Nuts + bolts tumble method for cleaning ???

[jeswinehart]

Anybody ever use a tumbler for cleaning up the nuts and bolts and other small items using a tumbler ?
I am trying it as I type so it is trial and error for me.
I am having all the nuts and bolts for my Tecate project, nickle chromed (along with a bunch of larger parts that I will simply sand blast) and the chromer don't have the ability to remove paint unless he sand blast (for a slight fee).
The thought of standing in my HOT garage using a wire wheel to clean up the smaller items that are difficult at best, to sand blast did NOT appeal to me at all.
So after some Internet research, making a parts tumbler to use in my fish scaler tumbler I flipped it on and I reckon i will see how it turns out after awhile.
I am thinking after 8 hours I will open it back up and see if I have anything left resembling nuts and bolts :)
Any one ever use this method or am i on my own on this ???
Pictured is all the parts I am putting in on the first batch and the other picture is the material I am using inside the tumbler (sand, blast bead and silca sand mix)

john
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxXKCpXoxms

[Yamahondaman]

HA HA .... NICE John !!! where i work they have some Tumbler's with Porcelyn in one and Corn Cob stuff in the other one ... the stuff i do for 3WW People are done in those thing's after i'm done with em .. i have to Tumble the stuff for like 7 day's !!! the tumbler's we have at work are VERY EXPENSIVE !! I Have NEVER seen NOBODY Make one yet ! ... COOL !!!!

[jeswinehart]

Curiosity got the best of me so I had to have a look.
About 6 hours on those parts pictured in the pan and here is what I got, clean and no paint parts. I learned that I should have taken all the nuts and washers off the bolts.
Just stuck a 2nd. batch of grime/paint/rust parts in for the "treatment".

[84honda200s]

very nice !! sure beats countless hours in a hot shop using the wire wheel lol.. good thinking man !!

[SeaBass8]

Thats not bad! And by that I mean really good. How about finding something to put in the tumbler to put a bit of a polish on them? Shine them up a bit.

Edit: Took a closer look at the tumbler. So basically using a grill rotisory and a canister?

[atctim]

Very nice John - you can dream up the most ingenious ideas - I guess it is true what they say - Necessity is the mother of invention - and you are King of neat stuff like this!

[dcreel]

Thanks John, now I have another idea to chase around in my head. I really like that idea. My dad has one for polishing brass. I wonder if he would let me borrow it.. Are you thinking about getting your parts coated or anything?

[jeswinehart]

yes, gonna have all those nuts + bolts and some other parts nickle chromed.

seabass, yes that is a old rottiserary spit rod I cut down to fit the tumbler part of a fish scaler i won.
I don't think the rotisserary on my grill would turn this or fast enough if it did spin it.
I bought a 6 peice of vent pipe and cut round wooed ends and screwed and taped shut. Hinged on one end to add/retreive parts and to add the sand/abrasive mix.

[fmnrd]

guys ,eastwood.com sells a zinc plating kit that would give those nuts and bolts the factory finish.I do not think they came from kawi with a chrome nickel finish .I think think the kit is only about 60 bucks .Also harborfrieght tools sells those tumblers as low as 50 bucks .So for just over 100 bucks you can get set up to resore all your factory hardware .Speaking of hardware does anybody have a good source for factory type hardware?
oh ya for those of you that don't have harbor frieght in your area go to harborfreighttools.com

[Dirtcrasher]

^ You mentioned 2 extremes - Eastwood is a small fortune, And HF can be great in some applications and horrible for others Jeff (Honda250SX) was very happy with the HF vibrating tumbler but I thing Swiney is well on the right path! :XD

[Leadfoot71]

I was thinking of building something similar when I got started with my '82 Big Red resto after seeing how much those Eastwood Tumblers were.

My powdercoaters have a tumbler that is powered by a 5HP Honda engine. It's big enough to throw V8 engine headers into. That one just shakes back and fourth. Just becarefull how long you left the stuff in there though. Too long and you won't have any threads left. Picking the right media seems to be the key to this.

The Eastwood zinc plating kit was just one sale for $55 (normally $70) but I didn't buy it because most of the stuff on my BR was Yellow Cadmium plated. These guys also have some DIY plating equiptment. http://www.caswellplating.com/movies/index.html#

I ran out of money and never did find a local plater so I just wire wheeled everything and spray painted everything.

[jeswinehart]

My powdercoaters have a tumbler that is powered by a 5HP Honda engine. It's big enough to throw V8 engine headers

You ought see the Margaretta mixer the southern boys con cocked up and bring to the TrikeFest meets 3 years running ~ !!!
It got a beautiful face lift from Hagen (Greenboy) this year and it is just the berries for portable party mixer.
Once rolling, it mix's best in 4th gear and yes, powered by Honda ATC 110 motor

[jeswinehart]

2nd. batch done, been done since I woke up this morning. I can NOT imagine any other easier way of stripping down nuts/bolts/small parts then this. Even and uniform too. No wire wheel marks either.
I looked at the Eastman anodizing thing and it appears to be a good unit,,,, for doing each and every piece ONE at a time ~ screw that (thank you) !
For the 125 quote I got to plate a coffee can full of nuts and bolts, well it's a no brainier for me.

[RoscoW]

John, Give Ed a call for all your plating needs, bright zinc and yellow di-chromate (axle).

Ross..

[Jim mac]

I bought a rock polisher at a yard sale to clean the nuts and bolts. just havent gotten around to it yet. jim

[scottyms]

check around for a local cad plater... i can drop my local guy off a box of nasty greasy rusty parts and pieces and get them back plated for less than what your spending on tumblers...
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae176/scottys-tecate/tecatecadplating.jpg
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae176/scottys-tecate/IMG_0002.jpg

[mangledsteel]

woah those plated parts are so nice, id like to put alot of swear words before "nice" too. thats insane. how much do you spend on that ? beautiful......

[oldskool83]

thats nice, shure is easier then my why, dish soap wd40 and a tooth brush!

[jeswinehart]

When i dropped the parts off last week the receiving fella said it was NICE prep job and they would take the nickle chrome very well.
And he was right !
I will have more parts done for this project, bigger sand blast-able stuff and I hope they turn out this well.
~* thought I would include a picture of the shock I got back from sblt500r and one of his many after market bling peices (oil cap) *~

john

[3 or die]

I use a tumbler often for cleaning my parts too. They sure do rust quick afterwords. I live in the boonies and the closest plater would be at least 1hr away.

[atc350xer]

I actually tried this a few months ago with my daughter's rock tumbler and some old "Black Beauty" blast media inside... it worked pretty well, but it does take time. What's nice is it gets inside crevices that a wire wheel can't reach, and I do like the rough finish it puts on. I just need to scale mine up for bigger parts...