To date with my machined parts, I’ve mostly left everything in an “as-machined” state.  As I get ready to make some servos where I care at least a little about how they look, I decided to invest a little in surface finish options.  I started using some Scotch-Brite, which gave passable results for some components, but it was hard to be consistent and the final results were always somewhat anisotropic.

Thus, a new vibratory tumbler!

This is designed for polishing ammunition cases, but works fine for any metal parts that aren’t too large.  I’ve been able to fit entire back housings from the mk2 servo into it, although at that size the polishing isn’t super efficient.

The resulting parts look pretty decent for features that the media is able to reach, definitely better than my hand attempts: