Using tumbler to sand small parts

[Dave Mcintire]

I want to sand a lot of real small parts. I'm not too concerned about dimensional accuracy. I know some manufacturers use a tumbler filled with the parts to sand and some pieces of sand paper. I'm wondering if anyone at SMC has experience at this?

[Michael Schneider]

I want to sand a lot of real small parts. I'm not too concerned about dimensional accuracy. I know some manufacturers use a tumbler filled with the parts to sand and some pieces of sand paper. I'm wondering if anyone at SMC has experience at this?

Dave,

Could you provide a little more details of your situation?

Couple of questions:
1) how small is small?
2) what is the rough shape of your pieces?
3) what is the material you are working with? (wood, metal, plastic ???)
4) are you trying to sand/polish/shape the pieces?
5) anything else that you think may be useful about what you are going for

Happy to help out if possible,
Michael

[Mike Barney Sr]

Last year I made several hundred small wooden blocks for a project my brother was working on:

179888

These are of beech, 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/2" with opposing saw kerfs on opposite sides. Hand sanding was out of the question. I went to TSC and got a bucket of 80 grit garnet abrasive used for sand blasting. I chose garnet because although it is fragile and breaks easy, the edges produced are very sharp. I tried using my son's rock tumbler but it was quite slow and inefficient. After doing some research, I purchased a parts vibrator from HF: http://www.harborfreight.com/5-lb-metal-vibrator-tumbler-67617.html

I found I could put 50 blocks in at a time and it only took less than two days with the garnet per load. Make sure the wing nut is secured well. It will vibrate off if not tightened. I considered replacing the threaded rod and nut with stainless steel. But I completed the job. Maybe next time.

[Rick Lizek]

Consider a barrel tumbler or plastic cement mixer. The cement mizxer works double duty.http://andy321.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=hmequip&action=print&thread=34420
Drywall bucket is the basis of a simple DIY tumbler.

[Mike Barney Sr]

Consider a barrel tumbler or plastic cement mixer.

What I found out when I researched this is the problem with tumbling is that you get an impact type action rather than a sliding action. Wood smooths when abrasive is slid across the surface. Impacting wood with abrasive will not smooth it. It would take a large drum to acheive any kind of sliding action; for my 1/2" blocks a drum about 3-4 foot in diameter and it would have to turn at about 10 to 15 rpm. This is what the experts told me.

[Corby Graber]

Years ago a friend of mine made lots of small wooden parts, he used an old dryer tub and he fashioned some kind of lid for it. I dont remember what he put in with the wood.

[Gene Howe]

Years ago, in FWW, I think, A fella needed some wooden beads. He cut his blanks and drilled them, Then he built a open frame that just fit over his 6" wide stationary belt sander. On one end, he put a 45* piece to "turn" the blanks so they wouldn't catch at the end and just get sanded on one side.Tossed in his blanks, set a cover on the frame and, (he said) in 30-40 minutes he had his beads.

[Aaron Berk]

Years ago, in FWW, I think, A fella needed some wooden beads. He cut his blanks and drilled them, Then he built a open frame that just fit over his 6" wide stationary belt sander. On one end, he put a 45* piece to "turn" the blanks so they wouldn't catch at the end and just get sanded on one side.Tossed in his blanks, set a cover on the frame and, (he said) in 30-40 minutes he had his beads.


I saw that one.
IT worked good and look like a lot of fun

[Kevin Groenke]

At a production place I worked at way back when, we tumbled small wooden train parts (Brio sized). The tumbler was a wooden drum maybe 3' diameter and 5' long. If I remember correctly, the abrasive was some sort of crushed nut shell? Knocked off all the corners and left the parts with a soft finish.

-kg