Tool: Parts tumbler

[mtm_seven]

Our ranch has an endless supply of powdery white sand to use as a medium and I have a endless supply of rusty and greasy bolts, nuts, washers, brackets and whatnot that I hate taking the time to individually clean or pay to replace.

So, I scored a cheap concrete mixer on craig's a couple of years ago and decided to re-purpose it as a parts tumbler. Thought I'd share with y'all in case you needed something similar.

1st pic is the tumbler itself - it's covered with a t-shirt to reduce the dust that pours out when it's running.

2nd pis is the result. This is about 4 gallons of parts sitting on my welding table for sorting then deployed to the parts cabinets. They probably tumbled in there for 6 hours total.

The process is LOUD and annoying. You may be able to wrap the barrel to muffle the sound if necessary.

Enjoy!