HF Metal Vibrator/Tumbler

[Dave Lehnert]

Any experance with this tool.
Looking to use it to clean up small parts off of hand planes, hand drills, old hand tools in general.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93252

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/93200-93299/93252.gif

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dave,

I use a similar one made by a bullet manufacturer to clean my shells before I reload them. It works well. I use crushed walnut shells that have a special cleaner on them. Brass comes out looking like new.

[Bill Huber]

I just sent you a PM.....

I have one that is yours if you want it.

[Bob Wingard]

If anyone has used one of these to clean/polish old coins, please let me know how it worked out. My FIL passed away a year ago and we were going through some of his things. We found a plastic tube with about 50 steel pennies in it from the mid 40's. They were all rusted together and we weren't sure at first just what they were. I separated them and soaked them in some Evaporust and it did a really good job of removing most of the rust, but I was considering getting one of these units to try polishing them back up to some degree.
thanx .. ..

<<<__ Bøb __>>>

[Chris Tsutsui]

+1 on wanting to hear some reviews.

My wife makes jewelry as a hobby and I've thought to get her a HF rock tumbler to polish small stones so that they could be used in her beadwork.

I read bad reviews of the rotary tumblers with belt issues. However I never ready any reviews on this vibratory tumbler.

[Paul Ryan]

As Ken indicated earlier, they work great and are sold to ammo reloaders. I use one with walnut hulls as well to clean various brass casings prior to reloading. After over night of rumbling they come out shinner than new in many cases. Get your self some walmut media and some polish and they work great. I would think it would work for small stones but would take longer.

[Frank Townend]

I have used mine for some time with the green pyramid shaped media HF sells. While it may take some time, it does the job.

One hint is to run a couple of pieces of wet paper towel in the machine after use, to clean the dust off of the media.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

It should do a fine job and the finish will be entirely dependent entirely on the grit you use.

[Clint deal]

We used one like it back when I worked at the power company. We used it and a large tumbler to clean up large electric breaker parts. They would clean up real nice. We used a ceramic bead and some kind of liquid cleaner in them.
The large one was about half the size of a 55 gal. drum on it's side and I would sneak some engine parts in it once in a while. If left long enough it would have an almost chrome looking finish on them,
clint

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
I have a Dillon - a bit priceier than the HF.
W/corn cob media it cleans up just about anything I toss in it.

I works wonders on old hinges & such.