For those who are interested, here's my first tryout with a tumbler. In your opinion, what could I do better, worse, or keep the same next time. Also, I'd be interested in shooting all the polished hardware with a protective coating from an aerosol can before it gets shelved again. Any suggestions on something cheap yet reliable? Here's a copy of my notes (yes- I keep notes!) ======================= 3/18/06 A couple weeks ago, I ran green rust-cutting media for about 7 hours. There were only a few shots of water added, so not all the media was wet. After tumbling, I put the hardware into the toaster oven at 350 for 20 minutes. I let the green media air dry. Another rusty "T"-bolt was cleaned using the coarse wire-wheel on my bench-grinder. It looked better than the part that came out of the tumbler with the green media. Kept it aside for comparison. Today, I put the hardware (minus one "T"-bolt for later comparison) into the tumbler with the dri-shine media. I ran it for 8 hours. In the pictures, four "T"-bolts are laid out for comparison. some extra parts were added at the before and after stages. The dri-shine part looks the best, thankfully. I wonder if the green-rust cutter would've done better had I added a little more water. Now, to find something to coat the polished parts with. Better ask Dad or the v8buick crew. =======================
I've had really good luck with the wire wheel. It gets those rusty bolts nice and clean. Of course, I've lost my share of fingerprints and chin bruises due to using the wheel. I now use a pair of pliers to hold each bolt when I clean bolts. Have you tried Evapo-Rust? It's pretty amazing stuff.
