issa411
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2023
Posts: 4
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Post by issa411 on Feb 14, 2023 18:57:34 GMT -5
Hello All! So I am seeing a lot of you have been down the "Chicago Electric Road", and I am wondering if you all can help me troubleshoot my tumbler. I am a newbie to tumbling so any info is greatly appreciated. First of all, I have a double barrel Chicago Electric and I am tumbling broken glass. I ran my first batch for about 4 days and was very happy with the results. My second batch I ran into some trouble. On about the 3rd day, my manfriend found my tumbler barrels stuck and not moving. I opened them up, readjusted the contents (slurry looked good), stirred things up, reweighed, and then started again. One barrel started bouncing around (I thought it was going to bounce out) and then got stuck again. I removed it, restarted the tumbler, and noticed that even though the second barrel was turning, the non-belted shaft was not turning with it. I can turn it with my fingers, but it will not turn with the barrels. Is the shaft broken already? Could it be the belt needs to be tightened already (not producing enough power?). Thoughts??
Thank you!!
~Marissa
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Post by Rockoonz on Feb 15, 2023 0:13:46 GMT -5
Try a drop of light oil on each plastic bearing on the shaft ends, Sewing machine oil or turbine oil should be good, 3 in 1 brand is pretty popular.
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afterburnt
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2021
Posts: 152
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Post by afterburnt on Feb 19, 2023 16:12:32 GMT -5
A drop of oil and don't buy another one. I have 4, 2 died in less than a year and I retired the other 2 for Lortone machines.
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Post by fernwood on Feb 19, 2023 19:08:03 GMT -5
I have two CE's. Bought one new in 2016. Another used in 2019. Both are working great. I did some preventative maintenance on them before using. Monthly maintenance when they are running. The quality is hit or miss, so I think I got lucky.
I agree to oil the bearings. I oil mine weekly. Also, check the belt tension. It might have become loose.
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moopiemotomom
starting to shine!
Member since November 2022
Posts: 49
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Post by moopiemotomom on Mar 17, 2023 12:13:10 GMT -5
If the un-motored shaft doesn't spin with the belted one, it could be the shaft bearings that need oil, or maybe the belt is having issues, which seems common. My other thought is if only one is catching and it's stopping the other one, it could be grinding too much into the metal frame instead of on that plastic tab and the friction could be stopping it.
To share my own experience, I've had mine since October 2022 and I haven't had any mechanical issues with, but I read advice from others and know they have some design flaws. I tried to get ahead of that to keep it running well, so I bought and popped a belt for a Lortone 3B on it right at the start. It's been running well overall, no belt issues and it hasn't overheated or anything and I've been running it constantly. I have oiled it periodically with 3-in-1 oil and it seems to be good on that for a while so I haven't bothered to do it every week (plus I bought the replacement plan, so I wouldn't mind getting a new one before that plan expires).
The biggest thing I think they could have done better is the plastic guide tabs, I've been putting all purpose grease on them to keep it from grinding down and making too much noise, but it's still worn down the one opposite the motor and at one time even pushed into that side of the frame after the tab wore down enough. I think the grease saved it at that point because it didn't even scuff the paint. That side's plastic tab is almost completely worn out, so I'll be looking for another way to keep it from grinding against the frame...maybe some sort of wheel or bearing it can roll against instead? I'll post whatever I decide to try after I come up with something and implement it.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Mar 17, 2023 14:53:14 GMT -5
I have given all my CE tumblers to a co-workers son (the kid is a mechanical wiz and rebuilds electric motors for fun). I had given up on them as it was costing me a small fortune to keep them running. Here is a list of every part I repaired/ replaced over my 2 years of using them: Shaft bushings (made my own from rigid ABS tubing), drive pulleys (motor shaft-from Lortone 3 Lbers)Driven pulley (Had one wear the outer edge off, replaced with one from a machine with a bad motor), guide tabs (made new ones from some teflon round stock I found at a local hardware store)Lid seals (repaired with inner tube patches) barrel bottoms (same repair with inner tube patches, overheating motors (removed those stupid metal covers, and had a small CPU fan rigged up to keep the motors below their thermal shut down), Belts, lots and lots, and lots of belts. Once I was able to cool the motors down, my belt issues nearly went away (went from 2 to 3 months to 6+ months. I finally shut them down when I got my first Thumler's AR-2. (ironically enough the 12 year old belt just gave out last weekend lol). For a while I really enjoyed the CE units, But each week offered new challenges and I got tired of fixing and not tumbling
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Time
starting to spend too much on rocks
Making something positive out of COVID restrictions by learning to create jewelry out of stones.
Member since September 2021
Posts: 154
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Post by Time on Mar 23, 2023 20:47:40 GMT -5
I bought a used one at a garage sale about a year ago. I have run it a lot with no issues, it is running right now with one barrel and it has absolutely no problems. Like one poster said I also have taken the aluminum cover off the motor area, it lets me monitor the motor and belt. I oil the plastic bushings with WD 40 because I didn’t have any 3 & 1 setting around. If the non drive shaft is not turning with the barrel on and the drive shaft is rotating that is an issue. Oiling the plastic bushings should take care of the problem but I have never had any issues personally.
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moopiemotomom
starting to shine!
Member since November 2022
Posts: 49
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Post by moopiemotomom on Mar 24, 2023 11:27:18 GMT -5
Hello All! So I am seeing a lot of you have been down the "Chicago Electric Road", and I am wondering if you all can help me troubleshoot my tumbler. I am a newbie to tumbling so any info is greatly appreciated. First of all, I have a double barrel Chicago Electric and I am tumbling broken glass. I ran my first batch for about 4 days and was very happy with the results. My second batch I ran into some trouble. On about the 3rd day, my manfriend found my tumbler barrels stuck and not moving. I opened them up, readjusted the contents (slurry looked good), stirred things up, reweighed, and then started again. One barrel started bouncing around (I thought it was going to bounce out) and then got stuck again. I removed it, restarted the tumbler, and noticed that even though the second barrel was turning, the non-belted shaft was not turning with it. I can turn it with my fingers, but it will not turn with the barrels. Is the shaft broken already? Could it be the belt needs to be tightened already (not producing enough power?). Thoughts?? Thank you!! ~Marissa I posted more about my fixes if you want to check it out on this thread: forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/post/1270513/thread
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