Is there a good media you can use in a vibratory cleaner to polish a lugset, or if there is any media you can use to take off the casting skin on a lug?

Thanks

Never heard of that. One thing is that uniform abrasion does not help refine surfaces which will tend to be reduced all over. This means high points are not bought low, some crispness might be lost, and internal dimensions altered. Not to say it shouldn't be tried.

There are power tools that would make the job easier, like a very powerful 2x72 grinder which is always a go to tool around freehand metal shaping. reamers, burrs, die grinders, fresh files, and those mini belt sander. Plus really do tooling to hold the lugs.

I have no experience with vibratory cleaners. Doesn't seem like it would work to polish, but I'm guessing that a lot of things would work to take off the casting skin. I use a 1/2" sanding drum on a dremel. The casting skin internally can be removed with bead blasting or the dremel.

Plastic abrasive media. Not sure how big your set up is but get a couple of media sizes in the triangle/trapezoid shape medium grit. Use some sort of liquid too if your vibratory tumbler is water tight to help speed up the process. In general be sure to only use the same types of metals in your media. For example don't use the same media to to clean off copper or brass stuff then put steel parts in it. I contaminates your media. Hope that helps.

Thank you. We tried some plastic triangle media and ran the thing for a few hours and it didn't seem to do much to the casting skin.

I guess I will try a different media... the abrasive as you suggest.

How long do you generally run lugs etc.?

If your looking for aggressive action try the ceramic media, Use a coarse grit and check your batch frequently to see your progress and keep track of the time and quantity put in each bactch. but it might cause more work on the final finish on the lugs. In general, I run batches between 2-6+ hrs but I use a rotary tumbler. Vibratory tumblers work faster and even more so submersed in a liquid.

ughhh

What's wrong with the methods that really work
mechanical clean with abrasive drums in a die grinder {and that is the time to ease or close the fits}
or some times a dunk in Hydrocloric acid to remove heavy rust
Tumblers and such like will not knock the "Skin" off very well and certainly smash off sharp corners of the lugs of part. One will not get a polish!
I am puzzled by the search for the missing path when methods that have worked for a hundred years are still the best and for good reason.

I use a vibratory tumbler to take the tarnish off brass. It takes several hours to do that. I have accidentally left brass to tumble for nearly 24 hours. It did not produce any dimensional change. I doubt that a vibratory tumbler is capable of removing any real amount of steel unless you leave it in for a month or two.

Beyond that I agree with Silverbraze.

OK just thought I'd ask. Guess I will stick with sandblasting!