QTR 36 Harbor Freight 18 Lb Wet Dry Vibratory Tumbler and Media Test
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ธ.ค. 2018
- This is a not so quick tool review of the Harbor Freight 18Lb Wet/Dry Tumbler. It is also an examination of 7 different types of tumbling media. There is also an examination of a chemical combination to cause rust and a chemical to inhibit rust.
Please Note: I am a beginning machinist and I do not pretend to know everything. Please always operate machinery in a safe manner and if you don't know, find a reliable source. DO NOT COPY ME. I make a lot of mistakes. I provide these videos for entertainment only. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![[Vowel]물고기는 물에서 살아야 해🐟🤣Fish have to live in the water #funny](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3G9MH063Cx4/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi Dudley! Thanks for the review but thought I would answer the question about the spare hole with plug. If you remove the plug, that hole is used in a closed (circulating) water system. The hose from the bottom hole runs to a full water bucket with a circulating pump which pumps water up to the top hole. This constantly circulating water keeps the media from becoming dirty and filled with gunk. The gunk settles in the bottom of the water bucket. So now ya know!
Thanks for the info!
¡¡Hola dudley!!! ¿podrías mostrar como esta construido o el plano del tumbler?
The best review on this tumbler AND how to get different results from the process. Well done!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks.
Wow what a smart review, one of the best on TH-cam, love the way you narrate and present, thank you so much
Wow, thank you!
Thanks for the science class! I was looking forward to a review of the tumbler, maybe next time.
I am an engineer by trade, so that is my approach on reviews. I am sorry that my take was not what you were looking for. I do appreciate the feedback.
maybe find his 5 lb tumbler review, it may have more about the machine itself that you are looking for, and combine both reviews mentally. Good luck!
Thanks for posting the very through and thought out video, very informative. I will probably be buying one tomorrow.
Thanks and good luck.
I hope it works out for you.
Thanks for doing this one, Dudley.
I am seemingly forever, trying something new. With my Vibratory Tumbler. I always, now. Start the process with the lid open. So I can see how the action is going to be, for the hours afterwards, before closing it up.
Too much media, or, too much liquid, with too much media, and my action is poor. So I now add a small load of 'stones', and parts. Watch to see how it's going to do. I don't want 'dancing', but a fast as possible rolling action. I then add some liquid, and some more media. Until the action is noticeably starting to slow. Then, I leave it there. I'm always hoping to do better & faster though it seems.
My main goal, is to deburr small metal parts. Hoping, mostly, to get the edges of those cut parts. Closer to looking like a used bar of soap. Removing plasma, waterjet, or saw cut marks. I've been adding some sand too, and that sure improves the process.
I look forward to seeing and hearing, what you find out next.
Thanks for the feedback and the ideas. I like the idea of starting a little bit at a time. I'll use that idea next time.
The reason your rusting solution doesnt work is the vinegar. Vinegar as well as etching the metal for rusting also eats rust so use the salt and peroxide after doing a wipe down with vinegar to etch. Learned this trying to create a bluing solution that worked and was cheap. Home gunsmithing. You could also use a cardboard box (large) after coating the metal with the peroxide and salt then hang the pieces in the box use a small ceramic heater to get box temp to 100 degrees+ then a clothing steamer to introduce moisture. In about 2 hrs you will have a beautiful frog hair rust over the entire part. From there to turn the parts blue you put them in a steam pipe and steam them for about 15 to 20 mins that turns the rust blue. Remove the parts and use a carding wheel to remove the blackened frog hair rust and it should leave a nice blued finish.
Was originally planning on getting the smaller HF Tumbler but watched both your video reviews and decided on the 18 lb Tumbler as the better investment. Thank You.
I agree. I gave away the smaller tumbler.
Very interesting follow up. Take care. Doug
You as well, thanks.
This appears to be a great improvement on the 5 lb model that I had. I tried cleaning some rusted parts using HF's pyramids without success and it was so noisy I had to turn it off when I was in the garage.
I tumble a lot of coins that I find with my metal detector in rock tumblers using used blasting sand, aquarium gravel and shaved Ivory bar soap. To polish them I use mixed stainless steel shot with a burnishing soap and they turn out looking like they came straight out of the mint. The shot and burnishing soap are available from Rio Grande Jewelry supply.
Thanks for the recommendations. You are taking an interesting approach that I have yet to try, namely stainless steel shot. I agree that the 5# model is really loud. Adding water in the bigger model really quiets thinks down.
Great review. Thank you.
Thanks you for the feeback.
