planza
starting to shine!
Member since March 2012
Posts: 30
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Post by planza on Jan 15, 2019 23:17:07 GMT -5
Hi, all. I've been running two Lortone 33B's periodically for the past 7+ years. Never used anything else. Each one probably has about 3-4 years of wear, and this winter I've had to replace the motor in each one. While looking for parts on The Rock Shed site, I couldn't help but notice that the motors on the Thumler tumblers look a lot more beefy. Thought I might try to find an AR-2 on Ebay. I've read some iffy things here about Thumler barrels, and I've never had any issues with my Lortone barrels. It seems like Lortone barrels on a Thumler tumbler could be a sweet hybrid. Does anyone have a good solution/modification to address the barrel diameter issue for running Lortone 3-lb barrels on a Thumler AR-2? Thanks! --Phil
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Post by aDave on Jan 15, 2019 23:53:19 GMT -5
All you'd be looking to do is target RPMs. Proper RPMs for a 33B is around 46. If you put the Lortone barrels on a Thumler frame, and it turned a bit faster, it probably wouldn't be too much of a big deal. If it is too fast, however, you might want to cushion stuff for subsequent stages after coarse. If you put the Lortone barrel on the Thumler frame, and the barrel is turning too slowly, you could wrap electrical tape (or similar) to build up the diameter of the drive shaft. If the diameter is larger, it will turn the barrel faster. I've recently done that with some of my Lortone frames and have had good results. ETA: Here's the thread where I address this, and it includes a photo of what I did. forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/post/1030903/thread
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planza
starting to shine!
Member since March 2012
Posts: 30
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Post by planza on Jan 16, 2019 12:58:55 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanation and the link, Dave. I will have to give that a try!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 16, 2019 16:47:49 GMT -5
The barrel diameter is not the problem, the barrel height is the problem. Thumler barrels are a little shorter and wider than Lortone barrels. Two Lortone barrels won't fit on Thumler base. My Thumler barrels were always trying to ride up on the little white washer shaped thing at the ends of the shafts. The whole AR2 design is really bad in my opinion.
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Post by aDave on Jan 16, 2019 17:47:13 GMT -5
The barrel diameter is not the problem, the barrel height is the problem. Thumler barrels are a little shorter and wider than Lortone barrels. Two Lortone barrels won't fit on Thumler base. My Thumler barrels were always trying to ride up on the little white washer shaped thing at the ends of the shafts. The whole AR2 design is really bad in my opinion. Thanks for pointing that out Rob. I was not aware of an issue with fitment.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 16, 2019 18:54:48 GMT -5
The Thumler's are a little annoying but work OK. You have to clean the top lip well to get lid to seal and sometimes it feels like you need a third hand to get the lid retainer ring on. Thumler's motors and bearings are much heavier duty than Lortone and belts don't stretch as much.
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planza
starting to shine!
Member since March 2012
Posts: 30
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Post by planza on Jan 16, 2019 23:34:25 GMT -5
Rob- Thank you for that height info. You saved me from an unhappy discovery with my current Lortone barrels. I took a look at various Lortone parts, and it would be possible then to fit one 3-lb barrel and one 1.5-lb barrel together on an AR-2. My intent though was to take advantage of the Thumler's heavy-duty motor, so the smaller combined load than what I'm running on my 33B is not the direction I wanted to go. Lortone also makes a 4-lb barrel that is 3.5-in deep and 5.75-in diameter. The height would allow a pair of these for a combined 8-lb load, which it seems the AR-2 could handle. Does anyone know if the 5.75-in barrel diameter would present a problem, given the spacing of the shafts? By comparison, the Thumler's barrels have a 5-in diameter.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 17, 2019 6:22:12 GMT -5
Rob- Thank you for that height info. You saved me from an unhappy discovery with my current Lortone barrels. I took a look at various Lortone parts, and it would be possible then to fit one 3-lb barrel and one 1.5-lb barrel together on an AR-2. My intent though was to take advantage of the Thumler's heavy-duty motor, so the smaller combined load than what I'm running on my 33B is not the direction I wanted to go. Lortone also makes a 4-lb barrel that is 3.5-in deep and 5.75-in diameter. The height would allow a pair of these for a combined 8-lb load, which it seems the AR-2 could handle. Does anyone know if the 5.75-in barrel diameter would present a problem, given the spacing of the shafts? By comparison, the Thumler's barrels have a 5-in diameter. I don’t have a Lortone 1.5 lb. or 4.5 lb barrel, so I don’t know how those would fit.
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