Dan&Darci Advanced Professional Rock Tumbler Kit - with Digital 9-Day Polishing Timer & 3 Speed Settings - Turn Rough Rocks into Beautiful Gems : Great Science & STEM Geology Toy for Kids All Ages | Digital 9-Day Polishing Timer & 3 Speed Settings - Great Science & STEM Geology Toy for Kids All Ages

So far so good, but customer service is lacking so keep that in mind. I emailed weeks ago and never got a response to a question. When the tumbler shuts off it is still on day 1, so I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be that way. I thought it had stalled, so I ran it another day. Later on, I ran a second load of agates in it, and it did the same thing, so I can only assume it is supposed to do that. I've only ran it twice, but I'm loving the results. I didn't use the grit they provided. I use polly grit, and I'm getting awesome results. I will use their grit one day to see what it does. I do lapidary work, so I was doing things different. Either grit you use, I recommend going to step 3, just like other reviews said. Here's something to try. Use grit 3 fine pre polish, a tablespoon, along with half a tablespoon of #1 coarse. Run it for 3 Days on speed 3. Then run it with the same contents for another day on speed 1. Rinse everything. Reload and add in grit 4, tablespoon, with half a tablespoon of cerium oxide. Run the grit 4 and cerium for 2 days on speed 1. I had very good shine and rounded edges. But keep in mind, this process is for agates. For softer stones, you'll want to slow your speed and maybe drop a day. If this thing keeps working, or at least a good while, I would definitely invest in it again. My only regret is that I didn't buy their larger tumbler.

I often collect rocks wherever I go, I have for years, and I’ve wanted to get a rock tumbler for some time. When my daughter expressed interest finally getting one was an instant no-brainer. I liked the look of the Dan&Darci machine; it looked solid and stable, it was professional looking. I liked that it had multiple speeds and a multi-day timer. As soon as we got it my daughter couldn’t wait to get started. The machine was as solid and sturdy as it appeared and the instructions were very clear and easy to follow. We put in the rocks, grit, and water, sealed the barrel and turned it on. It made much less noise than expected. We’ve had this running for a while; no issues, no leaks, no problems … many jealous friends and family members...

The tumbler works well enough, it's very reasonably priced, and generally a good kit. The rocks that come with it are a good starter; there are some findings included for finished rocks; and the instructions are reasonably good (accepting some significant caveats below). There's also an included strainer, but we found it much too small, and just used a small colander from our kitchen. Accepting the good points, there are a few important things to consider: 1) The kit comes with a paltry amount of grit. We followed the instructions to the letter using the small grit packets provided in the box, and just couldn't get a good polish on the included rocks. However, we had also bought a set of additional grit at the same time, so we re-ran exactly the same rocks with proper amounts of grit and got a beautiful polish. The additional grit was exactly the same grade and composition as the original, but its instructions called for 2-3x more grit per run. So, I expect a lot of people will be underwhelmed at the polish they get, not realizing that the minimal amount of grit is likely the problem. Since grit is a consumable that you'll need more of anyway, you can save yourself a wasted month of tumbling by buying more grit and just topping off what comes with the kit (2 tbsp for stages 1 and 2, and 1 tbsp for stages 3 and 4). 2) The tumbler runs fast, even at its slowest speed (seems at least twice as fast as the tumblers I'm familiar with). This means it's on the louder end (we kept it in the garage) and it doesn't seem to do a good job on more angular or larger rocks, because the tumbling action is just too aggressive. Anything under 3/4" diameter and/or mostly round will polish up great—which mostly included the rocks that came with our set—but anything outside that ended up with some unpolished edges (although the smooth/flat parts still polished up well). That stated, you can cheat and use mineral oil to mostly hide the rough edges, but they still won't look as good as they do with a proper polish. (Although, I haven't yet tested if ceramic media or poly pellets could improve this situation by cushioning the rocks during the final polish stage.) 3) The instructions could be better with respect to cleaning, and don't cover burnishing at all. For cleaning between stages, after a thorough rinse I strongly recommend putting the rocks back in the tumbler with warm water and a drop or two of dish soap, and then just running it for an hour on its lowest speed. This will clean out all of the grit from the last stage. Then just re-rinse (the sink is fine in this case, since there's so little grit) and start the next tumbling stage. You may want to burnish as a final step, to get a better shine. There are a number of good guides available, so I suggest just searching for the term "rock burnishing".

works great! variable speed, day timer both work amazing! my only suggestion would be to enclose replacement lid seals, we wore through the rubber on the inside of the lid after only about 2 batches run through. otherwise quite happy with the purchase! just keep rollin'!

Comes with only enough grit for one set of rocks, must purchase more grit for more rounds. The tumbler pushes the barrel towards one side such that it pushes constantly against the washers on the rollers that keep the barrel in place. It started to wear down a groove in the rubber on the barrel, so I turned it metal cap side towards the washer it was pushing against. This caused wear on the washer. For grit 3, I angled the barrel by propping one side of the base up so gravity would pull it away from the washer as the rollers pushed it towards the washer to balance it in the middle. This was a little better, but I started you see wear/divets on the rollers. It seems like this just isn't build for the repetitive motions needed for days of running for each grit. It takes about a month for each round off new rocks. We have it running in the garage on the other side of the wall as the master bedroom and we can hear it through the wall. My husband thought it was water leaking at first until he found where the noise was coming from.

Run it constantly and it works great.

I loved it great kit but. I used it as specified in the instructions. I only filled the barrel up about half way with rocks, filled with grit and water to the top of rocks.. and ran it on Speed 3 for 6 day setting. I let it run.. after about an hour it was showing 'E' for error. It would only run for several minutes before stopping with an error, no matter what speed it was set for. It would stop even without the barrel attached. I tried unplugging for a while and trying again. With less rocks and water and it won't do anything now. It displays an E right away and the motor won't turn. Very disappointing. Especially considering it should've lasted for a long time if used correctly and it didn't even last 2 hours. I was so excited for my daughter to use this and see the world of gems. UPDATE. their customer service was amazing. Replaced it free of charge. Well try this again. Hopefully it works this time

Easy to use

Speriamo che funzioni come previsto grazie

Having looked at loads of these tumblers and been shocked at the prices charged, this one seems to be a bargain. Very well made and comes with everything needed to get started. Good sized strong drum and sturdy, professional feel base. Useful timer and speed controls. The drum on mine came with the additional metal end (not shown in picture) which does make it run ourt of true on the rollers as others have mentioned, but it pulls off easily and seems better for not having it on there.

Funkar bra, kul att slipa stenar

Die Steintrommel erfüllt voll und ganz ihren Zweck. Ich habe die "1. Ladung" getrommelt, das hat ca. 4 Wochen gedauert und ich bin mit dem Ergebnis voll zufrieden. Das Gerät ist diese 4 Wochen ununterbrochen ohne Probleme gelaufen. Für den Hobbyeinsatz ist die Größe ausreichend.

funciona muy bien y poco ruidoso