[EdgeCrusher]

We have bowl, barrel, and disk tumblers. All have their advantages and disadvantages. The Rosler disk high energy can do a machine line cut down in about 15 min and get a very high shine after cut down with paste and ceramic media in about a hour, but they are very expensive, high maintenance, and need a large footprint on the floor but work great for high volume. Bowl's are cheap and small and for a hobbiest or minimal use a great option. We have never had good luck with them the motors seem to burn up too fast, we have high production so they were running 6 day a week and we could only get about 2-3 weeks life out of the most of them so they didn't work for us. Honestly I still like the barrel or cam box shaker tumbler the best. We have had it for 10 years never had to do any maintenance not really that expensive. Only prob is like I've read on some of the other post is really loud and annoying and a little slow but if you can handle the noise thats my recommendation. Here's a couple links to the brands we use.
Rosler http://typo3.rosler.com/english/vibr...c-systems.html

Roto-Finish the svp models are the barrel
http://www.hammondmach.com/content/view/289/195/

[mxtras]

Nice looking equipment, EdgeCrusher.

Scott

[EdgeCrusher]

thanks

[smittys800]

I am also looking for that secret media to polish my parts to a nice mirror, or close to, finish. I just started to use the GREEN triangle plastic, WET. THat does a very nice job of a pre-polish, but takes my Corn Cob, mixed with Brasso FOREVER to bring the shine back.
What are your thoughts on Porcelin balls with Raytechs Compound "D"
Thanks,
Smitty

[EdgeCrusher]

Hey Smitty I think we're all lookin for that secret media lol. Not sure of what kind of setup your using but I've used porcelin balls with a liquid compound not sure what it was at the time and I'm not really sure what the Raytechs Compound "D" is but it did an ok job but from my experience over the years I've found that after cut down media going to ceramic media with a light abrasive paste combination then to corn cob/treated walnut shells to work best to get a high shine finish. Unfortunatly I've yet to be able to replace hand buffing or Electro polishing for the mirror finish. Good luck.

[smittys800]

Thanks Edge,
So far, my setup is 30min in the plastic media, 1 hour if I want ALL marks gone, then 4-8 hours in the Corn Cob. I just got some cob media from another Company, and does it do a nice job. Secret mix I am told. I will post the name of the company as soon as I find my paper work. Sure beats Brasso since they changed their Formula.
Smitty

[xiphmont]

I am also looking for that secret media to polish my parts to a nice mirror, or close to, finish. I just started to use the GREEN triangle plastic, WET. THat does a very nice job of a pre-polish, but takes my Corn Cob, mixed with Brasso FOREVER to bring the shine back.
What are your thoughts on Porcelin balls with Raytechs Compound "D"
Thanks,
Smitty

Brasso is an unlucky choice! It contains (I believe) feldspar grit, and a rather coarse grit at that. I found out the hard way after running out of TurboBrite and grabbing a leftover bottle of Brasso in a pinch, and ruining a perfect mirror finish I'd just spent five days tumbling... it scratched the living heck out of the part.

My own experience:

I concur with everyone here about the green triangles. Best initial cut-down media I've found. I run them in a modified MT-14SV that has an added flow-through system.

My final polish is corn cob + activator (like TurboBrite) followed by untreated corn cob.

I tried porcelain ball (mix of 1mm/2mm/6mm) shot in the vibratory tumber and found it to be utterly useless, at least in comparison to just using corn cob or walnut shell. The corn cob worked faster and produced a better final shine. Perhaps shot is only useful in rotary tumblers?

I previously wrote this up all up in a project log... there are lots of pics of direct results using different media on identical parts behind the links:

http://xiphmont.livejournal.com/14116.html#cutid1 : Direct comparison of different media (pics of results from each)

http://xiphmont.livejournal.com/2007/10/16/ : Final results of green triangles followed by corncob/turbobrite followed by untreated corncob

Monty

[BeerFizz]

well I think it is a fairly reasonable price to get one set up... here is a link to the tumbler I have
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?i...emType=PRODUCT
here is the media I use, 1/4" green pyramids and walnut shell WITH rouge..
http://www.shorinternational.com/TumblingMedia.htm

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93832

Harbor Freight sells these "Green Triangles" for a pretty good price. Are these the same as those above? Has anyone used the Harbor Freight triangles?

Thanks

[smittys800]

I have about 15 pounds of that and found it to be to aggressive for me. I called Mass Finishing... http://www.massfin.com/freesample.php
for some sample product, looks like 3/8" cone plastic material. About an hour in that, then over night in the Cob and I have chrome parts!!
I finally scored big, as I just got a MR. Deburr 3.0 cf machine from a machine tool auction, so now my little tumblers will do all the polishing and the big boy and do the hard work.
Smitty

[Sinistersam]

Thank you for the write-up, xiphmont. Much appreciated, very helpful!

