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Post by nowyo on Jan 8, 2014 23:54:00 GMT -5
In another thread, probably in Totally Rock Tumbling but I'm too lazy to look it up, I had mentioned that I was building a tumbler and should have it running soon. I think that was a few weeks ago. finally got time to get it all together and running yesterday, and took a couple of pictures today. It's nothing fancy. Obviously, it's an old propane tank. Cut a hole in the top and welded on a stub of 4 inch pipe, closed off with a rubber cap. Has a 1/4 hp motor, service factor 1.15 (new take off from a place I used to work, got it really cheap with some other stuff). Frame is 2 x 2 x 1/4 angle left over from a job a few years ago. Shafts are 1 inch 316 stainless that I've had kicking around for almost 10 years waiting for a new purpose in life. Bought three pulleys, 1 belt, and the pillow blocks. Yesterday I filled it about 1/2 full of rocks and let it run dry for about four hours to see what it would do. Knocked the rind of the jaspers and stuff, and broke up some of the fractured rocks. Pretty much what I had hoped for, Rinsed everything off, loaded the rocks back in it today with 80 grit and water and plugged it in. Checked it a few minutes ago and it's just tumbling away. We'll see how it actually works out. Running dry, it was pretty loud. Once I put the water and grit in there, you can here the rocks tumbling but it's much quieter. Have a feeling it's going to work better running a little on the dry side. If it doesn't work like I had hoped then I'll do something different. Russ
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MrCoffee
has rocks in the head
Member since December 2005
Posts: 634
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Post by MrCoffee on Jan 9, 2014 2:52:29 GMT -5
If you could figure out a way to get the insides of that old propane tank rubberized, then you'd be in good shape. The metal would last longer, it would also provide more lift and provide a better noise barrier. Does it have a set of barrel guides? Or, do you have to rely on keeping it level and hope for the best?
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Post by pauls on Jan 9, 2014 15:26:22 GMT -5
I use almost the same setup only bigger and it holds two of those tanks. They are great barrels but are a bit noisy and can chip stones so I never use them for anything other than rough grind. For other grinding stages I use old plastic garden pressure sprayer bottles, they are really tough, usually five or six liters so a good size and can be picked up at junk sales, the hand pump washer gives out so the whole lot gets thrown. An even better idea is to use old Go Kart tires. Make sure you get competition tires as they have stronger sidewalls. A couple of plumbing drain plungers bolted back to back neatly close the hole in the center.
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Post by wireholic on Jan 9, 2014 15:47:27 GMT -5
If you could figure out a way to get the insides of that old propane tank rubberized, then you'd be in good shape. The metal would last longer, it would also provide more lift and provide a better noise barrier. Does it have a set of barrel guides? Or, do you have to rely on keeping it level and hope for the best? What about getting the inside sprayed with Rhino lining? It should help with the noise and protect the rocks a little better
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Post by nowyo on Jan 9, 2014 20:00:02 GMT -5
Thanks for the comments, folks. I've heard of people trying to rhino line the inside of tumblers and apparently it wears off pretty quickly. Here the noise isn't really an issue. This thing is only intended for initial rough. I intended to put a caster wheel on each end to keep it centered, but so far it's going fine. The shafts are squared up with each other and I even managed to get the legs all the same length. These propane tanks have a weld around the center seam. The shafts are covered with clear plastic tubing, and I left a space cut out in the center where that bead of weld runs. So far it's working. If this thing works out I'll be expanding on it.
Russ
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rocksolid
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2014
Posts: 15
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Post by rocksolid on Feb 4, 2014 0:00:02 GMT -5
back when I worked on the rail road the machine I worked on was a shoulder ballast cleaner. : the rocks is the ballast and shoulders are outsides of the rails and ties. the machine lifted the rocks via two digging wheels and shook out the dirt in a screen deck and the clean rock fell into a hopper which dropped rock back in the ditch we dug. ANY WAY... as routine maintenance on the machine we had to line the hoppers with rubber flashing that I think we got from grainger. You got to buy a big roll of it but if enough people go in on it maybe it wont be so expensive per head. this flashing lasted for a couple weeks and we dug several miles every day. maybe they sell smaller pieces too. All i know is we got these huge rolls and had to cut to fit.
and I got a couple of them helium tanks too. you can get em from the party stores that blow up ballons cheap. I am going to now make one of those. Thanks for the idea.
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Post by pghram on Feb 6, 2014 11:47:56 GMT -5
Nice design, how much does it hold?
Rich
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,182
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Post by jamesp on Feb 7, 2014 5:35:12 GMT -5
Super idea. My tumbler barrels are getting worn. If you do not have a patent i will be copying you The diameter of those is perfect for coarse grind. 90% of the wear on my PVC barrels occurs during coarse grind. Those tall barrels add vertical weight speeding up the coarse grind process. Perfect. I will weld a flat circular thin plate to the bottom so the guide roller can run on it. I tip my tumblers up on one side slightly so the barrel runs constantly on the down hill(and only)guide wheel. The posi traction shafts is nice. 4 inch pipe stub-yea baby. I use those plumbing caps on mine and have great service. Even when different diameter barrels are running against each other at different speeds they never wear out. And easy access galore. Nice common, cheap barrel. Best idea for a barrel i have ever seen. Thanks for sharing
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Post by phil on Feb 7, 2014 12:24:03 GMT -5
Anyone ever use those 5 gallon stainless steel cylinders that soda syrup comes in? We made one years ago, but I never got to use it.
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lparker
fully equipped rock polisher
Still doing too much for being retired!
