Product Description
A rotary tumbler, or metal barrelling machine is the simple and fast way to polish up a lot of metal in one go, quickly. The 3lb Beach Metal Barreling Machine is ideal for jewellery makers.
It’s perfect for metal clay like Art Clay, PMC, and Copper and Bronze Clay, as well as cast or milled sterling silver, copper and bronze. This tumbler is British made and consists of a high-quality motor and a 3lb plastic barrel with vanes. The vanes help speed up metal polishing.
The 3lb motor and barrel makes it great for a larger studio, where you want to polish up a fair amount of work. If you want to polish very large amounts of work, or heavier loads, we recommend you choose the 5lb Barrelling Machine instead.
Tumble polishing is the the easiest way to give your silver pieces a beautiful shine. Just put your silver in the tumbler together with water and steel shot, and leave for anything between 1-6 hours, and they'll come out lovely and shiny. Please note this tumbler does not come with shot or barrelling compound. If you're after a complete kit you can find that here.
Product includes:
- 3lb plastic vaned barrel
- 3lb Tumbler base with motor
A little note on polishing - this tumbler is designed to polish or burnish your pieces. If you use it with stainless steel shot and water it is not an abrasive - so it will not remove scratches. If you have any scratches you need to put in a little work and remove these by hand before you tumble polish. Tumbling for a long time might round off and smooth out the scratches slightly, but it will not remove them.
The vanes in the barrel helps to move your pieces around, so they polish faster. We used to use this size barrel in our metal clay classes, which were up to 10-12 students who each made between 1-3 items (usually earrings and pendants), and the size was perfect.
Alternatively, you can fit 2 of the smaller 1.5lb barrels on this tumbler motor body, in case you want to replace the 3lb barrel. We offer extra barrels in plastic or rubber; plastic is much easier to keep clean, whilst rubber is easier to open and close and are quieter - so you can mix 'n' match them as you like.
A little note on polishing - this tumbler is designed to polish or burnish your pieces. If you use it with stainless steel shot and water it is not an abrasive - so it will not remove scratches. If you have any scratches you need to put in a little work and remove these by hand before you tumble. Tumbling for a long time might round off and smooth out the scratches slightly, but it will not remove them.
A couple of important notes on maintenance:
- NEVER try to remove or replace the plastic barrel lid without warming it up first. Set it in a bowl of hot water for 30-50 seconds before using. Remember to "burp" the lid before tumbling - if you don't know what this is, have a look at the video above. If you don't warm it up, it will eventually crack.
- Every week, unplug the tumbler and put a drop of oil on the steel shaft of the roller where they pass through the bearing blocks. This is a great oil for that.
- Every month, put a drop of oil on the motor shaft, where it protrudes through the side of the machine (use engine grade oil for this).
Size of each barrel: 14cm L x 10.3cm inner diameter, 12cm outer diameter
* Includes a 5 year manufacturer’s warranty from the date of purchase. This requires you to register your purchase with the manufacturer at www.beachlapidary.co.uk *
