Quote:
Originally Posted by piscator
Norm, thanks for your great contributions! I want to try your tumbling technique and plan to visit HF this week. Let me ask a couple of questions:
1. What media do you use in the tumbler?
2. Do you think I could tumble brake caliper pistons? Any tips on that?
3. Can I tumble multiple parts at one time, or should they be tumbled individually?
Your right, the bead-blasting does create a duller finish, unless you polish the part before plating. I actually like the duller finish on some parts. It reminds me of pewter.
My goal has been to get the parts plated well and swiftly, so I don't have to stall the project. For that purpose, bead-blasting works fine, for me. Of course, on those 'rush jobs' I can only do the white zinc, since the chromates take time to dry.
With my new Casswell chemistry, I'm ready to work on producing brighter finishes; so I'm looking forward to using the tumbler. I don't have a buffer, but I'm not sure I want to spend a lot of time polishing bolts to a high shine.
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As stated by DP, use the green media. The idea of the tumbler is exactly that, to load multiple parts. A 5lb tumbler will take a 5lb load, this is media and parts combined. I do not use a second polishing media. Consider the Eastwood tumbler, works out to same price as HF because you get media. No, you can’t do calipers (maybe in the 18lb model) but that was not my point with the tumbler, I bought it strictly for small parts and fairly large batches. Anything bigger and easy to handle go in the blast cabinet. Oh, just noticed you said pistons. Pistons are your sealing surface, I wouldn’t do anything to them. If they are damaged or scored, replace them. The caliper can be blasted, zinced and chromated, even the inner piston area.