How-to clean up armor bolts and nuts?

[col.halftrack]

 I am thinking of using a vibrating tumbler. Has anyone tried this and what media did you use? Any other tricks for cleaning bunches of armor bolts?
 

[steve1973]

I bought one from Harbor Freight just for that purpose. Once I learned how to use it it works very well and cleaned the bolts with in 4 to 8 hours. That is using the green pyramids and a little water. The only problem I had is it broke shortly after my first batch. Also, the way they have the bowl attached is a poor design and time consuming to remove. It is also a very messy process and leaves a messy residue. Eastwood company makes one also but looks very similar in design. When I get some free time I plan to try to repair mine and make some improvements.

[col.halftrack]

 Steve I was thinking of using one designed for ammunition cleaning. The only media I have is walnut hulls so I am not sure how they will do but I will try it after I get the tumbler back from a friend I loaned it to.
 Kevin

[steve1973]

Walnut shells are good for polishing, not for de-rusting. Go to Harbor Freight or the Eastwod Company and use the greed pyramids. Like I said. it did a great job before the tumbler broke.

Steve A.

[steve-0]

im going to have to try something like this.
i have learned something not to do though. muritic acid dissolves rust but if you leave your parts in there for a week it also dissolves metal.
 

[Tom @ Snake River]

I made a long bed tumbler, and made a cylinder out of 6" PVC pipe with a screw-in cap in the end.
I then throw in all the dirty parts that will fit, all the ball bearings that I have saved up, and about a quart or so of old fluid out of the parts washer and run for no more than an hour.
    Works great.
Your have to be careful about fitting that you throw in that the ball bearings and chunks can lodge into.

[halftracknut]

I makes a little noise but throw the bolts in a 1 gallon can with about a quart of  sand blast sand , put lid on and turn the shaker on...

[steve-0]

what i did was build a canister with a shaft welded to it then stuck it in my lathe at about 50 rpm.

[halftracknut]

I have also used slugs from the iornworker punch..smaller the better...