3. Rotary or vibratory tumbler when using rice?

Rotary or vibratory tumbler when using rice?

  • M

    Hi,

    I am looking at making my own brass tumbler. Rotary would be the easiest to make, so hopefully your experience points towards this. I would also like to use rice as the medium, because of cost, and also the dust factor.

    Many thanks.

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  • K

    This post is deleted!
    0 1 Reply

  • @kansas He was asking about a comparison between vibratory and rotary when using rice as a media... and will be making his own. Your post has literally no bearing on the topic.

    @muller I have not as of yet tried to use rice in a rotary. Perhaps someone else can chime in. Vibratory units work quite well.

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  • I have a very large rotary tumbler. It is an 8” pipe about 30” long. It is an awesome tumbler with stainless pins. It does work with rice, but it is not nearly as quick or effective as a vibratory. It takes about 3-4 times longer to get similar results as a vibratory. If you are going with rice over stainless (which you should) then you should go with a vibratory over rotary.

    I can’t remember who makes my vibratory tumbler, but it was not too expensive and works quite well. The store bought vibratory will probably cost less than building a quality rotary. Motor, bearings, shafts, pulleys, belts, pipe, etc. it ads up fast.

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