Rock Tumbler

M

~MetalDigger~

Full Member
Oct 20, 2007
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North Carolina
Sure, just about everyone does. I just use some aquarium type gravel and a little dishwashing detergent and tumble for about an hour. Check and repeat for any that didn't come clean the first time. Eighty percent of the coins tumbled are usually spendable after the first hour of tumbling.
 

Great I have plenty of Aquarium gravel, thanks. I'm looking at a double drum on e-bay shipped for $50.00 or should I just get a single drum, I'd only be saveing about $15.00 buy getting the single.
 

Go WWW.HARBORFREIGHT.COM and once there type in tumbler. There are two of them on sale. One is only $19.95 and I am told does a good job. You might want to get extra belts however. Also I am told you can use really thick rubberbands too. Much cheaper than belts.
Robert
 

Any tumbler will work...I picked up one of those kiddie ones for 5 bucks..cleans my clad well enough. The one at harborfreight is a good one though..
 

i have the harbor freight one and its fine. the catch to it is the belts wear but what i've noticed is when you power it on you just give it the tumbler a little help to get it spinning and then its fine. i got mine at a yardsale but i think they are $20 or $29 new.

lately i use zincoln pennies as tumbling media. i always have lots of those so i just throw what i want to tumble in there and then put a handful of new pennies in with it with dish soap. as long as the tumbler is half full with stuff it works well.

clad might get a copperish look to it but vending machines, parking meters, and coin counter machines dont seem to mind.
 

You can use the gravel, broken corn husks, and walnut hulls. Use just a drop or two of dish washing liquid or the thing will leak soapy water all over the place. My brother in law did this on the dinning room table. What a Maroon.
 

Something you can pay for a few time's out,definetley check out the Harbor Frieght dual tumbler...right around $35.00,fortunately there's a store 5 min.'s from my work and the all-u-can eat Chinese restaurant ;D this year's clad all ready for the bank for a new coil....can't go wrong.A couple drop's of dish soap and some gravel and you're ready.HH!!
 

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civilman1 said:
Something you can pay for a few time's out,definetley check out the Harbor Frieght dual tumbler...right around $35.00,fortunately there's a store 5 min.'s from my work and the all-u-can eat Chinese restaurant ;D this year's clad all ready for the bank for a new coil....can't go wrong.A couple drop's of dish soap and some gravel and you're ready.HH!!
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CilvilMan, I have one just like yours I got from Harbor Freight here in Orlando for $35 on sale. Works great using the aquarium gravel and a tiny bit of dish soap.
 

call them at their 1-800 number and see if that tumbler is still on special. Snap it up while you can.
RR
 

could we have a couple of photos of your relfector telescope great picture and perhaps any other space based picture thanks
 

I bought a $20, single barrel tumbler from harbor freight. I was in a hurry to use it and used fine sand instead of gravel. It cleans them well, but is takes some the detail off of them. I roll them and take them to my bank. So far, no troubles. There is a pet store a block or two from my house, i'll have to get some gravel. Hope it helps.
 

Make sure you get one with a rubber drum or it will drive you crazy.
 

I'll be shure and get one with the rubber lighning. Thanks guys for all the input. I have'nt got around to getting a drum yet, But I'll keep all this in mind.
 

When I was in jewelry making we used stainless steel burnishing media in tumblers to give the jewelry its final sheen (like this stuff http://www.steelmedia.com/satellites-pins.htm). I imagine it's a lot more expensive than aquarium gravel, but it'd also last a lifetime of use.

How do the Harbor Freight tumblers compare to Lortones? We're just starting to carry the latter and they're quite a bit more expensive. I'm hoping there's a jump in quality as well.

I've not checked out the Harbor Freight tumblers, but I've bought a few of their other tools over the years and have always thought of them as the disposable end of the hardware spectrum. They work fine for while and are cheap enough to replace when they do break that you don't mind. Performance is generally worse though. Like the 1/2" variable speed drill I bought for mixing drywall mud. It is technically variable speed, but it's nearly impossible to get it to go any speed in between stop and super fast with a human finger on the trigger. While it worked fine for mixing the mud, it nearly ripped my arm off when I tried to use it with a hole saw bit.

Are the tumblers comparable in quality? If so, I imagine they'd be great for cleaning clad an hour at a time, but probably lousy at tumbling agates for weeks on end of continuous running. Has anyone used one for rock tumbling as well as coin cleaning? Beyond the belt stretching/wearing issue (can you tighten the belt?), how do they stand up over time?

Thanks much!
 

eathan, I have a Lortone I bought from another online hunter and modified it with rollers from an old tumbler that had barrels lost in a move. I use that thing all the time and it has been flawless thus far. I didn't like the barrel rolling on the steel bar and modified it to work like my previous tumbler. I have heard folks talk about the Harbor Frieght tumblers not lasting as long as expected but have no first-hand knowledge.
 

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