pitts in steel

[clydes]

hey dave do you have any hints on better ways to use my tumbler? just general info? thanks clydes

[minord]

Well, I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to, but I once worked at a place where we used a tumbler (actually it was a cement mixer filled with steel shot) for knocking the sharp edge off parts we had laser cut.

[clydes]

i was just wondering if you had used the tumblers from caswell. they work well for polishing for me so i thought i would see if you happen to have a wealth of knowlege on that issue. thanks for all the help sofar. clydes

[dadkar2]

I have two vibratory tumblers from Caswell and am considering buying a third. They work well. I use them for polishing, not deburring, so I load them with metal polish-charged corncob. I put the parts in on a Sunday and take them out on a Thursday. A brass part sanded with #400 wetordry will come out brightly polished with excellent color.

The downside is they are not as fast as buffing. But for small irregular parts that you can hardly handle, a tumbler is an excellent approach. It's also a lot cleaner on the shop than buffing, and safer too. Small parts, if caught by a buffing wheel, can be dangerous projectiles.

I have tumbled large parts as well, and for things that are too irregular to buff, I get very good results. I can gauge the gloss finish by the time in the tumbler. So for parts where I don't require a lot of brilliance (eg certain antique clock parts) I can take the part out early before it's been polished to a super high gloss. That's hard to do with a buffing wheel!

Ken

[clydes]

i have used them to remove some pitting on odd ball parts/and some plating removal. have had some luck with the polishing also. have you heard anyone putting soap{dawn} as an additive in with the ceramic triangles and water? seems i heard this somewhere before was just wondering
clydes