Excellent idea and results. The only drawback is; the $200 price tag on the tumbler. It would be worth it for someone like me because I do enough vintage kit restorations to justify it. Not so affordable for someone who only needs it for one or two kits. Cool tool though!

John

Hey, that's a great idea! Especially for all the little screws and washers that are nearly impossible to clean up by hand. I'll be looking for a rock tumbler at garage sales this year.

You can get new and/or used Brass tumblers for spent cartridge cleaning for much less, and usually with larger volume than rock tumblers.

Just FYI...

Wow, I wish that i would have posted this.I have been useing a home made rock Tumbler that i made out of piece's of junk for year's..It works great....Mikey

So you do one part at a time? I cant see having more that one lug in the tumbler, wouldnt they bang against each other? Bolts and screws I understand but how does that work with lugs?

Jeff C

Jeff,

I put 5 lugs in at a time. Full to the brim with crushed walnut shells.

With this style of tumbler everything just vibrates in the soft rubber container.

Bound to be some minor banging against each other but don't see any issues so far.

The tumbler type that just rolls a tube could very well cause more harm than good with beavertail lugs and such.

Creighton

Have you tried other mediums like pumice, rotten-stone or graphite, which are finer and more likely to give a more polished result? I've used a gadget that cleans and restores drill bits that uses graphite, with amazing results.

I have not. 4 drums to go though so will look into it.

Thanks!

Creighton

I have used a similar "tumbler" on lugs with different media. I don't recomend anything industrial(i used ceramic in an IF machine). It cleaned them nicely but dulled all the chrome. Screws come out like new though!

Where did you get the walnut shells? That would be much easier on the chrome for sure.

Thanks for the info, Gary.