Tumble finish small parts??

[John Sabato]

GT,

I once built a tumbler (primarily for cases) out of a hard plastic 5 quart bucket with a snap down lid, that was installed on a threaded shaft that stuck out of a worm gear reduction assembly that was originally a window crank in a european car. I mounted the bucket at a 45 degree angle to the ground so the contents wouldn't spill out when opened it and the bucket didn't have to be removed to sift the stuff for the material I was tumbling... I used an old washing machine motor and a piece of rubber fuel line to make the connection to the turning end shaft and I got about 30 RPM on the bucket... I used walnut shell and a half cup of jeweler's rouge and got a nice soft finish on anything that I tumbled... mY total cost was $5.00 for the window crank gear assembly at a junk yard... plus the cost of the tumbling medium...

That device is 25 years old and still in my attic!