[brouser1]

I think I am going to go with Monty's formula:
"Final results of green triangles followed by corncob/turbobrite followed by untreated corncob"

I have just finished building my own version of a Mr Debur tumbler-tanks, it is about 30" long x 14" wide & 12" deep. With all my planning etc I never thought to figure out how much it was going to cost to fill this thing with media.

I am hoping someone can help me figure out the quantity of the Green Triangles I need to fill this. I have noticed companies are selling the triangles by the pound, but I haven't a clue how many pounds I need? How many pounds are needed to fill a 30"x14"x12"?

Does anyone have a cheap source for the Green Triangles? I am in San Diego CA.

Thanks for any and all info.
Eric
(I know this thread is old but the info is still great)

[SunsetPetey]

I use the HF green triangles and get the same results as the "other" green media my question is how do you "treat" the final media walnut/ corncob? is it just as easy as putting some in the tumbler when your ready to polish? I have not found ANYTHING about this.. any help would be awesome!

[xiphmont]

I use the HF green triangles and get the same results as the "other" green media my question is how do you "treat" the final media walnut/ corncob? is it just as easy as putting some in the tumbler when your ready to polish? I have not found ANYTHING about this.. any help would be awesome!

Yup, that's all it is. I use the same tumbler for everything.

The end results you get will have alot to do with the specific alloy. All the 6xxx aluminums are pretty soft, so there's some limit to the luster (you will get mirror shiny but not a perfect mirror. There will always be a little haze from an angle).

I also ran into some Al alloys with a high percentage of Mg and Zn recently and those are a serious pain. The minority additions obviously try to fall out of the alloy while it's cooling and you end up with a very obvious mottling in the polish (the higher-MG parts will be chalkier, the higher-Zn areas much darker). The suface ends up with a very obvious texture when you look closely.

Unhardened 6061 comes out pretty uniform though.

[SunsetPetey]

ok sweet thank you! im using 5052, any idea how that polishes out?

[xiphmont]

ok sweet thank you! im using 5052, any idea how that polishes out?

Couldn't say. It'll polish for sure, how good the polish will be probably depends on temper and specifics of how it was made.

If you use an additive/soap in the wet step with the triangles or add anything to the dry-polish steps, keep the PH neutral and avoid anhydrous ammonias or any iron oxide rouges. However it ends up will probably be close to as good as it can possibly get.

Turbo-brite is good stuff for this, though it's not got the finest possible abrasive. That's why I finish with untreated shell/cob.

[twocik]

Treated cob works awesome guys, this also depends on the finish before you drop it in the bowl. I'm buying a third tumbler next week to run a finer media to add a second step in my tumble process. I'm getting a 85% mirror shine going from HF triangles to treated cob, washing good with dawn soap in between steps. I'll try to post a few pics later

[SunsetPetey]

ok so I added some (automotive) liquid aluminum polish to my (course) walnut media and ran the machine for 12hrs... the parts didn't really polish much, there definitely clean and smooth but no where close to even your 85% mirror shine.... sorry i thought i had some pics on my phone.. but i dont ill get some today.

Should i step down to the Fine Walnut media? and is washing necessary between steps?

[xiphmont]

ok so I added some (automotive) liquid aluminum polish to my (course) walnut media and ran the machine for 12hrs... the parts didn't really polish much, there definitely clean and smooth but no where close to even your 85% mirror shine.... sorry i thought i had some pics on my phone.. but i dont ill get some today.

Should i step down to the Fine Walnut media? and is washing necessary between steps?

What polish exactly and how much? Polishes vary widely, and I'd say most that call themselves 'aluminum polish' are pretty awful on aluminum. Even fewer would work well in a tumbler. I expect we're all fairly brand loyal people and there's a good reason for that. We've looked far and wide for things that work well. Most don't.

You also didn't say what tumbler and what settings. I use a vibratory tumbler, and those are usually fairly agressive, and run it full blast.

You also didn't say what prep on the part and what shape it was in to begin with. Aluminum is often coated or anodized; polish won't do anything to such a part. If it's clearcoated, the clearcoat has to come off. If it's anodized, you need to strip that layer (and think hard about whether that's a good idea before doing it :-)

[SunsetPetey]

im using a vibratory tumbler, it doesnt have any settings, so its just on. i tried both "flitz" and a liquid polish that i use on all the alum parts on my show truck but its a no name mix from a local supplier. as far as i know the alum is 5052 and "bare" but i will check tomorrow with my supply yard.

I ran it first with Ceramic media, then the little green triangles, then walnut with the polish..

[SunsetPetey]

This is what it came out looking like after 12 or so hours in the walnut with polish