Tumbling question

[BKM]

I know this has been asked and answered a thousand times before but....I just got a tumbler yesterday and want to start cleaning years worth of clad to help finance a new detector.

So...what's you formula for tumbling? Vinegar, sand, gravel, baking soda....other things. What works on pennies versus nickels versus dimes & quarters?

Thanks in advance everybody!

 

[aloldstuff]

I use fish gravel and dish soap. Do not mix pennies and clad together. The clad comes out pink. Good luck.

 

[Tony Two-Cent]

I don't use any aggregate, I just put the coins in with a little Dawn dishwashing liquid. It gets them nice and clean, the coins tumbling against each other gets all of the dirt off.

I have tried adding vinegar but I couldn't see that it had any effect.

Like Al said, tumble the pennies separately.

 

[buck57]

Hey BKM. I recently purchased the double tumbler from Harbor Frieght and got the mixture formula from milco (another forum member) and seems to work great.
We use; 1 cup of aquarium gravel, 1/4 cup of white vinegar, a shot of dish soap, then add tap water to the top of the gravel. I put the pennies in one container and the nickle, dimes and quarters in the other. I run mine about three hours, and some times I have to rinse and run it through a second cleaning, but the results are amazing. Good luck!

 

[BKM]

Thanks for the info guys, can't wait to get to it.

 

[wrvond]

Be careful using that tumbler. It can build up pressure and force the lid open, causing a real mess! That's why I just use water. Also, with the HF tumblers, ensure the drive belt tension is properly set prior to first use, otherwise you'll be having to buy a replacement belt.