buying a tumbler any suggestions

I am thinking about buying a tumbler this weekend any suggestions on what media to use. I'm gonna be doing the nuts and bolts on bike I'm thinking of going with the walnut shells.Thanks in advance.

walnut shells will take of corrosion but no metal at all

will they remove paint and shine them up

I was just at harbour freight today to buy a bag of soda for soda blasting and saw the tumblers there. They had some triangle shaped media that was for the tumblers, but I do not remember what type of media it was.

Thats where I plan on buying mine. I was there before getting glass bead and I've seen that stuff too. I believe its ceramic. I think they also have it in plastic. Don't know how it works. Looks awfully course.

check eastwood.com

I tumble a lot of machined parts in my shop. Mostly new stuff, aluminum and stainless. For aluminum I use a green plastic media. For stainless I use ceramic. I order both of these online from www.candmtopline.com .

The plastic leaves a sort of galvanized look. Great for anodizing afterwards. The ceramic is more abrasive and will actually take off metal if you leave it in long enough. I know that walnut shells work good at polishing ,you can also add a red rouge to help take off shap edges. However walnut shells are very slow to work. You might have to leave your parts in for up to 48hrs.

I have been tumbling for years. Treated walnut shells are fine for Brass, aluminum and other soft metals. If you nead to remove rust and paint from steel. I use this.
www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93832

Otakar that is what I ended up getting. Its says its a resin I have a batch in there already I figure I want to polish them I can go back with walnut shells.

It can take from 1-3 days to polish them and I think you will find that once they are done, your Nuts will shine. :woohoo: :laugh: