jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,165
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Post by jamesp on Jan 25, 2019 9:28:11 GMT -5
This tumbler was built out of junk about 7 years ago to rotate a 50 pound PVC barrel using an industrial grade 1/8HP 700 RPM blower motor from a large roof top air conditioner. Retired the heavy 50 pound barrel before it retired me but the tumbler handled it well. The large pulley was ordered from Surplus Center in Lincoln Nebraska, the rest of it was rounded up from industrial junkyards. The v-belt from an auto parts store. Shafts are 1 inch cold rolled to support 50 pound barrel in past life. Bearings with grease fittings. Very reliable. It was built in a day after rounding up parts. Total cost about $120 less the HDPE barrels. The barrels are homemade from high density poly SDR 17 fittings. One barrel holds 7 pounds and the other 10 pounds. I do like the Fernco caps because they are easy to remove. It runs a bit too slow but the clay thickener helps speed the grind. Too slow for bulk SiC, fine for 46 or 60 grit. Maybe SiC 30. SiC 60 for glass, 46 for agates. The tumbler is used only for coarse SiC in big barrel and SiC 500 in small barrel. On occasion SiC 220. Never any filler or media or plastic. Finish/polish is done in vibes and media using AO's. Just noticed one of the two shafts has a rubber hose covering it. This is not good because it creates slipping at the barrel so it will be removed. Shafts should be equal in diameter or there will be guaranteed slippage and extra load on motor/belt and barrel scuffing. The tumbler is heavy and I dropped it on a 2 inch PVC water pipe yesterday carrying it into the greenhouse which in turn broke the pipe grrrr. Pipe repaired. Tried to skip the Georgia accent so subtitles were not necessary
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Post by HankRocks on Jan 25, 2019 10:03:39 GMT -5
Now that's my kind of setup!!! Perfect for this East Houston Boy!!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,165
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Post by jamesp on Jan 25, 2019 10:14:41 GMT -5
Now that's my kind of setup!!! Perfect for this East Houston Boy!! The motive was to make rock and glass tumbling as simple, reliable, cheap and efficient as possible Henry. I did try a lot of different machines, barrels and arrangements. In the end it is about being concise and simple.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 25, 2019 10:48:59 GMT -5
Now that's how you do it!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,165
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Post by jamesp on Jan 25, 2019 12:38:30 GMT -5
Now that's how you do it! Simple and reliable Michael.
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Jan 25, 2019 12:49:47 GMT -5
Wow, well done! (insert one big "thumbs-up" sign here)
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Post by fernwood on Jan 26, 2019 8:05:23 GMT -5
OMG. Very creative. Are you tumbling glass again?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,165
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Post by jamesp on Jan 26, 2019 8:42:16 GMT -5
Wow, well done! (insert one big "thumbs-up" sign here) I was hoping to illustrate how simple tumbling can be Kai. With focus on reliability using an inexpensive and easy to build homebuilt. This machine has a lot of hours on it and never failed since 2013. It can handle multiple small barrels and up to a 50 pound barrel using only a small 1/8HP motor. it is built around 1 inch cold rolled shafts making it strong and allows use of large heavy duty pillar block bearings.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,165
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Post by jamesp on Jan 26, 2019 9:03:31 GMT -5
OMG. Very creative. Are you tumbling glass again? Yes ma'am. Smaller batches though because each tumble is getting a hole drilled in it before the SiC 500 step. It takes a lot of time to drill holes in ~400 pendant sized tumbles to fill one barrel. There is a stack of 14 pound glass bricks to saw to pendant sizes and shapes to tumble. Figured it is time to get them in production. I must say it is a pleasure to saw glass into tumbles. Glass can be cast into bricks that are the perfect size for the 10 inch tile blade at 1 3/4 X 6 X 11 inches. It is soft and saws fast with a powerful 10 inch tile drop saw and using user friendly water. It takes about 2 hours to saw a 14 pound brick up into nice pendant shapes for tumbling. The diamond blade shows no sign of wear after sawing about 20 bricks into small shapes. I got burned out sawing and shaping Mohs 7.
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Post by fernwood on Jan 26, 2019 9:12:58 GMT -5
Great. Once it warms up here a little, I want to use the Dremel to slice the glass slab you sent me. Then drill a hole in some before tumble. Others will be left as is.
Please post updates of the glass.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,165
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Post by jamesp on Jan 26, 2019 10:44:55 GMT -5
Great. Once it warms up here a little, I want to use the Dremel to slice the glass slab you sent me. Then drill a hole in some before tumble. Others will be left as is. Please post updates of the glass. Please post photos of this activity. Anxious to see your stuff. A 7 inch tile saw sure eats this glass, I suggest you get one. Yesterday for $12. 5 pounds. By Viz Glass, a favorite and melt schedule is known and it flows like butter. Hand blown out of China and they know their stuff. Some of the finest glass ever. Perfect pendant thickness. To be cut to shapes using 7 inch tile saw. Easy Somebody treated this one rough as it is covered in scratches, see them in glare. strange
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