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Posted: 1/15/2012 11:21:14 PM EDT
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So after reading Bigdawgs post about his home built tumbler and seeing how the good the results have been with wet tumbling with SS media I decided to build one myself. I used some 1x1 sq. tubing I had laying around and bought some pillow block bearings and a 1/4 HP GE motor. I'm using a 4" & 3.5 pulley right now, but I think I need to go down to a 3" pulley to really get it right. I think it turned out really well and it works like a champ! Let me know what you think.
I really wanted to house the motor under the tumbler and have a smaller footprint. I'm going to get some lightweight expanded metal and cover the pulley side to protect any fingers that may get too close. I ordered a electrical countdown timer from Amazon for $12 that should be here Tuesday so I can set it and forget it. I wanted to have an additional power cutoff switch just for extra protection. I'm going to paint my PVC tube, just not sure what color yet. It is a 6" piece of pipe that is 18" long. 
Nick |
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Where did you order the pillow block bearings from? Where did you order the motor/pulley/belt from? What was your total cost to build? Thanks! BTW, your tumbler looks great.  Here is a non-Ebay source for inexpensive ($8 per) cast-iron base pillow block bearings: HERE: (link fixed) Prices were almost double that price everyplace I checked locally (here in Massachusetts). |
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Where did you order the pillow block bearings from? Where did you order the motor/pulley/belt from? What was your total cost to build? Thanks! BTW, your tumbler looks great. I bought the bearings off of ebay for $36 shipped for all 4. The motor came from surpluscenter.com that someone else on here had posted up. It was $39 plus shipping for a new GE 1/4 HP motor. I bought the pulleys and belts from my local Tractor Supply. I haven't added my total cost but here is a rough estimate Steel - Free Motor $52 (includes shipping) Bearings $36 2x 1/2" steel rod - $14 3" pulley - $9 4" pulley - $10 Belt - $5 Rubber Feet - $8 PVC 6" Pipe - $14 End Cap - $6 Clean out - $28 (that was an expensive part) Clean out cap - $5 Heater hose - $2 Cord - $10 Timer switch (not shown) - $12 Out the door looking at about $212 for the tumbler. I enjoyed building it and would do it again over buying one. That 18" pipe will hold a LOT of brass! Nick |
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looks good i like the design. on pulleys i would go to a 1 1/2 or 2 inch pulley on the motor. i think you are running pretty fast. I've had a 2.5" on the motor and it was about perfect at about 65 RPM at the drum, the only problem was the shortest belt my local tractor supply has is a 25" belt, I need about a 24" w/ that setup. I swapped that 2.5" w/ a 3.5" and the belt is nice and tight, but it is spinning now about 110 RPM at the drum, a little too fast. I stopped today and bought a 3" pulley and it looks like that will be about 80 RPM @ the drum. I may need to try to source a 24" belt online and call it good. I do have the ability to adjust belt tension by moving the motor and the pillow block bearings, but not enough of it for a belt that is too long. Nick |
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looks good i like the design. on pulleys i would go to a 1 1/2 or 2 inch pulley on the motor. i think you are running pretty fast. I've had a 2.5" on the motor and it was about perfect at about 65 RPM at the drum, the only problem was the shortest belt my local tractor supply has is a 25" belt, I need about a 24" w/ that setup. I swapped that 2.5" w/ a 3.5" and the belt is nice and tight, but it is spinning now about 110 RPM at the drum, a little too fast. I stopped today and bought a 3" pulley and it looks like that will be about 80 RPM @ the drum. I may need to try to source a 24" belt online and call it good. I do have the ability to adjust belt tension by moving the motor and the pillow block bearings, but not enough of it for a belt that is too long. Nick i can get 19" on up for belts locally if you need help let me know i can get you one and ship it. you can also order them from local parts stores the number would be 4L240 or A22 |
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looks good i like the design. on pulleys i would go to a 1 1/2 or 2 inch pulley on the motor. i think you are running pretty fast. I've had a 2.5" on the motor and it was about perfect at about 65 RPM at the drum, the only problem was the shortest belt my local tractor supply has is a 25" belt, I need about a 24" w/ that setup. I swapped that 2.5" w/ a 3.5" and the belt is nice and tight, but it is spinning now about 110 RPM at the drum, a little too fast. I stopped today and bought a 3" pulley and it looks like that will be about 80 RPM @ the drum. I may need to try to source a 24" belt online and call it good. I do have the ability to adjust belt tension by moving the motor and the pillow block bearings, but not enough of it for a belt that is too long. Nick i can get 19" on up for belts locally if you need help let me know i can get you one and ship it. you can also order them from local parts stores the number would be 4L240 or A22 Thanks for the offer. I found that Northern Tool has a pretty decent variety of belts. I'm going to swing in and grab a 24" belt and see how that works for my setup. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Nice job on the tumbler, looks very professional! All these tumbler and SS media threads make me want to pull the trigger on either buying or making one.  I've got all my pieces except for a couple small items. I'll be starting my build shortly. Hope you post some pics when you have it done. |
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Nice job on the tumbler, looks very professional! All these tumbler and SS media threads make me want to pull the trigger on either buying or making one. I've got all my pieces except for a couple small items. I'll be starting my build shortly. Hope you post some pics when you have it done. I will. I have to get the steel cut and a few small parts and then I'm off to the races. I'm going to have the frame powder coated by a local company that does fantastic work so it looks nice when I'm done. |
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another homemade tumbler for wet tumbling with stainless media  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cx19ayMkC0
