Looking for advice on inexpensive tumbler..
- Thread starter CanuckShooter
- Start date
Check out garage sale or swap meets for old ROCK POLISHERS or ROCK TUMBLERS they are usually cheap , clean them out ,put in some ground corn cob , ground walnut shell or a mix of white and brown rice from the bulk at safeway. And away you go.
I took some pictures of my little brass cleaner that I made in 1980, I know the year because my parents renovated there home just as I was moving out and the wood for the box was one of the old kitchen cabinets.
The base is nothing more than a box and on the inside was just a metal grommet to keep the wires out of the way from the motor. The springs on each of the 4 corners are just regular compression springs and on the end of each of the springs there is a 90 deg bend so that the spring sits between the tumble plate and the base and is held into it with the 90 deg bend and all I did was drill a hole for the bend to go into in the box and the shelf above. If you can't find springs like that at Revy then you will have to go with a setup like was described by the other web site to hold the base steady from the tumble shelf.
You can see how I drilled the holes for the springs and just put a nail over them so they wouldn't move. I mounted the motor to the top shelf . The motor is just a small 110v motor and on the end of the motor shaft is a collar, i found a bolt and nut that fits the threads in the collar. I put the collar on the shaft with the bolt and tightened it down,and with the nut on the bolt, i made sure that it wouldn't come off. The bolt is about 4 inches long. I put an old ice cream pail on the top and filed it with walnut cleaner stuff (now use lizard Litter you find at Pet stores 1/3 the price and does a better job). I turned it on and there was very little vibration. I took the shelf off and removed the bolt/ collar and threaded a nut out to the end of the bolt then put the locking nut on and then reattached the collar/bolt and locked it down and repeated. This time there was about twice as much vibration. So I repeated the process and added another larger nut to the end of the bolt. Yes, the correct amount of vibration. Looking at the other site and other store bought pictures I am going to change the ice cream pale to a larger bowl type container and give that a try. Never even crossed my mind to change to the bowl style and I must have seen one every time I walked into a gun store. The setup works great and I guess I never thought of any improvement, if it ain't broke don't fix it idea. After I switch it to the bowl and add the lizard litter I might have to put a slightly larger nut on the bolt but we shall see how much vibration there is. I have used this tumbler for at least 5 hours a week for the last 25 years and it has never hiccuped yet, really the only thing that can go wrong is the motor burns out and that is it. The whole project took about an hour tops, made the box, cut the top shelf, installed the motor on the shelf, and experimented with the correct weight on the bolt for the amount of vibration I needed.
The base is nothing more than a box and on the inside was just a metal grommet to keep the wires out of the way from the motor. The springs on each of the 4 corners are just regular compression springs and on the end of each of the springs there is a 90 deg bend so that the spring sits between the tumble plate and the base and is held into it with the 90 deg bend and all I did was drill a hole for the bend to go into in the box and the shelf above. If you can't find springs like that at Revy then you will have to go with a setup like was described by the other web site to hold the base steady from the tumble shelf.
You can see how I drilled the holes for the springs and just put a nail over them so they wouldn't move. I mounted the motor to the top shelf . The motor is just a small 110v motor and on the end of the motor shaft is a collar, i found a bolt and nut that fits the threads in the collar. I put the collar on the shaft with the bolt and tightened it down,and with the nut on the bolt, i made sure that it wouldn't come off. The bolt is about 4 inches long. I put an old ice cream pail on the top and filed it with walnut cleaner stuff (now use lizard Litter you find at Pet stores 1/3 the price and does a better job). I turned it on and there was very little vibration. I took the shelf off and removed the bolt/ collar and threaded a nut out to the end of the bolt then put the locking nut on and then reattached the collar/bolt and locked it down and repeated. This time there was about twice as much vibration. So I repeated the process and added another larger nut to the end of the bolt. Yes, the correct amount of vibration. Looking at the other site and other store bought pictures I am going to change the ice cream pale to a larger bowl type container and give that a try. Never even crossed my mind to change to the bowl style and I must have seen one every time I walked into a gun store. The setup works great and I guess I never thought of any improvement, if it ain't broke don't fix it idea. After I switch it to the bowl and add the lizard litter I might have to put a slightly larger nut on the bolt but we shall see how much vibration there is. I have used this tumbler for at least 5 hours a week for the last 25 years and it has never hiccuped yet, really the only thing that can go wrong is the motor burns out and that is it. The whole project took about an hour tops, made the box, cut the top shelf, installed the motor on the shelf, and experimented with the correct weight on the bolt for the amount of vibration I needed.
I built my own as well. I also bought a Lyman tumbler with a plug at the bottom of the bowl that allows you to drain out the media, and the only thing you have to do is shake the brass around by hand to empty the little media that is left inside the cases, much faster than my home made tumbler! You will find that having two is great for doing pistol and rifle brass at the same time!
