The one I am making will function the same as the one Unabiker made, I'm just going about it a little differently.

I sourced the junk 100 pound gas cylinder from the local gas company. I just had to pay them 10 bucks for them to "devalve" it.

The drive shaft will go thru the "gondola" under the tub. The flange mount bearing (2 ea) will mount up to the 4 hole bolt pattern.

The support frame that the tub will sit on top of will be 2x2x.125 steel tube.

I'll have the tubing Monday...stay tuned.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/smallgascylinder.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/mytumbler006x.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/mytumbler004x.jpg

Smart thinking. I've got something similar in the works, although I fabricated my tub from scratch. I take it you're mounting the angle flanges on springs and putting counter weights on the drive shaft? If so, how do you plan on getting power to your drive shaft?

Nice start!

Scott

Looks good so far.
I can't wait to see how it develops.

Very interesting, looks like it has great potential.

Love these tumbler projects!

BW

I take it you're mounting the angle flanges on springs and putting counter weights on the drive shaft? If so, how do you plan on getting power to your drive shaft?


Yep, the springs will go where the 1-2-3 blocks are. Power will be dilivered by V-belt.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/mytumbler014x.jpg

Since I have no idea how much counter weight will be needed I wanted the set up to be as "adjustable" as possible. I bought two 1" ID x 2"OD x 3" couplers and stacked eight .120 steel plates onto them. I can add or remove plates as needed.

The size of the counterweight and the # of plates was a total guess. :confused:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/mytumbler010.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/mytumbler012.jpg

Good to see you are making progress.
Some comments on what you've got so far-
Those weights are going to create some powerful forces. Over time, these unbalanced forces will take it's toll on the shaft. You may want to think about adding another bearing to the end of your drive shaft. If that shaft is turning at 1000 rpm, the outside corner of your weight will be moving at about 50mph. You certainly don't need a hunk of metal moving through your shop at that sort of velocity. You might also want to start with less weight than you think you need and add plates as you go. The less weight spinning, the lower the potential for danger.
With the motor located down low and close to the axle center line, the bearings in the motor are going to take some abuse with every upward movement of the tub. This abuse could be lessened by moving the motor up and further off of the axle center line.
You might consider adding even larger gussets to your axle support or even a large plate across the back side of the support. By adding rigidity to the axle support structure, you will transfer more shaking force to the tub. Any place where flex is allowed will result in lost shaking force. It will could also result in welds cracking and metal prematurely fatiguing.
Are you planning on springs all the way around or springs on one side and a pivot on the other?
A large base like that could provide lots of room to weigh that baby down.
Keep up the good work.

Mcmaster-Carr never ceases to amaze me. The motor they sent had no ID label on it, no markings what-so-ever. So I call, 1.5 days goes by and I don't hear back from them.

So today the FedEx truck brings me another motor...with a ID label on it. Nowhere does it say to send the 1st one back :devious:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/electricmotor002.jpg

I took Unabikers suggestion and cut the counterweight in half. Four .120 thk plates on each side.

The gondola mat thickness is .120. I was supposed to use .134 but grabbed the wrong stuff. I'm thinking .187 would probably be best. I gusseted and welded 'er up good, we'll just have to see how she holds up.

I am using four 2.0 Dia.x 3"x .192 wire springs to suspend the tub.

I put 60 lbs of water in the tub and fired 'er up for a few seconds. I may have more amplitude than I need but I'll have to wait 'till I get 150 lbs(?) of media in there and see what happens.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/mytumbler016.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/mytumbler015.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/th_mytumblerVid003.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/?action=view&current=mytumblerVid003.flv)

Mcmaster-Carr never ceases to amaze me. The motor they sent had no ID label on it, no markings what-so-ever. So I call, 1.5 days goes by and I don't hear back from them.

So today the FedEx truck brings me another motor...with a ID label on it. Nowhere does it say to send the 1st one back :devious:



Mcmaster can be very weird. Friend of mine ordered about 13-14 small packs of orings. He ended up getting an oversized boxes for each size oring he ordered. He payed like 5 bucks for shipping all together.

Well this is what 150lbs of media and 5gals of compound look like. The rocks are synthetic plastic triangles, 1.25x.625x.875 with a "general purpose" classification. The compound is made to be used with plastic media, one oz per gallon.

I paid $1.04 per pound for the rocks and $41 for 5 gal of compound. Total with shipping was $274.

I got it all here... http://www.vibratoryfinishing.com/

Oh and BTW. Mcarr sent a call ticket to pick up the other motor :rolleyes:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/mytumblermedia-compound001.jpg

What sort of parts are you going to be running through your shaker?
I've always used the green rocks which are a step finer than the pink. I am eager to see how the pink ones work. I've also got a jug of that compound. It seemed to really slow my process down, so I just run straight water.

Anyone have any experience with the Preplate Light green/white plastic media? Im looking for something that will give the smoothest preplate finish prior to polishing/burnishing.

I'll be running .060-.125 thk alum sheet metal parts in the tumbler. Very similar to what you do execpt all my stuff gets powder coat. Surface finish is not an issue so fast deburr and paint prep are all I looking for. According to
http://www.vibratoryfinishing.com the green stuff is for "extremely fine finishes".

I will be running the first batch thru the machine today or tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. I'll try it W/O the compound for a while then add some and see how it effects the action.

I bought two plastic barrels for 8 bucks ea. One was .250 thk and the other .170. I used the thinner of the two to make the liner. 4 pop rivets and the drain are all that is holding it in place. If I do line the ends of the tub it will be later.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/mytumbler019.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/mytumbler018.jpg

As I mentioned earlier, the tub had way too much movement the way it was so I trimmed 11.5 ozs off the counter weights (yeah I know it's a odd ball shape, but it just ended up that way).

It made all the difference in the world but the 800 RPM that the axle was turning was not enough. I installed a larger drive pulley to bring it up to about 1000 RPM.

Now I'm ready to run a load of parts thru it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/my_tumbler1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/my_tumbler.jpg

Very cool work. Nice and clean!

Scott

Very interesting, a vid of it running in the works?

71 alum parts have been run thru the machine. I will have to line the ends of the tub as the corners of the parts are getting peended over from bumping against the unlined area.

If anyone is looking for a way to get a faux galvanized finish on alum, pink synthetic plastic rocks is the way to do it :).

I'd say these rocks are pretty aggressive. I ran 8 tag brackets at a time for about 30 mins to get the deburr and paint prep I needed. I used a small amount of compound and kept the rocks wet. I believe the time would be reduced if the tumbling action could be improved. The parts and rocks come up from the bottom of the tub in the center and split off to each side. So instead of one big circular action there are 2 small ones. Also, the action is very slow. I'm not sure what change I will make to improve this.

The springs I am using are pretty soft. Load rating of 137 lbs and a rate of 82 lbs. Don't know if adding more would help. The axle is turning about 1000 RPM, increasing this doesn't seem like the answer. Add counterweight maybe?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/ZX-14FEKtumbled1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/th_mytumblerVid005.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/?action=view&current=mytumblerVid005.flv)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/th_mytumblerVID2.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v282/ted383/?action=view&current=mytumblerVID2.flv)

A couple different things to try that may or may not get your action tumbling:
Run different rate springs on one side. This will get one side of the tub to move more than the other side, which should make it all tumble.
Tie down one side with a ratchet strap. This will have a similar effect.

Or perhaps alter the offset (phase relation) of your opposed weights.

Scott