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Post by irishlightning24 on Feb 4, 2008 20:53:45 GMT -5
I am hoping that the members of this board can help stem the senseless slaughter of Raytech TV-5s that has occurred in my basement. When I checked my tumbler after work today, it wasn't working. This is not the first TV-5 that I have killed, nor is it the second one. It's the THIRD one! In 7 months! Clearly I am doing something very, very bad to these poor machines. In the handful of threads about vibes, nobody seemed to have any tales of woe with TV-5, so I don't think that this is the tumblers' fault. I think that this has been all operator-error, but I don't know what I am doing wrong.
I had two tumblers working and several batches of rocks polished well, but both machines stopped working within a few weeks of each other. One makes no sound when plugged in. The motor on the other one hums, but seems stuck. I think for a while I was over-tightening the nut on the cover. I contacted Raytech and they sent me a replacement for one. I was careful to avoid over-tightening the nut on the replacement tumbler, but the motor still stopped working.
I weigh my loads carefully (it's a funny story how I got my digital scale) and never load more than 4 lbs of rocks into a batch.
Each load has a good mix of sizes.
The tumblers sit on a cement floor; they aren't overheating in a box.
I check them at least twice a day and I follow the directions for the amount of water and grit.
The customer service rep at Raytech had me send them one of the broken tumblers, but it will be a few weeks until I hear anything. In the mean time, if anybody has ideas for what I may or may not be doing, let me know. This is driving me nuts!
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Post by Bikerrandy on Feb 4, 2008 21:14:35 GMT -5
I tighten the hell out of the nuts on my Thumblers UV-10 vibe, I've been using it for 2 1/2 years. It's my first tumbler. I don't think that it's operator error, tumblers just shouldn't be that "touchy".
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Post by docone31 on Feb 4, 2008 21:27:22 GMT -5
I have now four vibes. They run around the clock. Once in a while one of them stops dead in its tracks. I am not one to send units that quit back to the manufacturer to fix. I diagnose. On all of them, the vibration actually cut through one of the hot leads from the switch to the motor. I am not sure you can overload a vibrator. There is no connection from the offset wheel to the drum. If they are overloaded, they do not polish as well as loaded properly. As a matter of fact, they can go backwards in the polishing. On all of them, I took off the bottom cover. The severed wire is easy to see. I got some electronics solder with flux and hard soldered the leads. Problem solved. They are running at this moment with little down time. It seems the edge of the crimp fitting cuts the wire one strand at a time. When it gets thin enough, the overheating from the load sparks off the remaining wires. Just strip the end back 1/4", tin with solder. Take off the bayonette fitting from the other wire and solder to that. It seems the motor fittings are solid. On all of them, it was the from the switch wire that let go.
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Post by johnjsgems on Feb 4, 2008 21:29:33 GMT -5
I had a used one that was missing the bowl lid. I bought a replacement and it was a new design so came with a longer threaded rod. I screwed the rod in too far and it hit the motor end. When I turned it on it hummed but wouldn't run. I backed out the rod and tightened the jam nut and all was fine. If the threaded rod is a little loose you may be turning it when tightening the bowl lid nut and hitting the motor.
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lsmike
spending too much on rocks
Maxwell's demon lowers tumbling entropy
Member since January 2007
Posts: 468
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Post by lsmike on Feb 5, 2008 11:41:34 GMT -5
My 25# Raytech burned out a motor but only after pretty extensive use.I noticed that the base gets quite hot so I now run a small fan at it and it does not.Mike.
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Post by BuiltonRock on Feb 5, 2008 14:40:35 GMT -5
So the TV-5's are a decent unit? john
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Post by johnjsgems on Feb 6, 2008 11:07:29 GMT -5
John, the TV5 is the lowest cost American made vibe tumbler. I had several customers call to complain about their bowls wearing out fast and one that had a bowl break off. If you use too much water the grit settles to the bottom and wears a groove in the bowl. I'm guesing that is what happened although everyone says they followed directions. The profit on a $95 tumbler was too low to deal with the complaints and warranty issues for me so I stopped stocking them. Used properly they are probably ok. Their 10 lb. tumbler has a much thicker bowl.
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Post by irishlightning24 on Feb 9, 2008 17:16:59 GMT -5
Thank to all who replied.
To bikerrandy, My original thought was that the shaft was connected to the motor, and that overtightening the screw made the load "feel" heavier, mimicking an overloaded tumbler. After I looked at the tumbler carefully, and seeing what was connected to what, I realized that how tight or loose the nut was made no difference. As docone said, there's no connection between the bowl and the motor.
