Hello
Anyone who has used a raytech magnetic finisher. I am thinking of
buying a Raytech 610 for polishing of cast pieces in fine hard to
get to places or inside setting etc. Also for repolishing of chains
and rings etc. Can anyone recommend these units or help me with any
info regarding them.
Thanks
Phil
Hi Phil,
We have had a magnetic tumbler in the shop for years and that thing
is spinning all day long. They are just plastic bowls with polished
steel needles in water and soap that doesn’t suds. If you take them
apart they just have a motor that spins a turntable with 3-4
magnetics glued to it. When the turntable spins it pulls the little
needles around the bowl and they burnish the items in the bowl. So
it doesn’t remove any material from the pieces in the bowl just
shines them up. You need to refinish your castings first to a rubber
wheel or emery finish before letting them spin in the tumbler. After
you take them out they are pretty shiny all over, but not high
polished so you still will need to polish them.
The advantage is that it gets into all of the little nooks and
crannies that you can’t get into easily. It really makes the job look
better. As far as Raytech, we have the medium sized unit with the
150mm bowl that is selling for about $1000 right now. It has more
features than I want but it was a good size, we will often have a
half a dozen things in there at once and you could put in more. The
digital display pooped out on us last year and we sent it in for
repair (had a one year warranty) we got it back and it’s been fine
ever since. While it was gone we bought the small version 100mm
bowl, and that didn’t work as well I didn’t think.
The only issue I had with it was that when we first got it (the
medium sized version) it came with needles that had all been clipped
to length. So the ends of the little wires were sharp instead of
rounded and polished. These didn’t burnish the pieces as well. We got
some different needles and all was good.
It works well on everything we have tried. It has yet to damage a
stone, but you need to use some common sense as to what you put in.
We have also brightened up a few chains with it. The hazard with
chains, or anything, is that the little needles become stuck in any
small hole. A rope chain for instance would be jambed full of
hundreds of sharp little needles (so I wouldn’t put it in).
You will spend a little time pulling out needles every time you take
something out of the bowl. You will need some brass or plastic
tweezers to retrieve things from the bowl as the needles are all
magnetized all would love to escape on your steel tweezers.
Mark
Phil,
I have been using the Raytech 400 for about 6-7 years and could not
be happier. Sterling pieces polish in about 10-15 minutes, gold takes
about 30-45 minutes. All the little nooks and edges get polished. It
leaves a dimpled finish on flat surface pieces but it is not something
that is not manageable in the final polish. For chains it can be touch
and go as the pin shot can get caught in between the links. I use it
on my sprue buttons to clean them before reuse. Fine detail finishes
(I use it on a pelican charm that has delicate feather detail)is an
absolute wonder. Can’t say enough good things about it. A friend of
mine produces emblems etc. and when I showed him what it would do he
added it to his shop the next week. (usual disclaimer goes here)
Frank Goss
Hi Frank,
For chains it can be touch and go as the pin shot can get caught in between the links.
I’ve never tried this with the pins that are used in magnetic
tumblers, but it works well with the assorted shaped shot used for
chains in other tumblers.
If a chain is removed from the tumbler & has a few pieces of shot
embedded in it here’s a relatively quick & easy way to get the shot
out of it.
Raise the chain about 12 to 18 inches above a solid surface. Let if
fall to the solid surface. Check for loose shot on the surface. It
may take more than one or two drops for the shot to be dislodged, but
this is a whole lot easier & usually quicker than trying to remove
the shot with tweezers.
Dave.
Raise the chain about 12 to 18 inches above a solid surface. Let if fall to the solid surface. Check for loose shot on the surface. It may take more than one or two drops for the shot to be dislodged, but this is a whole lot easier & usually quicker than trying to remove the shot with tweezers.
Dave thanks for the tip. The couple of times it happened with me I
just put the chain in the ultrasonic for a while. The ultrasonic gets
most of the pesky little pins hot buggers out. Then of course the
tweezers… I give the drop method a shot (pun intended) next time.
Frank Goss