Vibratory Tumbler Suggestions

[smokediver576]

I am needing to tumble or vibrate small batches of parts in the coming months and need to look into getting some kind of tumbler or vibratory contraption. Anyone have a suggestion? Media type? (tumbling 6061 and 7075 aluminum)

Similar to: (however John Grimmsmo killed his in pretty short order)
Shop Tuff 1.25 Cu. Ft. Vibratory Deburring and Finishing Tumbler, Model# STF-18VT | Vibratory Tumblers| Northern Tool + Equipment

Looking for something under $500 if possible.

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[Jim Dawson]

You might look at this one from Harbor Freight, I've been using mine for about 3 years and haven't killed it yet. About the size you are looking for.

http://www.harborfreight.com/18-lb-v...ose-96923.html

[popspipes]

I use a Harbor freight bowl tumbler, the larger one, less than 200 dollars, I dont know how it would hold up using it in a production environment though.

I used coarser media at one point but it left a sanded finish. This is just my very limited experience with surface finish.

edit:

18 Lb. Vibratory Bowl w/ Liquid Drain Hose

[IMT]

I also have the 18lb HF tumbler. Have used it quite a bit over the last 4 years, but certainly not allday everyday. Have tried the 3 lobe ceramic media and the small green pyramids both from HF. The ceramic leaves kind of a marbled pattern on aluminum, but glass bead blasting will remove it and leave a smooth flat finish. The green pyramids deburr a little more aggressively and don't leave any pattern to speak of.

[Steve Seebold]

I have 2 Burr King Vibratory Tumblers. One is a 10 quart and one is a 3 quart. I picked up the 3 quart one used for $150.00 with media,and a customer bought the 10 quart and deducted the price from some jobs. It was about $850.00.

Which one I use depends on the size of the parts I'm working on at the time.

[Zetopan]

I have one of these and I like it and it is also quite inexpensive. The motion is fully adjustable and spare bowls are also available. However, I did add a power switch since it does not have one (easily done). Eastwood 18 lb Tumbler

Oops, I went into the shop for something and examined the vibratory finisher while I was there. The model that I have is from the same manufacturer but it is also clearly quite different. It is actually larger than the above model and I also see that the above model has an ON/OFF switch, while mine did not originally have one.

[Uman]

Does a tumbler completely remove burrs off aluminum parts and how long does it take for a small aluminum 6061 part about the size of a cell phone?
Also, how noisy are these machines?

[Steve Seebold]

Does a tumbler completely remove burrs off aluminum parts and how long does it take for a small aluminum 6061 part about the size of a cell phone?
Also, how noisy are these machines?

You'll need to remove the big burrs by hand, but the little stuff will come off in the tumbler. Then, you need to decide what kind of finish you want. Different media will give you different finishes.

I like to use a ceramic media. I'll run my parts for 1 to 2 hours, depending on the finish I'm trying to achieve. And a lot of your finish depends on what parts looked like when you put then in the tumbler. If you have a crappy finish when you put your parts in the tumbler, they're going to look crappy when you take them out.

There is even a media that will produce a high polish, BUT, your parts will have to run (no b/s) for at least a week. I'll do that on some of the parts I make to go in my R/C boats or trucks.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Does a tumbler completely remove burrs off aluminum parts and how long does it take for a small aluminum 6061 part about the size of a cell phone?
Also, how noisy are these machines?

Depends on how big the burs are, but I use the harbour freight model mainly to make a uniform finish before anodizing. I use the green pyramids. They,are noisy, so I run mine outside,inside of a large plastic trash can. I put a hole in the lid for ventilation. It does get warm inside, but haven't burnt it up yet. I run them about 6 hours.

[Bryan Turner]

I have two:

HF dual-drum rotary tumbler
- Small parts (2" long 1" diam), about 4 pieces per drum
- Green triangles
- 2-3 hours for a nice even sanded finish
- Very quiet; just below conversation level
- Used for jewelry polishing, burnishing,

Northern Tool (small) vibratory tumber
- Large parts (8" diam disks), about 4 of these per run
- Walmart corn-cob pet bedding as media, with 60 grit cutting media (about 1 cup), then drizzle mineral oil over it while it tumbles for 5-10 min.
- 1-2 hours to get a sanded finish
- Very loud, I think I measured 100 dB at 3', it's the only thing louder than my pancake compressor.
- Also likes to walk around the shop and knock things over.

A comment on the NT tumbler; I was planning to get a Mr. Deburr 300 (about $2500) but decided the NT would work out for my needs. The Mr Deburr just seemed a little out of my range, especially after charging it with media, etc. Honestly, I would throw away the NT tumbler without a second thought. It's junk. Can't change the media easily (have to scoop it out by hand - every last piece), parts get caught on the upper lip and get a deep line gouged in them (totally ruined), there's no filter or recirculation system (nor any ports to accept one), its deafeningly loud, etc. By comparison, just watch the Mr. Deburr intro video and you see that every one of these points is answered directly in the video. Also, the NT has to be charged up to a certain level of the tub to work right (can be expensive for some media if you only need to tumble a few pieces), while the Mr Deburr has separators to allow reducing the size of the tub when running smaller batches.

I've also used a HF vibratory tumbler (the large one). Much quieter by comparison, but my parts just didn't fit in it so it wasn't an option.

