Did you end up with a wirejewelry Rock Tumbler.
May 13, 2021 12:31:01 GMT -5
rockjunquie and jasoninsd like this
Post by rhodeislandjeff on May 13, 2021 12:31:01 GMT -5
I received my first Rock Tumbler as a gift. They in essence got drawn in by top ten advertising lists to choose a 3lb single barrel tumbler from wirejewelry.com. First off, cheap commercial rock tumblers are not cheap in my opinion. If 50 bucks is a lot of money to you then I recommend using this forum to build your own. Wirejewelry might have some great stuff at reasonable prices but their low end rock tumblers are not one of them. The lengthy list of poor reviews on amazon will say it all. That said if you ended up with a wirejewelry tumbler than I have some advice that may help you out.
If you've already received your tumbler and its broken down on you already then try to get a hold of the company and get a replacement. Doubtful you will get a refund.
Do not use any oil near the motor or belt. This will affect the belt friction which your going to need. Adjust the belt tension all the way in as loose as the belt goes. If you put any tension (like the video on their site does) it will break down (first the spacer will break and then the bearings on the motor will go). After that when the spindles (what the barrel sits on) start to get noisy then use lithium grease on the spindle bearings (really just plastic inserts which is why they end up squeaking). Try not to use spray on lithium grease cause it'll likely get on your belt (and kill that friction you'll need to keep it working). Unfortunately if you want it to be quiet you'll have to do this once a week or more.
If your stuck with one and it doesn't work and you can't or don't want to get a replacement then read on. The motor is unfortunately most likely not replaceable. I found an ebay auction with 75 available that sold out long ago. I also found the motor in china used for an oven fan that was out of stock. If wirejewelry has motors available they are not openly selling them on their site. What happens when it fails right away usually has to do with what I think is an engineering flaw that is correctable after the fact. Inside the motor on either side of the rotor should be spacers keeping the rotor stabilized with the bearings. This electric motor uses a spring and a small clip. The clip breaks very easily and then the spring pushes the rotor out place at first to just be really noisy and then to quit working all together. If you had some tension on that belt then the inner bearing (side toward the belt) will also get damaged.
What to do at this point takes a little bit of doing but does not require you to be a machinist. If you pull the electric motor apart and remove the spring and clip believe it or not it will still run. The electrical field will keep it semi-stabilized and it will work. Eventually this will put some wear spots on the rotor and it will get noisier and finally freeze up. So what you need is some spacers on either side of the rotor. 1/4 inch steel spacers from Ace Hardware ($1.50 each) work perfect. Get two as short as they come. Then comes the hard part. They will will not be the right length so you will need to shorten them. I used a grinder and then fine sanded them. Unless you have some nice calipers than you'll need to do a little back and forth till you get them the right length (trial and error).
If you killed the motor bearings your in luck. They are replaceable and can be found online using the code on the side of the bearing. Bad part is that shipping costs more than the bearings.
Ok dokey, hope this helps someone and if you have any questions I'll try my best.
If you've already received your tumbler and its broken down on you already then try to get a hold of the company and get a replacement. Doubtful you will get a refund.
Do not use any oil near the motor or belt. This will affect the belt friction which your going to need. Adjust the belt tension all the way in as loose as the belt goes. If you put any tension (like the video on their site does) it will break down (first the spacer will break and then the bearings on the motor will go). After that when the spindles (what the barrel sits on) start to get noisy then use lithium grease on the spindle bearings (really just plastic inserts which is why they end up squeaking). Try not to use spray on lithium grease cause it'll likely get on your belt (and kill that friction you'll need to keep it working). Unfortunately if you want it to be quiet you'll have to do this once a week or more.
If your stuck with one and it doesn't work and you can't or don't want to get a replacement then read on. The motor is unfortunately most likely not replaceable. I found an ebay auction with 75 available that sold out long ago. I also found the motor in china used for an oven fan that was out of stock. If wirejewelry has motors available they are not openly selling them on their site. What happens when it fails right away usually has to do with what I think is an engineering flaw that is correctable after the fact. Inside the motor on either side of the rotor should be spacers keeping the rotor stabilized with the bearings. This electric motor uses a spring and a small clip. The clip breaks very easily and then the spring pushes the rotor out place at first to just be really noisy and then to quit working all together. If you had some tension on that belt then the inner bearing (side toward the belt) will also get damaged.
What to do at this point takes a little bit of doing but does not require you to be a machinist. If you pull the electric motor apart and remove the spring and clip believe it or not it will still run. The electrical field will keep it semi-stabilized and it will work. Eventually this will put some wear spots on the rotor and it will get noisier and finally freeze up. So what you need is some spacers on either side of the rotor. 1/4 inch steel spacers from Ace Hardware ($1.50 each) work perfect. Get two as short as they come. Then comes the hard part. They will will not be the right length so you will need to shorten them. I used a grinder and then fine sanded them. Unless you have some nice calipers than you'll need to do a little back and forth till you get them the right length (trial and error).
If you killed the motor bearings your in luck. They are replaceable and can be found online using the code on the side of the bearing. Bad part is that shipping costs more than the bearings.
Ok dokey, hope this helps someone and if you have any questions I'll try my best.