Big Boys Hobbies

Cleaning coins - tumbler vs vibrator

TwistedT

TwistedT

Elite Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
1,620
Location
SouthWestern PA - Westmoreland Co.
Hey All,
I know that most of you who clean their coins use some type of rock tumbler machine to do this. Does anyone use the vibrator type of tumbler? or tried it before?
I have a vibrator type cleaner for gun casings and was wondering if I could use it for my coins?

any ideas? thoughts?

GL and HH !
 
I tried using my vibratory brass tumbler but never had good results from it. The coins just didn't seem to want to move much. So I bought a rotary tumbler for my coins and love it.
 
I've used both and while the vibrator is great for cleaning brass, it was not good for my coins. I started putting my coins in a tumbler and have been ever since.
 
The advice as always, never use a tumbler on anything of value.
Or even clean anything of potential value, without first getting advice.
 
i've tried both as well and the tumbler wins!
my ultrasonic cleaner is just a small one intended for cleaning dental appliances and although it works great with jewelry, it did basically nothing for dirty coins.

the tumbler i have is just a little $35 thing i got from toys-r-us, it holds about a half a pound and even just a half hour of tumbling will take a lot of the crud off of coins. and if you're into gemstones, a package of them, some polishing grit and some cheap little unfinished jewelry stuff came with it as well. :D

Pete
 
I use a harbor freight 3 lb rock tumbler, cleaned just over 12 pounds of clad and penny's with it this Fall without any problems, the tumbler came with 5 extra belts it sells for $40.00. Harbor Freight always offers discounts, I think the last offer was 20% off. I've also seen some old computers printers converted into tumblers that people claimed to work just fine.
 
Brainworm said:
I use a harbor freight 3 lb rock tumbler, cleaned just over 12 pounds of clad and penny's with it this Fall without any problems, the tumbler came with 5 extra belts it sells for $40.00. Harbor Freight always offers discounts, I think the last offer was 20% off. I've also seen some old computers printers converted into tumblers that people claimed to work just fine.
Click to expand...

lol, i would have bought a larger one like that, but it seemed almost impossible to find any around here. i just learned less than a week ago, there's a hobby shop barely 15 minutes away from me that sells tumblers, but not for $40! :no:
whenever mine gives out on me, then i'll consider the larger model. ;)
 
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