Glad u like it. On mine the rounded river pebbles with Dawn dish soap and water work outstanding. I only clean very rusty parts and/or very dirty parts. I never do shiney metal parts, but the finish on mine is a dull grey.Never experienced any rust on my parts out of the tumbler but immediately take them to the sink, pick out the stuck pieces and rinse with cold water while brushing with a semi stiff brush. Then to the air compressor to blow dry them. I hope you'll give river pebbles and Dawn a try and find some really rusty metal parts like large nuts and bolts to try. Ive even had nuts and bolts completly frozen together but were apart when finished. Usually run mine for a couple of hours and it's enough.
Now, if I go to yard sales and see buckets of rusted nuts and bolts they go home with me to get a new life. Plus, nuts and bolts cost a freaking fortune!
Thanks for the video and enjoy.
I will definitely give your suggestion a thought. River rocks are a heck of a lot less expensive than as sold abrasives. Each or the McMaster abrasives were a bit over $20 per 5 Lbs. Even the Harbor Freight ones were around the same price. Thanks for the great suggestions.
Nice review, thank you!
My pleasure!
Great video. Maybe a 🏃 through all the abrasives with one piece to see what the ultimate finishe can be
I wanted to do that, but was out of time. This "quick" tool review was anything but. It took 28 hours to go through all of the abrasives I had. I would also have like to see what 12+ hours would look like as well. Thanks for the great feed back.
Did the interior of the bowl degrade at all after all those tests ... and I’m now looking at the bigger machine ... thank for all the effort you put in to testing
Not noticeably and you are very welcome. It was interesting to me as well.
great product review
Thanks.
Good video man 👍
Appreciate it
FWIW-a couple of comments. I have the smaller HF machine and have made 5/16" G8 nuts as my all round media. Worked good for derusting parts that were heavily rusted. For a softer finish I have also used play sand and 60 grit alox . Both work but are slow. I tumble rusty hardware from British cars and parts I make from either steel ot aluminum turnings
Thanks. That was very useful info. I appreciate you sharing.
To get a good consistent finish on steel parts there is no shortcut it must follow a procedure of course medium fine and so on I think it would be awesome to have several of them setup side by side so you could move the part from step to step without having to stop and clean each media out ready for the next step
Thanks. I appreciate the insight and I agree the media management is a pain.
Thanks for the great review! I enjoy your methodology, as I prefer a scientific approach. Do you happen to know: what is the purpose of the center cone most vibratory bowl mass finishers have? Does it 'encourage' specific directional flow of the media? Also, in general, do you think eccentric weights wear motor bearings faster, making the bearings the weak spot in the system? Does mounting the motor on swivel mounts or springs help cut down on bearing wear? Does it dampen the vibrations or amplify them? In those two tumblers you reviewed, is the center shaft the primary method for transferring energy from the drive motor to the bowl for vibrations, or is it more the ring the bowl sits on? Have you ever seen centrifugal vibratory finishers, even just from a perspective of principles? Just in case you had no questions to think about :) The whole time you were saying sodium carbonate, but meaning calcium carbonate, I was thinking/hearing calcium chloride LOL Great info on heating sodium bicarbonate to get sodium carbonate! Love your videos! That magnetic chuck rebuild looks like it will be very informative! I've always wondered how they were built. Thank you very much!
I am not entirely sure, but your guess seems reasonable. I think the eccentric weights on the motor will not be problem if the bearings were designed with the extra load in mind...so the unit will probably not last that long if used a lot.
I am unfamiliar with centrifugal tumblers and will look them up. Thanks for all of the questions. You gave me a lot to think about. I am an electrical not mechanical engineer by trade, so I have a ton of questions as well.
Dudley, could you please let me know where you got the polishing ceramic cones (#5)? I am looking for a media to take a little bit of some edging from Aluminum 6061 hexagon barstock. Would you recommend any other media? Thank you in advance. -Chris
I got some of them from McMaster Carr. Here are some links:
www.mcmaster.com/4918A113
www.mcmaster.com/47755A28
I hope these help.
I wonder how machinery cooling liquids would go they have anti rust components in them and the soluble oil will help with fine finishing
I was wondering the same thing. I might just give them a try.
I’m trying to catch up with your older videos now that I have some time and this popped up. I just happen to have ordered a Burr King 6 quart vib tumbler from Trick Tools, where I get some of my things. It should be in next week. I watched a video from Eastman. Theirs seem to be the same as the HF models. I was thinking of buying either the HF, but saw too nany reviews of them breaking down, so I didn’t want to try. But it seems that most of these small models, even Raytech and some others have problems. I’m hoping the Burr King has solved them, but, who knows? Anyway, I’m stuck about which media to use so I bought an assortment, including black aluminum oxide. I wouldn’t use this for cleaning or rust removal. It seems really inefficient for that as it can take 24 hours where my ultrasonic with heating and Evaporust or a solution I’m making, takes 30 minutes for rust and a high alkaline cleaners also does very well in 30 minutes. So deburring and smoothing for this. Very interesting tests. I guess I’m going to have to go through that too.
