Topic: Large Vibration Tumblers and Media

[preaction]

I found a used Mr Deburr 20x16 seems to be a very good size verse price it fits UCA's LCA's up to a manual trans main case using 1/4" by 3/8" angled cylinder ceramic media. I saw this at a outfit that bought out closing machine shops which seems to be happening at an alarming rate.

[brcron007]

What's the going rate $? If you dont mind sharing ? Thanks...

[67gta289]

The local deburring company near me charged $50 for a 5 gallon bucket of stuff including several control arms

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The local deburring company near me charged $50 for a 5 gallon bucket of stuff including several control arms

Thats a good deal.

[CharlesTurner]

I suspect there is more technology to a well operating tumbler for our kinds of parts than meets the eye.  Looks simple/easy but isn't.  I am also shopping for a tumbler and hope to find a nice used Mr. Deburr or similar.

I bought mine direct from the manufacturer, he actually suggested on the phone that he had a refurbished unit for sale.  It was perfect for my occasional use and saved a bit of $$ over a new one.

[Chris Thauberger]

I would not use a tumbler to clean parts as dirty parts "load" the media and this can be hard to get clean. Besides, there are faster ways to clean parts such as blasting, stripping, soaking, ultrasonic cleaning etc.

For mass finishing I have a Raytech AV75DC vibratory tumbler for the majority of parts. This is by far the quickest and easiest way to achieve the correct finish on metal parts that are seen.
 
I used a cement mixer with the blades removed to tumble large parts that did not fit in the vibratory tumbler. The results were very satisfactory.

The video attached is using 3/8" ceramic polyhedrons.


I really enjoyed learning about mass finishing and would say it is the one thing I found most interesting about restoring my car.







Check out these articles if you want more information from the experts.

The Art of Mass Finishing

Guidlines for Successful Finishing

Understanding Media

Chris

[jwc66k]

I would not use a tumbler to clean parts as dirty parts "load" the media and this can be hard to get clean.

Some thoughts on the "media".
In my vibrator parts cleaner (the Eastwood type), I add TSP (Tri-Sodium Phosphate) to the water and the "green pyramids" (aka media) which seems to apply a protective coating to reduce flash rust the water might create. To clean the green pyramids, I use a plastic kitchen food "rinser".

. . there are faster ways to clean parts such as blasting, stripping, soaking, ultrasonic cleaning etc.

That last statement has more truth than you can imagine. A bead blaster is probably more practical and more universal than a tumbler. I use old carburetor cleaner (Berryman's B12) as a stripping/soaking agent, and have a small ultrasonic cleaner, but I find that ultrasonic is not that useful (i tried, it worked "fair").
Jim

[Chris Thauberger]

Some thoughts on the "media".
In my vibrator parts cleaner (the Eastwood type), I add TSP (Tri-Sodium Phosphate) to the water and the "green pyramids" (aka media) which seems to apply a protective coating to reduce flash rust the water might create. To clean the green pyramids, I use a plastic kitchen food "rinser".That last statement has more truth than you can imagine. A bead blaster is probably more practical and more universal than a tumbler. I use old carburetor cleaner (Berryman's B12) as a stripping/soaking agent, and have a small ultrasonic cleaner, but I find that ultrasonic is not that useful (i tried, it worked "fair").
Jim

TSP is the recommended cleaning solution for media.

I use Raytech Compound B in the vibratory tumble as it is a flow through design(think wet sanding) unlike the closed process of straight tumbling. I have always run straight water through the system after use to rinse media and bowl.

[brcron007]

All great info. Thanks for sharing. It will be put to good use. Thanks to all for participating.

[Anghelrestorations]

I wrote about this a while back since so many people always ask about this and its one of the best tools I have in the shop:

http://anghelrestorations.com/uploads/3/5/1/2/35122002/mt_february_17_tumbling.pdf

[J_Speegle]

I purchased all my supplies from Raytech. I highly reccommend you read this.

Thanks for posting Chris. Will have to reach out and see if we can get permission to add it to our Library here

[MorganLeBlanc]

Thanks for the responses. If I want to purchase one but felt it was important to do the research before making the move.  Thought about a bead blaster, but that takes up a lot of room I don't have.  Chris, I will check RayTech.

I would be using it for mostly steel parts; so based Jims post ceramic or iron filings might be best.   

[67gta289]

I had a couple of aluminum power steering pump brackets tumbled, and think that they might need more work.

The first picture shows the tumbled brackets along side one that is what they looked like prior.  They look pretty good, but do I need to do more work?

The second picture is a close up showing some "outie" bumps on the surface.  Other than weld splatter, which does not make much sense to me given the application and location, I have to think that this is how the part was cast.  Any comments on that?  Am I over thinking this whole thing?  Thanks.

[preaction]

Tumbling or "mass finishing" is commonly done on steel parts to finish or debur and from my experience your tumbler may have been using a media for steel and not aluminum specific leading to the courser finish. It can take a lot of trial and error to get a finish similar to what we like to see as a restoration I've had good results from a small ceramic media with a soapy added compound that gives a more polished finish to aluminum than a courser  finish you have here.

[Countrysquire]

John, PM me if you would like me to vapor blast the bracket for you. I do a lot of them and they do come out nice. I?m currently overthinking the color of my top loader transmission case, so I feel your pain.