Tank Tumbling Help

[UCF]

So after reading a bunch of posts on here on tank tumbling, I think I am worse off. lol

I have some HP tanks (I own 80 up to 133) that I am going to tumble ( only need to tumble 2 right now). I already built a contraption to do the tumbling. I have questions about the media to use in the tank.

In other posts I believe people like to mix the media with blue gold cleaner. Also people said to buy the media from an industrial supply house instead of online.

I am tumbling to get rid of what I consider minor rust.

So 3 questions.... What kind of media to use? How much of it? And how much blue gold to mix with it?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[tbone1004]

if it's minor rust, i'd use a whip before I tumble unless you are also trying to O2 clean.

me personally or me professionally is also VERY different. Professionally, Oxy-safe from Global then Blue gold. Oxy-safe is the rust inhibitor, blue gold is the cleaner. Personally I use simple green and rinse really well

Alu-oxide chips are perfectly fine and should be available locally. Need about 30lbs/tank to tumble properly. IIRC if you are properly motivated some people use 10-15lbs of glass beads for the oxy cleaning process.

I don't use rust inhibitor and just go for rapid drying and rinsing. I follow the GMC flush cycles of 2 minutes on, let all water drain, then 2 minutes on. As soon as it is done, I shove a LP hose up there and blow it out. I find the process of using the rust inhibitors to be very complicated and choose to just rapidly go to dry them out and then fill them quickly. It is important though that if you do this in the summer in Florida, your risk of flash rust is extremely high. I try to do this process in a climate controlled building or outside during the winter when the air is very dry.

 

[zider]

I find the process of using the rust inhibitors to be very complicated

Just as an FYI. The process for using the GMC rust inhibitor no longer requires the secondary rinse step. A chemist from GMC directed me to rinse the tank with the diluted inhibitor (per instructions) then just dump and blow dry. It couldn't be easier and you can count on no flash rust.

 

[tbone1004]

Just as an FYI. The process for using the GMC rust inhibitor no longer requires the secondary rinse step. A chemist from GMC directed me to rinse the tank with the diluted inhibitor (per instructions) then just dump and blow dry. It couldn't be easier and you can count on no flash rust.

that's nifty. Still expensive and annoying, but probably worth it

 

[Clark Fletcher]

For my own education, is paying someone else to tumble a tank for you expensive enough that it's worth the effort to do it yourself? I ask because I newly returned to diving and haven't had to do it yet.

 

[2airishuman]

I'm following this thread with interest because I've been thinking about tumbling my own tanks this coming winter.

I'm planning to dry them with nitrogen. Nitrogen is cheap.

 

[Wookie]

Quiescience in Key Largo does mine cheaper than I can possibly buy my own gear to do it myself. If you are in an area where someone already does this, check with them before investing.

 

[BoltSnap]

Shouldn't this thread be in the Equipment/Tank forum?

 

[Wookie]

Shouldn't this thread be in the Equipment/Tank forum?

See? Wasn't that easy?

 

[tbone1004]

For my own education, is paying someone else to tumble a tank for you expensive enough that it's worth the effort to do it yourself? I ask because I newly returned to diving and haven't had to do it yet.

how many tanks do you have, how often do you have to/choose to tumble?

I have something like 25 tanks at this point, some of which have to be kept O2 clean. 12 of the tanks are steel, only 2 of which are kept O2 clean *lp72's for emergency O2*. The rest are aluminum *either 11 or 13, I can't remember*, and 6 of them have to be kept O2 clean for deco gas use or PP filling. 2x al80's, 1x al30, and 1xal40 for o2, and 2x al80's for 50%.

I think I paid about $250 for my tumbler and media *used*. I had a buddy who built a tumbler and I used his prior to me moving to Maine and then him moving to Texas. Not cool.

Dive Right in Scuba charges $15 for a light tumble, $25 for a heavy tumble. This is fairly inexpensive compared to a lot of other shops and does not include O2 cleaning. I own 12 steel tanks, which would be $180 for a normal light tumble after hydro. ROI is 2 hydro cycles or 10 years. Probably not worth it for most people. Add in the O2 cleaning, add in convenience, and add in ability to do friends bottles *they typically bring beer and pizza and we hang out while tumbling*, it works out.

A local shop around here charges $40 for a tumble session or $50 for an O2 clean. That ROI shows up very quickly.

Pay Globals prices and you're in for a $1400 tumbler, and lots of other expensive things from them. It gets real sideways real fast that way. Probably $2k total if you buy it all from them