Cleaning tumbler

[Musclerodz]

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

great for cast aluminum brackets too....i tell you though Mike, if your neighbors like you now they may not so much after you run it for a few hours.

I don't have any neighbors close so I don't care. what media do you use on castings? I have always blasted my stuff using #6 or #8 silica

[silvermonte]

I did end up getting a tumbler, I forget what brand but it was a nice one. I used crushed walnuts for some little c-clips and that didnt work out to well then jumped up to blasting sand and that was a bit better. Does anyone know of something a bit more harsh then the sand?

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by Musclerodz

I don't have any neighbors close so I don't care. what media do you use on castings? I have always blasted my stuff using #6 or #8 silica

Same stuff but I add tumble soap. Been using Garnet with nice results. I have a blaster too but its a bit of a mess.

Originally Posted by silvermonte

I did end up getting a tumbler, I forget what brand but it was a nice one. I used crushed walnuts for some little c-clips and that didnt work out to well then jumped up to blasting sand and that was a bit better. Does anyone know of something a bit more harsh then the sand?

How big are the c-clips? Thin stuff you may be better off with a chemical cleaner like evap-o-rust.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by silvermonte

I did end up getting a tumbler, I forget what brand but it was a nice one. I used crushed walnuts for some little c-clips and that didnt work out to well then jumped up to blasting sand and that was a bit better. Does anyone know of something a bit more harsh then the sand?

Walnut shells are for removing paint off something you don't want the actual material finish to change on.

Bead blasting will alter a parts finish -- and the walnuts or plastic media will just clean things without that resulting in an altered finish.


"Tumblers" are normally used for deburring and or polishing parts... although, I guess, with the right media they can be used for cleaning too.

The problems come with cleaning small parts - or any part - with something that will or does remove the parts original plating etc -- and you end up with small parts that used to be zinc or cad plated - that now RUST within a week because they're now just bare steel.

Personally I toss old fasteners into the scrap bin and replace them with new stainless steel or the correct Grade hardware for the job. I figure my time is worth "something" (although the wife thinks differently). And when restoring or building a car I want the final product to be up to snuff. I DO spend an awful lot of time polishing small button head stuff.... but I got a kool tool (Polishing Grip) from a buddy of mine (Timmy Diver) that makes this pretty quick and saves my fingers!

http://www.notchead.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

[silvermonte]

More or less this was just an excuse to buy another tool. I have 2 entire cars worth of these little guys to clean so I wanted to see what I could do. They are not horrible dirty or rusted and I soaked them in wd-40 first. I almost got them as clean as I would of liked. I think a bag of 20 of these little guys is just a few bucks but its fun to play around and learn something. This picture is what they looked like before I put them in the tumbler.