Tumbler Trials & Tribulations

[AdeV]

Opened the tumbler and the grit WD40 mix had turned into something akin to baby POO!

On the bright side, I bet it smelled a whole lot better than baby poo....

[1hand]

Looks good Ken!!

[foozer]

Thats cooking with gas!

Oh Shiny Things!!


Robert

Green, not Red, rouge  Poor Harold . . .

[foozer]

Still no joy, awaiting for the tumbler, however the bottle of powder coat came in, a cast iron color.

That will be a whole nuther experience as if I'm not nuts enough.

Robert

[1hand]

Still no joy, awaiting for the tumbler, however the bottle of powder coat came in, a cast iron color.

That will be a whole nuther experience as if I'm not nuts enough.

Robert

Powder coat..................toaster oven?/

I getting set up for Parkerizing at sometime, but it needs to warm up here. It has to be above freezing before it can get shipped.


Matt

[foozer]

Toaster Oven, thats the ticket. Looking over the fishing jig method where the part is heated then dipped into a puffy powder source air pot.

Karnack sees a BIG mess coming up   Just thought (and therein begins the trouble) that on small pieces it might be doable. It needs to warm up around here a bit tho, 25f is just a bit to chilly for my taste.

Robert

[1hand]

Still -10F at 10am here.

[foozer]

That temp there wont be much reading done in the outhouse   


Robert

[1hand]

Recieved some odds and ends today. Got 5lbs of steel shot 5/32. I mixed that some ceramic media and run that dryin the rotary for about 2 hrs .

I pulled open the cover and found the all splined pieces of AL where indeed deburred, and covered in a black sticky film.

I also recieved the 5/32" SS shot and burnishing compound from Rio. Its very sad day when you dump $200 worth of SS in a vibratory tumbler and it doesn't fill it half full.

Stuff so heavy that enough SS shot to cover the parts will not vibe enough to move parts at all. So it looks like this step will continue in the rotary. The burnishing compound mix with water, has the same slippery feel of soapy water.

I still haven't got the SS pins yet, but will report back with the SS shot results after some time in the rotary.

Matt

[foozer]

Stone Axe and Flint Knives

Hmm piece too large to debur in rotary, plus its occupied trying to polish up another piece, what to do, what to do?  Even makes me chuckle a bit. Round and round she goes, in a few hours I'll know.

Robert

[foozer]

What kind of lathe is that Robert?

You give it to much credit with the tag "Lathe"
its an old Craftsman aa109. Real good for spending an hour to set up for a ten minute work, crossing fingers all the time that it stays where you set it. Well not quite that bad. If you really watch the DI's and creep up on the target number, usually can hit it.

But then if it didnt drive me wacko, it would be no fun. Really should get a more robust machine, just too many flipping other projects that all call for $$$. Like those solar panels in the background hollering to be set back up (grid tie adventure) The putt putt car that I just did a cam change on and with giant brain fart used synthetic oil on a flat tappet setup, Ya it went flat on # 5 intake and of course the real smart one move off of the 20 acres into a 6000 sq footer, Less yard work but . . .   if you want to ever see a BB bouncing in a tin can  I'M it

So if the Elbow engine I'm slowly working on actually runs then the 109 can be called a lathe. Gotta love it

Robert

[1hand]

7 hours of the SS shot and parts look terrible. Scratched up and a dull to dark gray. Edges seem to be taking a shine or is whats left of the orginal shine.

The scratches might be coming from parts hitting, so I've now cut the batch of parts in half to run again. I rinsed the shot and replaced the water with fresh, and added a small amount of compound. I will let it turn for 10 hrs and check.

Matt

[foozer]

Thats curious, parts changing color. Guess then on my end its not strictly cause I used cheap BB's that caused the color change.

Now I have a piece rolling in dry BB's, bout 6 or so hours, no color change, dry. Did get the color when ran one with water. Do recall reading to change the fluid when it changes color tho. Piece in the walnut shells is still a going. Starting to brighten up. I have nothing but time so 4-5 days is no great wait.

Now where is that vibratory tumbler,  funny once its here then time is nothing, but waiting for it to arrive GRRR.

Robert

[1hand]

I went from 18 parts to 8, and now don't hear the thumping as much, just the shot rolling. I wasn't sure if changing the water was the thing to do, but if you think you read that was good, I feel better. I hope this works.

Matt

[foozer]

Getting old am I, few minutes of "where the heck did I see that" coupled with the "when you going to learn to write down sources"

Reply #66 in this thread. The photo shots, instructions, change fluid when it turns dark. Now I'm really gonna step on my own tongue but we are cutting metal, generates heat, creates oxides, we don't see em but they be there. Tumblers by the nature of the process remove these oxides which turn the solution dark.

