NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Starter Rock Tumbling Kit - Durable Leak-Proof Polisher for Kids Complete Geology Hobby Science Kit, Rocks and Crystals Kids, A Great STEM Activity

im pretty impressed with this little machine, its not that loud and works well. the inside is rubber so less noise !keep in mind it takes a long time for the effects to happen, set it and forget it, in other words !it was far more impressive than some of the negative reviews spoke of. its fun and more solid than it looks. there's a simplicity to its functions and an ease of use that are beneficial ! im a big kid anyway, so im going to have fun coming up with ideas for what to put in it. coins, rocks i find on the beach, even some acrylic resin things I've made, i can go on !

Bought this 5yrs ago as a basic tumbler and have run many courses of stone thru it. It works great! The bad reviews about leaking sound to me like they just didn't get the lid on properly. And yes, it is kind of hard to get the lid off, you have to have it on tight and sealed so it doesn't leak. The noise is so so, I mean you are tumbling rocks. This is a good product and I would order it again.

I'm just gonna start off by saying, this Tumbler's issues are easily avoidable and I'll go over why your rocks aren't coming out shiny.I'll address the biggest issue people have with this Tumbler; The lid becomes increasingly harder to take off and put on. I, someone who had strength trained most of his life, had a difficult time opening and closing the lid after a while of using it. I do have a solution though.Nat Geo tells you to wash and dry the barrel and rubber lining inside it after every use, well, what happens when you're trying to push two pieces of dry rubber against each other? Yeah, it won't go so well. They stick and won't move. That's what's happening when the rubber of the barrel and the rubber gasket in the lid meet, not allowing you to turn and close. I realized that all it would need to work is to use a little oil. I took a Q-Tip, dabbed it in a little olive oil and just run it around where the lid gasket meets the rubbing barrel lining. Works like a charm! Even a meak child could open and close it after the oil. I would though recommend using something else in place of olive oil since after a while, it will start to rot and smell. I'd use a really light machine oil and use just enough to soak the tip of the Q-Tip.Interlude: I would also recommend taking the entire rubber barrel lining out, cleaning it and the inside of the plastic barrel. A lot of the time, grit and water gets in there and can cause bubbles in the rubber lining or the grit may harden and cause irregular weight on the barrel keeping your rocks from tumbling correctly.Last thing I want to go over is the lack of shine on your rocks. Nat Geo gives you grit for each stage of tumbling, grits one through three are decent but the "polish" is garbage. Their grits are pretty standard, all are Silicon Carbide, Stage One is 60/90#, Stage Two is 120/220# and Stage Three is 600#. All of those are fine and dandy but the "polish" is 1200# Silicon Carbide which will not get your rocks to have a luster. What you want is 1200# Aluminum Oxide. You can get a healthy amount from places like Kingsley North, Rock Tumbling dot com (yeah, I wrote dot come), The Rock Shed or Polly Plastics.You'll want to do two tablespoons of each grit per pound of rock plus media (if you use it) and tumble them for five to seven days. You should get a nice shine on your rocks after all that.

Just got my hands on the national geographic starter rock tumbler kit and I'm absolutely stoked! this thing is a beast, turns rocks into sparkly crystals like a pro (or, like, a kid, lol). it's a bit loud, but hey, it's worth it - just toss it in the garage and let it do its magic. what i love most is that it comes with everything you need to get started - no extra purchases necessary! the leak-proof design is a total win, too. all in all, this thing is a solid 5 stars - perfect for the little geologists out there (or, you know, the slightly-bigger geologists like me)!

Tumbler I fine. I bought this tumbler for my grandsons birthday in January but we just set it up in April. I am disappointed in the rocks that came with it. Most were tiny chips! I know it’s a small tumbler but I expected more than a couple of rocks to tumble. I think whoever packaged the rocks packed the last rocks in whatever bin they had

I am so disappointed in this. I bought it for my 9 year old son's birthday. We have used 2 times. Once I nearly broke my hand trying to put it on tightly. The second time I had my dad put it on and he barely could put it on. This is a defective item for sure. And I suggest a different brand.

Our first rock tumbler. at this time, I've only done the rocks that the set came with and used all the grit provided. I have to purchase more grit before I can do rocks that we have personally collected. I am waiting though. Why? Because this thing sounds like a rainstorm in my garage. Yes, I had to keep it in my garage because of the noise level. It is so loud. That is a bummer.Also, it's showing wear and tear already and I have literally ONLY done the rocks it came with. By the time I got to grit 2, I noticed bubbles in the inner liner. When I'd clean it out after a tumble, I'd push the nasty grit mud out of the bubbles and next time, there'd be another bubble in a different location. I've only had it 2-3 months, so I hope this is not indicative of the lifespan of the tumbler. Once that liner starts cracking or breaking, it will no longer function well. Hopefully, the bubbles will not escalate into anything else. Finally, the lid gets harder and harder to remove with time. The first two grits, I could remove it by hand. For grit 3, I had to get my strong teen son to do it...By grit 4, he had to use a jar opener and barely got it open. we try to clean it well between tumbles to ensure no gunky mud build up is present, but that made no difference in our ability to open the container.Pros: Great start up kit for the price, with several good items included; Seemed to accomplish it's purpose of prettying up the rocks.Cons. THE NOISE. IT IS LOUD. Wear and tear on kit after just a couple tumbles and increasing difficulty with opening lid.I won't buy this particular model again...but I would still recommend it to others for a first time tumbler. My kiddos love what it can do and loved the final product.

I got this for my beach rocks/stones. I just wanted them to be more polished. Fun activity