tumbler polisher

[firebird]

Hi

My daughter has a very expensive Tiffany silver necklace. It had lost a bit of its original shine so she asked me if I could polish it up a bit. No problem said I. Out in the workshop with a bit of silver polish the necklace, instead of getting shinier was getting blacker by the minute. At this point panic was starting to set in and I was in deep :fan: :fan: :fan: :fan: :fan: To say she was not amused is putting it mildly. A bit of research on the Tiffany site told me that they are factory polished and lacquered and should no attempt should be made to polish them. :wall: :wall: :wall: Don't worry I said I'll sort it.

Mike over in the questions and answers section asked about polishing in a tumbler. That sounded good to me so I set about making one. This is not precision engineering, time was of the essence.

A windscreen wiper motor and a stainless steel tin with a lid.



The wiper motor spindle has a taper on it. Drill a 8mm hole in a scrap of steel and counter sink one side with a large centre drill and drop onto the spindle.



Drill a 8mm hole in the centre of the tin and fit onto the spindle with a large washer.



Screw 3 bits of wood together to make a base.



Fit the motor to the base with plastic straps.



throw some polishing stuff in the tin. I understand ground wallnut works well but all I had was peanut shells. ( Hey I'm desperate, I'll try anything)



Place the necklace in the tin, put the lid on, connect the motor to a 12 volt power supply and switch on.



[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTJZYkZmM_Q[/ame]

After about an hour the necklace is polished.



Not perfect but pretty good and got me out of the s**t.

I am going to try and get some ground wallnut and try that.

Cheers

Rich

 

[zeeprogrammer]

No problem said I.

When I say that, people roll their eyes and change their mind.

You lucky!

 

[Twmaster]

Hey now that's some creative thinking! So, did you put polish in with the peanut shells?

 

[firebird]

Hi

Very lucky ZP, should have bought a lottery ticket today.

Mike, I just used the shells. I think they are a bit soft for this though.

Cheers

Rich

 

[Twmaster]

As I understand it polishing with ground up corn cob media is better than walnut shell for fine stuff like that. Still looks great! Might have to make one of those tumblers just as a small job sized bit of kit.

 

[New_Guy]

i second that you make it look easy .....still cant believe you used peanut shells

 

[Alan J. Richer]

Hmmm...

Wonder if cornmeal or the like might have been a finer but more "gritty" polishing media? I must say thaty considering the number of windscreen wiper motors i have about that just got put on the project list.

ajr

 

[lazylathe]

When you polish silver the chain will turn black.
That is because of the polish, a chemical reaction.

I find that polishing them and then placing in an ultra sonic cleaner works liek a charm!
Or if you have a powerful steam cleaner that also helps!

Andrew

 

[firebird]

Hi

Andrew, I tried an ultra sonic cleaner but it didn't work too well???

Treated myself to bag of walnuts yesterday. After consuming the nuts I wrapped the shells in a bit of rag and beat them with a hammer until crushed fine enough.



They work better than the peanuts. When I get more time I'll experiment with different media but for now I'm out of the s**t so can get back to more important projects.

Cheers

Rich

 

[Twmaster]

Rich, what is the diameter on that tin? Looks like 4" or so??

 

[firebird]

Hi Mike.

Its 5 inch. I picked it up at one of those £1.00 shops.

Cheers

Rich

 

[Tin Falcon]

FB:
IIRC when I did reloading the walnut shells were a bit finer about the size of aquarium gravel . I am thinking around 3- 4 mm or so . nice little polisher there.
Tin

 

[firebird]

Hi Tin

I think your right, it could do with being much finer. Would adding some brasso help in cleaning up brass parts????

cheers

Rich

 

[Tin Falcon]

Walnut shells w/rouge to remove oxidation plain walnut sheels or plain corn cob for final polish. Look here

http://www.harborfreight.com/manuals/93000-93999/93252.pdf
Tin

 

[lazylathe]

Hi Rich,

The water in the ultrasonic needs to be quite warm and the unit itself should be quite powerful.
Place some dishwashing liquid in the water and you're good to go!

Or if you have some time, make a tumbler.... :big: