DIY Tumbler Idea

[GarageGuy]

I saw _Dan's message in the Harbor Freight tools thread about a tumbler he is trying out. I remembered a video that I saw on Randy Richard's YouTube channel. He made his own tumbler out of a standard 5 gallon bucket and stuff he had laying around. It looked like a great idea, and could even be refined some by innovative folks here. Here is a link to the video:

Cheers,

Curt

 

[savarin]

I made a tumbler from a horizontal shaft with plywood disks fitted on.
A 1/4 horse motor well geared down drove the shaft.
I sat car tyres over the disks, filled with the rocks, water, grit and detergent and let her run.
The water evaporated reasonable quickly in summer so had to be topped up. No biggie.
A cheap easy solution.
It had the added benefit of allowing various grades of grit and polishing compound at the same time.

 

[Choiliefan]

A buddy who owned a die-casting shop used cement mixers for all his tumbling.
He ran parts by the thousands.