The Kitiki Engineering Lapidary Kit For Glass, Metals, Minerals, Rocks, And Stones.

The Engineering Tumbler Kit is generally used for cleaning up, de-burring, smoothing, and polishing glass, metal parts, minerals, rocks, and stones, although it has other applications. It's popular for adding a gloss or matte finish to beach glass and pebbles. The long barrel accepts things like cartridge cases, slate strips, cast or machined metal, and glass shards, or just more pieces at a time.

The kit comprises a versatile motor base, a long 2360cc plastic drum, a three-grit pack with 400gms of 80 grit, 400gms of 220 grit, and 340gms of 400 grit, 200 gms of zinc oxide polish, and 250gm of plastic pellets to distribute the polish.

Tumblers and polishers can be used to refine, matte, or gloss the surface on brass, bronze, cartridge shells, castings, coins, copper, fashion accessories, fingerprint keepsakes, glass, gold, gun components, jewellery, keys, metals, minerals, model parts, rocks, shells, silver, small treasures, and stones. And there are diverse archeological, engineering, geological, hobby, and industrial applications.

Prices here are transparent: the kit prices include a UK-EU voltage and CE-marked motor base, a rotating drum, abrasive or polishing media, comprehensive instructions, UK VAT, and continuing free support from a top-tier international distributor. So you can start work straight away.

You don't have to buy a complete kit. All the components for all the kits are available separately, so you can mix-and-match the combination you need. To learn more about the separate parts, use the separate parts link.

For prices, trading terms, and secure on-line shopping, use the shop link below the menu bar near the top-right of any page. The order form is after the price list, near the bottom.

Here are some important reminders:

The motor base is a luxury model, so has some enhanced features: two roller-ball drum end-stops, a toothed nylon-reinforced drive belt, and enclosed non-slip cogged drive wheels.

The kit includes a long plastic drum. It rests on two rollers, one of which is turned by the motor. To keep it in place as it rotates, it's constrained by the end stops, one at each end.
There isn't a rubber drum of the same length. Long rubber drums, full of materials, flex, get warm, distort, and slip or slow down.

Using three grades of grit is vital. With two, coarse and fine, polishing would take longer and be less effective. The grits and polish come in plastic screw-top pots: not plastic bags, and not pots that can't be closed tight once the seal has been broken.
The kit includes plastic pellets to distribute the final polish. Without these, the polish would stick to the sides of the drum or just stay in lumps.
Anything described elsewhere as a getting-started pack will almost certainly only have small amounts of two grits and polish, and no pellets. So you'd need to buy an appropriate pack sooner rather than later.

The Kitiki Engineering Tumbler Kit For Glass, Metals, Minerals, Rocks, And Stones.

The kit comprises a CE Marked motor base, a 2360cc 285mm x 113mm diameter plastic drum, and two three-grit packs each with 400gms of 80 grit, 400gms of 220 grit, 340gms of 400 grit, 200 gms of zinc oxide polish, and 250gm of plastic pellets to distribute the polish. The kit uses the KA CR5 motor base.

The motor is rated at 230V-240V 60W, so can use a regular mains socket. It's fully-enclosed inside a vented steel case rather than, as with some tumblers, exposed at one end: so it's less prone to damage and damp, and takes up less space.

Including the barrel, it measures 463mm x 160mm x 160mm high, weighs about 5kg, and comes with a 1.7 metre cable ending in a UK 3-pin plug. Plastic protectors stop the tumbler marking your work-top, or slowly creeping and falling off.

The barrel revolves on two plastic rollers, one of which is turned by the motor. There are two roller-ball barrel end-stops and a nylon-reinforced toothed drive belt which can be adjusted for tension, although it's intended to be loose.

The 2360cc drum is often called a double-size or 6.0lb drum. However, as it holds 2360cc of water, about 2360gm, it's really a 5.29lb drum. So, if you see it described elsewhere as having an actual capacity of 6.0lbs, it doesn't.

As you can see in the photo, the 2360cc plastic drum uses nearly the full width of the tumbler body. However, you can replace the long drum with two medium-size drums, plastic or rubber, or three small rubber drums, or four small plastic drums.

The grits are silicon carbide: an angular, hard, sharp, material which fractures into smaller angular particles, making it an effective abrasive. Generally, 80 grit is classed as medium, 220 as fine, and 400 as very fine. They come in plastic screw-top pots: not plastic bags, and not pots that can't be closed once the seal has been broken.
The final phase for polishing glass and stones uses a very fine zinc oxide paste mixed with small plastic pellets to help distribute it and stop it sticking together in lumps.

The instructions for all the tumblers and polishers can be printed here, using the instructions link below the menu bar near the top of the page.

The Kitiki Plastic And Rubber Barrels.

Plastic drums are a bit fiddlesome to open and close. However, to make the lid easier to push on, stand it in hot water. When it's on, the drum needs to be squeezed to expel as much air as possible because, during prolonged tumbling, the air warms up and expands and can cause the drum to leak.

To make the lid easier to pull off, the whole drum needs to stand in hot water. Prising it off is a good way to break your nails and there's a slight risk that it will suddenly come off and you'll spill your work, shot or grit, and soapy water.

You'll need to be careful with a plastic drum and the push-on end caps. If they're not pushed on all the way, the drum won't turn properly and might fall off the rollers.

If you have to work in the same room, plastic drums are noisier than rubber: especially as some glass, rocks, and stones might need to tumble for days.

A rubber drum is simpler to fill and empty than a plastic drum as it has a different lid: at one end there's an inner metal lid, a rubber sealing ring, an outer metal lid, and a retaining wing-nut.

If you want to upgrade but want something about the same size, look at the Home Tumbler Kit. Or, if you would prefer a larger machine, look at the Professional Tumbler Kit. Both include a rubber drum and are better engineered, with more powerful motors, roller-ball drum end-stops, toothed nylon-reinforced drive belts, and non-slip cogged drive wheels.

Fitting And Removing A Plastic Barrel Lid.

Cherry Heaven TV provides on-line radio and television programmes using the Cherry Heaven Player. To play, pause, or stop the player, or adjust the volume, click the controls or, whilst it's playing, drag the time-line slider to a new position.

Plastic drums are economy drums, although they work perfectly well. Unlike rubber drums that have a screw-on lid, plastic drums have a push-on lid. To prevent leaks, the lid has to be a good fit. There's an easy way to fit and remove the lid. Here are two videos:

The Kitiki Engineering Tumbler Kit For Jewellery, Silver, Gold, Art Clay, PMC, And Metals.

If you've already bought this tumbler for glass, minerals, rocks, and stones, but now want to try jewellery, metals, and silver, you'll need 1000gms of mixed-shape, rust-resistant, stainless-steel shot and 225cc of special cleaner and corrosion inhibitor.

However, grits and polish are a bit like sandy toothpaste, and cleaning out a drum completely, storing the grit, and swapping back to shot is messy and tedious. And I wouldn't recommend using the same single drum for grits and shot as one stray grit particle in the shot will scratch your work.

You could use two barrels: one for the grits and one for shot, marked so that you don't mix them up. But, budget constraints aside, it's much better to use four drums for the three grit grades and the polish, and one drum one for the shot. It makes cleaning and storing easier, especially as the three grits look similar and the polish must be kept grit-free.