I got the impression they probably would especially fall when they seem to do some heavy sales promotions.

I generally settled on Fusion360, but Alibre Atom was promising aside from some system stability issues on my desktop. I really wanted to like freeCAD, but I just didn’t have the time to invest in learning its quirks.

Now that you mentioned it, I have a toddler and a cocktail shaker already. I’ll slap some ducktape on the lid and hope to contain some disaster.

I think nylon does well with sliding friction, but have some concerns about whether it would hold up well to the kind of sharp edges you tend to have with abrasive media. That’s from some observation on both commercial rock tumblers, industrial ball mills, and abrasive blasting equipment. I won’t say I know enough from experience to say it will work for sure though.

I think print one and apply a castable coating like urethane or maybe plastigip to the inside could be pretty long lasting.

Aside from that one tiny cheap toy in the sears catalog backnin the day, my recollection was starting price was around $250 for any tumbler(dad was considering them for years is the only reason I have any recollection). The $52 Harbor freight option is an impressive deal especially considering a few decades of inflation. I’m not say they were ever affordable toys, just that they are more affordable than they used to be. Size is a pretty big limitation on most readily available ones below the $500 mark.

Might be worth trying a plastidip or some sort of urethane or rubberized coating on the inside. And the a big rubberband tire on the rollers That would make it last longer and be repairable.

Have they? I feel like I see more low cost options than years ago.