Post by churross on Apr 27, 2008 23:44:41 GMT -5
1. Buy your tumbler at Harbor Freight; the double 3 lb. tumblers are 29.99 as of this date.
2. You will immediately need replacement belts; these you can order on ebay.
3. Weigh your rocks, water, and grit. 3lbs. mean 3 lbs. Rocks have different specific gravities, reducing the accuracy of eyeballing, plus there’s a natural tendency to overload the first cycle knowing it will reduce to a normal load.
4. It may be creative to realize you can stack an upper row of two barrels on top of two tumblers side by side, but this will not work for more than an hour.
5. When the motor stops running, even if you remove the bottom screen and kick start it with your finger, it’s the bearings. Take apart the black plastic thingys on either side of the motor and oil the bearings, if they still don’t turn smoothly, replace them. .75 inch OD, .25 inch ID, 9/64ths wide…good ones run about 2.00 apiece, great ones more.
6. You can melt the plastic fans, too bad the metal ones from Lortone don’t fit. This part( and any others) can be reordered from Harbor Freight (and HF only it appears). Wait is excruciating.
7. Cheap bearing on tumbling rods should spin freely when spun. Alternately cleaning and oiling works well. Only one out of 16 has broken.
8. The lids gaskets (that cover the metal interior lid) wear out. Lortone fits.
9. The bottom center of the rubber rock holder wears out. Standard rubber patches inside and out work well.
10. The gnarled nuts on top of the tumbling basket de-gnarl quickly (think of the friction wearing out that cheap motor). I’ve had some luck with frictionless tape over the metal frame where the nuts rub.
11. For quicker service, remove the two non-padded screws from the bottom screen. Then you can hand loosen one padded screw, rotate the screen out and you’re into the engine room.
12. CE tumblers are a bit too fast out of the box, but settle into a better speed with use. That being said, they can slow too much. This is likely bearings again.
13. When all else fails, switch the front and back bearings.
14. Minimum belt tension is life-inducing to the tumbler.
15. Check twice daily at least. Morning, after work, and before bed. A stalled tumbler gets hot and begins to have more problems then whatever caused the stall (like the Rottweiler laying down on one for instance). Also, with the cheap belts, the belts break, but with better belts, it may be the fan or the bearings that eats it.
As we speak, I bought two CE double 3’s in Dec, two in early January. When one broke (before I learned to fix them), I bought two more (in Feb.). When they went on sale I bought two more (in March). All of been in constant use (lots of rockhounding and ebaying this winter) Of the eight, seven work. The extra one I’ve used for parts and it has worked out well.
Hope this helps.
Oh wait, you’ll buy them and break them before you learn of this board. So go back and read the list. Maybe it’s not really that broken.
2. You will immediately need replacement belts; these you can order on ebay.
3. Weigh your rocks, water, and grit. 3lbs. mean 3 lbs. Rocks have different specific gravities, reducing the accuracy of eyeballing, plus there’s a natural tendency to overload the first cycle knowing it will reduce to a normal load.
4. It may be creative to realize you can stack an upper row of two barrels on top of two tumblers side by side, but this will not work for more than an hour.
5. When the motor stops running, even if you remove the bottom screen and kick start it with your finger, it’s the bearings. Take apart the black plastic thingys on either side of the motor and oil the bearings, if they still don’t turn smoothly, replace them. .75 inch OD, .25 inch ID, 9/64ths wide…good ones run about 2.00 apiece, great ones more.
6. You can melt the plastic fans, too bad the metal ones from Lortone don’t fit. This part( and any others) can be reordered from Harbor Freight (and HF only it appears). Wait is excruciating.
7. Cheap bearing on tumbling rods should spin freely when spun. Alternately cleaning and oiling works well. Only one out of 16 has broken.
8. The lids gaskets (that cover the metal interior lid) wear out. Lortone fits.
9. The bottom center of the rubber rock holder wears out. Standard rubber patches inside and out work well.
10. The gnarled nuts on top of the tumbling basket de-gnarl quickly (think of the friction wearing out that cheap motor). I’ve had some luck with frictionless tape over the metal frame where the nuts rub.
11. For quicker service, remove the two non-padded screws from the bottom screen. Then you can hand loosen one padded screw, rotate the screen out and you’re into the engine room.
12. CE tumblers are a bit too fast out of the box, but settle into a better speed with use. That being said, they can slow too much. This is likely bearings again.
13. When all else fails, switch the front and back bearings.
14. Minimum belt tension is life-inducing to the tumbler.
15. Check twice daily at least. Morning, after work, and before bed. A stalled tumbler gets hot and begins to have more problems then whatever caused the stall (like the Rottweiler laying down on one for instance). Also, with the cheap belts, the belts break, but with better belts, it may be the fan or the bearings that eats it.
As we speak, I bought two CE double 3’s in Dec, two in early January. When one broke (before I learned to fix them), I bought two more (in Feb.). When they went on sale I bought two more (in March). All of been in constant use (lots of rockhounding and ebaying this winter) Of the eight, seven work. The extra one I’ve used for parts and it has worked out well.
Hope this helps.
Oh wait, you’ll buy them and break them before you learn of this board. So go back and read the list. Maybe it’s not really that broken.
