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I use a single drum, because quite frankly I'm not digging up hundreds of dollars worth of clad in a month. It doesn't take long to clean, so it just made more sense to spend less money. I bought a 3# set up from Kellyco for like 60.
I purchased the Harbor Freight single drum for ~35$ including shipping in January. Works great, but make sure to separate the clad from the pennies--don't want a bunch of redish clad. Like was stated in a previous post, I don't find too much clad each month, so the single drum works just fine.
Tumblers seem like an unnecessary expense. One of the purposes of this hobby is to get ahead and find more money to pay off your MD and gear. I think MDist are too obsessed about gear, and IMO tumblers are gear. Just rinse off the dirt, roll the coins, and deposit them into the bank.
Tumblers seem like an unnecessary expense. One of the purposes of this hobby is to get ahead and find more money to pay off your MD and gear. I think MDist are too obsessed about gear, and IMO tumblers are gear. Just rinse off the dirt, roll the coins, and deposit them into the bank.
You have a good point, but the clad that I find in the Virginia red clay is usually in pretty bad shape and just rinsing they off only works on about 50% of what I find. The other 50% needs to be tumbled in order to be rolled and deposited in the bank. I do not feel comfortable giving the bank coins that in some cases you cannot even tell what it is. Also, by cleaning them, I can pull dates from the coins that were not visible before cleaning. I would hate to deposit a key date coin.
Based on the feedback I received, I'm thinking about going to go with the dual tumbler from Harbor Freight. The only thing that concerns me, is some of the negative reviews it received. I'm not really concerned about spending a little more money, if there is another quality machine out there that has a better track record. Any other thoughts from the forum?
Just to confirm, is this the one from Harbor Freight?
Dual Drum Rotary Rock Tumbler
Item # 67632 Manufacturer: Chicago Electric Power Tools
Tumblers seem like an unnecessary expense. One of the purposes of this hobby is to get ahead and find more money to pay off your MD and gear. I think MDist are too obsessed about gear, and IMO tumblers are gear. Just rinse off the dirt, roll the coins, and deposit them into the bank.
A lot of banks stopped taking rolls. They tell you to take them across the lobby and deposit them in the Coinstar or similar coin changing machine. If they're too dirty they wont sort properly and spit back out. Purchasing a tumbler insures your coins go through without being an issue, and $40 is not a lot of money to invest in this hobby considering what all the other accessories cost.
Good luck buying one from Harbor Freight..They are always on back order. Tried to go into the store and they didn't have them there either. They actually said they were discontinuing them.. You can find them on flea bay every now and again for a decent price...
I bought from KellyCo a Super Deluxe Heavy Duty Extra Large 9lb capacity about a year ago, and to date
have never used it. Have a plastic container full of clad pennies and when I get the time I will find out how
it works!
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I did a little more research and based on comments/reviews of the various tumblers, I've decided to go with the Lortone 33B. Looks like the right size and it's a dual tumbler and most of the consumer reviews were very positive.
This is what I am planning on using for my cleaning agents.
Aquarium gravel along with one of the following - Baking soda, liquid dish detergent or Borax cleanser.
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I did a little more research and based on comments/reviews of the various tumblers, I've decided to go with the Lortone 33B. Looks like the right size and it's a dual tumbler and most of the consumer reviews were very positive.
This is what I am planning on using for my cleaning agents.
Aquarium gravel along with one of the following - Baking soda, liquid dish detergent or Borax cleanser.
With any of these tumblers...what are you guys using for media to clean your coins? Is there any media that doesn't cost much that cleans the clad coins?
