The Kitiki Rotary Tumbler Kit 2 is a small economy tumbler, ideal for smoothing and polishing glass, rocks, and stones. It's very popular for adding a gloss or matte finish to beach glass and small pebbles.

You can also create attractive finishes on brass, bronze, coins, copper, fingerprint keepsakes. glass, gold, jewellery, metals, minerals, model parts, rocks, shells, silver, small treasures, and stones. And there are diverse archeological, engineering, geological, and home-hobby applications.

It consists of an electric motor base, a 700cc plastic barrel, a grit pack with 400gms of 80 grit, 400gms of 220 grit, and 400gms of 400 grit, 100 gms of zinc oxide polish, and one pack of plastic pellets. It used to be called the Beach Tumbler.

To look at the pop-up photos, hold your mouse over the zoom buttons below: you don't need to click.

The Kitiki Rotary Tumbler Kit 2.

The Kitiki Plastic Drum.

The Kitiki Rubber Drum.

The Kitiki Magnetic Polisher.

This comprehensive internet resource lets you research and compare tumblers in your own time. There's a lot to read, but you'll make the right choice instead of an expensive mistake. The section about rubber drums is very important.

If you want a larger tumbler for glass, rocks, and stones, look at Rotary Tumbler Kit 4. For jewellery and metals, look at Rotary Tumbler Kit 1 or the larger Rotary Tumbler Kit 3. Kits 3 and 4 can hold one large drum or two small drums.

If you want to polish delicate, filigree, or low-profile pieces, a magnetic polisher is better, quicker, quieter, and simpler to fill and empty than a rotary tumbler. To learn more, use the magnetic-1 link below the menu bar near the top of the page.

The kit consists of an electric motor base, a 700cc plastic barrel, a grit pack with 400gms of 80 grit, 400gms of 220 grit, and 400gms of 400 grit, 100 gms of zinc oxide polish, and one pack of plastic pellets. It used to be called the Evans Junior Tumbler.

The motor is rated at 230V 15W, so can use a regular mains socket. It's fully-enclosed inside a vented aluminium case rather than, as with some tumblers, exposed and at the end: so it's less prone to damage and the tumbler takes up less space.

The whole tumbler measures 143mm x 122mm x 205mm high, weighs less than 1kg, and comes with a 1.8 metre cable ending in a UK 3-pin plug. Plastic feet stop the tumbler body scratching your work-top, or creeping across and falling off.

The plastic barrel revolves on two rubber rollers, one of which is turned by the motor. The two roller-brackets, one at either end, act as drum end-stops. The neoprene drive belt can be adjusted if it eventually needs tightening, although it's intended to be loose.

As you can see in the photo, the 700cc plastic drum uses the full width of the tumbler body, so you can't use a larger drum or two smaller drums at the same time.

Although the 700cc drum is often called a half-size or 1.5lb drum, it actually holds 700cc of water, about 700gm, and 700gm is about 1.54lb. So, if you see these drums described elsewhere as 2.0lbs, they're not.

All the tumblers and polishers have been engineered and comprehensively tested for the UK, the EU, and most other countries. They're CE Marked and comply with EU safety standards.

The instructions for all the tumblers and polishers can be printed here, using the instructions link below the menu bar near the top of the page.

The economy part of the kit is that it's a small tumbler with a small plastic drum. However, it's worth upgrading to a rubber drum. Here's why:

Plastic drums are an economy option. Unfortunately, they're fiddlesome to open and close, noisy in use, and sometimes leak. And, if the end caps aren't pushed on all the way, the drum doesn't turn properly and can fall off the rollers.

To make the lid easier to push on, it needs to stand in hot water. When it's on, the drum needs to be squeezed to expel as much air as possible because, during prolonged tumbling, the air warms up and expands and can cause the drum to leak.

To make the lid easier to pull off, the whole drum needs to stand in hot water. Prising it off is a good way to break your nails and there's a slight risk that it will suddenly come off and you'll spill your work, shot or grit, and soapy water.

If you have to work in the same room, plastic drums are very noisy: especially as some glass, rocks, and stones might need to tumble for days, or even weeks.

Rubber drums are better, quieter, and don't leak. They're simpler to fill and empty than plastic drums as they use a different lid mechanism: at one end there's an inner metal lid, a rubber sealing ring, an outer metal lid, and a retaining wing-nut.

The rubber drum, at 510cc, is slightly smaller than the broadly similar plastic drum, although both are often called half-size or 1.5lb. However, since it holds 510cc of water, about 510gm, it should be called a 1.12lb drum.

The internet is packed full with inaccuracies: accidental or intentional. There are unsubstantiated claims that whatever is being sold is the best, the newest, or the cheapest, and it's being sold by the largest dealer or the premier distributor. This comprehensive internet resource helps you make the right choice instead of an expensive mistake.

