Garage sale tumbler - Cleaning clad for the first time.

Mikey48

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Found a used 12 lb capacity Thumbler rock tumbler at a garage sale, missing the lid and clamp, and needing a belt, for just a few bucks. So, I ordered the parts and now she is all cleaned up and fixed up ready to clean clad. The drum is about 1 gallon size, and I don't have that much clad! How full does the drum need to be to function correctly? The directions say, for tumbling rocks, 3/4 full with contents just covered with water. Do I need to get 10 lbs of natural gravel, or can I use 5lb. and run it less (half) full?

btw. There was some old paperwork with the tumbler, and it appears it was purchased in 1994. Retail price was $34.95. Value of the $ sure is going down.
 
I use fish tank gravel . I run mine about half full with 2 or 3 drops of dish detergent and about a cup of water. let it go 6 or 8 hours clad comes out looking great. Also only use white or brown gravel it is natural the bright red green blue ect, have dye on it and will rub off on your coins.
 
If your coins are discolored use white aquarium gravel with a good squirt of BLUE Dawn dis detergent and a good splash of white vinegar and another of bleach and cover with water. I did 3 loads last night and my coins came out sparkling
 
Thanks! Bought a 5 lb. bag of natural aquarium gravel and I'll put that in the 12 lb. drum along with the dish soap and clad. Then run it about four hours :impatient: and check the results.
 
I thought I read somewhere that it was suggested separate copper coins from other silver or regular clad. True or did I remember what I read wrong?
 
I am considering getting a small tumbler from harbor freight. Can any one post some before and after pics? Greatly appreciated!
 
Here are some after photos from my first cleanings. I did a run with clad, and a separate run with copper & zinc pennies. I did not take any before photos, but have added a pic with items in similar condition to what I put into the tumbler to give a reference point. Many of the quarters and dimes looked like the one in the before photo, and had been buried since the 1970's -80's.

The clad was cleaned with gravel filling half the tumbler and the dimes, nickels and quarters put in along with a few drops of dish soap and a splash of ammonia. I stopped tumbling when most of the discoloration was gone; did not tumble until shiny, although the least dirty items are clean as new. Zinc pennies stayed in about two extra hours after I removed the copper cents. Copper was tumbled about four hours.
Here are the photos.
 

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I see a canadian quarter in there, is it silver?

:facepalm:

I wish I had missed a silver... not impossible, but embarrassing if it was ...

... but no, it's a 1988. Sad to say, only worth 25c if spent here in the U.S.

Don't think I could miss a US silver, but Canadian, maybe..

:run1: :run1:
 
:facepalm:

I wish I had missed a silver... not impossible, but embarrassing if it was ...

... but no, it's a 1988. Sad to say, only worth 25c if spent here in the U.S.

Don't think I could miss a US silver, but Canadian, maybe..

:run1: :run1:
Next time! :)
 
All you guys and your tumblers! I've had a tumbler in storage since we moved back to Florida. Knew what box number it was in, had all the parts and pieces together in that box... but I'll be danged if I could find it in the storage unit. Last week the wife found a cheaper better and closer to us storage place so we started moving from the old unit to the new unit. After several grueling hours, out leapt my beloved and much searched for box # "M80" with my Thumblers Tumbler AR2 and the media that I used to use to clean my cases before I reloaded them. It's extruded steel pieces, works great on fired pistol and rifle cases, so I took some of the worst of the "Felix Zincolns" that I have and threw them into one of the tubs with the media, some dish soap and water. I'll show you the before now and update this thread after I get done with the run.

Here's the before... and the during, sort of :D


Felix Zincolns.jpg

Tumbler.jpg
 
Folks laugh at me when I tell them that I use chicken grit in my tumbler to clean coins. It appears to be small pieces of granite. Obtained from Tractor Supply.

For clad coins I use white vinegar and a table spoon or so of rock salt. Tumble for 15 minutes and most are clean enough to go thru the coin counting machine at the credit union.

For pennies I use tap water and a bit of dish detergent. I usually tumble them over night. Crusty zincolns may take a bit longer and some of them never will be usable again.
 
All you guys and your tumblers! I've had a tumbler in storage since we moved back to Florida. Knew what box number it was in, had all the parts and pieces together in that box... but I'll be danged if I could find it in the storage unit. Last week the wife found a cheaper better and closer to us storage place so we started moving from the old unit to the new unit. After several grueling hours, out leapt my beloved and much searched for box # "M80" with my Thumblers Tumbler AR2 and the media that I used to use to clean my cases before I reloaded them. It's extruded steel pieces, works great on fired pistol and rifle cases, so I took some of the worst of the "Felix Zincolns" that I have and threw them into one of the tubs with the media, some dish soap and water. I'll show you the before now and update this thread after I get done with the run.

Here's the before... and the during, sort of :D



That thing has a Fasco motor, one tough little sucker.
I sold probably somewhere near a half million dollars worth of their ceiling fans if not more in my time and repaired a ton of others going back way before I got into the biz.
They were always one of my most favorite brands I sold and I still own a few.
I don't remember ever seeing a broken motor unless it got hit by a lightning surge.
That thing might outlive both of us.
 
I have the AR-6 its a single drum and use it for my brass ammo with stainless pins and started using it for my coins with 1/2 tsp of Lemi shine powder and 3 or 4 drops of dawn soap and a small amount of stainless pins and tumble for a hour and they come out looking almost new. A hint using the thumblers tumblers with the plastic lid and the o-ring that squeezes the lid tight start with hot water as the water cools it creates a vacume in the drum and wont leak
 
I am considering getting a small tumbler from harbor freight. Can any one post some before and after pics? Greatly appreciated!
Here's a pic of some clad quarters I've cleaned. Half hour in the tumbler to get the dirt off, then soaked for about 5 minutes in salt and vinegar and then tumbled again for 90 minutes. I don't bother cleaning silver coins other than getting the dirt off them with soap and water. I don't soak the copper coins in the salt/vinegar but I do tumble them once to remove the dirt.
 

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