Tumbler for 3D Metal Print

[frogman_pep 0]

I am using colorFabb's copper, brass & bronze fill to produce the best polish for a jewelry piece. Wanted your advice on which tumbler would work best. Thanks..!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RB16W8

http://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/18-lb-vibratory-bowl-with-liquid-drain-hose-96923.html

[onkelgeorg 36]

just build your own tumbler: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:935252

here is what I did with its help last week:

Thing: 957993

[zxen 4]

They look metallic, but is the filament strong enough to make gears for motors? If not, can someone suggest a strong filament that produces gears (that won't lose teeth)? My gears are 1 cm diametre with 20 teeth and need to be rotated to lift heavy objects. Steel is what the gears are typically made from.

[CSWEENEY 1]

Get one from HF.....cheap w a good warranty.

http://m.harborfreight.com/3-lb-rotary-rock-tumbler-67631.html

[bob-hepple 59]

Guys Hi

how are we getting on with the Tumblers, I looked at the Amazon ones but I'm in the uk so I think AC might be a problem, does anyone know if they are 110/240v AC..

onkelgeorge

what are you using for the abrasive, I looked on Thingiverse looked good how long did it take to get a finish like your pics.

[AreDigg 8]

does anyone know if they are 110/240v AC..

 

Being AC motors both frequency and voltage is somewhat critical, and using a transformer or switcher will cause problems. I doubt you will find some with dual voltage (in that case you should be very careful with the quality). I would buy it from Europe or domestic or another country where 220-240V 50Hz is the norm, unless they specifically offers these voltages/frequencies.

[luisito 12]

I use this one:

http://es.aliexpress.com/item/Env-o-Libre-de-DHL-Joyer-a-Herramientas-5-kg-Capacidad-Rotatoria-Del-Vaso-Rotatorio-Herramientas/32667893528.html?spm=2114.43010708.4.29.jIx7Kj

It has selectable speed, and timing. I use inox balls 1.5mm. Have tried brass screws too but with average results. I am able to get shinny parts in about 2 hours at medium tumbler speed.

[luisito 12]

They look metallic, but is the filament strong enough to make gears for motors? If not, can someone suggest a strong filament that produces gears (that won't lose teeth)? My gears are 1 cm diametre with 20 teeth and need to be rotated to lift heavy objects. Steel is what the gears are typically made from.

 

I have used colorfabb brassfil, copperfill and bronzefill, and all them are very brittle. Not suitable for any significant mechanical effort, IMHO. Have you tried Nylon?

[krys 206]

what are you using for the abrasive, I looked on Thingiverse  looked good how long did it take to get a finish like your pics.

 

I saw a wile back that the guys at Adafruit.com have done tumbling and put up a guide: https://learn.adafruit.com/copperfill-filament/

See the Usage and Tips pages.

It seems they also made their own tumbler: https://blog.adafruit.com/2015/07/16/affordable-rock-tumbler-3dthursday-3dprinting/

I have not tried any of this yet, but I hope this helps.

[bob-hepple 59]

Thanks for the reply it looks interesting I'm going to order a trumbler

[cloakfiend 995]

Can a cheap quiet tumbler be made with a cheap stepper motor or something small of eBay, I don't really want to spent much making one or care how ugly it looks just a motor a cylinder and the stand?

I have zero experience in connecting it to any power but surely there must be a way.

I'm also in the UK so if anyone else is interested it would be great to do it and share our problems and solutions!

[bob-hepple 59]

I purchased a cheap tumbler Rubber pots and a small motor.. and yes I'm in the UK you could get the rubbers and make your own motor driver

[cloakfiend 995]

If you could provide what to get and how to connect it to the mains via any method i could follow, id have no issues in putting it all together!

cheapest one on eBay is like 60 quid, but i think thats bit steep, even though I spend that on a night out! lol. but it seems limited and Id like to increase the capacity vastly to spin 20cmx20cmx20cm objects with sand or fine abrasive materials rather than full on rust removal. and would like to design a single rotating bar design which i could in theory rest any size drum on with rubber bands around it or something.

Any ideas? I could draw my idea if it helps?

Edited November 23, 2017 by Guest

[bob-hepple 59]

can you send the link to what you have seen,

[Caro25 2]

I will receive a rock tumbler for my birhday, in a few days. I would like to use it to polish some prints in brassfill.

The picture shows 2 prints (with an Ultimaker 3) with brassfill manually polished with sandpaper. The result is far from perfect.

I read about tumbling with screws, inox balls and grit. From your experience, which method is the best? What'se the best way to use those methods?

[CSWEENEY 1]

I use several brass wood screws from Lowe’s.Colorfabb has a good tutorial someplace on their site.At the minimum,it should be like 3-5 sizes.I leave mine overnight,depending on what I need.

[Caro25 2]

22 hours ago, CSWEENEY said:

I use several brass wood screws from Lowe’s.Colorfabb has a good tutorial someplace on their site.At the minimum,it should be like 3-5 sizes.I leave mine overnight,depending on what I need.

Thanks for the information.

I also saw this video:

from Adafruit Insdustries

 

Can't wait for my tumbler to try 😉

Edited December 1, 2018 by Caro25

[geert_2 558]

Normally people use water and some sort of soap (?) for tumbling real metal parts. Is that recommended for 3D-printed metal-filled PLA too, or not?

 

[Caro25 2]

A little update: I got my rock tumbler. I polished my prints with inox spheres of 1mm, 2mm and 3mm, water and a drop of dish soap.

I left it for 2 or 3 hours. This is the result:

 

Not perfect, but a real improvement with respect to manual sanding.  I now roughly sand manually my prints before the tumbling.