[Machinery & Tools] Small Barrel Polishing Sandblast Wet Blast Baking Soda Blast Just Load and Spin for Shiny Polishing Rotary Tumbler Cleaning Polishing Reloading

28 October 2019

Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series 110V 7L Rotary Tumbler and Media Separator for Cleaning and Polishing for Reloading It’s available on Amazon USA.

Frankford Arsenal ← Their website has tools you’ve never seen before; it’s fun to browse.

Dad’s working hard at it.

This barrel polishing rotary tumbler comes with accessories

Tumbler (container)
Rotating base (the spinning part below)
Drain lids × 2 (I don’t use them)
Ferromagnetic metal media (I don’t use it—it sticks to magnets)

The ferromagnetic metal media came included, so I tried it, but there were some drawbacks.

It’s small and fine, so collecting the media after use is a hassle—a lot of work→73553 Shinwa Hand Magnet A-2 Detachable I ended up having to buy something like this…
If media gets mixed in or left on the polished item, it’s really bad
And it’s a problem if it drains away too

I wasn’t sure which media to choose or where to buy it…

Rather than blindly buying media, I did some online searching and reached out to “Toho Steel Machinery Co., Ltd.”

A dedicated salesperson actually came to the shop and explained barrel polishing from the basics, how to use it, and what I wanted to do with it.

They said the finish is something you have to try to understand.
I gave them a junk carburetor sample and had them actually run it through barrel polishing so I could choose based on the results.

That’s the kind of finish you get. This was during my exploration phase of wanting to clean up carburetors. (*Our shop does not clean carburetors using barrel polishing.)

Pros
• Polishes automatically
• Low cost—just media, detergent, and water

Cons
• Loud
• Takes time (you can run it before leaving, but it’s electrical equipment so there’s some concern)

Well, there are pros and cons, but I think it’s a fun tool.

I also have a vibratory barrel, so I’d like to introduce that sometime. By the way, small as it is…
• 3 rotary barrels

• 2 vibratory barrels

I have…

Motorcycle repair and maintenance is about removing oil and dirt from functional areas, but finishing the appearance is like a different industry altogether.

To put it simply

“Cleaning it doesn’t make money”
↓
“Don’t do it”

Or “replace it” or “outsource it”
↓
Customer costs go up → status quo
↓
Or replace or outsource

I think both the person assembling it and the customer enjoy it more when it’s clean.
That’s why I’m constantly thinking about how to make things easier, more convenient, smarter, and cleaner.

It’s pretty much a world of personal satisfaction.