Cheap deburring machine

[Highvoltage]

After looking at deburring machines that are way out of my price range, we came up with this. We bought a HF cement mixer on sale for $149.00. We assembled it and left the mixing paddles out of it. We contacted one of the companies that does some work for us and asked them about their tumbler medium. They had just replaced it due to the stones becoming too small and they plug their pumps. We scored 4 5 gallon buckets full of 1/2" ceramic stones for free! We made this cover for the mixer out of 12 ga and drilled 2 holes in the mixer to mount it (the other 2 holes were already there). This also works great to rinse the rocks off on occasion. The farther in the dump position you lower the mixer, the more aggressive the stones tumble. For a cleaner/anti-rust agent, we use 1/2 cup of Formula 409. Chemically it contains several of the same components and does a great job. We tumble all our small parts for about an hour and they come out great. Thanks for the great forum. I reference it all the time.

[HammerDownJustin]

Great idea..cant wait to see some pre run pics and after pics of stuff run through it.

[Garysbiz]

Thanks for the share, please post some pictures of it in action and results, this might make a nice fire pit cover also.

[VSAW]

We had one of those for deburring pieces of armor. We ended up lining it with a sheet of teflon like they use in the bed of dump trucks.

[airdy]

Dumb Question Time: How much noise do you get? What Speed are you turning? How big a piece can you deburr?
I built a regular tumbler, 13" Dia. x 30" x .188 w. Toooo noisy, requires a min. of an hr. at a time. Using 1" x 3/4" punch slugs, with 3 paddles.
Aird

[Dawgonhawg]

Trevor, I use the same machine you do. It is noisy but works good. I use broken ceramic tiles for my media and works good. Have to change out ever once In a while.

Jim

[Highvoltage]

It is a little noisy so I leave it outside the shop. I tumble anything that will fit in the hole. It runs for an hour and everything comes out with a nice soft edge. I tumbled 8 5/8" thick x 2" w x 10" long brackets for an hour and they came out perfect.

[muzza]

Not a real clear pic but I did these a couple of years ago to clean them up, nothing else in there, just a couple hundred plates. I also used the same method one time to clean up a heap of rusty tools, also added about a pint of diesel and they came out like new.
Murray

[beefy]

I believe there are rubber compounds you can apply with a brush. Either that or lining the inside with rubber might help to cut down on noise. Metal on metal makes a big clang.

Old tyres are durable and are already round and may help. Fill in any gaps with a rubber compound.

Seen a thread here where big old tyres are the actual tumbler and are very quiet I believe.

Keith