Home made rock tumblers and other hacks
Aug 16, 2023 22:29:10 GMT -5
titaniumkid and iamchris like this
Post by velodromed on Aug 16, 2023 22:29:10 GMT -5
A few months ago I was between surgeries, could only pick up 5 pounds and was going out of my mind. I had a big, empty fiber plastic bottle and a full can of rustoleum heavy duty rubber liner spray that was getting old, so I decided to make a tumbler barrel out of it for some reason. I also have an old wire Jewellery double 3 pound moter/base. They had warranted it out for me because the motor was extremely loud, but didn’t send me new barrels. I managed to fix the motor somewhat so was all set.
I spent weeks painting the barrel with the rubber stuff. I sprayed just a few layers a days and made sure it was even and beginning to cure throughout the bottle before I did the next coats. I had also fully prepped the bottle by scuffing the inside good and cleaning it with alcohol. After I emptied the can and the layer felt good and thick, I let it sit and cure for over a month, half in the dry cool house and half in the 95f garage. Then I wrapped the outside with one layer of gorilla tape. It was finally ready to go last week, so I loaded it with 5-6lbs of rounded beach rocks from Washington, a good bit of 30 and 60 grit, sealed the lid with liquid gasket and started tumbling.
It works!! I can’t believe it. The only issue is the thin plastic bottle started to deform from the heat (it’s 95f in my garage) and pressure change after a few days. So I forced the lid open, put it in the fridge for 2 hours, recharged the grit, reapplied the liquid gasket and let the gasket cure for a few hours in the fridge. Now the bottle is holding pressure firm and not collapsing. Even better, when I opened the bottle the rubber spray liner was in perfect condition. Of course the old motor seems to be struggling lol. Not sure how long it’ll last.
So, what have some of y’all used to make home made barrels? I thought I saw at some point some one used pvc pipe, 6” I think. Also I would LOVE to hear about other creative things that folks have built, hacks you’ve figured out and so forth. I enjoy the creative um, ‘MacGyver’ side of life I guess. I really like to repurpose things and get more use out of them also. I’m learning and getting better with basic electrics, motors, soldering and so forth lately so have been trying to up my game.
[img
src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dtgm9gehz/image/upload/v1692241989/ridsc6bvsam5halm9vmj.jpg" alt=" "]
.
I spent weeks painting the barrel with the rubber stuff. I sprayed just a few layers a days and made sure it was even and beginning to cure throughout the bottle before I did the next coats. I had also fully prepped the bottle by scuffing the inside good and cleaning it with alcohol. After I emptied the can and the layer felt good and thick, I let it sit and cure for over a month, half in the dry cool house and half in the 95f garage. Then I wrapped the outside with one layer of gorilla tape. It was finally ready to go last week, so I loaded it with 5-6lbs of rounded beach rocks from Washington, a good bit of 30 and 60 grit, sealed the lid with liquid gasket and started tumbling.
It works!! I can’t believe it. The only issue is the thin plastic bottle started to deform from the heat (it’s 95f in my garage) and pressure change after a few days. So I forced the lid open, put it in the fridge for 2 hours, recharged the grit, reapplied the liquid gasket and let the gasket cure for a few hours in the fridge. Now the bottle is holding pressure firm and not collapsing. Even better, when I opened the bottle the rubber spray liner was in perfect condition. Of course the old motor seems to be struggling lol. Not sure how long it’ll last.
So, what have some of y’all used to make home made barrels? I thought I saw at some point some one used pvc pipe, 6” I think. Also I would LOVE to hear about other creative things that folks have built, hacks you’ve figured out and so forth. I enjoy the creative um, ‘MacGyver’ side of life I guess. I really like to repurpose things and get more use out of them also. I’m learning and getting better with basic electrics, motors, soldering and so forth lately so have been trying to up my game.
[img
src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dtgm9gehz/image/upload/v1692241989/ridsc6bvsam5halm9vmj.jpg" alt=" "]
.