DIY wet tumbler question

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G_Alan

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For the guys that have made there have made up their own wet tumbler setups. If you had to do it over would you still fab up something , or buy factory. I'm looking for some feedback on which way too go. Cost is a bit of a concern for a factory piece $200 is a lot to lay out for a tumbler, but if it saves grief down the road i can see the value.
I don't have an electric motor, pillow blocks/ bearings so if I went the homemade route there would be some cash spent on that.
Like too get feedback on those who've gone the DIY wet tumbler route.
Thanks Gary
 
My son made this one and has about $50.00 into it. However it was made from stuff that was left over from jobs and has a used furnace motor. He decided to use material that bolts together instead of welding as he didn't have access to one and it can be changed to have a bigger drum if needed easily. I was going to buy a Thumler but he said he could make it really cheap.
By the way it works really well. He did a great job of it.


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I am in the process of building one. The hardest part will be finding material to make the drum out of that is large enough OD. Then finding caps for it.
Check kijiji, can probably pick up a furnace motor for under 50$. Any construction sites in the area? I bet you can bug somebody in there for a cut off piece from the 8" or larger sewer and water pipe.
Princess auto, pillow block bearings and stuff are cheap.
Realistically if you can't scrounge some of the bigger items such as a motor and drum material, you'll be out a tiny bit more money, and less work to buy one.
But if you want the project build one.

Here is the first drum I am building. My brother installs pools and does other large plumbing adventures with work, he got me a chunk of 8" pipe that I was able to cut into 3 14-16" lengths.
I didn't even bother trying to find end caps, I am sure they cost a fortune if I can even find them.
Instead I grabbed a piece of lexan or polycarbonate or whatever it was (don't remember) a 4" threaded piece and a cap. Some urethane automotive window adhesive. (It's the thickest nastiest stuff I could think of) and came up with this.
I sanded all the surfaces to be glued to hopefully get better adhesion. I haven't tried it out yet. But the end cap is glued on there quite well. I also glued 3 piece of aluminum angle into the drum with the same adhesive.

After it was all glued together I ran a router around the edges to trim the caps even with the drum.

 
Posted this in another thread, but I'll repeat it here. Building your own DIY wet tumbler is easy - saves $$ too. I've used this setup for a number of years, still working great.



If you're even marginally handy, just build your own tumbler. My setup cost around $30 to build, mostly from stuff at Princess Auto:

Old 1/4 HP electric motor with pulley (had this kicking around)
thread rod on sealed bearings, covered with black rubber tubing for grip
wood frame
old coleman cooler jug from the thrift store - just break off the handle

Works great, and no need for major cash layout. I might even get more media and make a dual setup.





Clamps are there to keep the tumbler container in the middle of the rods.

 
I built this one out of discard photo copier parts over 30 years ago I never did come up a good waterproof container. Still purring like a kitten

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I'm about to start on building one my own as well as the pully on the rock tumbler just gave up again. I may yet fix that with a metal replacement if I can find one this time but I'm going to go this route
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bXLq_9CW4c&index=2&list=PLtQuJ37Kn7t34WzA7nebrvrR-BMxMkP1x

Can get the motor from a pick and pull for $35 and the some flat bar, bolts/nuts and a couple of castors and the like and should do the trick. Hope that gives you an idea or two.
 
Some nice ideas here. I'll be building one very soon, I'm hoping I can do it with the stuff I have around the shop. I'll start digging out parts tomorrow.
 
little b said:
I'm about to start on building one my own as well as the pully on the rock tumbler just gave up again. I may yet fix that with a metal replacement if I can find one this time but I'm going to go this route
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bXLq_9CW4c&index=2&list=PLtQuJ37Kn7t34WzA7nebrvrR-BMxMkP1x

Can get the motor from a pick and pull for $35 and the some flat bar, bolts/nuts and a couple of castors and the like and should do the trick. Hope that gives you an idea or two.
Click to expand...


