The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Vibrator/tumbler medium

From y'alls' experience and knowledge, what is the best medium to use in a vibrator/tumbler to remove rust from nuts, bolts and small parts?

I used the green diamonds from Harbor Freight and they did not work well at all. I am curious what others have used as well.

I'm not sure what kind of tumbler you have. I have a Kwik-Way and I use small pieces of metal. I have used granite grit that I got at a feed store. It is used for chicken grit.

THIS is what I have. I was about to try what Brad mentioned but now probably not.

A friend of mine who runs a restoration shop has a "floor model" tumbler that he runs a fine sand... or sand like material, and stuff comes out looking fantastic.
I would think we'd need somethings finer than whats in the pictures of the links....but hey, what do I know, I do not even own one!!!..... .but I'd like to have one!

Eastwood sells various types of media, occasionaly they have items at sale prices on thier eBay store as well. Haven't used any of thier tumbler media, but have had decent results from the products I have bought from them to date.

Thanks for the tips...I'll take a look at Eastwood and see what they have.

I was at HF this afternoon(Saturday)and I was looking at the abrasive media the sell for tumblers or vibrators. I'll be danged if I can see how in the world those pyramid shaped ¼” chunks of abrasive are gonna get inside of a ¼” , 5/16”, 3/8” or even into the threads of a ½’ NUT or into the threads of any size bolt.
DG

Fellas -

I'm still new at cleaning small parts. What advantage does a tumbler have over my HF siphon sand blaster?

- Lonnie

You don't have to look all over the yard and drive way for the nuts, bolts, screws and washers after cleaning them.

Denny G

Pretty much sums it up. Even most blasting cabinets will allow small hardware like those very stovebolts that hold on side covers & the the like to drop through the grate. Nevermind being able to hold on the them and blast effectively in or out of a cabinet.
Aside from the fact that it's not labor intensive at all (drop the parts in, turn it on, come back in a couple hours) an additional plus is you if you use a tumbler/vibe you can use different media to remove the rust and polish them up. Can be used for getting small parts ready for plating too.

Thanks,

So far, I've been able to hold onto small parts with a pair of thin pliers. Haven't lost anything in the grass or driveway ... yet!

- Lonnie

For derusting nuts and bolts I think I would use a fine sand.

Boeing used triangular shaped stones. I do not believe they used them to clean nuts and bolts. They did use them to deburr small brackets. Worked quite well. Legend goes that a rock hound cleaned up on that suggestion.

Dan Bentler

The current issue of Classic Trucks , July 2011, has an article about using EASTWOOD's tumbler. There is minor critizism and possible operator error around length of tumble time, but all in all Riz liked it.

Well, it looks like those pyramids (ceramic I assume) are what most places recommend for de-rusting but I tend to agree with Denny...can't see how they would be effective on small bolts and screws. I think I will give the HF ones a try, I'll be danged if I'll pay $8 a pound for the Eastwood media.

I'm certain the article in Classic Trucks is basically an infomercial like all the magazine reviews.