Tumbler Question

[Jersey Devil]

I don't reload (yet), but I was told that a tumbler would work for what I need done. You see, I have a PILE of parts that are really cruddy. Some have been refinished and are just terribly done, some are rusty, some have caked on grease and cosmo that's now nearly rock hard, some just need to be smoothed out.

I don't currently have the space for a sand / bead blaster setup.

I was told that a tumbler would help me, but the person that I was talking to didn't have any suggestions on which make / model.

Anyone here have any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
--Brian

[Phil McGrath]

Here is my .02, for old dried out cosmo and grease nothing works better than a pic too work out the hard/harder chunks of junk in the tight nooks and crannies, then a good solvent and a long soak in some type of sealed bowl or jar then chase after it with a old tooth brush. Works good on small rust peck spots as well. Running them in a tumbler will do nothing but maybe clump up the media. For evening out the surface finish I like too use plain old cheap white rice, its hard enough too work on the mottled uneven finish areas but also soft enough you don't have too worry about wearing threw the finish.

Any tumbler that wiggles, jiggles and vibrates will get the job done no need to go high dollar I've been running the same cheap Frankfort Arsenal tumbler for 20+ years.

[RAMMONT]

I gotta say that the only thing that I like to use to remove rust and hard crud is a sandblaster. I've tried all kinds of things but a $200 Harbor Freight sandblaster is hard to beat. It'll prep any kind of metal for refinishing or welding like nothing else will do. A tumbler might work but you need to find the right kind of media that will get in to the rust pockets, if the media is too large to get in to the small rust pockets then it wont clean it. You will probably have to experiment a little to find the right media for what you want and it will take more time than a sandblaster but I'm sure it would work.

[Jersey Devil]

Thanks for the info, gents!

[Orlando]

To remove old grease and cosmo a old Turkey fryer filled with water, drop the parts in boiling water and the old grease cosmo will melt away. When you pull the parts out of the water the metal is hot and all the water immediatly evaporates. Lightly oil and you are good to go