Thanks for the info. I am glad you are back. I always look forward and value your input on my videos. I haven't really had the need to use this tool since I bought it. I don't often need to process a bunch of small parts.
@@DudleyToolwright thanks. I did make a mistake, the Burr King is actually just 3 quarts. It seemed off when I first wrote it. I hate (is that too strong a word?) surface finishing small parts I’ve made. But when powder coating, the defects, no matter how small,, show up in some way. Since I want to start anodizing and plating, I’d like as smooth a surface as possible.
I'd be interested in seeing rusted bolts in it, and how long it would take to clean them, BTW, if you don't like the top knob setup you could drill through the threaded rod and just put a hair pin clip through it
Cool solution to a quick release top. I like it. I would also like to try some rusted bolts.
This Tumbler was definitely a lot better than the previous 5 lb version.
It always proves you get what you pay for, even though this version is not that much more expensive.
But the quality of build is a lot better.
This unit would be very good to have in the workshop.
Unless you are doing large volumes of work this one would suit me as i would only use it on occasional basis.
Just set up do what you need to do, then put it away after you finish.
The only down side other than the things you pointed out is the plastic chamber.
That would be my only concern when buying.
Replacement wise? Are they available?
Good product review.
Regards Peter.
I could not find the replacement bowls on the Harbor Freight site, but it has been suggested to me that they can be had from other vendors. Apparently, the manufacturer of this tumbler is not exclusive to Harbor Freight. Thanks for the comment.
Its the BIG one, the model we would like to have one of. because we see a lot of knife and writing pen makers using the 18 lbs. tumble, just our observations from looking around TH-cam and Instagram, nice NO, GREAT machined samples you made. We did not know all of the hydrogen peroxide chemical breakdown issues that occur, thank you. Great review. You mention the 24 hours I know many of these guys we follow turn them on go home and in the morning they are done at least that is what they share with us, just sharing what we observe.
Thanks for the info. I really appreciate you taking the time to share these ideas. I always learn something.
Any idea how well the various media work on machined Aluminum?
I haven;t tried aluminum yet, but I bet the media all work faster...I'll have to give your query a test.
I didn't see it mentioned, but what is the "one track club" at harbor freight?
It is an annual charge "club" with access to different discounts than they normally overwhelm our inboxes with.
White vinegar by itself is a good rust remover. Washing soda is used as an electrolyte for electrolytic rust removal. Look in the Washing Powder Aisle at Wally World for Arm and Hammer Washing Soda. Very good methodology to your testing. I would be interested to see how the small ceramic balls would do without water. Then add water at the end to knock down dust before opening.
Thanks. Interesting info. I had heard about vinegar being a rust remover and have seen Keith Rucker use the washing soda for electrolytic rust removal. Those are really good notes. I am interested in how the small ceramic balls (1mm) perform dry as well. Once they are wet they stick to everything, incredible pain. There a bunch scatter all over my driveway because I could not get them off the baking sheet I used to dry them on. I just set it at a slight angle and put the media on one side to drain. This worked well for every type of media, but the small balls. They dried as well, but some of them were lost in the water that accumulated on the bottom.
You really get around these days. I saw a mention on Adam Booth's channel today. You are a kind sole who spreads generosity everywhere you visit. You are quite the inspiration.
@@DudleyToolwright You could strain the water through an old pillow case or other porous fabric.
I never thought of the pillow case idea...brilliant!
@@DudleyToolwright I wonder if a coffee filter might work, then put it in a toaster oven on very low....or a hand-held kitchen strainer then into a pan or tin with sides (muffin tin) into the toaster oven....maybe even the coffee filter into a microwave. Tie the top of filter closed maybe, to avoid 'popcorn effect' on media from heat, if they won't blow up from being saturated lol The smaller openings of these things mentioned help if your storage container has a larger mouth, then the beads are concentrated in one area for easier transfer, imho. Thanks again!
Hi, did you use the media dry or add any water / cleaning compound? if so how much .
I added water and dish soap with the media. In my review of the smaller and dry only version, I did not.
Question what is the Marposs measuring column for?
I found a cache of sensors at an estate sale and worked to find a meter to read them. I called the factory and the sensors were so old that they struggles to find an appropriate readout for them, but this one is close. I just have to change connectors and figure out a calibration curve. A future project...
What's the biggest part you can do in it????
That is a good question. It will fit fairly big parts, but I don't know what that would do to the process. There has to be some point where the media won't interact properly with the part. Apologies but, I lack the knowledge or experience to give you an accurate answer.
