Vibratory tumblers

[MattF]

Just wondered if anyone might have ever used one of those things? Just in the process of making one up for testing, but wondered how much vibration is actually needed. Should it be just a gentle vibration or quite an enthusiastic one?

Cheers.

 

[500e]

Old bricks always worked well in mixer

Fair bit of info here
http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/finishing-guides/choosing-the-right-system.htm

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

Just wondered if anyone might have ever used one of those things? Just in the process of making one up for testing, but wondered how much vibration is actually needed. Should it be just a gentle vibration or quite an enthusiastic one?

Cheers.

Ask the wife

 

[mike 109444]

Gotta be easer to get a mixer, remove blades fill with ceramic polish stones and some soapy water, set running and walk away. Have worked in workshop that used them. Seamed to run forever and a bit noisy. Lots of springs and rubber dampers fitted.

 

[MattF]

A rotary tumbler would be far too rough for my liking. Looks like I'm in suck-it-and-see territory with this one, I'm guessing.

 

[hareng]

Borrowed one to try 6 years ago, couldnt have any roundover or holes enlargening on small aluminium parts. Needed a mop finish look from a machined state which would have required three different medias at around 7+hrs each. Far qucker than a rotary tumbler action.

Getting media at right price is expensive and time consuming to try, not many places do it. Delivery is also expensive.
Can also look under lapidary supplies.

 

[graffian]

I keep meaning to try making one, there is plenty of info online about making them. I probably looked on cnc zone and practical machinist.
You will see plenty of discussion of amplitude and frequency if you see the posts I saw about them.

 

[scott0031]

A rotary tumbler would be far too rough for my liking. Looks like I'm in suck-it-and-see territory with this one, I'm guessing.

Don't be fooled. Rotary tumblers are used for very high end work such as jewelry and luxury goods. I had the privilege of training and working for several years in one of the few exclusive companies that made jewelry and luxury goods for Dunhill and Dupont. Anything from pens, lighters, money clips, tie bars cuff links, to small coined logos to be of part of a leather trim. Barreling was major part of the finishing process often used only prior to polishing then gold, silver or platinum plating and such like. There are a ton of medias available for all sorts of purposes


The other type in that link The vibratory tumblers are actually very simple in design they are basically a rubber lined box held in a frame by springs suitable for the job and an electric motor with a cam on the shaft that sits on a cup welded to the tumbler, motor spins and rattles the hell out of the box, Simples really. I guess there may be variants on that theme but they all work on similar principle.

I made a small rotary one for small machined parts that were a pain to debur. All i did was roll a tube about 10" in diam weld a cap on one end the other was left open, i also welded in some like fins. Here is the clever bit You stick the tube in the chuck of your lathe set to its lowest RPM or whats suitable, throw in some pea grit as it's already nice and rounded and has soft edges, make an end cap with a small hole, plonk it on the end of the tube, roll up the tail stock with a center to hold the cap in place and there you go! I put a series of small holes in the tube so I could run the lathe coolant for lubrication. It worked, but no where as near as efficient as the real tool with the proper media.



Kind regards,

Scott

 

[pedrobedro]

We used to use a rumbler to clean zinc anodes at a foundry I worked in. It was basically a 45 gallon drum on some rollers with aggregate in it. After a couple of weeks the pebbles were perfectly round and made great ammo for flirters.

 

[MattF]

Cheers chaps.

Don't be fooled. Rotary tumblers are used for very high end work such as jewelry and luxury goods. I had the privilege of training and working for several years in one of the few exclusive companies that made jewelry and luxury goods for Dunhill and Dupont. Anything from pens, lighters, money clips, tie bars cuff links, to small coined logos to be of part of a leather trim. Barreling was major part of the finishing process often used only prior to polishing then gold, silver or platinum plating and such like. There are a ton of medias available for all sorts of purposes

What's the trick to rotary tumbling without risking damage to soft metals and the like? It's obviously possible, judging from what you've said.

The other type in that link The vibratory tumblers are actually very simple in design they are basically a rubber lined box held in a frame by springs suitable for the job and an electric motor with a cam on the shaft that sits on a cup welded to the tumbler, motor spins and rattles the hell out of the box, Simples really. I guess there may be variants on that theme but they all work on similar principle.

I've knocked up a basic model for testing. At the moment it's just a metal cylinder, (a helium cylinder with the top cut off), fitted to a MDF base with a 1300 RPM motor mounted underneath fitted with a brass eccentric weight. Just trying to gauge as to how much movement I need to introduce into it now, via the springs and possibly more throw on the eccentric. Haven't tried making it fancy until I can tell whether the basic design and implementation is any good or not.

Never having seen one of these things in person though, it's a bit like a shot in the dark knowing roughly what level of vibration to aim for.


Thanks again all.

 

[KemppiFrog]

Built a vib table a couple of months ago. Two bits of 18mm ply with the rubber mounts off a small Honda genset between them.
Drum bearing hacked out of washing machine was mounted under the top piece with a lump of steel welded off centre to one end. The other end was linked via a bit of hose to a 1/2 hp motor mounted on the bottom piece of ply.

Like you, the weight was a suck-it-and-see, and I cut a bit off after testing. The frequency is just under 50 htz. and the device is used to de-bubble plaster before pouring into the mould, though we are now looking at a vacuum system to do this.

It really does vib, and the bottom ply needs to be clamped to a table when in use.
KF

 

[MattF]

Altering that weight really does make a difference, doesn't it. Altered mine last night by drilling and tapping a 1/4" BSW thread into the side of it so that I could pop a bolt on there. Made it go from a mild vibration to trying to walk off merrily.

 

[Wallace]

Petters had a vibrating tank for deburring the AD aluminium engines, the finish on machined surfaces looked like casting grain structure. I seem to remember the stones were triangular shape and the tank vibrated with a flow of cleaning fluid to degrease the castings. It was about the only machine I remember that was reliable on the AD line!