Experience with tumblers
- Thread starter ROBBIE
- Start date
~Alan~
Forum Supporter
I 've had one for a while now, but would only use it to clean items with no historic value.
I've found it brings up old brass buckles very well.
I've found it brings up old brass buckles very well.
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2006
- Messages
- 3,708
I have a cheepo dual drum tumbler that I use on my clad. I highly recommend you never use it on anything you like or want to keep.
I bought one from WalMart 2 years ago and it still works well. I use it for common coins but any coin of value never use a tumbler.
Robbie...
I bought mine at a gem/jewelry/mineral store that charged me $80+ (boy... they seen ME comin')...!
I dare say, a Wal-Mart model is just fine. I only wish that I had done a better search before diggin' so deep into my pocket!
Get the cheap-o. You're trying to salvage money, not throw it away!
They all work the same... they simply tumble.
I bought mine at a gem/jewelry/mineral store that charged me $80+ (boy... they seen ME comin')...!
I dare say, a Wal-Mart model is just fine. I only wish that I had done a better search before diggin' so deep into my pocket!
Get the cheap-o. You're trying to salvage money, not throw it away!
They all work the same... they simply tumble.
johncooper
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2006
- Messages
- 8
Just a note about cheap tumblers. I have a tumbler I bought from Harbor Freight. It only lasted two months before the rubber belt wore out from a bad pulley. Took it back and got another one. This one lasted about three months before it went south, the plastic bushings for the rollers wore through and the rollers began to eat through the sheet metal. It was costing me about $10.00 in gas to get a replacement. I decided to fix it instead. After fixing it I decided I needed another tumbler and I too didn't like the prices of the ones at the rock shop. I built my own. It has roller bearings supporting the shafts and a heavy duty small motor that I got from salvage. There were several web sites that I used to figure out how to make mine.
~Alan~
Forum Supporter
A common mistake is to make the belt too tight. This puts a strain on the bearings and pulley.
