Harbor Freight 18 lb. Vibrating Bowl 1year Review

Chicago Electric #96923 Vibrating Polisher, I wanted to share my technique to polish some dull zinc plated railing fittings. I Tried using Harbor Freight Ceramic media and it wouldn't clean the small detailed spots But the Walnut shell only polished and wasn't aggressive enough.

[@rickie5150]

Best video for the performance of this tumbler... I'm getting one !!!! Thanks for posting the video !!!

[@dpmulvan]

Graves sells tumbling media as well as many other companies. You can also build a durable, large tumbler out of an old air compressor tank, a couple pillow blocks some springs, a 1 hp motor and some weights so you can tumble rims engine blocks et.

[@docaylsw]

I got one of those. The bowl developed a crack after about a month. I had to weld it with a plastic welder, but the motor still works fine.

[@totalbullion5882]

Good info, thanks for sharing.

[@agateenchantmentrockwizard5969]

Great review thank you

[@modraper3288]

Nicely done. Thank you sir.

[@turboconqueringmegaeagle9006]

I'm pretty new to this concept, but walnut shell has always been something that's not too aggressive on light alloys, mechs used to throw it in jet engines for compressor washes and the comp stages can be mag alloy so really soft, have you tried anything else since on steel?

[@JohnMSawyer]

Maybe your walnut shell media had been sitting around for a year or so, and had started to break down? I don't know if that's something that happens to walnut shell media, but I bought a box of Harbor Freight's 24 grit walnut shell media about a year and a half ago (Dec 2015), and soon after I bought it, I tested it with my air compressor particle blaster to remove some paint from a 1989 Ford Escort valve cover. It did an OK job, and since I didn't need to finish removing the paint (this was just a test), I left the rest of the paint on the valve cover. I got involved in some other projects for about a year and a half, and last week I decided to try the walnut shells again on the valve cover. This time, they didn't do nearly as good a job. So maybe after an organic blasting media like walnut shells (and maybe corn cob media too?) has sat around for a while, it might deteriorate somewhat and lose much of its effectiveness? The ambient humidity during my first test was pretty high, since it was December (2015), during the rainy season here north of Sacramento, CA, but during my second test last week it was pretty hot and dry here. So the problem with the media during my second test wasn't that the walnut shell media was damp. Maybe walnut shell media breaks down over time--I'm wondering what other people's experience has been.

[@Kane-ib5sn]

good job, thanks. did add to subscriptions, and thumbs up.

[@azeissler1987]

Are you able to run baking soda through your Harbor Freight sand blaster?

[@ramwall1500]

if you want to get a little aggressive go to a machine shop and get some of the metal shavings from where they have machined Parts down there usually oil soap and do a very good job but they will cut pretty deep so don't use it on anything you want to look smooth and really shiny

[@timothyraymondparsons5464]

What's the best media for removing file scratchs and make my hotwheels smooth and shiny

[@PiefacePete46]

Useful video thanks... How long are you typically leaving things in there?

[@abiseid]

I bought this unit recently hoping it would be a wonder tool in my home shop but the walnut shell alone does not do much. So far, I am disappointed considering the run-time needed to be effective. I appreciate your video and am going to try some cat liter mixed with the walnut shell like you suggest. Have you found a good mix for rust removal? If so, what do you recommend?

[@UnsanctionedFabrication]

Robert Abiseid Sorry it can't remove rust like that, try putting play sand in it. I use dynaflux rust remover first, its a liquid rust remover that you just soak parts in any where from 10min - 24hrs depending on how bad it is.

[@glennedward2201]

Robert Abiseid add cut and polish for automobiles by the cap full and it will give parts a mirror finish.

[@ramwall1500]

Robert Abiseid WD-40 and metal shavings from nearby machine shop

[@RudeMcNasty]

It's been over two years since you made the video do you still feel the same way about your 18 lb. Vibrating Bowl?

[@UnsanctionedFabrication]

Who Me? It hasn't failed me yet!

[@aimanfirdaus5184]

Hy i from malaysia how to do the mechine at home

[@Russell218]

Who knew that Charlie from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" knew so much about parts finishing.

