Red Neck Coin Tumbler

[jimb]

[attachment 22634 nature007.jpg]I was looking at the prices on rock polishers to clean coins and thought their must be a cheaper way to get a polisher. Their is! Go to your local Salvation Army or Goodwill store and pick up an ice cream maker. The one below is a Rival Yogurt / ice cream maker. 6 dollars and a half hour of your time and its done. The only modifications I made was to grind the end of the plastic mixing vane round instead of square. This allows it to spin with the barrel. Then I installed 2 rivets in the side of the ALuminum barrel to grab the plastic padel as it turned. I am off to get some sand blasting sand and will do before and after pics of my first attempt. I still need to make a cradle to hold the whole unit at about a 20 degree tilt. I estimate this will hold 1lb worth of coins easy. 2 lbs I might have to put some guids under the barrel to help it roll and not have all the weight on the end bearing. The motor has enough power to spin well over 5lbs. On to phase 2. I wouldnt use this on silver coins. Just the clad so I can cash them in.

Thanks
JImb

 

[jimb]

PHASE2:

Its worked. I tumbled about 4lbs worth of coins for 3 hours. The last hour I put in some water and Pinesol. I should have done that at the start. All the funk is off the outside but as you can see some are still stained. Those came out of the road bed where alot of salt has hit them over the years. I also only used beach sand from the lake here. Sandblaster beads should work better. One correction. I only paid 3 dollars for the whole unit. It fits just right in a milk crate
laying on its side. I did put in two rollers under the barrel. This allowed me to dump in all the coins at once. With out the rollers it was to heavy to stay in the bottom socket. Coins, sand, and water. The few pennies turned out nice. Thursday all the pennies go in.
How long will it last? I have no idea. But I will only use it about 3 times a year seeing how much it can hold. The motor has plenty of power to turn the full barrel.
JImb

 

[mrschile]

Hey Jimb.

Have you tried soaking them in Lime Away.

I've done it -
Cover them completely in a tupperware or plastic container with lime away - no water.
Shake around a couple of times and let sit 10mins or so
Repeat last step
Then use a metal strainer and rinse in the sink

I save the limeaway in another container to use again

Try it it really works well.
Just do a few coins
You will be surprised at how well this works

HH Mrchile