Just had to do it.

Thanks for your replies to my inquiry. I guess it’s hard to get past the old way of doing things at this age.
I still do lots of stuff the old way or the hard way. Lots of times its still better. As far as the sonic cleaner goes, I am just trying different methods to see what works for me or not. Here is the next method of cleaning parts.


 
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I’m in the same boat with Chris and Bill. My biggest pet peeve with cleaning parts is the hardware I hate that part. When prices weren’t so high I mostly replaced it all but not now. I’ve been working on a vibratory method of cleaning small parts like hardware. Many good diy ones on YouTube.

Get a shell tumbler for reloading. We used one for years that dad picked up at a flea market. It worked really well for cleaning bolts. Even new you can find one for around 50 bucks.

If the bolt head wasn’t rounded or worn and the threads looked good we would reuse hardware after an over night shaking in the tumbler.
 
Dry or with a cleaning agent? Not familiar with a rock tumbler. Have used brass tumbler with corn cob agent.
The tumbler I have is similar to this one but mine is 45/50 years old, I bought at an auction and my first use was to clean the helicopter spray nozzles would put nozzles in the barrel add about 1/2 full of water and a couple of good squeezes of Dawn dish soap turn it on and let it run for a good day dump the water soap mix blow dry the nozzles sort the parts reassemble worked great the brass bodies were shinny new looking and everything was clean. I use it with Dawn and water to wash the nuts & bolts if they are oily and greasy
 
Do you know what brand you have and what media you use. The one at HF looks like a nice one.
I would have to look it over for a brand name like I said its near 40-50 years old I've had it at least 40 years, I had one before this one that was similar to the HF one but the drums were a bit small, for wet use I use water and Dawn soap for dry I use blasting grit that is used in a blasting cabinet
 
Lots of good ideas here, and the laser video's were fun to watch! I've got an old toy rock tumbler around here somewhere that I used to polish agates with years ago. I might have to dig it out and try to use it for nuts, washers and bolts! Might try wet with the Dawn to remove grease, then dry sandblast media for final cleanup!

DAC
 
I threw the bolts in the Vibratory tumbler for a bit. Didn't get all of the paint off but close. I gave them a quick rinse to get the powdery residue off and then gave them a bath in Ospho. Should be ready to paint them tomorrow. The gasket surfaces are cleaned and treated with Ospho.
 

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Looking good, CJet! Very interesting build!

DAC
Started out just needing to change the front crank seal. Didn't work on it today. Had to round up and ship a cow today. Hated to see this one go but it came up with a bad back leg or foot. Had a vet check it out 3 weeks ago. They couldn't find anything and it was improving slowly. When I turned them out on pasture they all get excited and take off running and this one made it about 100 ft and started really limping again. Looks like its going down hill so we made the call.
 
Cleaned up more bolts this afternoon. These are for the governor, front pedestal and wheels. Had to sandblast the wheel bolts to get the rust off all of the others got a sonic cleaning, vibratory tumbler, and treated with Ospho.
 

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Sprayed the primer and red on the bolts. Its sunny today so they should dry nicely.
 

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Almost forgot about these parts that I had set on a shelf waiting for paint.
 

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