vibrating tumbler lessons

beerorkid

New member
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
763
Reaction score
6
Location
Lincoln, Nebraska
I have searched here and found some info, but my personal use shocked me.

Picked up a vibratory tumbler from harbor freight and 25 pounds of walnut media.

My goal was to uber polish balls mostly. I know $100 worth of equipment for shine some $1 balls does not make sense. I am actually going to be working on rebuilding some pins and wanted the new toy. It will pay off eventually.

The walnut was just too rough. I dumped polish and crap in the walnut, but it just tore the balls up worse.

I headed to a pet store for corncob media, but they did not have it. I picked up some recycled paper bedding and coated that with polish and it was a bit better, but still reduced the polish on the balls.

Decided to buy some corn cob media from amazon. I thought I ordered 7 pounds, but ended up with two 7 pound boxes. Poured the media into the tumbler and added a whole bottle of Flitz to it. They are almost mirrored now. I could only improve a bit with my buffing wheel I have been using in the past. The corncob media felt just as rought as the walnut.

So was it adding the flitz, or was it the corncob media?

I am mostly just looking to put a very high polish on parts, not saving old bits I could buy for around a buck. It is fun to have crap down there tumbling away.

Any input appreciated.
 
Last edited:
How long did you leave the balls in the tumbler ?, I have used mine to clean up and polish but usually leave them in the tumbler for a 12 to 24 hour period. I use the Walnut Media and some Novice, sometimes Carnuba Liquid Wax but only maybe a cap or two full, I have never put in a whole bottle.
 
on my 4th tumbling session and all have gone 12 hours at least on all sessions

I messed with different amounts of the media mixed with novus 2 and some other polishes I found at the hardware store.

Right now the corncob media has 8 ounces of the Flitz polish and it is kicking arse. Just went down to squirt the dredges out of the flitz into the CC media to see what another 12 hours does.

Pinballs do not really flow with the waves of the tumbler media rotating, they mostly just sit at the bottom.

I am very impressed with the CC media and it seems to be doing what I want, shining balls to near mirror. I can still buff them, but looking for a non buffing to get the mirror solution.

I am just looking for the best uber polish tumbler method actually. I am pretty happy with it right now though. Just posting to se if anyone has some tips I can use to get a better shine.

I was so happy picking up the tumbler and walnut... then it made stuff worse. I mixed in mothers wax hoping it would help, but it did not. I felt a bit burned with the walnut media. The corncob media seems to do so much better.

Is adding chunks of caranuba wax to the mix going to hurt it?
 
Last edited:
Pinballs are too heavy for it to be really effective, I'd bet. I haven't used mine yet, I bought one from a hunting supply store. I have the walnut media as well, but was expecting to run stuff through that, then through corncob.

Never thought about trying pinballs, was just going to do the metal parts for shuttle and pinbot. :)
 
I bought something like a 25 lbs of corn cob media at PetSmart. It was the smallest bag they had. I've polished pinballs pretty successfully although I've found some that were just too far gone to do any good. I've used Novus 2, but just a few squirts. I find some Flitz I'll probably give it a try.
 
I saw a guy polishing his pinballs using his drill bit polish kit, and carnuba on top of a microfiber cloth, tried it and it worked very well....
 
After 24 hours with corncob media and flitz polish I am amazed. My balls look just as good as the mirrored ones from pinballlife. I actually compared a new ball and... my balls are more mirrored. I know it is a bold statement, but I did multiple checks and it is true. Wife even confirmed.

I am starting with the balls because it would give me the best and easiest part to better understand and let me learn. Walnut for aggressive, corncob for shine. It will help a ton on my projects.

I guess it was almost 4.5 pounds of corn cob media with 8 ounces of flitz. The balls vibrated at the bottom, but came out great. I am so looking forward to the multiple pin tear downs I do this winter. Parts are going to shine like crazy.
 
Last edited:
Which one did you buy from harbor freight ? I have wanted to pick one up for a while the one by my house has three different types the one I wanted to get was the biggest one with a blue drum on top.
 
Which one did you buy from harbor freight ? I have wanted to pick one up for a while the one by my house has three different types the one I wanted to get was the biggest one with a blue drum on top.

I went with the cheapest one, but the only one my local one offered. $44 on that weekend

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-lb-metal-vibrator-tumbler-67617.html

it is 5 pounds

The tumbler might be cheap, but the walnut media there was $25
The media and additives are an investment. I know I can use my saved media to work on parts and not wear out for years of tumbling.

I went from super bummed by the walnut to super happy with the corncob. It all depends on what you are looking to do. I have saved my goop squirted into media for future projects. I can pretty much do what I want now. Tumble to clean or polish.
 
A mirrored ball spinning off a clean rubber and schoochy grabbing off a fresh coat of wax is awesome. I try to make that the norm on my machines.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom