Cleaning Finds w/ Vibe Tumbler

[The Chief]

Has anyone ever used a vibratory tumbler to clean their finds? I was just given one and am trying to figure out which media is best to use and for how long. Most of the pennies and non-collector coins we find out here have such heavy corrosion that cleaning would at least make them redeemable.

Thanks
The Chief

 

[bottlebum]

I've heard of crushed corn cobs being used as a media, to clean coins, in a tumbler.

 

[bloodyknees]

I use fish aquarium gravel with water and a good squirt of dishwashing soup in my drum tumble. Ofcourse you cannot use water & soap in the vibe tumble, but the gravel along might work pretty well.
Ground corn cobbs is an excellent pollishing agent for dry tumbling. But pollishing only. I use it for pollishing empty brass casing when I reload.
Al

 

[bottlebum]

Now I remember correctly, thanks bloodyknees.
Not trying to hijack your thread Chief!

 

[tab-nabit]

I have a vibratory tumbler for empty rifle/pistol brass and used the crush walnut shell media as it lasted longer than the corn cob media. There is a liquid additive that can be mixed with the media, then run for awhile before adding the brass. I haven't tried anything other than the rifle/pistol brass.
Earlier this year I purchased a dual barrel rotary tumbler on sale for a reasonable price. My first experimental run with liquids resulted in the quarters, dimes and nickels coming out shiny and the same color as the pennies - Then I tried shotgun steel shot, the rinse part should not have been done at the kitchen sink. Results: A few steel pellets got between the stationary and rotating part and some actually worked down deep out of sight. Later - Wife said it sounded just terrible then all came to a sudden halt before she could hit the power switch. I told her "You have to be careful of what you put in the sink, now I have to fix it" Yikes!!! Lesson: Purchasing and replacing the disposal is much quicker than spending a few hours trying to get the existing damaged disposal to work properly. Also, just say "I'll just get a nice new one and replace it right away".
End result: I should have got on here first and ask questions. Don't turn the kitchen into a work shop. And the wife -
Sorry I cant help much on the vibratory but I ever try it, I'll do it in the garage. Good Luck...

 

[The Chief]

Well folks, I did he vibe tumbler thing. I did batches of pennies, jewelry, and clad separate. I used walnut shells, sand, and gravel as media and even did a batch with sand and gravel mix. In a walnut shell here is what I dicovered:

#1 - Vibe tumblers work great for jewelry and other random shaped finds. They also work well for tarnished and off color coins.
#2 - Do not put clad and Sacagawea coins together. The Sac's dull and the clad turn brassy - kinda cool looking really.
#3 - Vibe tumblers make alot of noise and probably use more juice then a rotary tumbler.

Okay, I did the same thing with a rotary tumbler and here is what I found:

#1 - Rotary tumblers are better for coins. Period. They work well on heavy corrosion coins to make them redeemable again and really polish up tarnished coins.
#2 - You cannot do as large a batch as a vibe tumbler, but I'm only trying to clean unredeemable coins.
#3 - A 3.5 to .5 mix of white or plain Aquarium gravel and sand mixed with two tablespoons of Simple Green does the best so far.
#4 - Do not use a rotary tumbler for jewelry or off-shaped items. Not good.

I am going to take the vibe tumbler back to Harbor Freight and buy try their double tumbler next. That way I can do pennies and clad at the same time.

Hope it helps someone in the future.

BTW: Bloodyknees, thanks for the tip on kitchen etiquette. It was hard enough explaining my new passion to the wife. I doubt I could explain a new garbage disposal and sink.

The Chief

 

[Rick(ND)]

Now I have both the vibrating and the rotating I use. The Vibrating is for my wheat pennies while my Rotating for my new pennies and my clad coins I find.
With the rotating one I use aquarium gravel, water and a good shot of Real Lemon juice I buy in big bottle at Sams club. I do the copper and the new zinc pennies for about a hour and they look real good. Now on the clad I use the Lemon juice to, but will tumble longer up to 4 hours, rinse and pick out the good ones as some may not be real good so I do one other thing. I will add a little muriatic acid instead of the lemon juice, but be careful with this and run for a hour and rinse and drain and try not to get any on you. Now I will wash them off as they do look great, but will put them right back in with the gravel water and lemon juice again to make sure the acid is off as they will turn blue if not. These will look like they just came from the mint as they are so clean.
I built myself a stainer inside a stainer(2 ice cream buckets with one a half gallon and the other a 5 quart) I drilled hole in so the gravel fall though the first one so it separate the coins and the 5 quart I drill small hole in so it will let the water out and keep the gravel in, works great.

Now on the vibrating tumbler I do my Wheaties in with the same gravel and use all purpose cleaner as lemon juice it too strong. I go to the dollar store and get a product call Awesome that I will add. I start the tumbler with the gravel, the coins and will add water until I get a good rotating action and add some of my Awesome and run for 5-6 hours and check them and drain and rinse if they look good. Now I will dry off the pennies and dry out the tumbler and now put crushed walnuts shell in and the pennies and run for another 5 or 6 hours and take out of the crushed shells and rinse off the pennies and the tumbler and run again in just water for a hour to wash off the dust of the shells. Most is not real crusted will look like normal and not too shiny looking.

 

[bloodyknees]

CHIEF
Actually the kitchen thing came from tab-nabbit, but it could have just as easily been me. I did almost the same thing but I got caught. Couldn't blame it on anyone else.
Al

 

[The Chief]

Oops,

Thanks for the correction. New to these boards.

Sorry tab-nabit.

Chief

 

[The Chief]

Gonna have to try the lemon juice. I like the idea of using something a bit "greener" then Simple Green.

Thanks,
Chief