I made myself a vibrating tumbler

[mollydog1]

I have a few tools that have gone a bit on the rusty side,

I’ve been watching a few YouTube video’s on DIY tumble spinners and DIY vibrating tumblers





So I went on eBay and bought a 60W vibrating motor, I found an old dog food bowl we used to u8se for our large dogs that have long gone now, I made four holes in the bottom and fitted the vibrating motor to it













I’ve been looking at products to user with the vibrating motor and will be ordering something off eBay/internet, but I’m gear to try it out tomorrow and was wondering if there is anything I could buy locally that I could use till there proper product arrives?

I’ve been informed not only Sand is bad to use but is also illegal due to the fine dust it produces, I was thinking of going to Knotcuts (we have here) and buy a small bag of granite or the likes any opinions?

[giuliettaevo]

What about the grit they use for blasting?

Crushed glass also comes to mind.

Interested to see where this goes as I also thought about this before.🙂

[Davey]

What are you polishing?

You can get the proper media on Amazon.

www.amazon.co.uk/Betued-Tumbling-Jewellery-Polishing-Vibration/dp/B07TRC3L5K?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A1PBXDW2RGFYAY

[mollydog1]

Thank you for this link, I only want to remove rust off nut & bolts and some small tools that have gathered some rust,

I’ve been watching YouTube videos and hear (see) contrary opinions on what media to use to remove rust, some say to use plastic media and others say to use ceramic media and lots of other opinions in between, I’m going to make a few phone calls to suppliers and see what they have to say

I’ve not yet finished the build, I’m looking for suitable springs to isolate the bowl from the frame, I took these video clips a last night

This is without my temporary foam around the bowl




This is with my temporary foam, you can see the difference, so I need to find those springs, not yet sure if to use extracting springs or compression springs

[mollydog1]

Just got off the phone to Sand Blasters (https://www.sandblasters.co.uk)

They recommended 4 by 10 (I think this is the size of 4mm x 10mm) ceramic media, so I bought 2 Kilos of it @£25.95 includes VAT and P&P, they said should be here by Wednesday, just going round looking for rusty nuts & bolts now

[mollydog1]

I finally found what I think will be a good spring to baffle the bowl, I found on Toolstation gate springs, those that push closed a gate if you leave it open



These are around 250mm long so I bought 2 and will be cutting them in half and use them as feet for the bowl







Now I’m off to the garage to make a start

[mollydog1]

I made a start on cutting down the springs and taking off the end swivels late last night







Ending up with 4 approximate same sized springs



I fitted 4 bolts to the base of my frame to fix the springs to



What a job I had trying to fit a large washer and screw a nut to hold down the spring, with lots of effort I managed to do it, I had to make a split washer and use the thinnest 10mm socket to poke through the spring to hold the spring in place









One down 3 more to go



One thing I didn’t get round to photographing was the plate I made for the base of the bowl to attach the top of the springs to, I’ll show some images of this later when I make a start on the other three remaining springs later today

[qilin]

I am interested to see how you get on with this. I have a large unit that was made in the USA. When I checked the model it was about $2,500 new. I got it second hand. When I switched it on in the house the noise was unbelievable and the vibration immense. I was like using an air operated demolition hammer.
The cost of the media to fill it was around £200 so it was never used. There was a small selection of different types of media that were only samples. You can get steel shot for shot peening things like conrods. Media for fine polishing of gears etc. The larger the unit the more you can fit in but the cost of the media to fill it is much higher. It also has a feed for water which I believe works better on some media.
Your unit is a good starting point.

[joda]

I done similar with a old sander and a plastic wash basin - i used Cat Litter to derust old nuts, bolts, washers etc it worked ok for what it was.

I have since purchased a "Frost" tumbler - tho it was only £40 and two miles from the house, ive yet to use it.

Frost also sell various fancy media

www.frost.co.uk/vibratory-tumblers/

[mollydog1]

qilin
Tell me about the cost, two kilo’s delivery cost just over £25, if I tipped all the product in my small bowl it still wouldn’t fill it, two kilo’s might just half fill it

I have a few old imperial spanners my late father gave me that have turned very rusty but they won’y fit in my bowl, I must go on a search for a more cost effective way of filling my bowl


joda
I was also planning on using something like cat litter but thought for my first attempt, to see if it works best to use what was advised to remove rust, I phoned frost to buy the product but they closed at 4pm it was 4:15 when I phoned, so I phoned the next down on google search

In my tests I discovered the method of attaching the bowl to the motor and frame wasn’t isolating the vibration from the frame and was making the whole thing jump all over the place, so I sat down and worked out another way to attach motor and bowl to the frame still using the four springs

The method I’m using, I saw on a YouTube channel and that using a bolt (and washer) going through a rubber pipe inside the spring and as you tighten the bolt it compresses the rubber tube in to the voids in the spring keeping it tight and also isolating not all but the majority of the vibration from transferring to the frame











I found a few rusty sockets and placed them in the tumbler, I only ran it for 90 minutes as it was getting late and I didn’t want to be upsetting my neighbours that late at night with the loud noise the thing makes.







For sure I won’t be using this in the garage again as even with covering the bowl the dust was everywhere around the bowl

After an hour and a half they looked like this





I was told to file the bowl no more than just covering the items needing tumbling as the more product I placed in the bowl the more work the motor had to do



This morning I placed the tumbler in the garden and will have it running for 3 or 4 hours and see what the sockets look like when I take them out

[qilin]

Very good, Near silent operation!
My unit would have left that bench spotless. It might even reduce it to a flat pack. It is working as it should from what I can see.
If you want to de-rust I would suggest citric acid mixed 9 parts water to one part citric acid. It will remove the rust from those items very quickly and cheaply. I use it for lots of parts and with heavier rust on them.
The advantage of the vibrator is that it can give a polished finish. For the like of spanners I have used citric acid to de-rust, then polish with scotchbrite pad on a grinder and a mirror finish can be produced.

[93fxdl]

How about suspending it from a hook with bungy straps, with one to the side, preventing it winding up
Ttfn Glenn