To John of JS Gem, I encounter the same thing with a new shaft, screwing it in too far.
To docone: I took you advice about looking inside the tumbler myself. It did take a fair amount of work because the TV5 is not designed to come apart. The bottom of the TV5 are a single molded piece. I was able to cut through the very bottom of the base with a Dremel tool and pull out the motor, which would hum when plugged in, like it wanted to work, but was stuck. I don't have any experience tinkering with motors so I don't the names of component to really describe what I saw when I took the motor apart. None of the wires or connections looked cut, although there is one lead that was bent, so I'm going to keep an eye on it. I sprayed WD-40 on all the parts that are supposed to move. What dripped off some parts was pretty dirty. I put clean 3-in-1 oil on the shaft attached to the fan and put it all back together.
Since my garage floor is pretty dusty and gritty, my current theory is that the fan kicked up too much dust and it gunked up all the moving parts. I cleaned up the area where the tumbler is running. I also placed the tumbler in a plastic milk crate rather than on the floor with the idea that the open, raised bottom of the crate will improve the air flow and help prevent overheating. I may dig a fan out of the attic, too, on lsmike's advice. It can't hurt, right?
To builtonrock: John, the quote on your profile about loving you children's mother more than rocks is priceless. As I said originally, I did get good results when the TV5s were working. I had invested a fair amount of money, buying separate bowls and lids for each grit step, so I wasn't willing to just give up on Raytech and switch to another type of tumbler until I learned what was going wrong. If my problems are a result of me being sloppy (which I am thinking is the case), that's certainly not Raytech's fault.
Well, for the moment the repaired tumbler is going. I'll leave an update if conks out on me again. Thanks again to everybody. It's good to have a place to ask questions.
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Post by puppie96 on Feb 17, 2008 3:51:18 GMT -5
LOL, I hope you come back to get my 2 cents worth on this topic. Raytech TV-5 was the starter vibe tumbler for many of us a couple years ago. Mine ran 24/7 for a long time -- nearly a year, maybe? But wow, did I come to hate that sucker! It is SO noisy and it eats bowls...and bowls...and bowls. One of our board buddies was using one at the same time and when hers went belly up she sent me some of her old barrels. The dealer replaced the first one, then I was on my own. I don't think you are doing a thing wrong, unless you have let it run dry a bunch of times. As I am sure you know, the rocks get all gunked into this immobile sludge and from what I understand that will overheat these guys. I think you just got a bad unit & I've had the impression that these aren't very durable. Seems like the ones that we all had went down like dominoes around the same time. Mine like threw a rod or froze up or some esoteric term like that, it made a yucky noise and buzzed and my brother in law who is a genius about such things looked at it and said it was trash.
After reading everything I could find about these things, it doesn't look to me as if rock tumbling is really what they were designed for. I see stuff about polishing stuff like metal. I was actually pleased to have an excuse to upgrade and now my lototumbler and I are vibing happily ever after.
Best of luck! Let me know if you find any creative uses for blue fiberglass bowls with the bottoms worn through!
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adam5
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 146
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Post by adam5 on Nov 9, 2023 20:47:03 GMT -5
Now I am also a destroyer: I believe I can repair it if I can find an adhesive that will bond with the base plastic. If not, I will be looking for a base.
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Post by manofglass on Nov 9, 2023 21:36:37 GMT -5
Now I am also a destroyer: I believe I can repair it if I can find an adhesive that will bond with the base plastic. If not, I will be looking for a base. Find some waterproof glue I think you can fix that
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adam5
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 146
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Post by adam5 on Nov 13, 2023 20:43:05 GMT -5
The base was also cracked at the edge of the metal plate that suports the motor. So I had to make a larger support plate. I had a junction box cover that was the oppropriate thickness and diameter, so I drilled out holes for the 4 motor support screws, 2 additional screws beyond the crack, and a large hole for the threaded rod to pass through. I then mixed up some JB Plastic Weld and glued the threaded rod back to the base. Next, I mixed more Plastic Weld, smeared it on the base, and then fastened the plate to the base. I also used some JB Weld Steel Stik to create a cone around the base of the threaded rod to provide more support. Here is what it looks like after the repair: I tried it out this evening with a half bowl of small rocks and it did not fly apart. So, I will put it to use in a day or two and see if it holds up.
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Post by Mel on Dec 2, 2023 10:24:58 GMT -5
nearly a year, maybe? But wow, did I come to hate that sucker! It is SO noisy and it eats bowls...and bowls...and bowls. I thought it was just me being negligent. After mine almost wore through the first two bowls, I sold it. Wondering if the TV-10 is worth investigating; rotaries just can’t get the high shine.
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