earthdog
Cave Dweller
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
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Post by earthdog on Mar 5, 2005 23:46:11 GMT -5
I have two Chicago electric tumblers, 1 single barrel, and a dual barrel tumbler, I also just got the Lortone 45c I bought on ebay. The two c.e. tumblers ran good, about 55/60 rpm. (past tense) The dual c.e. is now a week old and has slowed down to about 30 rpm, the single has slowed to about 25 rpm. The Lortone I got two days ago is in good shape, but I plugged it in and put a #3 barrel on it. It runs about 28rpm. I understand with the 45c barrel it will run slower but I threw the #3 barrel on for comparison. From everything I have read a #3 barrel should run between 50/60 rpm. Is there any way to get them back running faster? I have adjusted the belts tight and loose and everything in between. Do a lot of you run into this problem? Is there a better/bigger motor that I can get to fit them? How about a speed controller that they plug into? The speed controller won’t make it go any faster, just able to slow it down, right? At an average of 30rpm, that is to slow isn’t it?
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Mar 6, 2005 12:06:38 GMT -5
There is a thread in the Lap tips (i think) about swapping out the CE motor for a Lortone- A pretty easy swap from what I read- I think the ideal speed is that 55-60 rpm- Whay are those machines slowing down? My thumblers has run non stop since Early Jan and I have not noticed any slow down- The CE eat up belts but I've never heard of the motors just slowing down like that? I was gonna order one as a backup but now I'm not so sure!
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MichiganRocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
"I wasn't born to follow."
Member since April 2007
Posts: 154
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Post by MichiganRocks on Mar 6, 2005 16:11:56 GMT -5
Hey earthdog, here is a post that I made sometime ago about this.
When you say that the motor is running slower, it sounds like you really mean that the barrel is running slower. Assuming that is the case, you can increase the rotational speed of the barrel by simply increasing the diameter of the drive roll. I would try and clean the roll, and then wrap it with tape. Wrap it twice and try it, then add more or remove some if necessary. Remember that there is a direct porportional relationship here. Since the drive roll is so small to begin with, small changes make a big difference. A 10% increase in roll diameter will give a 10% increase in barrel rotational speed. It could be that over the years the drive roll has just worn down a bit and a little tape will fix it.
By the way, the opposite effect can be had by wrapping the barrel with tape instead. In other words, wrapping a 6 inch diamter barrel with enough tape or other material to increase the diameter to 6.6 inches will decrease the barrels rotational speed by 10%. That's assuming that there is enough clearance in the tumbler base for the larger diameter barrel. A slower rotational speed takes longer, but is also gentler and can help reduce rock to rock damage when running the more fragile rocks. A Lortone Model 45C barrel will fit perfect inside of a Thumler's Model B barrel, thus giving you approximately a 36% reduction in rotational speed over the Lortone Model 45C base. This works great for the times when you need a real gentle touch. It just takes longer.
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earthdog
Cave Dweller
Don't eat yellow snow
Member since June 2006
Posts: 2,731
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Post by earthdog on Mar 6, 2005 20:57:27 GMT -5
Thanks you guys, I will try the tape on the roller. I hope it helps or I might go see the electric motor distributor to see if they can help me out.
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