So the thought is, just to watch the fluid and rinse media, change fluid as necessary to keep it clean. As the dirt is removed from the parts and left in solution it'll just be transferred back onto the piece. So the drop of dawn dishsoap applied that has been mentioned must be to encapsulate the crud, reducing its transfer back. Still have to change fluids tho.

Also came across the table again indicates a 5-1 media - part ratio mix for minimal part to part contact. The more delicate the part the greater the ratio.

Patience, to which I personally have none, but I can wait. Coffee and donuts are well suited for those "Wait" times.

Back to beating them pieces to a shine just not so many at once

Robert

Edit   photo 2 pieces. One on left from tumbler with dry BB's over night. Purpose was just to debur the edges which it did. Can tell no tool marks removed. Wanted to see just how well the BB process performed under a harsh case. Did fine.

Piece on right is from a dry walnut 2 day tumbler session. Its getting a shine but is obvious that the middle stage is missing. The media with compound to remove the finer tool marks. As this piece has multiple curved surfaces thinking the walnut shells with impregnated grit is in order.

Going for a three stage process then, I'll be back

[1hand]

I checked again. 18hrs total. Not as dark, but diffenitly not a shine yet. I can see spots that all minor tool marks are missing and looks to be taking a sheen. I reduced the part load by a 1/3 again, and changed water. Back to the grinded.

I don't know if I stated that these parts are all 7075. I now there is a diffent difference in machining this alloy verus 6061, because of the hardness. This might be a contruibting factor in the finishing stage also??


Matt

[foozer]

my pieces are 6061, tween that and 7075 wouldn't sweat it. Using a rotary tumbler if I recall, think days. If using wet method set the alarm for a fluid change check. Guessing that first run will pull most of the crud, second cleaner and third if need be ought to be fairly clean.

Think I'll go turn up a few pieces to use as test coupons, beats doing the dishes.

Robert

[1hand]

They went from also black from the dry deburr to the dark silver so far. The two times I've changed the water,  its is nasty black. Its getting removed slowly. I think I could change it every couple hours and that would speed up the removal of the oxides. Once that is done, I'm thinking your going to have some pretty nice bright looking parts.

I agree with leaving them for longer times with out changing the water is probaly hurting me more than helping.

Matt

[foozer]

I agree with leaving them for longer times with out changing the water is probaly hurting me more than helping.

Matt

Sure its dependant upon material and media, from the cruising I've done a common theme is dirty water, change as needed. Also ran into a negative about simple green as caswells (sp?) Hard to believe a nice clean piece has so much dirt in it

Robert

[1hand]

I'm using only the recommended rio brunishing compound now. I hope the parts look as good as they went in the first time. I like the sheen they had, but they needed the deburr. After the deburr though, is when the work starts to get them back.

[1hand]

SS pins showed up today. I like the looks of them. Next time I try them for the deburring step, I'm going to start with the SS pins instead of the ceramic. Hopefully will keep the parts cleaner, and just knock off the edge a bit. If that works it should be an easier task to return the parts to the orginal sheen with the SS balls.

Matt

[foozer]

give the pins an hour shot at a time DRY see what ya end up with

Robert

[1hand]

Just checked the Shot again, and they are starting to transform. About a 1/3 of the way to the finish line. Total time so far 24 hours.

[snub]

Trying some walnut shells in my vibratory tumbler for the final finish.  I had some 'creamy' car polish that I tried to mix in with the shells, but it wouldn't mix and looked like a cat's litter box. I added some water, mixed it up, let it dry but the results were unimpressing. So, I went to the local auto supply and picked up a 10 oz. bottle of Autosol Metal Liquid Polish. I poured about half the bottle into about 3# of shells and mixed it together by hand. The polish disappeared instanly, I guess soaking into the shells.  I left it overnight then ran some parts in it today. After about 4 hours I pulled the 6061 aluminum parts out and....yes! They were shiny. Not enough to see your reflection in, but a very nice finish. Tomorow I am going to pour the rest of the polish in and let it run some more. I will get some pics when it's done.
I am wondering about the 'treated' walnut shell and corn cob that is sold. Basically I'm wondering how they 'treat' it. The treated shells from Rio are mucho expensive.
Perhaps I'll try a google search.

[foozer]

Keep us posted on your results. Ken gets good results with treated shells, have read where shells and simichome polish work and then just plain dry shells. Again, the theme for a final finish is leaning towards walnut shells.


Robert