Got a Thumler's Tumbler? Drive Belt Jackpot
Feb 2, 2017 11:18:40 GMT -5
nowyo, broseph82, and 8 more like this
Post by captbob on Feb 2, 2017 11:18:40 GMT -5
I have many Tumbler's tumblers, with 4 of them being the Model B 15 pound units.
They tend to be WAY over weight when I run them - talking like at least 20 lbs and often much more in the barrel.
I go through A LOT of the belts that connect the motor to the drive pulley. They don't break, but do stretch.
As the belts stretch (the heavy loads I run may have something to do with this!) they lose their "grip" on the pulleys. This causes the drive shaft and thus the tumbler barrel to spin slower.
Left long enough, the tumbler rotation will continue to slow and eventually stop rotating altogether.
Slipping belt = slower rotation = not much happening to your rocks = wasting time and electricity = no good. duh!
I was ordering new belts from the Rock Shed over the past many many years - at four bucks each!
$4 x 10 belts (typical order) = $40 plus shipping. Usually every few months!
Well, I finally had enough of that (took long enough!!) and went searching for an alternative belt source.
Found my answer on a gun forum. These folks use the tumblers to clean empty shell casings. Usually high speed tumblers.
Someone on one of these forums had found the proper replacement belt for their Model B elsewhere.
So, if you own a tumbler's tumbler or several, here's your Thursday gift.
The O-Ring Store. www.theoringstore.com/
The belt they sell which you will want for your Tumbler's tumbler is model E70343
technical name - 343 E70 EPDM O-ring - 70 Duro - FDA - Black (whatever!)
Hopefully this link works to the exact belt, if not just type the above bold # in the search box.
www.theoringstore.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=1fceb774ef6e8a886160ec110ad8502c&keyword=E70343
The gift part?
52¢ each - almost 8 belts for the price of one at the Rock Shed
you're welcome
I bought 20 of these o-rings and with shipping it was less than $17
You know how those clear belts we get from the Rock Shed and elsewhere look like they are heat welded together from what must be a spool of round tubing? These O-Ring Store belts are black and for the life of me I can't find a heat "weld". Must be made round and whole in one piece. These are just a tougher looking & feeling belt.
Disclaimer: I just recently received these belts (o-rings), so no long term usage results yet. But I will bet these things are vastly superior to the $4 clear belts we have been using.
Aside: I recently bought an off brand 15 lb tumbler on eBay see thread here. I bought it because it was supposed to be a HIGH speed model. Around 40 RPM vs the 20ish RPM of a Thumler's 15 lb Model B unit. I wanted to see if high speed rotation would rough grind my rocks better in the coarse grit stage.
Well I got the thing and it would only do 25/26 RPM. I was kinda pissed off, I wanted high speed.
The darn thing also didn't appreciate that I had an over weight barrel on it. Slowed the rotation WAY down.
I went through four of the brand new clear belts in less than 24 hours! WTF!!
Spent an afternoon swapping tumbler barrels around to different machines and was not amused.
These new o-ring store black belts show up and I put one on the blue tumbler first thing.
I got 38 RPM with the new belt! Put the over weight barrel back on the blue machine and it's still spinning fast! It was the freakin' sissy clear belts that were keeping this machine from doing its thing properly!
Took me YEARS to finally search around for better belts! Happy Thursday.
Now go bid on my RTH Fundraising auction for the Thumler's dual barrel tumbler ya slackers!
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/77447/rth-fundraising-auction-thumlers-tumbler
ETA: AND... I got candy with my order!
They tend to be WAY over weight when I run them - talking like at least 20 lbs and often much more in the barrel.
I go through A LOT of the belts that connect the motor to the drive pulley. They don't break, but do stretch.
As the belts stretch (the heavy loads I run may have something to do with this!) they lose their "grip" on the pulleys. This causes the drive shaft and thus the tumbler barrel to spin slower.
Left long enough, the tumbler rotation will continue to slow and eventually stop rotating altogether.
Slipping belt = slower rotation = not much happening to your rocks = wasting time and electricity = no good. duh!
I was ordering new belts from the Rock Shed over the past many many years - at four bucks each!
$4 x 10 belts (typical order) = $40 plus shipping. Usually every few months!
Well, I finally had enough of that (took long enough!!) and went searching for an alternative belt source.
Found my answer on a gun forum. These folks use the tumblers to clean empty shell casings. Usually high speed tumblers.
Someone on one of these forums had found the proper replacement belt for their Model B elsewhere.
So, if you own a tumbler's tumbler or several, here's your Thursday gift.
The O-Ring Store. www.theoringstore.com/
The belt they sell which you will want for your Tumbler's tumbler is model E70343
technical name - 343 E70 EPDM O-ring - 70 Duro - FDA - Black (whatever!)
Hopefully this link works to the exact belt, if not just type the above bold # in the search box.
www.theoringstore.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=1fceb774ef6e8a886160ec110ad8502c&keyword=E70343
The gift part?
52¢ each - almost 8 belts for the price of one at the Rock Shed
you're welcome
I bought 20 of these o-rings and with shipping it was less than $17
You know how those clear belts we get from the Rock Shed and elsewhere look like they are heat welded together from what must be a spool of round tubing? These O-Ring Store belts are black and for the life of me I can't find a heat "weld". Must be made round and whole in one piece. These are just a tougher looking & feeling belt.
Disclaimer: I just recently received these belts (o-rings), so no long term usage results yet. But I will bet these things are vastly superior to the $4 clear belts we have been using.
Aside: I recently bought an off brand 15 lb tumbler on eBay see thread here. I bought it because it was supposed to be a HIGH speed model. Around 40 RPM vs the 20ish RPM of a Thumler's 15 lb Model B unit. I wanted to see if high speed rotation would rough grind my rocks better in the coarse grit stage.
Well I got the thing and it would only do 25/26 RPM. I was kinda pissed off, I wanted high speed.
The darn thing also didn't appreciate that I had an over weight barrel on it. Slowed the rotation WAY down.
I went through four of the brand new clear belts in less than 24 hours! WTF!!
Spent an afternoon swapping tumbler barrels around to different machines and was not amused.
These new o-ring store black belts show up and I put one on the blue tumbler first thing.
I got 38 RPM with the new belt! Put the over weight barrel back on the blue machine and it's still spinning fast! It was the freakin' sissy clear belts that were keeping this machine from doing its thing properly!
Took me YEARS to finally search around for better belts! Happy Thursday.
Now go bid on my RTH Fundraising auction for the Thumler's dual barrel tumbler ya slackers!
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/77447/rth-fundraising-auction-thumlers-tumbler
ETA: AND... I got candy with my order!