[@jaredlaird4191]

Lol 😆🤣

[@johnzarollin2749]

Harbor Freight is an excellent source for tools you intend to use ONE TIME.

[@dougspindler4947]

Nice video, thanks for sharing.

[@juniorjohnson9509]

Have used these for years, and I overload them rather much. Very good for the price. Had to reinforce the bowl, add a piece to keep it centered on the shaft, and replaced the lousy cover with a piece of plywood. Unfortunately, i have yet to find replacement bowls - the ceramic media I use wears the bowl out after a hundred hours or so of use.

[@Darnic-Fab]

Check Eastwood their tumbler looks just like Harbor freight. They have replacement parts

[@juniorjohnson9509]

@@Darnic-Fab : Thanks. Will check them out.

[@ejgrae1989]

was teh cat liter corn cob? do u remember the brand cos I cant find ceramic litter? clay based?

[@UnsanctionedFabrication]

I used clay based Oil-Dri (almost same as cheap clay cat litter) and crushed walnut shell media.

[@tayda_social]

can you strip powder coat with this?

[@frankcarrasco1103]

So what it do

[@beyazperde6010]

I would like to buy something like this for my new business can some one help me?

[@David-sw3on]

I LIKE IT OLOT!!! lol👍😉🇨🇦

[@cyvanderloo9831]

Can you clean copper fittings with that

[@mikegillaspy1721]

Yep

[@linzenmeyer]

Why didnt you just buy 1mm ceramic polishing balls?

[@timothyraymondparsons5464]

1mm ceramic polishing balls are they good for polishing hotwheels

[@woodmatters9247]

would this work on rusty railroad spikes?

[@UnsanctionedFabrication]

It won’t be aggressive enough, I’m not positive but I believe there is a diy hack where you can soak them in vinegar for many days to remove the rust. Good luck thanks for watching!

[@glennedward2201]

Mine lasted 2 months before the motor melted down and caught fire.

[@principle_lecture]

I think HF sources some of their stuff from different places. Could you tell anything about the motor, as in was it an enclosed motor, or even a low service factor motor? My guess is that it wasn't, but that it was replaceable with a nice new well made motor. Of course, that doesn't mean it was worth fixing. What is your take?

[@jhscheppele2448]

Replace the clamp with vise grips.

[@syednizam3618]

Hi send me making videos

[@syednizam3618]

If u want

[@pdubowner]

Bob and vagene?

[@billhodges7577]

The plastic top is a piece of shit design, after a while the rod wore and oblong hole into mine and you cant buy the hopper or top

[@assassinlexx1993]

Just use a piece of plywood. Drill a hole. This time have a nut and washer under the plywood that way you tighten the top nut and washer down to clamp it.

[@mrbogarim100]

*impressed with quality. my unit came 🔎🔍 **allabout.wiki/Lyman** with a pound or so of what looks like stainless steel shot and more importantly a spare o-ring for the access hatch and a toothed-belt for the motor-drum drive. Nice touch.the drum and base are both larger than I expected and heavy.the materials and build quality seem good to very good.it's been running on the slowest speed for the last couple of hours with2 pounds or so of my steel parts to be deburred,4 pounds or so of 1" ceramic stars andwater with a little bit of dawn soapfilled to 1/2 the drum volume.I weighed the drum half filled with the previous mentioned items and it came out a little under 9 **pounds.like**: I like the way the drum hatch gets locked.the robustness of the build and motor.con: no instructions that I can see on how to work the base dials/controls, but I got it running by just turning the knobs.grin.not sure if the timer is on or what the 1/0 switch does (it's not on/off to the motor), timer use maybe ??I'll have another look in the box for the instructions or maybe on line .... this is not a big enough of an issue to take rating stars off my initial 5 star rating.update 10.1.2017: ran it 24hrs/day for 4 days straight with 4 different batches of parts and it worked without issues. My a36 steel parts came out as expected with a nice even finish.BTW not mentioned but as I state in the previous line, I've been running it without a 'timer' limit. I suspect the '1/0' switch when switched to '0' disables the timer ... however I got it to work this way, it's the way I wanted, so I can run it overnight without a 3hr reset of the timer.*