[edit: oh, and the NT tumbler vibrated itself apart several times, free spinning an unrestrained 5 pound steel rod at 1500 RPM.. yeah...]
--Bryan

[ChrisAttebery]

There was a really good thread on vibratory deburring and polishing on Practical Machinist.

Fill the tumbler with water up to the top of the media. Add a little mild dish soap(nothing with lemon) or Simple Green too. The water will quiet it right down.

Depends on how big the burs are, but I use the harbour freight model mainly to make a uniform finish before anodizing. I use the green pyramids. They,are noisy, so I run mine outside,inside of a large plastic trash can. I put a hole in the lid for ventilation. It does get warm inside, but haven't burnt it up yet. I run them about 6 hours.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

There was a really good thread on vibratory deburring and polishing on Practical Machinist.

Fill the tumbler with water up to the top of the media. Add a little mild dish soap(nothing with lemon) or Simple Green too. The water will quiet it right down.

That goes absolutely 100% against everything I have EVER read or heard about vibratory finishing, and I've been using vibratory finishing machines for almost 10 years. There should be ONlY enough water to keep the media wet, and clean. There should be a drip-feed to bring in clean water, and a drain to allow the excess to flow out. NEVER use anything like detergent or soap that creates suds, or you'll have a real mess on your hands. Too much water will greatly reduce the effectiveness, and increase finishing times.

Regards,
Ray L.

[ChrisAttebery]

Ray, I've had that exact tumbler for a few years and I've used this procedure since I bought it. I use the green media from HF for aluminum and the white ceramic from HF for steel. I don't add a lot of soap, just a cap full of Simple Green or a squirt of dish soap. I've never had an overflow of bubbles. There usually aren't any at all. I've had my parts anodized at a couple different shops in Santa Clara and the only time I had an issue was when I forgot a batch of parts in the tumbler (not running) overnight. The Simple Green etched the parts a little and the finish was a little matte. Considering that it was a skid plate for an RC car that wasn't a big concern.

These tumblers don't have a water recycling system. Filling the drum up to the top of the media acts like a reservoir and the soap allows the grit to settle to the bottom of the tank. Any way about it the water really reduces the noise level.

If I was running a lot of parts where the tumbler was the bottleneck then I might worry about the run times, but I usually only run it for a couple hours per batch anyway.


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[robotwizard]

Harbor freight sells the 18 pound model for $150. If you wait for a sale I've seen them as low as $100 . Or you could build your own out of an old cement mixer

[Steve Seebold]

Ray, I've had that exact tumbler for a few years and I've used this procedure since I bought it. I use the green media from HF for aluminum and the white ceramic from HF for steel. I don't add a lot of soap, just a cap full of Simple Green or a squirt of dish soap. I've never had an overflow of bubbles. There usually aren't any at all. I've had my parts anodized at a couple different shops in Santa Clara and the only time I had an issue was when I forgot a batch of parts in the tumbler (not running) overnight. The Simple Green etched the parts a little and the finish was a little matte. Considering that it was a skid plate for an RC car that wasn't a big concern.

These tumblers don't have a water recycling system. Filling the drum up to the top of the media acts like a reservoir and the soap allows the grit to settle to the bottom of the tank. Any way about it the water really reduces the noise level.

If I was running a lot of parts where the tumbler was the bottleneck then I might worry about the run times, but I usually only run it for a couple hours per batch anyway.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Chris is right with one exception. If you put too much water in the bowl, your parts won't tumble as good as the do with less water.

Hey Chris, how are ya? I ended up with about 30 of your skid plates. I sat on them for about a year and finally threw them in the scrap barrel.

[ChrisAttebery]

Like I said, I add water up to the top of the media. Maybe a couple quarts for the 18 quart bowl. I use 3 of the 5 pound containers of the green media.

I'm doing fine Steve. Thanks for asking. I hope you're doing well too. That's too bad about those plates.

Chris is right with one exception. If you put too much water in the bowl, your parts won't tumble as good as the do with less water.

Hey Chris, how are ya? I ended up with about 30 of your skid plates. I sat on them for about a year and finally threw them in the scrap barrel.

[Uman]

All this talk about vibratory tumblers, I went shopping and pick up a Burr King 200 off Ebay.
This is very timely, because we are going full production of a new prototype that has been in test. This will produce a professional appearance and frees me up for other things.
I gonna need to load this hopper up with some media; I think it takes up to 35lbs or so.
The parts will be aluminum 6061, thumb size to small hand size and will need to break the sharp edges for powder coat paint.

I see some guys here use the Harbor Freight green resin pyramid for aluminum; it is local and at $20 per 5lbs, but is it recommended to get it else where?

[MetalShavings]

They sell the same stuff on ebay too. I too was looking for the correct tumbling medium but I really don't want effect the surfaces of my tiny parts to much. I just want to knock the sharp edges off without me having to go through the hassle of doing it by hand.

I've chosen to go with the spherical-ceramic-balls type of medium. That way I can just use by brass tumbler which has a plastic bowl as apposed to a metal bowl. I won't have to worry to much about a more aggressive tumbling medium doing to much damage to the plastic tub.

MetalShavings

[david parkhurst]

Parts Tumbler Media - C & M Topline
This place will help you get started just tell them what your doing .