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Home » Rock Tumbling Tips » How much does tumbling cost? How Much Does it Cost to Run a Rock Tumbler?If you want tumbled stones maybe you should buy them instead of a tumbler?
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Electricity + Abrasive CostsA few people have written to us about the costs of operating a rock tumbler. To respond to these questions we have prepared a detailed cost comparison for several of the most popular tumblers that we sell. Presented below are estimated operating costs for electricity and estimated costs for the grit and polish consumed. We did not include a cost for rough rock as costs vary greatly. Some people find their own rocks and some pay $30 or more per pound for exotic materials. :-) You can simply add the cost of your rough to the total operating costs presented below. These types of calculations require a lot of assumptions. We explain the assumptions that we have used in the sections below. Please feel free to do your own calculations if you prefer a different set of assumptions. Electricity CostsRotary tumblers operate 24 hours per day and typically run seven days a week. We were surprised when we learned how much electricity was required. To arrive at the values below we assumed an electricity cost of 11 cents per kilowatt hour and motors operating at maximum efficiency. We also assumed that a batch of rocks required 35 days in the Thumler's and Lortone rotary tumblers (we run the coarse grit step twice) and 7 days in the Lot-O-Tumbler vibratory rock tumbler. (Four days in medium, one in fine and two in polish). Your costs could be higher or lower than our estimates based upon how long you operate the tumbler, how much you pay for grit and how much you must pay for electricity.
Grit and Polish (Abrasive) CostsVibratory tumblers require a lot less grit and polish when compared to rotary tumblers. We have prepared the table below to summarize these costs. For rotary tumblers we assumed the use of two ounces of grit per pound of rock for each of the coarse, medium and fine grind steps for each week in the tumbling process. We also assumed one ounce of polish per pound of rock for the final step. (The exception to this was the Thumler's Model B tumbler where one pound of coarse and medium were used per barrel of rock, and one-half pound of fine and polish were used - as per manufacturer's instructions.) For vibratory machines we assumed 1/2 ounce of grit per pound of rock for each 24 hours of operation for the coarse grind step (4 days), 1/4 ounce of grit per pound of rock for the fine grind step, and 1/4 ounce of polish per pound of rock for the final step. Finally, we assumed a cost of $4.00 per pound for coarse and medium silicon carbide grit, $6.00 per pound for fine grit, and $8.00 per pound for aluminum oxide polish. If you use different amounts of grit/polish or acquire them at a different cost you can recalculate accordingly.
Operating CostsWe calculated operating costs by adding the cost for electricity and the cost for abrasives. We did not include amounts spent on optional tumbling media or wear and tear on the rock tumbler. You can see that larger tumblers have the lowest operating cost per pound of rough rock and that vibratory tumblers produce tumbled stones for less than half the cost of a rotary tumbler. Maybe your next tumbler should be a vibratory?
Adding the Cost of RoughThe greatest variable in the cost of producing your own tumbled stones is the cost of acquiring rough. Maybe you own a ranch in Arizona and can pick up a few pounds of rough while taking your dog for a walk. In that situation your cost of acquiring rough is almost zero. If you travel to a pay-to-dig site you have automobile costs, admission costs, along with the costs of tools and meals. If you purchase rough by mail you have the cost of the rough plus postage. These costs add up rapidly. Let's imagine that your cost of rough is $6 per pound. And, let's assume that one pound of rough will yield about 2/3 of a pound of nice tumbled stones. That means that your real cost of making tumbled stones is about $9 per pound plus the tumbling cost per pound in the table above. If you use the single Lot-o-Tumbler then your costs will be about $10.39 per pound. A lot more per pound than the cost of our tumbled stone mixtures. Those are some pretty expensive stones. It's Not the Destination but the JourneyWe run our rock tumbler because we enjoy starting out with rough rock, using some equipment along with some knowledge and producing a product that is interesting and pretty. The cost of the stones is not important because the hobby is what we enjoy. However, if we had a craft business that required turning a profit, we would think about our needs for tumbled stones quite differently. In that situation we would either be running a really big rock tumbler for efficiency or purchasing tumbled stones by the ton from commercial tumblers. Happy Tumbling!  |
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