Homemade tumbler

Foss

Well-Known Member
Inspired by Monkey Spanker's recent homemade sticks thread I thought I'd share my homemade tumbler which I've just finished making from an old printer. Please note, I haven't actually used it yet but plan to update the thread or the tumbler as required. I'll post photos below which are self explanatory. The idea's not mine, I took it from YouTube but I have made my own adjustments. The build cost me 50p for the mdf which I got from the off-cuts section at B&Q. The printer I picked up at the local skip and the waterproof tub is a fitness supplement container I pilfered from my brother. The 12v battery is off my pigeon magnet but it now runs off an old 16v laptop plug which gives it proper grunt. I'll let you know how I get on.

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Looks great, hope the motor is up to the task...as the drum may be on the heavy side once the brass & media are in it

Will await your results with interest
 
Looks good. Up till now ive been putting my empties into a rucksack with some media. I then get my epileptic dad to wear the rucksack and expose him to flashing lights. Voila.
 
Inspired by Monkey Spanker's recent homemade sticks thread I thought I'd share my homemade tumbler which I've just finished making from an old printer. Please note, I haven't actually used it yet but plan to update the thread or the tumbler as required. I'll post photos below which are self explanatory. The idea's not mine, I took it from YouTube but I have made my own adjustments. The build cost me 50p for the mdf which I got from the off-cuts section at B&Q. The printer I picked up at the local skip and the waterproof tub is a fitness supplement container I pilfered from my brother. The 12v battery is off my pigeon magnet but it now runs off an old 16v laptop plug which gives it proper grunt. I'll let you know how I get on.

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Wunderkind!
 
I have been thinking of doing something similar not got anywhere as near as far you, in fact I have got no further than
liberating a dishwasher motor to power it.
 
Inspired by Monkey Spanker's recent homemade sticks thread I thought I'd share my homemade tumbler which I've just finished making from an old printer. Please note, I haven't actually used it yet but plan to update the thread or the tumbler as required. I'll post photos below which are self explanatory. The idea's not mine, I took it from YouTube but I have made my own adjustments. The build cost me 50p for the mdf which I got from the off-cuts section at B&Q. The printer I picked up at the local skip and the waterproof tub is a fitness supplement container I pilfered from my brother. The 12v battery is off my pigeon magnet but it now runs off an old 16v laptop plug which gives it proper grunt. I'll let you know how I get on.

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Is this going to be a wet or dry tumbler?

I have the STM wet system and I tell ya... when that tub has media, brass and water in it, it is damned heavy... the motor supplied with the unit is 1/3 of a horse power! Not sure that a printer motor will cut it, particularly when you thing they are not designed for 3-4 hours constant duty cycles. The build looks fantastic and my hat is off to you but I would be inclined to scavenge a motor with a little more grunt maybe?
Well done though :tiphat:
 
I intend it to be a wet one using steel pins. I agree with the concerns about the size of the motor but, before deciding to go ahead with the wood, I filled the tub with 150 brass and water and ran it for over an hour to see if it would cope. It was absolutely fine and so then I vamped it up to 16v so the speed was better and still OK. I think the belt onto the second bar helps. My thoughts were that I would only do 50 brass at a time and so reduce the weight of pins required. This printer was much bigger than the others and had a particularly big motor but I've got lots of spares in case (although I'm using one of them tomorrow to make a homemade fox mojo decoy, along with old speaker cable, the pigeon magnet battery again and I'll be on the look out for some old furry toy!!). If this thing burns out it won't be the end of the world but if it doesn't then cleaning brass will have never been so much fun.
 
Looks good. Up till now ive been putting my empties into a rucksack with some media. I then get my epileptic dad to wear the rucksack and expose him to flashing lights. Voila.

Ha! Up until now I have mostly been been putting my empties into something called a Beko.
 
I thought bout one of these stainless tumblers but I don't do near enough brass / reloading..... I was watching the YouTube vids & wife asks what I'm up to....I tell her & she says " oh I've got one of them somewhere"!!!

She used to do gem or stone polishing years ago .... Her old man found the kit up in the attic , I oiled the rollers and shaft and ran the motor etc

yesterday I put in 25 brasses and water squirt of Eco washing up liquid as its ph neutral, added some stainless pins and rolled for 3.5 hrs

.......
SUCCESS!!!!!!!
It worked !!!! Now it ain't a lot at a time but have to be carefull do t overload motor with weight ,
I actually managed to land myself another machine for pennies too so if yer not doing a lot of brass these work

http://www.littlegemsrockshop.co.uk/acatalog/Stone-Polisher-Machines.html

Paul
 
Foss!
How did you glue in the agitator finn?

Slimjim, I used several big bulldog clips (so the short side of the bulldog triangle provided a surface against the inside of the tub and the two long sides of the triangle held the fin in place) and then filed or sanded down all the touching surfaces then araldited everything in place.
 
I thought bout one of these stainless tumblers but I don't do near enough brass / reloading..... I was watching the YouTube vids & wife asks what I'm up to....I tell her & she says " oh I've got one of them somewhere"!!!

She used to do gem or stone polishing years ago .... Her old man found the kit up in the attic , I oiled the rollers and shaft and ran the motor etc

yesterday I put in 25 brasses and water squirt of Eco washing up liquid as its ph neutral, added some stainless pins and rolled for 3.5 hrs

.......
SUCCESS!!!!!!!
It worked !!!! Now it ain't a lot at a time but have to be carefull do t overload motor with weight ,
I actually managed to land myself another machine for pennies too so if yer not doing a lot of brass these work

http://www.littlegemsrockshop.co.uk/acatalog/Stone-Polisher-Machines.html

Paul

Paul, where did you get your steel pins from please? Did you get them from a supplier providing them for this purpose? Pleased to hear you're having success. Than you.
​Foss
 
Foss: You can pick them up from spud!
He used to sell them by them selfs?
​Not sure if he still does it!
 
I did indeed buy my pins from spud for this little experiment ..... Glad it worked, can't fault spud or thank him enough , he gave the advice bout not overloading the drum weight & burning out the motor

if I was shooting a lot more I would buy the stainless media tumbler from spud as it looks the dogs danglies and will last years......

but for amount I'm doing at the moment 20 to 25 at a time I can handle ... It's just bloody ace not picking kernels out every single flash hole !!!

paul
 
Update on my homemade tumbler which has been in full swing for a while now.
There was a problem with insufficient grip on the barrel (and excessive water weight) to keep the barrel rolling. So I downsized to a milkpowder tub and wrapped rubber bands around it and put a fin in using bathroom silicone. I should think it holds about 50 shells but I've never counted and don't tend to fill it up - just keep it going with regular batches. However it is working very nicely on the shells with ecover washing up liquid and half a bag of steel pins for about 40 mins. The only thing I dont like about it is the fact the barrel is now metal when before it was plastic.
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