Vibratory Tumbler

[Road Gang]

I have a new vibratory tumbler and need to get some polishing media for it. What media do you folks prefer to use on coins and jewelry? Where can I purchase it? How long does it typically take to clean stuff?

Thanks!

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[Road Gang]

It's a general dry polish system sold by Chicago Tool Co. It is designed for parts cleaning, rust removal and such.

 

[khouse]

Have you just tried plain sand?

 

[GRAY GHOST]

hello roadgang, if you want to stick with the tumbler, thats ok. ive never met a piece of found clad that i would spend any more than about .05 seconds cleaning [rinsing - at the most] and any good jewelry you will find you certainly would not want to put into a tumbler. theres just no substitute for the good ol toothbrush/brassbrush for 99.9 percent of your finds.you can go to the local farm co-op and buy a bag of crushed corn cob media, its cheap and lasts a long time. it takes only a few minutes to clean you finds. good luck roadgang, and keep us posted.

 

[coinnut]

Hi, Be Careful. It's all about the hardness scale. Any media that's harder than copper, nickle, etc... like aluminum oxide, will sand blast your coins. You won't even recognize them if you leave them in long enough. If the media is softer than your coins it will leave the coin alone and clean the dirt. Corn or walnut shell is on the low scale. Talc, baking soda etc.. is also low. The trick is to get the most aggressive powder to get rid of the discolorations and dirt, but leave the metal alone. This cuts the time down to a minimum. I would Goggle something like, "media hardness scale" or similar, and see if you can come up with a chart on hardness. Never tumble or vibrate a good coin, no matter what it's made of. Good luck!

 

[Road Gang]

Gray Ghost, this tumbler is made for cleaning jewelry. It shouldn't hurt it if you use the right polishing media. That's where I'm at. I'm wondering what media most others use to clean their finds. I've heard of using corn and walnut as Coinnut and you both mentioned. Baking soda is an interesting idea where it is cheap and easy to get. I'll only clean clad and other coins that are worth face value. Cleaning rares is going to reduce the value at best. I'll probably just pick up some rolls of pennies, nickles, quarters and try different medias. I'll update this post after I have run some tests. Any other suggestions for media would be appreciated in the mean time. Thanks all.

 

[bendorfold]

[quote Road Gang]It's a general dry polish system sold by Chicago Tool Co. It is designed for parts cleaning, rust removal and such.[/quote]

Does it have a model number? Inquiring minds want to know.

My quess.

 

[jdstawker]

Corn cob media will be the softer than walnut. I used walnut to clean really dirty brass and it doesn't hurt the brass.