Tumbler Types

High All;

I have been following the disccution on tumbling jewlery. What
type of tumbler should I use? The only one I have is a rock
tumbler. Will this work? I work in silver and almost all my
work is small scale no more then three peices at a time. Is the
investment in a new tumbler worth it since I usually "hand"
polish my work?

Donald
Delta Creations
@delta

 I have been following the disccution on tumbling jewlery. 
What type of tumbler should I use? <<

Basically there are 3 types of tumblers; the barrel type, the
vibratory &

now the magnetic. In terms of time required to polish the barrel
is the slowest & the magnetic the fastest.

The only time polishing (burnishing, really) occurs is when the
media is impacting on the work. In a barrel, this only occurs
when the work has reached the top of the media & slides down to
the bottom. In vibratory & magnetic tumblers the media is
impacting the work 100% of the time.

The vibratory tumblers can also make use of a flow through
system which continuosly recirculates the liquid used as a
cleaner & lubricant. The foreign solids are filtered out before
returning the liquid to the tumble r.

Vibratory tumblers come in all sizes, from some that hold about
2-3 quart s to really big industrial units. Rio Grande sells all
sizes.

I’ve been using the smallest vibratory with about 7 1/2 lbs of
assorted shot for about 7 years. It’s done everything I’ve asked
of it. It cost about $75 when I got it. The shot was $5.00 per
lb. Shot is available in

carbon or stainless steel. Stainless is more expensive. If you
go to a shooting sports store you can probably get the same
tumbler for less. The

reloaders use them to clean their brass before reloading.

Dave

That’s a good idea as to suppliers … anytime you can find
another industry using the same piece of equiptment …no doubt
it will be less expensive…

Thanks for the suggestion.

Jim

SOMETIMES!

In dentistry a hot dog turner from K-Mart that costs $1.49 costs
$9.95(furnace tongs)! Get the dental catalogs and the jewelry
catalogs, compare prices and buy from the least expensive. Most
tools and supplies are all from the same suppliers, in fact
these companies have separate dental and jewelry divisions where
the only differences are the packaging and (sometimes) the
price!

Regards,

Skip

                                  Skip Meister
                                NRA Endowment and
                                   Instructor
                                @Skip_Meister
                                09/22/9716:45:46