|
|
Post by chris1956 on May 10, 2024 19:17:30 GMT -5
Several years ago I bought an Thumler's AR-6. Never liked it. I had several blowouts of the lid (thin white one) plus getting that darn ring on without pinching or snapping my fingers was darn near imposible. Plus I seemed to get a lot of wear either on the rollers or the barrel and the sticky black gook got everwhere. So I put it in storage and moved on. Recently, the rocks have been piling up and I was thinking of getting it out again. Not to mention the fact that they are selling these units for $250 new and I keep thinking I should be using it. Two ideas came to mind: 1st. I was wondering if a Lortone QT6 barrel (assuming I can get one  ) would fit on the Thumler's AR-6? Anyone tried this? The Thumler's barrel is 8 inch diameter and 4 inches long. There is about 4.5 inches of space (length) on the rollers to put a barrel on. The QT6 barrel has a 7.75 inch diameter and is 4.5 inches long. It might be a tight fit on the length but I might be able to squeeze a little more room for it. The diameter is only a 1/4 inch difference so I am thinking that would work. 2nd. Take the white lid and spray sealant on it or put epoxy on it so hopefully it would last longer. I think I remember someone saying that they made a plexiglass top to replace the ones provided with the unit? That might be another reason to buy a laser and get a perfrect circular piece of plexiglass.  Although I could probably get it done without a laser. Let me know what you think or any ideas you have. I don't want to repeat the blowouts from the lid wearing away. I can probably live with the other issues. Thanks, Chris |
|
rraming
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2024
Posts: 13
|
Post by rraming on May 10, 2024 20:09:50 GMT -5
I have seen the plexiglass repair and also people using rubber - Michigan Rocks has a video on it as well. Or you could just buy a handful of lids, not all that expensive. Just stage one tearing them up I would assume
|
|
|
|
Post by southernlakehuronguy on May 10, 2024 20:44:19 GMT -5
I know of your pain, as in having my fingers smacked by the lid retaining ring. SOB hurts bad. I bought an AR6 off of E-bay for $132 with shipping and it has served me well since January of this year. I bought some 4" tire patches from Tractor supply and put one on the inside lid and one on the inside bottom of the barrel.Just did a clean out yesterday and saw no wear of the patches.I did this to all my tumbler barrels, 10 others. There are many places you can get a plastic disc cut to your dimensions for cheap. I know you could get more room to fit a QT6 barrel by moving the barrel guides. I don't have any kind of gummy residue, might it be that you over lubed? Just a guess. I'd give it a go again with what you have instead of buying a new barrel. The QT6 barrel is available though...https://www.riogrande.com/product/replacement-barrel-for-lortone-rotary-tumbler/202055GP/?code=202055
|
|
|
|
Post by chris1956 on May 10, 2024 21:20:32 GMT -5
I have seen the plexiglass repair and also people using rubber - Michigan Rocks has a video on it as well. Or you could just buy a handful of lids, not all that expensive. Just stage one tearing them up I would assume Thanks. I have seen the video and about ready to add rubber to a couple of my Lortone barrels. I guess I can add a rubber layer to the lid as well. I know of your pain, as in having my fingers smacked by the lid retaining ring. SOB hurts bad. I bought an AR6 off of E-bay for $132 with shipping and it has served me well since January of this year. I bought some 4" tire patches from Tractor supply and put one on the inside lid and one on the inside bottom of the barrel.Just did a clean out yesterday and saw no wear of the patches.I did this to all my tumbler barrels, 10 others. There are many places you can get a plastic disc cut to your dimensions for cheap. I know you could get more room to fit a QT6 barrel by moving the barrel guides. I don't have any kind of gummy residue, might it be that you over lubed? Just a guess. I'd give it a go again with what you have instead of buying a new barrel. The QT6 barrel is available though...https://www.riogrande.com/product/replacement-barrel-for-lortone-rotary-tumbler/202055GP/?code=202055 Thanks. I haven't tried the patches but that might be a good idea for the lids as they seem to wear in the middle. I didn't spend too much time trying to figure out the gummy residue before I gave up on it. I will spend more time on it if I get it back running. |
|
dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
|
Post by dillonf on May 10, 2024 21:47:50 GMT -5
Several years ago I bought an Thumler's AR-6. Never liked it. I had several blowouts of the lid (thin white one) plus getting that darn ring on without pinching or snapping my fingers was darn near imposible. Plus I seemed to get a lot of wear either on the rollers or the barrel and the sticky black gook got everwhere. So I put it in storage and moved on. Recently, the rocks have been piling up and I was thinking of getting it out again. Not to mention the fact that they are selling these units for $250 new and I keep thinking I should be using it. Two ideas came to mind: 1st. I was wondering if a Lortone QT6 barrel (assuming I can get one ) would fit on the Thumler's AR-6? Anyone tried this? The Thumler's barrel is 8 inch diameter and 4 inches long. There is about 4.5 inches of space (length) on the rollers to put a barrel on. The QT6 barrel has a 7.75 inch diameter and is 4.5 inches long. It might be a tight fit on the length but I might be able to squeeze a little more room for it. The diameter is only a 1/4 inch difference so I am thinking that would work. 2nd. Take the white lid and spray sealant on it or put epoxy on it so hopefully it would last longer. I think I remember someone saying that they made a plexiglass top to replace the ones provided with the unit? That might be another reason to buy a laser and get a perfrect circular piece of plexiglass.  