Technical anyone use a vibratory tumbler for cleaning hardware?

putting my 1949 Chevrolet back together and I have a couple coffee cans full of hardware. I thought I would try on of these tumblers to clean all this crusty junk. bought one at Harbor freight, thinking this would be something they really couldn't screw up.

I also bought what they call rust cutting abrasive made of "green unsaturated resin" whatever that is. I have been tumbling this stuff for hours and while it is better than before it is not cleaning all the rust like I had hoped.

so, I'm thinking a more aggressive media is needed, or I threw my money away and should have just wire wheeled this stuff.

what do you guys use, and how long should it take. remember, I am removing California rust from my hardware so it is not that bad.

 

I take it all to my plater and get it zinc plated, comes back like new and protected , doesn't cost a huge amount

 

probably should have thought about that first. there is a plating business right down the street from me. I wonder what they use?

 

I have been usin an old crock pot , to clean up carbs to rebuild . Works great and ands a manly smell to the shop


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Don't let your GF learn about a vibratory tumbler or you will be in deep trouble.

 

10% solution of Molasses and water, coffee can, about 2 weeks, and Bob's yer Uncle.

 

Somewhere in the shed I have an old rock polisher about the size of a coffee can that my son had to polish brass with so he could reload it at his buddy's place. If it still works it may get some time tumbling small parts.

 

I bought the large HF vibratory shaker and the green pyramids.

It sucks compared to the industrial vibratory bowls I’ve seen in auto parts suppliers plants.

The HF version is good at making noise in the shop and dust in the bottom of the bowl.

Did I tell you I hate wire brushing parts and hardware.

 

I drop smaller hardware into a vinegar bath. Leave it there for a day or two. Pull it out and drop into a soda bath for a little bit to neutralize the vinegar. Then I hit it with a wire brush in my bench grinder and then spritz with marvel mystery oil. Got a pair of boss 302 heads that looked bad when I first got them. First photo is how they were when I started. The second photo show it afterwards.

 

I had an old clothes dryer in the back yard with a dead heating element. I build a wood frame inside the drum that held a 5 gallon bucket. Filled the bucket with abrasive and my shit, snapped the lid on and shoved it in. Worked great.

 

49ratfink, Did you try different abrasives? sand or black beauty works great on the small screws and brackets on a carburetor. I have been using a rotating tumbler for about 15 years and it works great on one or two sets of carb hardware. However it 'bogs " if I stuff it with too many parts and they do not come completely clean...mmmmm.
I now have the parts to build a vibrating type as I have a back log of carbs to do.....13

 

I do have some sand... I didn't really want to spend more on different abrasives until I found one that would work for sure.

 

don't think anyone down here does proper cad. plating anymore I get a gold pasivated zinc unless the grey zinc is appropriate, you can also ask them just t strip and you paint. There are Caswell kits for home zinc plating as well

 

I have used a cement mixer with 30 mesh sand for rust removal. Some parts may need a second run through.

 

Citric acid. Then wire wheel.

 

Are you running it wet or dry? I've got a 25# Raytech vibe I use for deburring small machined parts using ceramic cone media. I've also used some abrasive impregnated plastic media in the past and I assume that's what this green HF stuff is. Anyway, to get good results with either type media I run it with water and a little bit of dish soap. The only media I've ever run dry is walnut shells for polishing some aluminum parts.

Just guessing,, but I think the water and soap acts as a lubricant so the parts circulate more freely among the media so it reaches all sides/surfaces. I know from having tried running the deburring media dry in the past that it doesn't work nearly as well as it does when wet.

If I've got media 3" deep in my bowl then I'd normally have the water about an inch deep.

 

this one only runs dry as far as I can tell, they have a larger one that runs wet, not sure what the difference is other than the wet one has a drain hose.

 

I have had two vibratory tumblers. The first (admittedly a cheapy) was worthless, so I stepped up and got a more expensive one. The one problem I had was that while using the media supplied (green pyramids or red granules), the media would break down and the parts would end up covered with a very find green or red dust that was a pain to remove. The only thing I use it for now is to finish parts using walnut shells. For everything else, I use an "Evaporust" type product. I started with genuine "Evaporust", but at about $18 per gallon, it's way too expensive. Then switched to "Rust-911" (which worked as well, but didn't seem to last nearly as long) for about $4.00 per gallon. Still too expensive. I am currently experimenting with citric acid (which I believe works the same way as the previous two examples). "rusty rocket" - if I may ask, what ratio are you mixing the citric acid? After a lot of research and inquiries, I have settled on 1 pound for 5 gallons, which comes out to about 50 cents a gallon. I also add a capfull of dishwasher liquid to it to act as a surfactant to make it work better.

 

I have a large vibrating shaker from HF and use sand from a pet shop for reptiles. Very fine and does an excellent job on carb parts. I've made baskets for the smaller parts from small strainers with the handles removed zip tied together.

 

I didnt have a ratio for the parts pictured above. Five pounds of citric acid was $15. For the tierod ends pictured above I used a small rubbermade tub filled with just enough water to cover the parts and shook a bit of the acid in. A day and a half and they were done. A guy does need to get as much grease,oil and old paint of the parts.

 

Oxalic acid, wood bleach, is a good one. You can also use it in chrome. Its not as aggressive as vinegar so it will take a bit longer.
Never used a vibratory tumbler, the ones Ive seen run wet.

 

That's what the dishwashing liquid is for; it makes this task a little more forgiving. Out of curiosity, did you use it in your mix?

I also like the vibratory tumbler better than a wire wheel for finishing small parts. That way I don't have to chase half the parts across the shop and lose one occasionally.

 

Holy crap!!!!

 

I'd check to see if it'll hold water, and try it wet if so. Tbe main purpose of a drain hose is so you can set up a small pump in a pan and circulate your water and soap mix thru the tumbler with the scrunge settling out in the pan as it circulates. I've got the recirculating setup for mine and it works fine but I seldom use it and it certainly isn't necessary unless you're running the tumbler near constantly in a production setup.

 

I did not use dish soap, but next batch I'll give it a try.

 

water made it much better! put a little dish soap in as well. I ran probably more than 5 hours dry, then I threw in a few more rusty screws, and ran it about 2 hours and they are looking good so far, I'm going to put them back in for more. this cleans MUCH better.

 

This is supposed to work good.
http://curtiss-ox-5.blogspot.com/search/label/Rust Removal

 

I heard farmers would rig up a container to there windmills.

 

This has been some interesting reading. The old clothes dryer will never be the same.