Thumler's Tumbler MP-1 Rock Tumbler

I've been using this tumbler for over a year and love it. I had never tumbled before so I was nervous about getting to right one and this one is great for starting out. I have purchased several pounds of rocks to tumble and they came out great, not museum quality but still good enough to display. I like it so much I am going to buy one for my great niece since she loved looking at the pictures I showed her after each grit. Now she identifies each finished rock when they are done. The only complaint I had was the instructions were overly simple but i good book or the web site I found answered all my questions.

EDITED- I purchased an MP-1 from Amazon on March 3rd of 2013. I have used it 2 times and it worked perfectly. I WAS running my third batch and am only on day 3 and it died. I am very disappointed! My son is going to be devastated. Where do I go from here? $80 for 2 batches of agates is NOT worth it.only 4 days into my first batch of rocks and the rubber along the barrel edge started rubbing against that wheel and the resulting friction caused heat and the rubber of the barrel is disintegrating. It is filled exactly as instructed. I have been very pleased with the noise until today. now it is making a rough uneven noise as if it won't make it through the night.I can't imagine this is safe or will last the intended. I am very sad because ky son and I have waited a long time to make this purchase. the roller the tumblers rotates on seems to be defective.is there a way to get just the roller replaced?

This toy is an interesting and fun experience for kids and adults. I believe it to be worth the money spent. It came with all that was needed right out of the box, including rocks. The barrel holds a lot more rocks than I expected. It does take about a month from beginning to end for one load of rocks. My children and I were intrigued at each step of the process. It was fun checking out the rocks in each step.For those that complain about too much noise, really? This is a rock tumbler, what did you expect? Though it is not to loud for what it is, it is too loud to keep in the house or a common living area. The garage or shed is ideal.I gave it 4 stars for fun and durability. For fun: it does take a long time (about a month), so I would not consider this a fun toy that kids can sit around and watch. There is a lot of enjoyment and reward at each stage and especially at the end. For durability: it is a toy. Though it seems well made and capable to do what is needed for a long time, it is mostly plastic. It is what should be expected for the price.

I bought the MP-1 for my son as a Christmas present and it turned out to be exactly as advertised. We followed the instructions to the letter and our rocks turned out great. The rocks that came with the tumbler included lots of interesting agates that really illustrate the point of polishing rocks to reveal their inner beauty. We're on our second batch of petrified wood and so far things are going well. I would recommend the MP-1 to anyone who is interested in tumbling but doesn't want to break the bank. Now that I'm hooked, it's easy to say I should have spent $30-40 dollars more on a slightly bigger/more professional model, but I do not regret this purchase.Several words of caution, however. Be prepared to make some modifications to make it run better. Ours shut off due to overheating several times in the first few hours. Personally, I don't think there was enough airflow to keep the motor cool. After some investigation, I drilled twelve 3/8" holes in the plastic panel under the motor (it can be removed with a simple philips screwdriver), added several rows of 3/8" holes along the back of the motor housing, and expanded the size of as many of the pre-drilled holes as I could. Be careful not to hit the motor with the drill bit or compromise the integrity of the motor housing with the extra holes. I also placed the tumbler on two books to allow air to enter the housing from underneath (with the newly drilled holes in the access panel). Since those mods, it's been running non-stop for two months.Second, if you're new to tumbling, do some research before proceeding. Although the instructions provided are more than sufficient, there are several rookie mistakes that will definitely affect your results. For instance, we had some cool rocks that we had collected from a recent vacation and even threw in a few from our front yard. As most websites will tell you, mix/match rocks of differing hardnesses at your own risk. But even so, my kids still love the results and we've learned our lesson.Overall, this is a very good purchase that I and my kids will love for some time.

Just finished making my first run in it, had a great time. Produce some really nice looking rocks.No problems running it at all. The rubber barrel makes it repetitively quiet (run it in a closet and barely hear any noise (bit like rain).My seven year old lost interest pretty quickly (though enjoys sorting through stones and picking some finish ones for jewelery.)But I'm loving it.Went to ebay and bought grits for a 12# tumbler for just over $20 delivered (he through in a couple of pounds of rock as well free), so I have grits for another 6 runs...Plenty of rocks at good prices at Ebay as well (group your purchases to save on shipping as its a killer when buying a couple of pounds of rocks). My local beach has lots of quarts pebbles so no shortage of matterial for me.Great price great deal...would recommend it over the toy little plastic barreled ones (since it only costs about $10 more) .