Can anyone identify the drum? |
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another homemade tumbler for wet tumbling with stainless media http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cx19ayMkC0
Can anyone identify the drum? http://www.bayteccontainers.com/gamma-seal-lids.html 
From this thread http://da-vinci-engineering-and-design-team.sunvalleyhs.org/modules/groups/group_pages.phtml?gid=2267512&nid=207985&sessionid=d75e2adfbbb0beca84802b35dbd1a107&printable=TRUE&sessionid=d75e2adfbbb0beca84802b35dbd1a107&portrait_or_landscape=portrait&sessionid=d75e2adfbbb0beca84802b35dbd1a107 A couple of used tumblers.... http://www.shapedstones.com/content/products-page/used-lapidary-equipment-and-jewelry-tools/used-lapidary-rock-tumbler/ http://www.shapedstones.com/content/products-page/used-lapidary-equipment-and-jewelry-tools/used-lapidary-barrel-rock-tumbler/ |
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Quoted: It looks to me like a 3 gallon bucket with a 'Gamma Seal' lid (as above) on the end facing the camera, and what appears to be the cut off top end of another 3 or 5 gallon bucket on the other end facing away from the camera to make it 'square'.Quoted: another homemade tumbler for wet tumbling with stainless media http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cx19ayMkC0Can anyone identify the drum? I say that because a 5 gallon bucket is about 10.25 inches diameter at the base, and about 12.5 inches diameter at the wide rim where the bale/handle attaches to the bucket. This is my opinion from observation, I'm not in possession of knowledge of this particular application. |
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Does the larger size rubber tubing do a good job of keeping it from walking in the rods? Have you had it walkover them at all? I am interested in the answer to this also. The larger heater hose keeps my drum in place. My drum does not move or attempt to jump over the larger hose, it works really well. Nick |
I just finished my home-built rotary tumbler. I figured I would post it here since I shamelessly copied Nicholastheczar's design.
I just got it finished up the other day and it works great. I'm really glad I went through with this project. So far I think I'm into it about $150 including the cost of the SS media, though the motor and the steel were just stuff I found around the farm, so they didn't cost me anything. The sprayer tank I got holds two gallons so I use 10 lbs of media and can clean about a half gallon worth of dirty brass at a time. |
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I just finished my home-built rotary tumbler. I figured I would post it here since I shamelessly copied Nicholastheczar's design. http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l141/thejessman/P1000259Small.jpg http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l141/thejessman/P1000257Small.jpg http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l141/thejessman/P1000258Small.jpg I just got it finished up the other day and it works great. I'm really glad I went through with this project. So far I think I'm into it about $150 including the cost of the SS media, though the motor and the steel were just stuff I found around the farm, so they didn't cost me anything. The sprayer tank I got holds two gallons so I use 10 lbs of media and can clean about a half gallon worth of dirty brass at a time. Damn fine build right there!! 
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| I had a spray tank sitting in storage for the winter and I was looking at it thinking it would make a nice drum for the tumbler. I actually bought a different one though since the one I already had is pretty nice and works well doing what it is meant to do. The one I used for my tumbler I got from Amazon for $18, which I thought was pretty tough to beat. |
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the-jessman did you put paddles in your sprayer bottle to agitate the brass? Yes I did. I originally stuck some strips I cut out from a Walmart HDPE cutting board to the inside of the sprayer with silicone. That didn't hold up very long though. So then I put two of the HDPE strips back in with a cross piece at the top and bottom to hold them firmly against the sides of the container. I shamelessly copied that idea from someone else on arfcom as well but I can't remember who. It is working quite well. Right now I just have two paddles, I think four might work better but I haven't tried to get two more in there yet. I thought about trying to put some screws in to hold the paddles but I didn't want to have any screw heads sticking up on the outside and I wan't sure about my ability to countersink them so they would be flush. Here is a picture of the inside of my drum, you can kinda see the paddle going down the right side the the two cross pieces holding the paddles against the sides. 
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Nice use of the bench grinder! 
What type of bottle did you use for the drum? I'm thinking you need to use larger rod. That bottle is bouncing all over the place from the flex in the rods. |
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Nice use of the bench grinder!
What type of bottle did you use for the drum? I'm thinking you need to use larger rod. That bottle is bouncing all over the place from the flex in the rods. It is some kind of fermenting bottle from a home-brewing place. I got it second hand for $12. The rods are just Ace Hardware store zinc-coated rods––and I'd tend to agree that they suck (lol). It doesn't help matters that my drum weights fifty or sixty pounds and is slightly out of round. |
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Not to change the subject but that is a very nice looking FJ in the background and nice job on the tumbler Jason |
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Not to change the subject but that is a very nice looking FJ in the background and nice job on the tumbler Jason Thanks Jason, nice to see someone knows the difference between and 40 and Jeep! I have people all the time ask me what kind of Jeep it is! 
Nick |
Some have asked to see pics of the inside of my drum:
I also took measurements of my tumbler: 29" Wide 6.5" Tall (steel frame only, does not include feet or pillow block bearings) 12.5" Deep Total Height from top of bearings to bottom of feet = 11" I also added a timer from Amazon for $13. It works awesome! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001XCWLVU/ref=oh_o01_s00_i01_details 
Nick |
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