Vevor 11lb/5Kg Jewelry Tumbler

One thing I was disappointed in... the round door instead of a hexagonal door as shown on the Amazon product page. I contacted Vevor tech support about it, and only the 6.6lb/3Kg version comes with the hex door.

This basically leaves space for small particles of grit to get stuck in and not easily come out. But this will basically be a stage 1 tumbler only anyway.

It's also a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It's 5% larger diameter as my 3lb Nat Geo drum, and barely over twice as wide, plus 4lbs of small ceramic media filled it half way.

For now, I'm just using this as a stage 1 tumbler due to the speed of the tumble...  It seems to be doing an extremely quick job of stage 1


First batch I did in this tumbler was Labradorite, I did a check after 3 days, and was shocked that the rocks were so rounded already, I thought it would be about a week to see this much progress!

Pre-tumble:


After 3 days in 60 grit coal slag: 












I then put in all my Agates & 46/70 SiC, and again checked on them after 3 days, and found them all nice & smooth, well, at least no sharp edges...  I put the agates, some dragons blood Jasper, and some ceramic media in there for a second run, & I'll check on it this Thursday to see how they're coming.  

I ran the tumbler at speed 1 for both batches of rock.  The Labradorite, I ran on the auto reversing mode since that stops for several seconds between direction changes.   The Agates, I ran in just regular mode for continuous tumbling action.   There was no discernable grit remaining in the Labradorite batch, but  I was still catching a small amount of SiC from the Agate batch in my 70 & 100 mesh screens.  

My first trial with truck bed liner was a failure. I tried the Rust-Oleum truck bed liner, too soft & somewhat foam like, especially where it's thicker... It formed a super thin layer on the sides, and bunched up into the corners leaving a mess that I'm still working on cleaning out. Tumbling is actually doing most of that work for me, I'm just pealing away where the rocks have knocked it loose. I think I'll try the Herculiner product next time.

In "theory", the barrel should last a very long time if it's truly polycarbonate....   HOWEVER, I have my doubts, since the lid has already developed a crack in it.  I've already picked up 2 pieces of 6" solid core ABS plastic pipe to make my own barrels from, and have 3/8" abrasion resistant Lexan (from another project) to make end caps for the barrels.  ABS being stronger, denser, and more impact and fracture resistant than PVC and also only $17 for two 2ft sections!!!

Since mine has already developed a crack, I could theoretically send it back, but where's the fun in that, especially for a DIY'er like myself 

So, this is what I came up with:  

This is a bit involved, and you'll need a few tools and other supplies....



Materials needed:

> A new cap can be made of anything very stiff. 3/4" plywood, 1/4" steel or aluminum plate, 3/8" polycarbonate or acrylic sheet, etc.... Plywood is cheap & easy to get pretty much anywhere. It's also easy to cut, drill, & work with.

> 5/16" Polycarbonate / Acrylic drill bit make sure you use a new bit, it needs to be very sharp - do not use a regular wood or metal drilling bits these can crack the polycarbonate rim of the barrel.

> 11/32" or 3/8" drill bit for drilling the new cap

> 5/16" - 18 Socket Screw x6 1 1/2" long for 3/4" plywood, shorter for other cap materials.

> 5/16" fender washers x6

> 5/16" - 18 wingnuts or locknuts x6

> "Rubber Gasket Sheet" at least 6" x 6" in 1/8" thickness to cover the opening

> hand held drill or for best results use a drill press if you already have one

> A way to cut the new cap to size



Remove the two studs that hold the door in place, then you'll want to mark out 4 more holes to be drilled as indicated below:





Keep the holes about the same distance as the two factory drilled holes and centered on the flats of the drum. Using the 5/16" drill bit, slowly drill the 4 new holes, don't push too hard, or go to fast, you want the drill bit to do the work so that you don't over stress or over heat the plastic or drill bit.



Cut the cover material to fit without going past the orange rubber, then clamp it to the top:



Using the drill bit you just drilled through the top with, mark the first two drill locations in the top by putting light downward pressure on the drill bit, and turning it a couple times with your fingers unless you're using steel for the cap, then you'll need a marker or center punch.



This will leave you with a shallow dimple at each drill location:





Drill the first 2 holes in your cover with a 11/32" or 3/8" drill bit. This will allow you a little room for error, then attach the top with 2 bolts & wing nuts, and finish marking the drill locations.  This is easier than moving the clamps each time, and more accurate.



You can get 6" x 6" natural rubber gasket at Lowe's or Home Depot in the plumbing department, or you can use silicon, nitrile, buna-n, or neoprene rubber from Amazon - for more convenience Amazon has some of these with adhesive backing.



This is the 6x6 sheet from Lowe's, it's about $3.






If you do use a 6x6 sheet like this, it's best to cut it into a hexagon about the size of the actual drum.




If it's non-adhesive, just center it as best you can on the top, and put your new cover over it. It's of course best to use a larger piece that will cover all the way past the bolt holes, as this will help fully support the polycarbonate .



Using the cap screws, inserted from the under side of the top, attach your new cap. You won't need to use a washer under the head of the screw if you use this style of cap screw:





BUT you do want to use a fender washer on top of the new cap this will help spread the clamping force over a wider area creating a better seal. I prefer the "extra thick" washers found in the specialty drawers at Lowe's. They are at least twice as thick as regular washers and will not bend.




Then just use the wingnuts to secure the new cap. Do NOT tighten one at a time.... Tighten in a star pattern like this:

only barely finger tight to start with, then a little tighter each additional time.

You can of course use lock nuts as well (nylon insert in the top of the nut that helps to deal with vibrations, keeping the nut in place), and doing so with a torque wrench, you can find a torque setting that should make for a water tight seal every time without any guess-work.


The rubber will eventually wear away, but should last a very long time and is pretty cheap to replace!

Be aware that if you don't use an adhesive backed sheet, and it's not cut to fit the new cap, the gasket will move on you a bit as you're tightening down the top.  


I had that thing just about as perfectly centered as could be, and it' still moved on me.  I'll have to wait for the correct drill bit, and also going to get an adhesive backed rubber sheet so it'll stay in place on the new cap.

Fortuantely, I already have almost everything including tooling.  The 3/4 plywood top is a cut-out from a speaker cabinet I'm building, though I also have plate steel & 3/8" Tuffak polycarbonate that I could use for a replacement cap as well.

I have to give you credit for your ingenuity - I'll be curious to see how it holds up.
Personally, I might think to first coat the plywood with epoxy, as you don't want it to start swelling up.
And wouldn't it be better to use a larger piece of gasket that would have holes for the screws.
That way, the gasket would stay in place better AND you could replace it easy, since it wouldn't be glued down.

Keep us posted,
Thanks,
Patty

I had written a nice long reply about the 2nd run of stage 1 on my agates, and mistakenly closed the webpage before posting 

So here's the short version.  Ran 2nd part with the auto-reverse feature, almost no change in the rocks other than a few pieces broke.  Grit was used up with only about 3 grams of SiC recovered between the 50, 70, and 100 mesh screens.  So it looks like the continuous action is better overall for stage 1.  

Here's a few of my favorites out of the mix:

Looking good

I am an electronics technician and I can say that there is No Such thing as a DC Transformer. DC will make a transformer very hot so keep checking that, you could burn it up. I can't tell from the picture what is going on in there, but I would suggest that the Motor is DC and it could be directly run from solar batteries.

I have a small Solar power system that is enough to power some stuff in 1 room. I use it for lights, fans, chargers, weather station and a few more things. I probably save about $3 dollars a month using it, however it's priceless when the Mains Power goes out.

www.anotherpower.com/board/index.php?topic=1389.0