All,
As I'm well on my way to having all of the parts for the front end cleaned/painted or powder coated, the bolts and hardware need cleaned and possibly plated.
Instead of cleaning each one with the wire wheel, I'm thinking about getting one of the tumblers to make it easier/more efficient.
Does anyone have experience with them?
What about the media needed?
There's all sorts for different jobs, I'm just looking to clean the rust and grime off the nuts and bolts.
Any advice would be much appreciated!!

Thank you!!

Wally.

I have no experience with tumblers, but I do know Evaporust works great for rust removal.

I have used that before but on bigger parts and it does work fabulous!
I have some yet, maybe I should try it first??
I though I would need the tumbler for the small parts to get them reall clean???

If you do get one, try the barrel type.

I have tried the vibratory type & I am not impressed.

I have this one.

https://www.harborfreight.com/5-lb-metal-vibrator-tumbler-67617.html

It does work. I took some nasty crusty hardware and used the green resin diamond cubed media also from HFT. Stuff comes out clean without the artificially bright shine from a wheel.

NOISY as hell and not a fast process though. Its really something you have to use out in the shed far away from anyone and let it run 12-24 hours per batch depending upon how crusty things are.

I have used the drum type and they work great.
I used black beauty grit and some vinegar (a mild rust remover)
I just set it down in the corner of the basement and let it do it's thing..fairly quite too.
Cheers,Pat

Been using one of these for 25 + yrs,for small parts wouldn't have anything else.There is a big difference between tumbling and vibratory.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Thumlers-...mp;gclsrc=aw.ds

Wet drum tumble with stainless pins, hot water, few drops of soap and as said vinegar. Rinse and dry with a hair dryer. Parts will look like new.

Don't you need to be careful with some of the media? Stainless rolling the threads on bolts? It works great at removing the rust, but what media are you using is probably a better question too.

I put a parts in plain vinegar and let them sit for 5 days last week. 1 rusty blade and a chrome bar. The blade came out bare steel like new and the vinegar ate the rust off the bar and to my surprise it ate the chrome off as well.

I have the Harbor Freight vibratory one, works pretty well. But a while back I got myself a blast cabinet. Much quicker and I seem to like using it for some reason. I haven’t reached for the tumbler since getting the blaster, but I’m sure they both have their place.

Well, after 2 uses, the HF tumbler gave up the ghost.....
I think I'll be taking it back.
It did work good though....when it worked.

Vinegar works very well on small parts. BTDT a few hundred times. Cheap too.

Simple steps:

1. Remove all grease and loose rust with dish soap and tooth brush.
2. Immerse in vinegar. Check progress each half day or so. If part still not clean but rust can be scraped off with a knife, do so. Re-immerse. Remove when clean, a few days. Phosphated parts take a little more time to strip off the old phosphating (ignore the stink).
3. Hand wire brush all over wearing gloves. Never touch a clean part with bare fingers.
4. When part is clean and wire brushed with no fingerprints, it is ready for re-paint, re-plate, or re-phosphate. Parts that have been wire brushed will not re-rust for a few weeks or months if kept indoors in air conditioning.

Photos show parts after wire brushing. Only fasteners are shown, but this process works on other small parts just as well.

Some"After" photos.

WOW!!
That is some damn nice work, and great advice!
Are those parts black phosphate coated?
Thank you Kent!

I have a vibratory type.
I had poor results when I used it for the small parts on a Carter BBD rebuild.
I don't recall what media I had in it but it did clean my .38 and 9mm brass well.

Yes, manganese phosphate, I think, from Allegheny Arsenal.

At first I tried phosphating on a propane camp stove, but found it impossible to control the temperature at 200 degrees, just below boiling. When the phosphating solution boiled, the chemicals precipitated out of solution, which didn't totally ruin it, but wasn't what's wanted.

Found a large electric fry skillet at a garage sale, and this works very well with excellent temperature control and a double stainless pot set up, a pot within a pot, as in photo.

Still used the camp stove for boiling water as a pre-heat before parts dipping in the phosphating solution.

Oiling after phosphating is recommended, but I don't think it helps much. Besides, on body bolts to be painted, you wouldn't want oil on those, which leads me to guess that original phosphated fasteners probably weren't oiled.