Rock tumbler for rust removal

R

Richard Lorenz

Senior Member
I have a 3-pound rock tumbler from Harbor Freight / Chicago Pneumatic that I have not yet used. Would it be a good idea to add some medium grade Black Beauty type abrasive to the mix? This will be intended for rust removal from small parts.
 
Rich,

I bought one myself about 4 months ago. Also bought the Blue-green, triangular medium that was recommended. Put some small parts within the container and turned it on for a few hours expecting nice clean and shiny parts. Did not turn out as I expected.

If you find something that works...please let me and us know.

Thanks.

Pluck
 
I have an old tumbler and tried it with some old glass beads then some walnut shells by mistake. Everything was clean and stuff that was shiny before was shiny afterwords but rusty old bolts did not get shiny. Once worked for a company years ago that tumbled long parts with old bolts as a medium to clean larger parts and the parts came out clean. I have both style of tumblers and the vibratory is faster but larger parts seem to work together and the potmetal parts show wear spots where they contact each other. The other type takes much longer but the contact is no problem. Used to tumble large quantities small machined parts in flax seed hulls to brighten up and polish them but they had never been dirty or rusty. Had a neighbor that used a homemade vibratory tumbler and he used pea gravel, seem to work but was very noisy.
 
I have one and am impressed with the way it works with the exception of the noise. I usually use water with a drop or two of soap as a lubricant and it seems to work well. Will Cronkrite also uses one that is on steriods (it is huge), and his does a phenominal job of cleaning up parts.
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
I have one and am impressed with the way it works with the exception of the noise. I usually use water with a drop or two of soap as a lubricant and it seems to work well. Will Cronkrite also uses one that is on steriods (it is huge), and his does a phenominal job of cleaning up parts.
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So Brent, you are using the Harbor freight tumbler and add water and soap to what kind of media ?
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
I have one and am impressed with the way it works with the exception of the noise. I usually use water with a drop or two of soap as a lubricant and it seems to work well. Will Cronkrite also uses one that is on steriods (it is huge), and his does a phenominal job of cleaning up parts.
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What media are you using?
 
d.j. moordigian said:
How about..

1. Part numbers on the machines?
2. Which media for the types of work?
3. Photos?

Thanks, Dudley
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Guys, sorry but I don't know what media it all is, --or what the numbers of it are. Some I bought with the machine, ...and some I purchased off of eBay. Below is a picture of the machine and what is in it. The other media is in bags and we just swap it out when need be. I suggest someone buy the machine and try it using different types of media on their items. There is as many different types of media out there as there are brands & types of oil!! :eek:

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Brent i purchased same unit from Habour freight last trip, Needed to run it on a ****** as our power is 240 Plus we still have a whole lot of shaking going on ( earthquakes) Have tried the triangle shaped dry medium, for derust, Not that good, Do i understand you have used water & soap for a wet brew, Was this to degrease parts or what, Thanks,
 
Derek, I actually use a hot caustic solution to degrease. Once an item has been removed from that tank, it seems within 48 hours
it begins to flash rust. The water is just a lubricating fluid to aid the media as they move around the hopper. Below is a picture of Will
Cronkrite's tumbler tank. Notice he uses water & soap too.......

sat10%20009.jpg


.
 
I have used a cement mixer filled with black beauty to tumble parts clean. It worked great and was cheap (borrowed), I think Northern tool and Harbour Freight have the plastic ones for 150$.
 
I have now made 2 runs with my small 3-pound Harbor Freight rock tumbler. This tumbler is about 5 inches long and 3 inches or so diameter. 6 hours cleaned most things. Even with a 13 hour run, crevices like screwdriver slots needed hand cleaning and then another run. Brass pieces like throttle plates came out with a nice looking matte finish.

My recipe is to use some dish-washing detergent along with about 1/2 cup fine grain Black Beauty abrasive. I think that a coarser grain size would work better. I used a range of sizes of items to be cleaned, from throttle plate screws up to things several inches long. I had a lot of old wood screws in the mix thinking that the points might help with the cleaning of odd-shaped items. I reused many of the small items for the second run in order to keep a mixture of sizes. I filled the chamber about 1/2 full with parts and added water to nearly the top of the parts. I am happy with the results.
 
I use the HF small rock tumbler with the Green Diamond shaped media they sell. I add about 8oz of water to it. Most stuff is clean in 1-2 hours. The belt is going to break one day,replace it with a "hairband" girls use for there Pony tail.

RockHill Will has the coolest setup!
Wick
 
I have used a Thumbler's Tumbler for 40 years. I tumble toy train and car parts. I"m on my 4th tumbler. It is running now. I've done 4 carbs last week plus some rusty junk. All my Model A greasy and rust bolts go thru the tumbler. They come out clean with no damage to the threads. It is a gallon tumbler. I use a non homogenous mix of small nuts, bolts, nails and odd shapes. Any small metal parts I run across go in the tumbler. I fill with hot water and add a few dolups of dishwaher soap. Run for 3 hours and dry by air of on the floor register. I can send some photos to someone as I don't know how to post.
clem
 
Thanks guys, I ran my HF large one dry hence posibly a little disapointed, Will try with the detergent & water, I have the green diamond media, What is black beauty abrasive.?? Winter here. Derek
 
What I use is the Black Diamond version sold by Tractor supply. From what I have read it is made from coal slag and is non-toxic when compared with sand. In the tumbler my Black Diamond wears down and forms a loose slurry or sludge. I will look into the Green Diamond.
 
I use thinner, with Stainless steel bearings in various sizes, there is a website out there you can get it for polishing jewlery. They have little diamonds-squares balls to get in the threading too.

I do mine for a couple hours, they don't come out shinny, but the rust is off and they look like a flat grey finish.
 
For small parts (nuts, bolts, brake rod clevis, etc.) I used my small tumbler and put in EvapoRust and plastic beads (used to polish rocks and take up 'slack' in the container.)

Worked great. I did have to 'burp' the containers a couple times.

I do not have a large polisher - just the smaller dual container tumbler.

Mike in NRN IN
 
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