Can you tell us what tumbler you used and what you put in it. I am thinking about getting one but have lots of questions.Is it a tumbler, like a drum that spins around or a vibrating style?Do you have to buy different kinds of powders for removing rust vs actuall polishing?How much powder does it take to do an average kit?How many lugs can you do at one time and how come they dont rub against each other and get scrathed up?Thanks, your parts look great!
Sure thing Jeff, but the process and materials were all recommendations from VDF members. I am incredibly grateful for the guidance I received and have been sharing my experience with anyone who will listen! :)
After I disassembled the hardware, I soaked it all in white vinegar. Heavily rusted or pitted parts like the bass drum tension rods and tom tension rods got soaked for 12 hours. The tom mounts got soaked for 24 hours. The nickel parts got soaked 30 - 60 minutes. I was worried about the streamline lugs in the vinegar as there was a chemical reaction going on (a lot of small bubbles coming off of the lugs while soaking). I soaked everything in clear mason jars so I could see what was going on. The question was raised earlier in this thread about why soak parts in vinegar if you're going to tumble to remove rust. Here is Creighton's explanation for doing so:
"Two reasons I pre-soak. All depends the task at hand. On the nickle lugs it will bubble the lime build up out of the pores of the pot metal base. It's a deeper clean. Less time in the tumbler, less damage to the plating. Hope it will slow the pitting from starting again. Dig me up in 70 years to see how that went.
The steel rusty bits, soak takes a bunch of the rust off, rinse,dry. Quick twist with steel wool then into the tumbler. The medium lasts quite a bit longer. Times are shorter. I know the medium doesn't cost that much but every bit of savings helps.
After the vinegar bath it was time to tumble.
I purchased an 18 lb vibratory tumbler from Harbor Freight. (I Googled "Harbor Freight Coupons" and found a code that knocked $42.50 off the price). I used Fine Grade Walnut Shell Blast Media in the tumbler bowl...filled the tumbler bowl about half way with the walnut shell media. I buried each part into the media. One of the tips I received was to only tumble like metals together. Don't tumble nickel plated parts with non-nickel plated parts. I did all of my bass drum tension rods in one batch...nothing else. The tension rods from the 13 and 14 in one batch. 6 streamline lugs at a time in one batch. All of the nickel hoop clips in one batch. Just like regular cleaning and polishing, being organized is key.
With the parts to be tumbled sunk into the media, I added a circular swirl and a half of Maguiar's Ultimate Compound and Turtle Wax Hard Shell Liquid Wax across the top of the media. I did this with each batch I ran.
Nickel parts only got tumbled for 30 minutes. I checked them every 10 minutes to make sure they were okay.
Tension rods got tumbled for about 90 minutes. I think I did the bass drum t-rods a couple of hours. Again, checking on them periodically. With the tension rods, I used fine steel wool on the rusty threaded sections before and after soaking in vinegar. I never use steel wool on any smooth surface.
The streamline lugs were again my main concern. I watched them closely. I was already advised to tumble the lugs with the mounting screws in them. There is a little bit of maintenance clearing the walnut shell media out of nooks and crannies of the parts. It is difficult to get the media out of the lug bosses...as I found out when one of the screws worked its way out during tumbling. I was very concerned about the screws and star washers scratching up the nickel on the lugs. This is why it was suggested to me to run small batches.
After tumbling I removed the parts and hand buffed them with a micro fiber cloth. Creighton mentioned he wipes the parts down with acetone after tumbling because the walnut shell material can leave a bit of oil residue. Since I used compound and wax in my mixture, I just buffed the parts down.
This morning I really stepped out on the ledge. I wanted to do a better job on the dual pad mufflers so I wrapped the felt pads very securely in aluminum foil, threw the muffler adjusting knob on the adjusting thread and put them in the tumbler. Ran them about 40 minutes and they turned out great. The aluminum foil stayed in place, however the writing I put on them to identify which one came off of the 13" got tumbled clean off. No issues with the felt pads at all.
This particular tumbler is plug and play. I held off tumbling for about a week because I thought I was going to have to put the thing together and figure out how it worked. All I had to do was put the drain hose on it and make sure the hose was clamped. I'm not really sure what the hose is for, but I quickly found out why you need to install it when I saw the walnut shell material pouring out of the bowl as I was adding it. The tumbler was ready to go at that point. All together the tumbler and 25 lbs of fine walnut shell media cost me $169.07 with tax and shipping. After seeing the results of my first tumbling session, it was well worth the investment.
I should point out that more than one person has cautioned me against tumbling, especially the nickel parts. After some great input from the VDF family I was convinced that if I was careful it would be okay. Best I can say is tumble nickel at your own risk and use caution.
Dan