A 1.5lb drum is often described as holding 1.5lbs of stones. However, unless there are standard stones somewhere, this is plainly far from accurate. Similarly, a 700gm drum holds 700gms of something, but what?

The usual way to measure a container's capacity is by its volume, in cubic centimetres or litres. However, since 1cc of pure water weighs 1gm, the weight of water could be used instead.

The 510cc rubber drum is better, quieter, and simpler to fill and empty than the broadly equivalent plastic drum. However, it's frequently and misleadingly sold on the net as a 1.5lb drum, or even a 2.0lb drum. It's not: it holds 510cc of water, about 510gms, so it's a 1.12lb drum.

Grit is the generic name for the abrasive particles used to grind and polish. Generally, it's silicon carbide: a hard, sharp, angular material which gradually fractures into smaller angular particles, making it an effective abrasive. However, unlike shot, it does need replacing eventually.

80 grit is classed as medium, 220 as fine, and 400 as very fine. However, you'll soon learn which grits to use, and for how long, for different materials, shapes, and finishes.

It's important to understand that coarse grit is like fine sand, medium is like caster suger, fine is like flour, and the polish is like toothpaste. Although it sounds straightforward to empty each one out and fill the drum with the next, it's actually a bit messy especially with the fine and the polish.

The grits and polish come in white plastic screw-top pots for convenience and safety: not plastic bags, and not pots that can't be closed properly once the seal has been broken. You get 400gm pots, not the 200gm pots that are usually sold on the net.

The zinc oxide polish also comes in a white plastic screw-top pot. It's mixed with the plastic pellets to help to disperse the polish whilst the drum is turning.

If you've already bought Kit 2 for glass, rocks, and stones, but now want to polish jewellery and metals, you'll need 1000gms of mixed-shape, rust-resistant, stainless-steel shot and 225cc of special cleaner and corrosion inhibitor.

However, grits and polish are a bit like sandy toothpaste, and cleaning out a drum completely, storing the grit, and swapping back to shot is messy and tedious. So I wouldn't recommend using the same single drum for grits and shot as one stray grit particle in the shot will scratch your work.

You could use two barrels: one for the grits and one for shot, marked so that you don't mix them up. But, budget constraints aside, it's much better to use four drums for the three grit grades and the polish, and one drum one for the shot. It makes cleaning and storing easier, especially as the three grits look similar and the polish must be kept grit-free.

If you haven't bought a tumbler yet, it makes sense to buy the larger kit 3 or kit 4 tumbler body, rather than kit 1 or kit 2, so that you can use two small drums, with different abrasives, at the same time: or one shot and one abrasive.

This internet resource is provided by Cherry Heaven, an international distributor, on-line shop, and support centre for kilns, materials, tools, and tumblers. It's not a bead, ceramics, crafts, glass, or metal-clay home-business, selling a few things to a market niche.

As it's on-line, there isn't a paper catalogue or a price list. However, you can mail or call a technician about kilns, power supplies, public area safety, a special project, business ideas, home diagnostics, repairs, or reselling opportunities.

Cherry Heaven is a shop in Corfe Castle village, in Dorset, South-West England. The surrounding countryside includes green farmland, dramatic cliffs, pretty cottages, historic buildings, sandy beaches, protected coves, open heathland, hill-top panoramic views, and peaceful villages. And lively seaside resorts. To look at some photos, use the dorset link.

Cherry Heaven is an EU distributor for Paragon Kilns, and has been commended for an outstanding performance as one of Paragon's top-selling distributors over 2007 to : a pleasing outcome since the UK is only one third the area of Texas and one fortieth the area of the US.

Paragon Industries started as a family business in 1948. It's now the world's leading manufacturer of electric kilns and furnaces, and has built over 420,000. The 4,800 square metre site, in Mesquite, Texas, USA, has over 70 full-time staff.

During manufacture, every kiln is checked at every stage by a technician and signed-off before shipping. They're simply but robustly engineered, and you're buying a comprehensive, versatile, safe, low-cost kiln: a kiln with a future.

Paragon kilns conform to the demanding UL 499 standard in the US, and are CE Marked for the EU. Paragon is Greek for Model Of Perfection.

The Kitiki Studio provides a comprehensive Art Clay educational programme, as classes, masterclasses, workshops, and Art Clay Level 1 and Level 2 certification courses. If you're interested, mail or call.

The on-line shop link is below the menu bar near the top of the page, on the right: you won't have to create an account, register, log on, look up your membership number, remember a password, sign up, join a club, or agree to be emailed. And the total won't be more than you expected because VAT and UK-mainland delivery are included.