Tumble finish small parts??

[G.T.]

Have any of our machinests out there had any experience with vibratoy tumblers for small steal parts?? I know that some parts are rotated in a barrel type tumbler, which is best?? Is a brass case tumbler adaquate, or does one need something more Industrial, heavy duty... Pros?? Cons??Best to all, til...lat'r....GT

[Roadkill]

Don't know the answer, but good to hear from you again.

rk

[G.T.]

Hi RK! Nice to be back! My work load has finally leveled out, all is well! Real nice to hear from old friends! Best to you, til...lat'r...GT

[Ron Smith]

Hey GT ,

Great to have you up and running again. These other Old Codgers are getting a bit boring.

Sometime ago, I was in a gunshop and there was a discussion going on between two collectors who were there to look at some Lugers that the dealer had aquired. This was long before I could even imagine affording to buy one of the high grade Lugers in question.

One of the collectors made mention of the finish on the Lugers. The other collector said that he had a referrence that stated that all of the prefinished parts were tumbled in a polishing medium after being hand polished and just prior to being rust blued. And that this was the reason that original finishes were difficult to duplicate.

He spoke as if it was a German referrence on the production methods used.

Ron

[G.T.]

Hi Ron, Nice to be back around... Im pretty certain the Krieghoffs parts were tumbled or deburred in this fashion...not for sure though, just heard it as such. I am more interested in finding out if anyone hear has actually used a vibratory tumble for this purpose, and what kind of machine did they use?? And how did it work out?? I know that it is necessary to use different mediums to get different results... but I really want to know if a standard brass tumble will work, or do you need an industrial type for small steel parts? Best to all, til...lat'r....GT

[Edward Tinker]

I have heard this also, just unsure where... I have also heard this is one method to make SSA parts look "used" after a restore.


Ed

[Ron Smith]

GT , I don't see why a large brass tumbler with walnut shell medium wouldn't work for small parts. Or even walnut and corncob medium mixed might work even better.

Ron

[Lugerlover]

G.T.
I have tried a vibratory case cleaner with walnut media. The results were not very satisfactory. I was attempting to polish some chromed keys that had been exposed to light salt. It didn't do much at all to clean them. Some other media might be better. I also think that the barrel type tumbler would be more effective.
Regards,
Bill

[G.T.]

Hi Bill, Thanks for your input! That is about what I have discovered...for polish it works fine..but to break an edge down, I agree one needs abit more.... I am leaning toward the barrel type tumbler.... If anyone else has any experience, please let us know! best to all, til...lat'r....GT

[Fritzer]

GT,
I have never used this stuff - but I ran across it on eBay, Look at this link
Black Beauty
I almost bought some to try - but have not. It sounds interesting, I have a couple of bead/sand blaster setups to try the stuff out in. It sounded good for the heavy duty rust clean up.

I did some initial scanning around the internet for other sources & uses for the stuff. As I recall it was mostly large industrial surface prep applications. Seemed on the up & up.
Looks like they found a use for all that coal slag?
Sounds tougher than the average tumbler medium.
They offer a couple of different grits, as well as aluminum oxide medium too.

What do you think?
Regards,
Fritz

[G.T.]

Hi Fritz! Thanks for the link.. Looks like it has some real possibilities... I think in a rotary tumbler, dry, might work out fine... It is reasonably priced also... looks good to me... thanks, best to you, til..lat'r...GT

[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!