Nice keep us posted with pics as you go along
 
I am in the process of making one as well.
I just replaced my garage door opener, where the electronics were screwed and the motor was still good. 1/3 hp should do the trick.
I picked up some pillow block bearings from aliexpress for 2.75 each shipped.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Good...rings-Installed-82g-pc-Kp004/32356173503.html
Found some 8 inch pvc pipe at a construction site for the bucket. I just need to find some uchannel to use for the frame.

Then I can put it all together. I just hope the motor will handle the drum. It will look very much like the second one in the post.
 
Raymond.Emsley said:
I am in the process of making one as well.
I just replaced my garage door opener, where the electronics were screwed and the motor was still good. 1/3 hp should do the trick.
I picked up some pillow block bearings from aliexpress for 2.75 each shipped.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Good...rings-Installed-82g-pc-Kp004/32356173503.html
Found some 8 inch pvc pipe at a construction site for the bucket. I just need to find some uchannel to use for the frame.

Then I can put it all together. I just hope the motor will handle the drum. It will look very much like the second one in the post.
Click to expand...

We found with ours 70 rpm works about the best. This may be different for others ones shown. Our motor is a 1/4 HP continuous duty motor with internal fan and after 2 or 3 hours running in the hot sun you can put your hand on it and is just warm. Your 1/3 HP is plenty but it might get hot with it running continuously but try it anyways.
It looks big but really not that bad as it stores standing up. Left the shafts long as we might but a bigger drum on it.
 
The right RPM is important
My home built runs at 50 RPM, I bought a Thumlers model 12 it only turns at 30 RPM it works although it takes a few hours longer, the rubber drum works good on my homemade with steel pins. it would be interesting to know what works best for everybody, to find the RPM stick a piece of tape to the drum and count the revolutions for 10 seconds
At 50 RPM polishing 50 large cases with pins takes 5 hours and 8 hours at 30 RPM.
 
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CanuckR said:
I am in the process of building one. The hardest part will be finding material to make the drum out of that is large enough OD. Then finding caps for it.
Check kijiji, can probably pick up a furnace motor for under 50$. Any construction sites in the area? I bet you can bug somebody in there for a cut off piece from the 8" or larger sewer and water pipe.
Princess auto, pillow block bearings and stuff are cheap.
Realistically if you can't scrounge some of the bigger items such as a motor and drum material, you'll be out a tiny bit more money, and less work to buy one.
But if you want the project build one.

Here is the first drum I am building. My brother installs pools and does other large plumbing adventures with work, he got me a chunk of 8" pipe that I was able to cut into 3 14-16" lengths.
I didn't even bother trying to find end caps, I am sure they cost a fortune if I can even find them.
Instead I grabbed a piece of lexan or polycarbonate or whatever it was (don't remember) a 4" threaded piece and a cap. Some urethane automotive window adhesive. (It's the thickest nastiest stuff I could think of) and came up with this.
I sanded all the surfaces to be glued to hopefully get better adhesion. I haven't tried it out yet. But the end cap is glued on there quite well. I also glued 3 piece of aluminum angle into the drum with the same adhesive.

After it was all glued together I ran a router around the edges to trim the caps even with the drum.

Click to expand...

Have you had a chance to try out the 8" drum you made with the plexi end caps? Wondering how they stood up to use..I had some 8" pipe but like you, I couldnt find a cap for it..thought of the same idea as you except was looking at using countersunk screws to hold the end cap on..the automotive urethane is a great idea!.. how thick of a plexi/lexan did you use on the ends?
 
amazon has frankford arensenal tumblers for like 160 bucks i think. personally by the time i would have spent getting parts, paying for parts and the time spent putting it all together its faster and easier to drop 160 on the FA tumbler. but thats just me. and i got it for christmas lol.
 
^^^Your correct if you don't have any materials laying around to make it from, myself and probably quite a few other fellas here have a shop with all kinds of oddball parts sitting around. I'm guessing I'll spend the better part of a day putting it together once I have an idea of what I'm building, and I'm betting it won't cost me anything to make, or very close to it. I enjoy playing in the shop so my time is of no expense to me since I hang out there anyways.
 
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