I have one of these, it has been great so far. No issues and no complaints, actually much better than I thought it was going to be coming from HF.

I haven't had it that long, total continuous run time for my unit is probably about three weeks... so I can't speak to the longevity of the unit. But it seems rock solid.

Thinking about getting this one too, Vid suggested it so its probably okay.

Note that this is a wet rated unit; hence the 18lb limit. You will be wasting your money if you buy this unit and simply use it with walnut shells or other dry media. You might as well get the Cabelas unit that is currently $50 on sale. On the other hand, if you actually want to use wet media like ceramic then this is the unit to get.

Not sure how this would be wasting money unless I plan to use wet media. Wouldn't it also be larger capacity and more heavy duty than the smaller units?

I've used it for many years and have not been able to kill it yet.

Do you use it wet, dry, or both?

I use the 5lb one.. http://www.harborfreight.com/5-lb-metal-vibrator-tumbler-67617.html

With the always available 20% off coupon its down in the lower $40's range.

Only thing on both of therse tumbles is to take the wing nut and got to a hardware store and match it to some real hardware. The one they give you is stamped rodent crap. It will strip in a few uses and the walnut media gets all over your floor.

Yeah, I think it was njghecko that said he got a locking (nylon insert) wing nut for his, brcause he had trouble with it.

More heavy duty maybe, but read the dimensions. The bowl is not that big. Wet media tumblers literally use a mixture similar to a bowl of cereal, so the same size bowl weighs a lot and the motor/shaft has to be sealed against water. If more capacity is what you want, you can get a Dillon or other brand with a massive bowl for that price or a little more.

Now this is a large capacity tumbler!:
https://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/23658/catid/8/Dillon__039_s_CV_2001_Vibratory_Case_Cleaner

Yes, the wing nut will vibrate loose. Replace wing nut first thing or learn the hard way like i did. The small one cannot do bigger parts so go for the 18 pounder.

Both.

Anybody have any recommendations on a Grinder/Buffer fro harbor freight? Thinking about picking up a tumbler and buffer this weekend.

The shop I sometimes borrow has 3 of these bench mounted with different wheels:

http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-bench-grinder-buffer-94327.html

Vid, thats what I was thinking about. It seems smart to get a combo grider/buffer rather than just the buffer.

The only thing I don't like about mine is that the rubber rings for the lid keep coming off whenever you remove the lid. It's a great tool to have if you can get past that little annoyance.

That is the one I have. Works great!

Can you just Contact Cement them in place?

They have removed the grinding guard and have buff wheels on both sides of the motor, so I can't say I've used the grinding side (my disclaimer, lol).

It's getting to that point. I haven't used mine in over a year or two, but I might break it out of storage in the next few days for another TZ project.