A little over a year ago , my wife was looking for a rock tumbler to use for her polymer clay crafting stuff. We hadn’t gotten into rocks yet, but I figured we could tumble some rocks anyway. I had a rock polisher when I was a kid, and it wasn’t much more than a plastic mayonaise jar sitting on some rollers turned by a motor. How hard can that be? I was surprised at how expensive rock tumblers were.
I found that Harbor Freight had a couple rock tumblers, a single barrel model and one with a double barrel. Both were Chicago Electric brand which I think is Harbor Freights brand name. I bought the double barrel one for about $30. They asked if I wanted to buy the extended warranty, and I said no. But I had a week to come back and buy it if I wanted it.
I brought it home and my wife started polishing some of the polymer clay beads, and the belt broke within a day or two. I did a search and found this was normal with these Chicago Electric rock tumblers. I returned the tumbler, got another one, and bought the extended warranty for like $10 for 2 years.
This time the belt lasted for a week. I read that many people used sewing machine belts. So I went and bought a sewing machine belt. This lasted about a week.
One thing I tried was to make sure the pulleys were aligned to cause minimal wear. I also left the metal cover that hides the motor off, so it would get better air flow.
We started using rubber bands as belts. These lasted as long as the actual belts, and they were cheaper! A rubber band would last usually about 3-4 days. We used the tumbler to polish polymer clay beads and shells. And we were starting to use it more for polishing rocks now also.
A year and 2 days after I bought the the first one, the motor pulley disintigrated. I had bought the extended warranty so I was covered! I took it back planning to exchange it for a new one. I was thinking that when this thing finally died and was no longer covered or cheaply repaired, I would buy a Lortone or another quality rock tumbler. When I brought it in, and told the girl it died, she asked if I wanted a replacement or a refund. I said I can get a refund? She said yeah. Heck yeah! I took the refund! I got my money back for the tumbler and the extended warranty and everything! About $40 in all! I was happy to be rid of the cheap piece of junk. I started shopping for a Lortone rock tumbler!
Thank you so much for this “review”!!! I’ve been looking for info on this tumber before I buy one. Now I’ll save myself the trouble and just get a Lortone. Do you have your Lortone yet? If so, how does it compare?
Comment by Becky — May 6, 2008 @ 9:10 am
We got a couple Lortones actually. We got a large vintage commercial tumbler and a new Lortone 33b. I’ll talk about the 33b since that is similar to th Harbor Frieght tumbler. The Lortone 33b is way better than the Harbor Freight tumbler. The Lortone has metal pulleys compared to the plastic pulleys of the HF. The Lortone has a heavier duty belt. The quality of the Lortone is just way better! I bought the Lortone for $80 which is a bargain compared o other places. I bought it here:
http://www.discountdetector.com/lordualbartu.html
When it came, one of the pulleys was bent a little, and wobbled when it turned. Maybe happened in shipping? I simply removed the motor cover, and pushed the pulley straight. It works great now. We have had the tumbler running now for a couple weeks without any issues at all.
Comment by Rob — May 7, 2008 @ 6:31 am
My belt broke within 12 hours. We are now trying 2 green rubber bands my daughter had bought for a rubber band shotgun.Does anyone know what size O ring we need?
Comment by gary gratto — September 7, 2008 @ 9:53 am
I think you need a 4 inch O ring.
Comment by Rob — September 8, 2008 @ 6:22 am
I also have had a problem with the belts breaking. I have been using a heavy duty hair tie in place of the original belt. It works for a couple of weeks, and then streatches out. I have been searching for a better solution.
Comment by christine — November 15, 2008 @ 2:12 pm
Order the belts for the 3 pound thumblers tumbler. They fit the Harbor Freight one great and so far its lasted 6 months!
Comment by marc — December 1, 2008 @ 1:20 pm
Thanks so much for the info. I was thinking about buying the Chicago Tumbler from Harbor Freight and you have saved me a lot of trouble! I’ll just shop for a Lortone instead…
Comment by Rhonda — January 29, 2009 @ 10:06 pm
I’m glad I found this. My son has the HB tumbler and the belt broke on the third day running the machine. The belts are back ordered through January 2010 (no wonder), so I have been in search of an alternative. I wonder, has anybody tried using the replacement belt for the Lortane 1.5 or 3a for the HB tumbler? They would certainly be a better quality and I think they would fit with a 9″ circumference and 1/4″ thickness.
Comment by Cassie — November 28, 2009 @ 7:07 pm
Sorry, I meant HF, not HB.
Comment by Cassie — November 28, 2009 @ 7:09 pm
I found this site looking for info on the HF tumbler, so for all you Googlers out there you can get belts of just about any size/diameter through McMaster Carr (mcmaster.com). I repair medical lab equipment and a lot of them use oddball belts, and I’ve yet to be stumped by one. All you need to do is measure the total belt length, diameter, then choose a material on their site. Their site even explains what each material is best suited for. Good luck!
Comment by Ron — December 4, 2009 @ 5:47 pm
Thanks for posting this! I was looking on eBay for something affordable that wasn’t and NSI…you’ve saved me a lot grief.
Comment by M — January 2, 2010 @ 5:01 pm
if you open the Hb tumbler up, you can adjust how the wheels align and it helps the tumbler work much better.
Comment by kevin — January 29, 2010 @ 6:00 pm
I have the HF dual drum tumbler and had problems with belts breaking too.
I returned the first one I bought after burning through both belts that came with the thing in a week. HF replaced the whole works for free, since it was still under factory warranty.
I found that if you lube the bearings with WD40 once a day and wobble the shafts back and forth to make sure the oil goes into the bearings, the belt will last months, not days. My tumbler has been going 24/7 for the last 2 months and I am still on the new one’s first belt.
Also, be careful you don’t overload the barrels with rocks. I put my barrels on a scale and weigh rocks, grit and water up to 3 Lbs in each one. Too much weight and the belt breaks.
Put the tumbler on a sacrificial piece of wood or something absorbent – you’ll have a big black puddle of oil under the tumbler in a few weeks, with this lubrication schedule!
Comment by Kevin — February 20, 2010 @ 8:57 pm