Vibratory tumbler setup for small/home shops.
Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 1:40 pm
So this is not really a normal home shop setup. But it's not a complete industrial setup either.. Basically a larger home shop to small commercial shop.
Just wanted to post a setup for a vibratory tumbler for metal parts. Back when I bought this thing I found nothing but terrible advice, like using gravel and sand in a cement mixer.. Or using mill coolant, or using Kerosene.. Tons of bad advice that was somewhere between complete ignorance and malicious, suggestions that seem possible right until you try them.. I'll try to keep track of this thread for the next few months and answer whatever questions anyone might happen to have.
Tumbler I'm using is the 1.25 cu ft model from northern tool, I have a 420 gph fountain/tile saw pump circulating the water.. The large conical tank is used basically just as a mixing and dumping arrangement which speeds up the process, in small scale I'd imagine it possible to use buckets.. The flocculant is basically the magical element that makes it work, without it the water is a horrible waste product that is nearly impossible to get rid of.
Currently I'm buying it one bag at a time off ebay, but shipping adds $70+ onto the $35 price.
The filter bags can be reused several times. Normally we empty the solids three or four times and then on the last use the bag is emptied and trashed.. You could maybe wash them, but they are not really that expensive and are intended to be disposable.
I'm using vibra finish chemicals bought from CM top line.. So I use the VF-100 which is a detergent which degreases the parts and lets the media work faster and keeps the grit from getting stuck on the parts. The VF-RI-8b is a rust inhibitor.. Only problem is the rust inhibitor is Sodium Nitrate which is basically a fertilizer, so care must be used to prevent mold growth in the solution.. Avoid getting a mold infection, once you get one they are hard to beat back.. We ended up having to boil the media and wash all of the equipment in industrial sanitizer to kill off a mold infection we got in the system.
The video shows the process of cleaning the water reasonable well. It is a little on the long side but I figured it best to show more of the process that way people could learn more and get their setup right the first time.
Just wanted to post a setup for a vibratory tumbler for metal parts. Back when I bought this thing I found nothing but terrible advice, like using gravel and sand in a cement mixer.. Or using mill coolant, or using Kerosene.. Tons of bad advice that was somewhere between complete ignorance and malicious, suggestions that seem possible right until you try them.. I'll try to keep track of this thread for the next few months and answer whatever questions anyone might happen to have.
Tumbler I'm using is the 1.25 cu ft model from northern tool, I have a 420 gph fountain/tile saw pump circulating the water.. The large conical tank is used basically just as a mixing and dumping arrangement which speeds up the process, in small scale I'd imagine it possible to use buckets.. The flocculant is basically the magical element that makes it work, without it the water is a horrible waste product that is nearly impossible to get rid of.
Currently I'm buying it one bag at a time off ebay, but shipping adds $70+ onto the $35 price.
The filter bags can be reused several times. Normally we empty the solids three or four times and then on the last use the bag is emptied and trashed.. You could maybe wash them, but they are not really that expensive and are intended to be disposable.
I'm using vibra finish chemicals bought from CM top line.. So I use the VF-100 which is a detergent which degreases the parts and lets the media work faster and keeps the grit from getting stuck on the parts. The VF-RI-8b is a rust inhibitor.. Only problem is the rust inhibitor is Sodium Nitrate which is basically a fertilizer, so care must be used to prevent mold growth in the solution.. Avoid getting a mold infection, once you get one they are hard to beat back.. We ended up having to boil the media and wash all of the equipment in industrial sanitizer to kill off a mold infection we got in the system.
The video shows the process of cleaning the water reasonable well. It is a little on the long side but I figured it best to show more of the process that way people could learn more and get their setup right the first time.