just new.
Keep an eye on Ebay, I'll be selling a Gurney Eagle Dynamic Russkit soon.
You can judge for yourself.

[Zippity]

My tumbling media is but a couple of days away from arriving in my letterbox - it came across the Tasman from Australia on a container ship

How much media do I place in the tumbler?

How much water do I use?

How much "Simple Green" do I add?

I'm getting excited - it has been months of waiting and now the day is almost here