zekester55
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 111
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Post by zekester55 on Nov 21, 2017 8:03:28 GMT -5
The Covington wore through at the bottom a few weeks ago. This morning's pleasure was delivered by the lid of a Thumler 3 pounder wearing through at the center. The Thumler was my first tumbler, and I bought two barrels for each of four stages. So, the failed barrel has only ever run coarse grit and raw stones. I'll have to go back through my notes to see how many batches I got out of it; have not been tracking barrel to barrel use though. Lids for these are only another $3 at the Rock Shed, but not sure I want to go that route. I like having a small tumbler for wee loads, but the Thumler barrel design is lousy, the outer edge that holds the o ring wears over time, so I've been thinking about other options as my current array of barrels will continue to fail over time. I know many of you use PVC, and I've seen the discussion of schedule 40 vs. schedule 80. I'd be curious to hear your opinions on how I might leverage the Thumler AR-2 rig after the remainder of my barrels fail. Could I use Lortone barrels on it? PVC recommendations?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Nov 22, 2017 3:21:39 GMT -5
Rubber makes the most resilient tumbler barrel. Lortone's are molded one piece rubber. Fine choice. Not familiar with Thumler's. I ran a 12 pound Lortone for several years using SiC 8 and SiC 16 and it never phased the barrel but did wear out the cap liner once.
I have since gone to PVC because the Fernco caps are so easy to put on/take off. The sch 40 PVC barrels wear out after 2-3 years doing about full time coarse grinding with aggressive SiC. I just found a stick of 4 foot sch 80 6" pipe on Ebay cheap for next barrel build. I build 6" PVC barrels for about $40 each but by the fittings in 10 packs to reduce cost.
If you just need one or two reliable barrels I would go with the Lortone.
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fishnpinball
Cave Dweller
So much to learn, so little time
Member since March 2017
Posts: 1,491
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Post by fishnpinball on Nov 22, 2017 12:56:20 GMT -5
When I was looking at rotary tumbler's I absolutely hated the closure for the small thumler's. Looked ripe for failure to me, so I bought Lortone's instead.
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