Made my own homemade tumbler for $18

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Bought a made in China no name palm sander at Wal Mart for $16.99 and attached a $1 plastic bowl by way of four bolts.

Just sandwich the sander handle ( upside down, bowl side up ) in a Black and Decker Workbench or similar bench vise and away you go.


I have never seen a real tumbler in action, but I can tell you the hand sander vibrates at a very high frequency. The media circulates in one direction and the brass came out sparkling with walnut media and a bit of Nu Polish.

I guess some can say the sander will eventually burn out, but conventional tumblers ultimately do as well.

Any comments on this versus the conventional tumblers?
 
My lyman turbo 1200 has been going strong for over ten years, if you can get that out of a palm sander I guess your doing alright. Just for kicks though post a picture of it in action.
 
yodave said:
My lyman turbo 1200 has been going strong for over ten years, if you can get that out of a palm sander I guess your doing alright. Just for kicks though post a picture of it in action.
Click to expand...

My 1200 for over 20 years.

It has cost me about a penny a day at this time.
 
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piccolig said:
Bought a made in China no name palm sander at Wal Mart for $16.99 and attached a $1 plastic bowl by way of four bolts.

Just sandwich the sander handle ( upside down, bowl side up ) in a Black and Decker Workbench or similar bench vise and away you go.


I have never seen a real tumbler in action, but I can tell you the hand sander vibrates at a very high frequency. The media circulates in one direction and the brass came out sparkling with walnut media and a bit of Nu Polish.

I guess some can say the sander will eventually burn out, but conventional tumblers ultimately do as well.

Any comments on this versus the conventional tumblers?
Click to expand...

:needPics:
 
Lymans 1200 turbo is a very tough unit. Mines been with me for 17 years.
Before that, I too had a home made contraption. Be aware that you are asking the sander to do a lot more than it was intended to do. Watch for excess heat, you may have a fire hazard after it's run for a while.
 
Midsouth sells Lyman 1200 for about $45...To your door I'd guess it's about $65

Guess it depends on what you want, the 1200 will last a long, long time
 
Kudo's for the ingenuity. That thing's got to be noisy. As well, sanders are usually brush type motors with a shorter life than the quiet running brushless motors used on typical tumblers and vibratory brass cleaners. I'd put it somewhere I could keep an eye on it, or know that if it caught fire it wouldn't burn the house down. I don't think they are made to stand up to the hours of use you usually put them to as a tumbler.
 
Ingenuity at it's finest.

But the sander is not (likely) going to last very long. The palm sanders spin at a much higher RPM than a vibrating tumbler, and that cheap sander will likely have a couple of bushings in it rather than bearings, as in most motors in tumblers.
 
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