I have been cleaning many coins for others around here for a few years and just finished over $1000 worth from 3 different guys. The way I do it is I have a big 25 pound tumbler and dump them all in to it and tumbler in some aquarium gravel add water and some kind of soap to clean them for about a hour so I can see what they are. I rise them off and separate the pennies from the clad as they have to be clean separate. Now on the pennies I will put them back in the tumbler with the gravel and add water and some real lemon juice I get at Sam's club and tumble for about a hour and a half and drain and rinse them off as they will look great, just make sure you rinse them good. Now the clad is a bit different as i will run them the same as the pennies and run them for about 4 or more hours and dump them and rinse real good. Now some will look real good and some will not, so here is where I put them back in the tumbler with the gravel and water and add a very little muratic acid and tumble for about a half hour and drain and rinse them real good as fast as you can and then put back in the tumbler and put the gravel, water and some lemon juice again and tumble for about a half hour and dump and rinse them again and let air dry. Most of them will shine better than new and some may have a red tint to them or a slight film on them depending on how much crud was on them and for how long. Now I will look at them all for any that is bent or damage and then take a magnet to them to pick out any of the newer Canadian clad as the back don't want them and the bent can jamb up their coin counter. The new zinc are the one that will look the toughest and I had to pick out quite a few while cleaning them and put them in a jar for the customers as they can not be taken to the bank.
I have a smaller tumbler too i will use on some of those clad that still don't look right or a smaller amount of clad.
Now what I use to separate the water and the gravel from the coins is I have a stainer I made out of a old ice cream bucket and drill holes so the water and the gravel will fall though, but not the coins. Now below this bucket in the sink I have one with a lot of small holes i drilled in to it so the water will go though, but not the gravel as this has worked good for me as I have it in the sink with the water on running in the buckets and dump the coins,gravel and water in the top bucket and shake it to get the gravel to go though the holes in that bucket and it goes into the second bucket where the gravel will stay and the water will drain off.
Several thing I have learned is be careful with acid to clean the clad and rinse and put back with lemon juice as fast as you can or the coins will discolor. Make sure there is no pennies in with the clad when cleaning. Us only a little bit of the muratic acid as too much will make the clad dull gray the same I feel if tumbling more than a half hour it seems..
I have been cleaning many coins for others around here for a few years and just finished over $1000 worth from 3 different guys. The way I do it is I have a big 25 pound tumbler and dump them all in to it and tumbler in some aquarium gravel add water and some kind of soap to clean them for about a hour so I can see what they are. I rise them off and separate the pennies from the clad as they have to be clean separate. Now on the pennies I will put them back in the tumbler with the gravel and add water and some real lemon juice I get at Sam's club and tumble for about a hour and a half and drain and rinse them off as they will look great, just make sure you rinse them good. Now the clad is a bit different as i will run them the same as the pennies and run them for about 4 or more hours and dump them and rinse real good. Now some will look real good and some will not, so here is where I put them back in the tumbler with the gravel and water and add a very little muratic acid and tumble for about a half hour and drain and rinse them real good as fast as you can and then put back in the tumbler and put the gravel, water and some lemon juice again and tumble for about a half hour and dump and rinse them again and let air dry. Most of them will shine better than new and some may have a red tint to them or a slight film on them depending on how much crud was on them and for how long. Now I will look at them all for any that is bent or damage and then take a magnet to them to pick out any of the newer Canadian clad as the back don't want them and the bent can jamb up their coin counter. The new zinc are the one that will look the toughest and I had to pick out quite a few while cleaning them and put them in a jar for the customers as they can not be taken to the bank.
I have a smaller tumbler too i will use on some of those clad that still don't look right or a smaller amount of clad.
Now what I use to separate the water and the gravel from the coins is I have a stainer I made out of a old ice cream bucket and drill holes so the water and the gravel will fall though, but not the coins. Now below this bucket in the sink I have one with a lot of small holes i drilled in to it so the water will go though, but not the gravel as this has worked good for me as I have it in the sink with the water on running in the buckets and dump the coins,gravel and water in the top bucket and shake it to get the gravel to go though the holes in that bucket and it goes into the second bucket where the gravel will stay and the water will drain off.
Several thing I have learned is be careful with acid to clean the clad and rinse and put back with lemon juice as fast as you can or the coins will discolor. Make sure there is no pennies in with the clad when cleaning. Us only a little bit of the muratic acid as too much will make the clad dull gray the same I feel if tumbling more than a half hour it seems..
Dug up clad coins work great in vending machines. I always wonder what the guy who empties out the coins thinks when he sees all these weird off-color coins. "Hey! Who's putting slugs in my machine?"