Member since March 2008
Posts: 1,202
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Post by lparker on Feb 7, 2014 18:39:18 GMT -5
Anyone ever use those 5 gallon stainless steel cylinders that soda syrup comes in? We made one years ago, but I never got to use it. The only thing I ever used them for was for beer storage...seems a waste to tumble with them. Lee #1
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rykk
spending too much on rocks
Member since September 2011
Posts: 428
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Post by rykk on Feb 8, 2014 1:42:40 GMT -5
Cool build! Rick
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Post by roy on Feb 8, 2014 11:07:50 GMT -5
If you could figure out a way to get the insides of that old propane tank rubberized, then you'd be in good shape. The metal would last longer, it would also provide more lift and provide a better noise barrier. Does it have a set of barrel guides? Or, do you have to rely on keeping it level and hope for the best? that would be easy we use a product on gas tanks call tank liner you pour it in a swirl it around get a even coat on the inside and pour whats left out let it dry and it puts a even coat on the inside! but the question is will it hold up to the grit
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blessed
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2010
Posts: 329
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Post by blessed on Feb 8, 2014 12:13:34 GMT -5
I been thinking on this for a while. I think if you took a metal barrel like this one and run rough rocks for a few days to get the inside of the barrel rough then pour bed liner inside, swirl it around to get a good even coat, pour out what is left. Let it dry fore a few days. Bed liner is some tough stuff and being rough on the inside would help the bed liner to bond. Just a thought. Roy, I know what you are talking about. I may have to use some on my old Ford tractors gas tanks.
Have a blessed day. James
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Post by nowyo on Feb 9, 2014 1:15:38 GMT -5
Thanks for the comments and cool ideas. The thing is empty and shut down right now because we had an attack of global warming this week-22 below Wednesday morning, today's high was about +12 hopefully get it going again the first of the week. It's not an original or innovative idea, I've seen on the net people talking about building tumblers using these little tanks for barrels but never found followups on how they worked out. I'm not going to bother trying to line it because the rubber sheeting costs more than the tank, the brush on bedliner is close to the cost of a new tank for a quart. I've lined a couple of old gas tanks with POR-15, which would be easy enough to do but I kind of doubt it would hold up to grits and rocks. If somebody decides to try it, please let us know how it works.
The four inch pipe stub works good, I thought I had some six inch pipe around here but couldn't find it. Might be under a snowdrift. Six inch would work a little nicer, I think. I did weld two kickers inside of 1/4 round stock, 180 degrees from each other because I was getting too much sliding and not enough rolling. It's had a couple of batches through it now, and I'm pleased. Especially with the kickers it's a little rough on the rouks but that's what I was after. Throw those fractured rocks in there and let it break them up. Next time I load it I'll try to remember to weigh the rocks just for the heck of it, then I'm throwing in some 46/70 grit and let it go to town. I'll only use it for initial coarse, then move it to the Thumler for 80 grit. For some real production I can see running a bank of these things. Not worried about it wearing out because if you can't find any old propane tanks Sam's club has new ones for $29.95. Cut the top handle off, cut out a hole in the top of the tank, weld on a couple inches of pipe, voila, new barrel. No patents involved, have at it. It is a little noisy (okay, it's kind of loud), but here in the boondocks we have no close neighbors to complain. I may build an insulated box for it for the summer when we sleep with the windows open, see how it all works out. What I have thought about doing is covering the outside with bedliner. That would give it a better grip on the shafts and possibly quiet it a little. Just too cold here right now that will have to wait until spring.
The stainless steel corny kegs? They work great for beer, I'm not set up for TIG welding these days. Bet they would work, though.
Russ
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,182
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Post by jamesp on Feb 9, 2014 5:39:54 GMT -5
I have used 6" rubber caps on my PVC barrels and did not like them due to them blowing off if you get pressure build up. Bushed them down to 4 inchers like yours. I used some wood screws on my construction of my PVC barrels and never cut them off. They are sticking 3/4" into the barrel and thought i would let the tumbles wear them off. Well, they are not wearing very fast. So steel holds it's own against tumbling wear. A lot of steel barrels out there. Yes noisy, but not so quick to wear. Thin wall PVC is softer plastic and my 30/60 grit would wear thru them in 3 months. When i switched to sch 40 PVC they lasted now for 2 years and have a long way to go. The neck and the center of the closed end wears out way fastest. You see the neck wore thru on the cheap thin wall PVC This is a backlit PVC barrel. You can see how the center of the closed end is getting thin. Easy to fix by glueing sheet PVC layer on outside of barrel.
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Post by 1dave on Feb 9, 2014 7:33:08 GMT -5
Excellent info! Thanks Jim!
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Jan 20, 2015 18:29:04 GMT -5
Any more updates or info on the propane tank tumbler? I'm planning to build one.
Are 1" shafts mandatory, or could I get away with 3/4?
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,688
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 20, 2015 21:01:19 GMT -5
Liking the information that is coming in!!!
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,341
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Post by quartz on Jan 20, 2015 23:29:15 GMT -5
I had to try one of these a year ago, used 5/8" shafts. Garden hose didn't last on the shafts, Gates Green Stripe hose on the shafts held up well. Look back on homemade equipment for "homemader trials". It's back a page.
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Post by nowyo on Jan 29, 2015 14:54:05 GMT -5
The original that I posted about a year ago is running out in the shop now, but it's on it's last legs. I knew it was getting thin and it sprung a leak over night. I think it was shut down for a total of 6 weeks out of the last 12 months. Time for a little redesign, I'm thinking.
Russ
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