I will seperate my copper from my clad first as these do have to be done seperate. On the pennys I find about a hour of tumbeling will make them look like new. Now the clad I will tumble for a couple of hours and drain and rinse the coins and see which ones look great and which ones dont. Those that dont I will tumble for another hour and leave in the tumbler over nite, then tumble in the morning for another 2 hours and 95% look great.
My mixture I use is the aquaruim gravel, water and a good shot (about 1/8 of a cup) of real lemon juice I get a Sams club for $5 for 2 of the 1 1/2 quart bottles.
I built a strainer out of a couple of plastic containers, a 1/2 gallon ice cream container and a 5 quart ice cream pail. I have small holes in the 5 quart pail to let the water out and not the rocks. The 1/2 gallon container has larger holes so the rocks fall though and not the coins. Now when i get done tumbleing i will put the 1/2 gallon inside the 5 quart and set in the sink, then turn on the water and while the water is running in the 1/2 gallon I will dump in the tumbler with the gravel and coins into the 1/2 gallon and then pick it up and shake it under the water so the rocks will fall to the 5 quart and the coins will stay in the 1/2 gallon while the water will run out the bottom of the 5 quart. I just dump the coins on a towel to air dry.
If you want them to dry faster us hot water instead of cold when you dump them into the 1/2 gallon plastic container.
Rick
