Dan&Darci Advanced Professional Rock Tumbler Kit - with Digital 9-Day Polishing Timer & 3 Speed Settings - Turn Rough Rocks into Beautiful Gems : Great Science & STEM Geology Toy for Kids All Ages

works great! variable speed, day timer both work amazing! my only suggestion would be to enclose replacement lid seals, we wore through the rubber on the inside of the lid after only about 2 batches run through. otherwise quite happy with the purchase! just keep rollin'!

Easy to use. Seems rugged east to use. Beautiful redultd6

The tumbler works well enough, it's very reasonably priced, and generally a good kit. The rocks that come with it are a good starter; there are some findings included for finished rocks; and the instructions are reasonably good (accepting some significant caveats below). There's also an included strainer, but we found it much too small, and just used a small colander from our kitchen. Accepting the good points, there are a few important things to consider: 1) The kit comes with a paltry amount of grit. We followed the instructions to the letter using the small grit packets provided in the box, and just couldn't get a good polish on the included rocks. However, we had also bought a set of additional grit at the same time, so we re-ran exactly the same rocks with proper amounts of grit and got a beautiful polish. The additional grit was exactly the same grade and composition as the original, but its instructions called for 2-3x more grit per run. So, I expect a lot of people will be underwhelmed at the polish they get, not realizing that the minimal amount of grit is likely the problem. Since grit is a consumable that you'll need more of anyway, you can save yourself a wasted month of tumbling by buying more grit and just topping off what comes with the kit (2 tbsp for stages 1 and 2, and 1 tbsp for stages 3 and 4). 2) The tumbler runs fast, even at its slowest speed (seems at least twice as fast as the tumblers I'm familiar with). This means it's on the louder end (we kept it in the garage) and it doesn't seem to do a good job on more angular or larger rocks, because the tumbling action is just too aggressive. Anything under 3/4" diameter and/or mostly round will polish up great—which mostly included the rocks that came with our set—but anything outside that ended up with some unpolished edges (although the smooth/flat parts still polished up well). That stated, you can cheat and use mineral oil to mostly hide the rough edges, but they still won't look as good as they do with a proper polish. (Although, I haven't yet tested if ceramic media or poly pellets could improve this situation by cushioning the rocks during the final polish stage.) 3) The instructions could be better with respect to cleaning, and don't cover burnishing at all. For cleaning between stages, after a thorough rinse I strongly recommend putting the rocks back in the tumbler with warm water and a drop or two of dish soap, and then just running it for an hour on its lowest speed. This will clean out all of the grit from the last stage. Then just re-rinse (the sink is fine in this case, since there's so little grit) and start the next tumbling stage. You may want to burnish as a final step, to get a better shine. There are a number of good guides available, so I suggest just searching for the term "rock burnishing".

The first thing I noticed was that the drum and base unit both seem very nicely built. The second thing is that it seems much quieter than I expected. I think the fact that the drum is overmolded with rubber helps a lot in that way. Muffles the sound of the rocks rattling around in there. So my initial impressions were all very good. Currently tumbling my first batch. The little pack of rocks that came with the tumbler, using their grit and their recommended times. I'm on grit pack #2 of 4. The first grit did a great job, smoothing the rough rocks out nicely. I still have a few days to go before I finish grit #2. Comes with a replacement drive belt, which I am happy to see. I expect that is what will fail eventually, as it is a simple piece of rubber. But that's to be expected... as evidenced by them including the spare. A nice touch. Instructions couldn't be easier. If you can read and understand this review, you will have no problems. If the unit works well for a long time, it will have earned this "premature" five-star review.

Run it constantly and it works great.

So far so good, but customer service is lacking so keep that in mind. I emailed weeks ago and never got a response to a question. When the tumbler shuts off it is still on day 1, so I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be that way. I thought it had stalled, so I ran it another day. Later on, I ran a second load of agates in it, and it did the same thing, so I can only assume it is supposed to do that. I've only ran it twice, but I'm loving the results. I didn't use the grit they provided. I use polly grit, and I'm getting awesome results. I will use their grit one day to see what it does. I do lapidary work, so I was doing things different. Either grit you use, I recommend going to step 3, just like other reviews said. Here's something to try. Use grit 3 fine pre polish, a tablespoon, along with half a tablespoon of #1 coarse. Run it for 3 Days on speed 3. Then run it with the same contents for another day on speed 1. Rinse everything. Reload and add in grit 4, tablespoon, with half a tablespoon of cerium oxide. Run the grit 4 and cerium for 2 days on speed 1. I had very good shine and rounded edges. But keep in mind, this process is for agates. For softer stones, you'll want to slow your speed and maybe drop a day. If this thing keeps working, or at least a good while, I would definitely invest in it again. My only regret is that I didn't buy their larger tumbler.

Easy to use

While this item is not a toy, and is actually a nice way to step into the world of rock and gemstone collecting without a huge investment, I purchased it for my kids. Due to school shut-downs the easter bunny this year brought science items. This was one of them. The tumbler does just that, it tumbles or rolls the rocks, which makes it a bit loud, but still managable. The stones are nice quality and the kids should have fun trying to figure out what type they all are. There is a good variety of stones as well. The grit packets do what they are meant to do. Just read the booklet, add your stones grit and water. Close up the tumbler, set the timer and speed, and let it go. We are currently in stage two of our tumbling, but so far I am liking the product, more importantly so are the kids.

Kit completo per iniziare a lavorare

Il tient toutes ses promesses. Le mode d'emploi devrait être plus détaillé à mon avis. Produit à se procurer, d'ailleurs je vais de ce champs en recommander 1 autre.

Having looked at loads of these tumblers and been shocked at the prices charged, this one seems to be a bargain. Very well made and comes with everything needed to get started. Good sized strong drum and sturdy, professional feel base. Useful timer and speed controls. The drum on mine came with the additional metal end (not shown in picture) which does make it run ourt of true on the rollers as others have mentioned, but it pulls off easily and seems better for not having it on there.

Die Trommel ist aus relativ festem Gummi und hat ausreichend Platz für 5 Kieselsteine mit ca. 5cm Durchmesser. Packt man zu viele Steine in die Trommel, dann dauert das Polieren länger oder funktioniert nicht weil die Steine sich nicht genügend bewegen können. Die Trommel ist dicht und läuft ganz gut… allerdings mit einem hörbaren Geräusch. Am besten man stellt den Tumbler in die Garage und lässt ihn dort laufen. Man kann die Drehzahl einstellen und mit einer Tages Laufzahl einstellen nach wie vielen Tagen das Gerät sich abschalten soll. Wichtig ist, dass die die Steine sich gut bewegen und die Trommel dadurch rund läuft. Na ja, und immer wieder betone ich das man Zeit braucht. Nach 5 bis 7 Tagen kann man dann die Trommel öffnen und den Inhalt ausspülen… Trommel und Deckel reinigen und mit der nächsten Poliermittelstufe befüllen… frisches Wasser einfüllen… Trommel gewissenhaft und mit Gefühl verschließen und los gehts. Viel Erfolg.

Funkar bra, kul att slipa stenar