Although I could probably get it done without a laser. Let me know what you think or any ideas you have. I don't want to repeat the blowouts from the lid wearing away. I can probably live with the other issues. Thanks, Chris Hey Chris, I bought a used AR-6 and was initially super excited because the barrel size was very cool. I had the same exact problem as you - the roller and barrel wearing/dissolving into a sticky mess. I bought a QT 6 barrel and put it on - it works great. I still get a little bit of rubber wearing off on the metal lid of the QT6 barrel, but nothing like what happened with the Thumler's barrel. It tumbles at a perfect rate for quartz in my opinion. I also have an AR2 that I put 2 QT45 barrels on, because I got sick of wearing through the 3lb Thumler's barrels. I run nothing but Lortone barrels on all my machines now regardless of make. Except for a Thumler's model B I bought about a 2 years ago that is still in the box - I saw the prices rising like crazy, so I grabbed one for future use . . . It's kind of like having those 4-5 cases of water sitting in the garage - makes you feel better. |
|
|
|
Post by southernlakehuronguy on May 11, 2024 9:08:41 GMT -5
A tip for you. To apply the tire patch to the inside bottom of the barrel, I used a screen spline tool...https://www.acehardware.com/departments/hardware/window-and-screen-hardware/screen-spline/51991?store=06411&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrvyxBhAbEiwAEg_KgoIXgPRFsPsKQKn3X8IYxgdNhWgFSTWlMhxJ3ugMMxo9pN5V-om08RoCIlgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
|
|
|
|
Post by chris1956 on May 11, 2024 18:15:25 GMT -5
Several years ago I bought an Thumler's AR-6. Never liked it. I had several blowouts of the lid (thin white one) plus getting that darn ring on without pinching or snapping my fingers was darn near imposible. Plus I seemed to get a lot of wear either on the rollers or the barrel and the sticky black gook got everwhere. So I put it in storage and moved on. Recently, the rocks have been piling up and I was thinking of getting it out again. Not to mention the fact that they are selling these units for $250 new and I keep thinking I should be using it. Two ideas came to mind: 1st. I was wondering if a Lortone QT6 barrel (assuming I can get one ) would fit on the Thumler's AR-6? Anyone tried this? The Thumler's barrel is 8 inch diameter and 4 inches long. There is about 4.5 inches of space (length) on the rollers to put a barrel on. The QT6 barrel has a 7.75 inch diameter and is 4.5 inches long. It might be a tight fit on the length but I might be able to squeeze a little more room for it. The diameter is only a 1/4 inch difference so I am thinking that would work. 2nd. Take the white lid and spray sealant on it or put epoxy on it so hopefully it would last longer. I think I remember someone saying that they made a plexiglass top to replace the ones provided with the unit? That might be another reason to buy a laser and get a perfrect circular piece of plexiglass. Although I could probably get it done without a laser. Let me know what you think or any ideas you have. I don't want to repeat the blowouts from the lid wearing away. I can probably live with the other issues. Thanks, Chris Hey Chris, I bought a used AR-6 and was initially super excited because the barrel size was very cool. I had the same exact problem as you - the roller and barrel wearing/dissolving into a sticky mess. I bought a QT 6 barrel and put it on - it works great. I still get a little bit of rubber wearing off on the metal lid of the QT6 barrel, but nothing like what happened with the Thumler's barrel. It tumbles at a perfect rate for quartz in my opinion. I also have an AR2 that I put 2 QT45 barrels on, because I got sick of wearing through the 3lb Thumler's barrels. I run nothing but Lortone barrels on all my machines now regardless of make. Except for a Thumler's model B I bought about a 2 years ago that is still in the box - I saw the prices rising like crazy, so I grabbed one for future use . . . It's kind of like having those 4-5 cases of water sitting in the garage - makes you feel better. Thanks Dillon! I am glad someone else has done this. |
|
|
|
Post by chris1956 on May 11, 2024 18:17:06 GMT -5
A tip for you. To apply the tire patch to the inside bottom of the barrel, I used a screen spline tool...https://www.acehardware.com/departments/hardware/window-and-screen-hardware/screen-spline/51991?store=06411&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrvyxBhAbEiwAEg_KgoIXgPRFsPsKQKn3X8IYxgdNhWgFSTWlMhxJ3ugMMxo9pN5V-om08RoCIlgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds Thanks. If I stick with the Thumler's barrel I was going to put the patch on the lid. However, I have two Lorton barrels in the basement that I need to do the bottoms on so the screen spline tool is a good idea. |
|
) would fit on the Thumler's AR-6? Anyone tried this? The Thumler's barrel is 8 inch diameter and 4 inches long. There is about 4.5 inches of space (length) on the rollers to put a barrel on. The QT6 barrel has a 7.75 inch diameter and is 4.5 inches long. It might be a tight fit on the length but I might be able to squeeze a little more room for it. The diameter is only a 1/4 inch difference so I am thinking that would work.
Although I could probably get it done without a laser. 
Although I could probably get it done without a laser. 
