Thread: New tumbler or move to buffers?

My Cabela's Model 400 tumbler died last night. Unfortunately I threw away the receipt two weeks ago in a large house cleaning expedition so I can not return it despite being in the 90 day window of my initial purchase. This leaves me in the position to either replace it (added benefit being an extra bowl for media swapping) or switch over to a more expensive, but faster working buffer set-up.

I have all the safety gear for buffing from wood-turning on a friend's lathe as it just made sense to get things that fit me instead of using his seconds all the time.

Would you gentlemen with more experience than I care to chime in with advice? I like the passive aspect of the tumbler, but the speed it works is a bit frustrating at times. The tumbler also gives the option of some interesting finishes depending on media used (those plastic pyramids from Harbor Freight give a sort of star-bursty satin look that I love for example). I suspect you can do similar with different buffing compounds, but am not certain.

If you paid by credit or other electronic means you still have proof of purchase.

Unfortunately I paid cash.

Just return it, they will take it back....

Sorry dude . Back to the original question. A buff does allow you to do different finishes but the tumbler would free your time up to do other things. Tough call.