Tumblers

**DaisyDaisy** · 22-10-2012, 12:18 PM

Hi everyone

I've never used a tumbler but I'm wondering if it would be worth my while investing in one. Most of my work involves stamping sterling silver and I just use my Dremel and a good bit of old fashioned elbow grease to polish my pieces but I'm finding lots of other little businesses contacting me to enquire about me making branding tags for them (for example a little 10mm disc with the initials of their company name stamped onto it) to add to their products. I've been using stainless steel which is great as there's little work to do with polishing them but I've just taken delivery of some aluminium discs and shapes.....they polish up well enough using my trusty Dremel but, boy, does it take time. Can aluminium dics/shapes be put in a tumbler? I know absolutely nothing about tumblers so any advice would be greatly welcomed, including which you think would be the best one to purchase!

Thanks very much

**Dennis** · 22-10-2012, 03:20 PM

I'm not sure about aluminium, but no doubt someone here will tell you. There is also lots of information here about tumblers and barreling, if you put those words into the search box top right, but I don't think it mentions aluminium.

However, some things I've learned the hard way:
1. Do not buy a plastic barrel with a plastic lid, unless the lid has a valve. It is extremely difficult to get unvented plastic lids on and off and involves lots of bent back fingernail and worse. There is less trouble with rubber.
2. Use mixed stainless steel shot, but if lots of flat surfaces are being polished do not include needles, because they result in a texture of tiny pin-pricks
3. Having fins or ridges inside a barrel hastens the process, but you still need at least 1½hours of tumbling.
4.The most glamorous shine I have found is with 'Burnishing Soap B', found on-line. Dennis.

**DaisyDaisy** · 22-10-2012, 03:34 PM

Thanks for the tips, Dennis

I've been doing some searching for aluminium blanks on Etsy today and some sellers offer their blanks "deburred and tumbled" so I'm guessing it is ok to do aluminium.

**mizgeorge** · 22-10-2012, 04:51 PM

I rarely tumble my aluminium stuff, as I've found the end result to be slightly grey. I get a much better finish with radial discs, even with small pieces. If I'm cutting small pieces, I tend to pre-polish before I cut them to avoid having to do too much work with little to hold on to!

**caroleallen** · 22-10-2012, 05:43 PM

I always tumble my anodised aluminium. Tumbling polishes up the bare edges very nicely.

**DaisyDaisy** · 23-10-2012, 07:32 AM

Thanks for the responses. Hmmm, don't know what to do. I've had some aluminium discs from 2 different sellers on Etsy, one set tumbled and the other set "unfinished"....I found that the ones which had been tumbled were much, much easier to get a good shine on using my Dremel so I'm guessing that's maybe because they were tumbled?

Do you all find that you use your tumblers quite a lot?

Thanks for the advice so far