What's the best media to remove scratchs and file Mark's from aluminum
I am sorry, I don't know. I am by no means a tumbling expert.
I would guess you could circulate the fluid through a heater to maintain a higher temperature.
Interesting possibility, thanks.
Washing soda is available in the laundry isle at WalMart and many other places .. $3 for 3lb box
I hadn't considered soap of any kind interesting, thanks.
Which median will give aluminum a 125uin/3.2um surface finish?
I'm sorry, I do not know. I am fairly new to tumbling.
Man Tool! Harbor Freight sells the 24 grit walnut shell mentioned, I got the 12 grit walnut shell which they also sell. Good price. Like 20# for $30. I really want to try ammunition brass is a liquid solution!
I hope it goes well.
These look identical to Eastwood's offering, they have replacement bowls for both the 5 & 18lbs models.
Great tip, thanks.
Have you verified that this will actually work? Don't want to order one and be wrong.
@@jimmyjohnstone4350 No, as I said they look identical. And if you were referring to the HF model, it says "Metal Base, Polyethylene Drum & Lid.
@@richknudson5137 Oh I just bought one and it worked fine. Was pretty close to 50 bucks at this point though.
Those two round weights allow you do adjust the amount of vibration. If the weights are aligned directly under each other, you'll get maximum vibration. If they are 180° opposite, no vibration except for parasitic vibes.
Thanks for the tip!
would this remove paint from aluminium?
It might over time, but then you would have to figure out how to get rid of the liquid. Interesting use case to consider though.
can this be used for rocks?
Quite possibly. I am no expert, but I would think it would work, depending on what you were trying to acheive.
Hola necesito saber sobre esta máquina pero en español 🙌 yo tengo una pero se me apago en uso
¿A qué preguntas quieres respuestas?
Quiero construir el mio, tengo una impresora 3d y voy a intentar hacer el mio pero no se como están hechos. Gracias
Será un proyecto muy interesante. La parte del motor vibratorio es fácil: tome cualquier motor y coloque un peso en su eje que está descentrado. Necesitará pies antivibración en la parte inferior.
Genial gracias
@@DudleyToolwright genial muchas gracias
Pistachio shells! They're free when you buy pistachios at Costco!
Great idea. They are definitely hard. I suspect that if you crush them they would work well. I'll have to try that some time.
that's so true! And they are so generous with the free shells: they give you two whole pieces with almost every single nut you buy! It's a steal! One of life's great bargains! Thanks for reminding! :)
I wonder what play ground sand would do?
Me too. That would be a neat and inexpensive option. The walnut shells with abrasive were listed as "fine" at 24 grit. Playground sand is not too far away. Thanks for the suggestion.
@@DudleyToolwright I would run it wet, to avoid silica dust. Not good for the lungs.
Many of the firefighters from 911 have already passed from lung cancer due to breathing in silica from concrete so much that OSHA now has major restrictions on concrete saws... but then how many of us did asbestos brake jobs and played with mercury!
@@TheMiniMachineShop Good point about the silica. One of the things I thought of when I saw all of the first responders at ground zero was the effects of everything that they were breathing.
In response to your second point, growing up we felt that the best thing to do when doing a brake job was to blow all of the dust out of the way. It sometimes amazes me that I am still alive considering all of the things I played with including lead and mercury.
@@TheMiniMachineShop I have sawn concrete and concrete blocks while dry, used 150psi air blast to clean the backing plates on brake jobs in the '60s and '70's, coated pennies with mercury and held the "quick silver' in my hands, worked in radiological and industrial hygiene restricted areas, cut up 5 miles of rad contamintaed fiberglass pipe, etc., etc.. I'm probably not gonna get out of this world alive!
Prix
Thx?
For rusting your samples... Next time spritz the samples with a spray bottle instead of submerging. It needs to be exposed to atmospheric air.
Thanks for the tips. I very much appreciate you taking the time to share them.
2 weights = adjustable from zero vibs to maximum vibs.
3:30-Gasket goes o the media holding part.
Thanks for the tips. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out.
@@DudleyToolwright My tumbler/Vib machine came with only one gasket for the lid/body interface. Really enjoy your vides.
@@revolution51 You are very kind. Thank you for the compliment. Harbor Freight tools will unlikely to ever be called consistent in quality or anything else for that matter.
Jesus christ Bill Nye
Insult? Compliment? Thanks?
@@DudleyToolwright NOT an insult.....you just reminded me of him with your expert, indepth nerd-ology? Yeah, that one. Lol.
And I should mention I bought one based on this review.
Screwed himself by using rust remover after the vibratory!
Thanks. How so? I am definitely new to this.
@@DudleyToolwright why did you use a rust remover when you were testing how good the vibrator removes rust?