Vibratory Tumbling

[UncleJimmi]

Originally Posted by alabama_lowlife

uncle jimmy have you got a website with a bunch of pictures of your work on it? that one with the minute maid can is breathtaking.

Thank You, well, yes, and no. I have a website WWW.brightlee.com and that picture is on it.
The website has not been updated for a long time and I have much better pictures. I will try to build a photo album here on this site. I uploaded 1 and it is still in Que. anyone know how long that takes?

[Tng21]

IF YOU CANT USE A TUMBLER TO POLISH SMALL PARTS, WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMEND TO POLISH SMALL PARTS. i MAY HAVE TO DO SOME PARTS THAT ARE SO SMALL ITS A REAL PAIN TO HOLD WHILE YOU SAND AND POLISH, LIKE THESE




ps, sorry about the caps lock, didnt realise it was on

[clayboyrat]

Originally Posted by UncleJimmi
Whenever different metals are placed in a conductive liquid you create a battery. If you connect these pieces of metal together, current will flow. The current will be removing metal from one of the metal pieces = "electrolysis". ----------------------------------------------------------------------------What if you just tumble the same metals? Who cooks beef with pork? I just want to do one thing at a time . Lets say tappet covers that are Al. run them through 3 or 4 cycles. Can we not get close to finished product?

[UncleJimmi]

Originally Posted by clayboyrat

Originally Posted by UncleJimmi
Whenever different metals are placed in a conductive liquid you create a battery. If you connect these pieces of metal together, current will flow. The current will be removing metal from one of the metal pieces = "electrolysis". ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who cooks beef with pork?

Not sure if I like your tone?
Oscar Myer does it all the time.
I did copy that info and paste here so let me rewrite it so it’s more specific to this topic.
The current will be removing one or more of the metals from each piece.
Aluminum has other components like tin and zinc, does this sound a lot like bologna?

The parts you see in this picture with the pennies come in batches of 500 pcs
The one on the left has been tumbled, if that is your definition of finished, (or close) then it’s done. The company making them tried everything they could to avoid paying me to polish them, but they couldn’t get close.

There is no substitute for fine craftsmanship. These parts were carefully sanded and polished with no soft corners where they are supposed to be sharp and without pulling holes or corners. I do it with those Makita’s secured to the edge of a bench.
If there is a better way, I want to know too!

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by UncleJimmi

Yea, I saw that, Aluminum is more sensitive to temperature changes, condensation, and a number of other things that can degrade a reflection. It is basically porosity that makes the metal light weight and gasses are trapped in the pores and will expand and bleed out.
These pores also can be the limiting factor in achieving the quality of finish needed for optics. You some times here me say the limits of the metal, mostly when referring to polished castings. Heavy porosity = dull. As long as I am on the subject of porosity and gasses I will say that I never recommend chroming aluminum for just that reason as well as a few other reasons. However if money is of no concern and ease of maintenance is top concern, then chrome away.

Stick around...you're confirming a lot of observations I've made in the scant few years I've been doing this.