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Post by Karen on Sept 30, 2004 8:38:37 GMT -5
Need recommendation on the best tumbler kit to buy for a 7 year old girl. Links to places that sell them cheap a must. Will like to spend$50 or less. Thanks in advance.
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Post by BearCreekLapidary on Sept 30, 2004 10:10:55 GMT -5
Hello Karen, I am fairly new to tumbling myself, so I can not recommend a specific tumbler. There are quite a feww recommendations in the past pages of our forum, if you have not read through them already ... the answer might be waiting for you there. You can check out: www.graves.comwww.kingsleynorth.comI am sure that there are a lot of other sources and ot links ... I am just not exactly sure what they are. When you do get a tumbler, you would be hard pressed to find a more helpful group of people with many years of experience, than what you can find in this group. They are great folks. Good Luck, John
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Post by Cher on Sept 30, 2004 10:22:05 GMT -5
I guess for the price you're looking in, I'd do searches and see if you can find the best place to get a 3 pound Chicago Electric or a 1.5 pound Lortone. You're not going to get much more in that price range but both of these have rubber barrels which will last much longer than the cheaper "toy" tumbler with plastic barrels. Just my opinion ... check Ebay and search for "rock tumbler" they always have some kind of tumblers on there. [glow=red,2,300] ~ Cher ~[/glow] pages.prodigy.net/bestsmileys1/signs/RockOn.gif [/img] PS. If you think she might be really serious about it, then I'd go to Jatayu and order a Lortone 33B, it was the best place I found for the best price. This one has 2 - 3 pound rubber barrels. Use one barrel for the first two stages of grit and the second barrel for polishing.
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Post by rockyraccoon on Sept 30, 2004 17:37:01 GMT -5
looks like you can get a double 3# chicago electric tumbler (possibly with grit kit if you find the right deal) on e-bay for less than $50. i can't speak for the performance of this tumbler - seems like i remember hearing the belts break easily. you will have an ongoing cost of grits, polishes and rough rock to tumble unless you live where you can collect your own material to tumble. i personally have not found this to be a cheap hobby but i sure do love it.
kim
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Post by creativeminded on Oct 1, 2004 9:15:58 GMT -5
I went out and bought the toy for myself and I will be giving it to my nephew for Christmas this year, for two reasons, I already have it and it is an inexpensive way to make sure he is going to like the hobby. It was a little over 30.00 for the complete kit that included rocks and grit, but only one barrel. If I didn't already have the toy model I would probably go for a Lortone 1.5 because of the rubber barrel and you don't have to worry so much about it leaking. Tami
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Post by Karen on Oct 1, 2004 11:34:49 GMT -5
The Chicago tumbler is sold by Harbor Freight Tools. The 6lb tumbler sells for $29 on their web site. The tumbler looks a lot like the Lortone 6lb.
This is a good knock-off tumbler with rubber barrels and fan cooled motor. The only problem with it is the drive belt, which MUST be replaced with something better for the tumbler to work correctly.
Replacement belt is easy to find and costs $1 to $3 depending on where you get it. I have discovered that a replacement lid belt for the 3lb. Thumler's Tumbler works best. You can pick one up for under $2 from The Rock Shed, or on E-bay.
This tumbler does not come with any rocks or grit, so you will have to order some. I would try The Rock Shed or E-bay.
Tumbling is fun! My whole family is involved with the hobby.
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