? on general cleaning of clad in tumbler

[osgood]

I have a ton of found clad and want to just debride them enough to take to bank or one of those coin machines. In a tumbler what do I use? Soap, water and fish gravel perhaps? Again this is not for polishing, just a general cleaning- any suggestions? Thanks folks, CO

 

[dave5710]

That sounds about right. Fill the drum 2/3's full of coins, and seperate the pennies from the rest. Use the search feature here and you can get all sorts of recipes and ideas.

 

[jim tn]

Yep, you got it about right. That is also the way I do it. I use a little baking soda and about a third of a tumbler full of gravel and put in about 50 coins and enough water to cover the coins and gravel and I tumble them for about 20 minutes. Just enough to get most of the grime off. I am not concerned with getting them back to mint state condition. As mentioned, do the pennies separate and don't mix them with the clad coins. HH jim tn

 

[Ky Pastfinder]

In your tumbler, you might try vinegar, salt and water. This can remove most of the black corrosion from the surface of clad coins. This may take about three to four hours of tumbling. then You may have to rinse and re tumble with clean water only. This has worked well for me. :clsoedeyes:

 

[zeekeys]

Osgood
I use 1/3 fish tank rocks, put in about 100 to 150 coins, 1/2 brillo pad, 1 oz. liquid of soap, squirt lemon juice with the clad and just enough water to cover the coins. tumble for about 3 hours. Pennies the same minus the lemon juice. When done I dump the whole mess into a sifter basket drain water and take coins out and rocks out to use again. Coins come out pretty nice to take over to the bank and cash them in. Thanks for reading and Happy Trails and coin cleaning.....Z

 

[osgood]

Thanks for the replies. My wife thought I was crazy when I came home with this used 5lb tumbler from a yard sale- you secure the lid with 6, 1/4 inch wing nuts, it has a drive belt and rumbles like an old train , but now that my son is rolling the quarters I find, she sees the logic. I will try your formulas with some acids like vinegar and or lemon juice. What im doing now cleans up the grime and obvious dirt, but a little shine would add more fun. Ill let you know how I make out. thanks again, CO

 

[Roland58]

This is probably a very lame question, but, why should pennies be done seperately?

 

[zeekeys]

Roland same thing will happen when you wash you white clothes with colored socks. Whites turn dark. Clad turns copper.
Gad CO you have a genuine rock tumbler with 6 wing nuts to fasten down the top. I have one from Harbor Freight that I have been using for 4 years. I tried 2 hours of tumbling but a number of the coins didn't get cleaned enough to take to the bank and cash in so I went to 3 hours and still a small number aren't very good. I just throw those back in the pile to be cleaned and give it another go. Enjoy your tumbler and happy tumbling......Z

 

[wasp]

This seems to work best of all the methods that I've tried.

I fill my tumbler about half full of aquarium gravel. Add a shot glass of liquid dish soap and a shot glass of household ammonia. Dump in the coins (pennies separate of course). Then add warm water until the whole mess is covered with about an inch of water. Tumble for between 24 and 36 hours as necessary. The coins come out nice and clean......except for a few of those zinc pennies.

To separate the gravel from the coins, I use a small mesh waste basket which fits nicely inside of a 5 gallon plastic bucket.

I clean several hundred coins at a time with no problem.

 

[Roland58]

Thanks for the info, Wasp. I'm looking for a sale on the HF tumbler now...or a deal anywhere else. Not in a hurry, I don't even have enough coins to clean, yet!

 

[shooter]

Don't use any acids or vintager, just Liq.soap and water and gravel or coarse sand and keep the pennies out, they discolor everything. Do them by them selves. copuple of hours and they come out great.

 

[Roland58]

A big "thank you" to everyone that provided great info. I got an email showing a sale on a "Dual Drum Rotary Rock Tumbler" at Harbor Freight for $39.99, is this a good one for cleaning coins? I was thinking it might be convenient to use one drum on pennies and the other for silver and clad. It is item #67632 with a regular price of $54.99. http://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html

What do you think about it??

 

[zeekeys]

Roland I use the single drum it was about $25. It looks like it is the same motor as the one I have? It is run by one small rubber belt. I just wonder if that isn't a lot of weight for that little belt? You have a good idea about running clad and pennies at the same time. Whenever I tumble my coins I have a lot. Last time I tumbled I had 176 quarters (counted those suckers), 350 dimes, nickels and about 1,000 pennies. I tumbled them because I needed the money for something foolish as my wife will tell you. I must have a 200 clad and maybe 700-800 pennies ready to tumble again. This is what you do in the winter. Here in Wisconsin the winter is long so you really don't have to do anything in a hurry. That is a good price. You can always order a few of those belts or go to local hardware store and see if they have one that will fit. Happy Trails....Z

 

[shooter]

Rol, Thats a real good deal and as far as doing clad and pennies at the same time is a great idea , I have to do one then the other sometimes It's a pain.

Go for it besides bought a spare drum for mo "LORTONE Tumbler ans cost me $31.00.

 

[marcomo]

Yep, one copper penny can redden a whole load of clad.

I use a Lortone and I've been using it for going on three years with the original belt.

Some here have said that the Harbor Freight belts break quickly but that the right size rubber band works just fine as a replacement.

 

[Roland58]

Thanks gang.........I just ordered it and an extra belt.

 

[Roland58]

Okay, got my dual drum HF tumbler today and in the instructions (I can't believe I read the instructions!) it emphasizes NOT to us sand. What's up with that? I have some very clean #6 blasting sand (a little finer than beach sand) that I was planning to use. Wouldn't this be alright to use or should I go purchase some aquarium gravel?

 

[shooter]

No use aquarium gravel, sand is very abasive and will wear the detail away if not watched to close. gavel water dash of soap and away you go. don't mix pennies with thw clad it will make them copper color and wash the gravel after each use. Later dude.

 

[Roland58]

No use aquarium gravel, sand is very abasive and will wear the detail away if not watched to close. gavel water dash of soap and away you go. don't mix pennies with thw clad it will make them copper color and wash the gravel after each use. Later dude.

I was afraid of that.......I guess it is off to Wally World for me (I need some more toothpaste, anyway).

 

[Roland58]

Yep, one copper penny can redden a whole load of clad.

I use a Lortone and I've been using it for going on three years with the original belt.

Some here have said that the Harbor Freight belts break quickly but that the right size rubber band works just fine as a replacement.

Based on the info about belts not lasting very long, I ordered an extra belt ($2.9. When the tumbler got here, I got my extra belt, but, was unaware that the tumbler came with 5 extra belts standard!! I have noticed the fan on this double drum unit seems a little inadequate.....the heat dissapation plates on top get VERY warm. I put a fan blowing on the unit and that cooled it right down. I think there is enough room to mount a 120v computer fan inside the motor compartment. Will check it out and report back on the 'fix.'