Media blast or tumbler/vibratory...

[ohiohmmwv]

I have a lot of small parts and was wondering if anyone has used one of those vibrating containers full of rock? Or steel beed? I'm not sure what's in them. But they're basically a container that vibrates and its full of a media of choice with your part in it. Takes a while but it should polish things up. I don't have a sand blaster or good compressor yet so I thought this may be a lower cost option.

 

[lpcoating]

We have them at work. For removing rust I would try Black Beauty, aluminum oxide or sand. I've also seen an old cement mixer used for this application. You can purchase a bench top blast cabinet for a decent price or maybe a local body shop that has a small cabinet could do the parts??

 

[zebedee]

I have rubber pads that bolt to the paddles of a concrete mixer - small'ish electric one. Rubber pads stop things getting caught around the paddle blades/brackets. This is good for items like towbar feet/ground spade pockets or similar size.

For smaller parts - nuts n bolts etc., I cut a door in an old 20lb propane tank (pre-overflow protection device) (yes, I did this with a sawzall when full of water) and put a stub spindle and bearings either end and run it on the lathe very slow.

Media is generally black beauty - sometimes I recycle the cabinets media in the propane tank for delicate things.

[I also have a blasting cabinet and needle gun!]

 

[ohiohmmwv]

Are the tumblers really slow in comparison to the blaster? Or not too bad?

 

[lpcoating]

Yes. Sand blasting will clean up quick. Nice thing about a tumbler is that you can load, turn on and walk away.

 

[ohiohmmwv]

Yeah, the turn and walk away part I like.