[Jewelry making - Article 01221] - [Orchid] Is a small vibe tumbler practical?

[Trevor F]

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Hello group,

    Thus far I've done all my finishing and polishing of the (mostly)
    silver pieces I make by hand and it is my least favorite part of the
    "job".  I've long wanted some way to automate some of this. Needless
    to say there are many choices when it comes to tumblers but from what
    I've read thus far a vibratory tumbler sounds like it might suit my
    purposes best. 

    I work in small batches, half a dozen rings at a time, maybe two or
    three bracelets at once, etc. I estimate that I would need to finish
    or polish at most 200 or 300 grams of goods at a time. 

    I've determined that stainless steel shot is definitely something I
    want to use but had always understood that you needed a larger
    heavy-duty vibe unit in order to handle it. I recently asked for
    recommendations from a major supplier of vibratory tumblers units and
    their recommendation shocked me. 

    Based on my needs they suggested their smallest unit which has an 8
    inch bowl and can handle up to 5 lbs in the bowl at a time. It's also
    one of their cheapest units at a fraction of the price I was expecting
    to pay. 

    Is this for real?  Given what I want to do does this sound like a
    reasonable recommendation?  If so I'm sold but frankly I'm still a
    bit taken aback. This is not at all what I was expecting to hear. 

Cheers,
Trevor F

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