Need tumbler

BC Buck

Junior Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2019
Messages
75
Location
St Louis MO
Went to Harbor Freight and there tumbler looked like it would not hold liquid and box has no mention of liquid use. What do you guys recommend for tumbling. I have a vibrating bowl for ammunition reloading but does not seem to do much with currency.
 
The Harbor Freight unii is perfectly fine, many of us have them and use them...myself for about 9 years now.
They put them on sale a few times a year and that, plus a 20-25% off coupon, you can pick them up cheap.
If you want to spend more dough then be our guest, Lortone and Thumbler are other companies with more expensive tumblers and there are others.
Just search for tumbler, recipe on this forum and a bunch of threads will pop up with all kinds of recipes you can use.

As you found out vibratory are good for cleaning bullet casings but not on dirty clad.

If you are handy you can make one yourself, youtube has many examples.
This is my favorite.

 
Last edited:
Based on the good reviews here on the harbor Freight tumbler I bought one. The two drum unit. It was defective right out of the box. Grommet on wire at motor, plastic cooling fan on motor. Other issues I cant remember detail on right now but it would not run for any length of time without stopping and plus it just looked like it was not worth anywhere close to what I paid so I took it back and ordered the two drum Thumblers Tumbler which does work right out of the box and is obviously higher quality. I should not have to dick with something I just bought to get it to work.
Others have had good experience with the HF unit but not me. I like HF stuff generally and buy there if the quality is good and price is right.
I'm having problems tumbling zinc pennies in solution of water, dish soap and CLR. Seems maybe the rotten zincs react and outgas enough to pop the lid off of the Thumbler drum after a short while. No problem with clad quarters dimes, nickles which tumble in a separate drum.
 
HF tumbler works fine. Have a double one, for silver clad another for pennies. Is at least 10 years old if not more. Never had an issue with it and never leaked either.
 
Based on the good reviews here on the harbor Freight tumbler I bought one. The two drum unit. It was defective right out of the box. Grommet on wire at motor, plastic cooling fan on motor. Other issues I cant remember detail on right now but it would not run for any length of time without stopping and plus it just looked like it was not worth anywhere close to what I paid so I took it back and ordered the two drum Thumblers Tumbler which does work right out of the box and is obviously higher quality. I should not have to dick with something I just bought to get it to work.
Others have had good experience with the HF unit but not me. I like HF stuff generally and buy there if the quality is good and price is right.
I'm having problems tumbling zinc pennies in solution of water, dish soap and CLR. Seems maybe the rotten zincs react and outgas enough to pop the lid off of the Thumbler drum after a short while. No problem with clad quarters dimes, nickles which tumble in a separate drum.

Try a little low sudsing ammonia in the one with the high pressure.
 
I bought a two barrel Lortone tumbler back in 1984. it gets plenty of use every year and is still going strong. These tumblers may still be available from Kellyco or maybe even Amazon. They cost more than a Harbor freight tumbler but are definitely water tight and last FOREVER.
 
I’ve got the 3 lb single barrel tumbler from Harbor Freight and it works great, no water leaks or any of that.
 
I have the Habor Freight unit, but opening the top can be a pita.
I’ve also used a cheap plastic-gear driven tumbler from Toys-R-Us that I’ve used for over ten years, half the price of the HF.
 
Went to Harbor Freight and there tumbler looked like it would not hold liquid and box has no mention of liquid use. What do you guys recommend for tumbling. I have a vibrating bowl for ammunition reloading but does not seem to do much with currency.

Find a tradmill for free..they are out there..then use a large gatorade bottle fill it with medium and coins and put it on the treadmill...did that til my old treadmill broke...and the speed of it..works much faster than a tumbler
 
Find a tradmill for free..they are out there..then use a large gatorade bottle fill it with medium and coins and put it on the treadmill...did that til my old treadmill broke...and the speed of it..works much faster than a tumbler
Thats a good idea. I already have a tread mill. How do you keep bottle from rolling off end.
 
Thats a good idea. I already have a tread mill. How do you keep bottle from rolling off end.

I just put a piece of a 2x4 across the bottom of the track about an inch off the belt..the bottle would justd rest against the 2x4 when turned on and roll...
Works like a charm..and u can crank the speed up and coins cleans in just a few mins
 
HF tumbler works fine. Have a double one, for silver clad another for pennies. Is at least 10 years old if not more. Never had an issue with it and never leaked either.

Im with joee, love my HF dual drum tumbler! Been running almost 7 years now. The treadmill idea is good too if you already have one, otherwise it would be easier to just buy a tumbler rather than look for a free used treadmill... Good luck out there!
 
I bought a two barrel Lortone tumbler back in 1984. it gets plenty of use every year and is still going strong. These tumblers may still be available from Kellyco or maybe even Amazon. They cost more than a Harbor freight tumbler but are definitely water tight and last FOREVER.

thinking about getting a lortone myself. Have you had to replace many parts?
 
Can always take the Mud Puppy approach. Insert dirty coins into a vending machine, hit reject, out pops sparking clean coins :lol: I did jam up a machine at work doing that once. Maybe try at someone elses work place.
 
thinking about getting a lortone myself. Have you had to replace many parts?
I've had the Lortone since 1984 and haven't had to replace even one part. It just keeps on going and going. The only thing I've ever done to it is occasionally put a little oil on the revolving rods.
 
Back
Top Bottom