17 replies to this topic

[beau]

I just purchased a large rock vibrator/tumbler I want to use to get that beautiful finish on some of the builds I see on this site, via Jairus Watson and Pablo.

 

Does anyone know the best formula of media to accomplish this? I've been told that ceramic is used for deburring then use a fine walnut shell with iron oxide for final polishing. Is this correct or is there a better way to get the results I'm looking for?

 

Thanks so much for any help you can give...

 

Beau

[Samiam]

If you have a tumbler there is this:

http://slotblog.net/...go/?hl=tumblers

 

and Pablo's post here:

http://slotblog.net/...fo/#entry650445

 

and Rick's stuff here:

http://slotblog.net/...tumbling-media/

[kvanpelt]

Rick's stuff works great in my tumbler.

[John Streisguth]

Did you get a vibratory unit or a true tumbler? You'll probably find the vibratory units take a much longer time to do the job.

[Pablo]

It's going to be real hard to give good answers unless we know exactly what machine you have.

 

My walnut shell experiment was a disaster. On a different machine with different water and different detergent, it may work fine. But not for me.

[Tim Neja]

Vibrators don't work near as well as the rotating tumblers! Rick has ceramic media that works great! SAMs first post shows the best way to go!

[John Streisguth]

It's going to be real hard to give good answers unless we know exactly what machine you have.

 

My walnut shell experiment was a disaster. On a different machine with different water and different detergent, it may work fine. But not for me.

Walnut shell is supposed to run dry.  It also works better in vibratory units, apparently

[Pablo]

Thanks, John - now I know why my experiment failed   It turned a chassis black

[old & gray]

Thanks, John - now I know why my experiment failed   It turned a chassis black

 

Paul - just checked with my favorite calligrapher, walnut shells have been used to make black ink so your chassis may only have a surface coating. 

Salvageable by cleaning.

[Pablo]

That's great news, thanks. I'll send the chassis, and the used walnut shells to your calligrapher.

On my way to the land fill right now ......

[Zippity]

Some women I know prefer a vibrator to a tumbler

[John Streisguth]

That's great news, thanks. I'll send the chassis, and the used walnut shells to your calligrapher.

On my way to the land fill right now ......

[old & gray]

That's great news, thanks. I'll send the chassis, and the used walnut shells to your calligrapher.

On my way to the land fill right now ......

 

You  can continue composting the walnut shells but a Pablo Chassis is a treasure I dream of. (My wife is the calligrapher.)

[beau]

Thanks so much for all your help, everyone!!!!! To clarify, I bought a tumbler. I will try Rich's method with ceramic media and solution.

Thanks again to all.....Beau (newbe) 

[Pablo]

Ahhh, so it was a tumbler all along, not a vibrator.

 

Now that we know that, I cannot over-emphasize the importance of experimentation with regards to water chemistry and the soap solution you use.

Distilled is probably the safest bet. Some solutions work well with some tap waters, and others not so good.

 

Example, dc-65x has great results with a certain clothes detergent. I tried it and it didn't work well for me. Mississippi water is very pure and extremely soft.

 

Buffalo Arms soap works perfect with it. Experiment and find what works for you.

[Jay Guard]

Here's one word of advice, don't put any zinc plated items into the tumbler. Although it will "polish" the zinc to some extent the zinc will also be deposited onto the ceramic media and will then be practically useless for polishing anything else. This because it will redeposit the zinc from the media  onto any other item you put in the tumbler and the resulting finish will be dull/zinc at best. You'll pretty much have to dump that corrupted media and refill with new to get good results again.

[Mike K]

Thanks Jay. good to know. At one point I tumbled some GT12 chassis with a lemon detergent and they came out BLACK as if they were anodized! I now wonder if they were zinc plated?

[Koford fan]

wow i didn't know a tumbler does a fine fine fine job there, me eyes was like wuut wuut. !!!! actually i said holy fuc !!