Thanks! I just love to make my own tools, and have made a bunch of 'em for reloading. Having a lathe, mill, welders, torches, etc. from all my other life endeavors helps a bunch!Originally Posted by almar
Vettepilot
|
   
   
|
|
Thanks! I just love to make my own tools, and have made a bunch of 'em for reloading. Having a lathe, mill, welders, torches, etc. from all my other life endeavors helps a bunch!
Vettepilot
"Those who sacrifice freedom for security, have neither."
Benjamin Franklin. (A very wise man!)
Woodys just happens to be only about 6-7 miles from where I live. I ordered a 3" compression die from them with what seemed to be a high dollar amount of shipping and handling. When I got the package I discovered where it came from. Did not know they were here. Also just found out that Missouri Bullets is only up the road about 5 miles away. Anyway, I am happy with the compression die, just not the shipping and handling from 7 miles away. It did get here really fast though.
My old Thumblers Tumbler only rotates about 20 rpm. It has about a 15-17 lb. capacity tub and actually with the size motor I have on it, it can turn from now on completely full with no effort at all. I seem to get decent milling at that speed, but I could always put a bit larger pulley on the motor. Motor is a Westinghouse 6 amp, 1/4 HP at 1,750 rpm. I could speed the tumbler up plenty with that motor. Will see if it even needs it. It polishes a whole tub of brass in just a couple of hours at 20 rpm. What do you all think? Do I need more rpm's for BP?
Last edited by HamGunner; 09-30-2021 at 09:03 PM.
73 de n0ubx, Rick
NRA Benefactor Life Member/VFW Life Member
My mill is a Simpson tumble dryer. Like Vettepilot's idea, I thought 'why cannibalise it, if it can be used as is?
Surprise! It doesn't have a pulley at the back of the drum; the belt runs around the actual drum.
There is a belt-driven radial fan that draws air over the heating element and through the drum. Remove the belt.
I rewired it.
5 seconds pause and reverse every minute? No thanks.
Timer that stops at 90mins? No thanks. Bought a plug time switch for $7 at the hardware store. I can operate it at a distance from the dryer, too.
Heating element - no thanks, completely removed.
Safety switches for door open, belt failure were retained.
I repurposed the 'Hot Cold Warm' switch as 'clockwise, off, anticlockwise'
Made a spider out of 20mm MDF to hold the barrel in the centre of the drum.
I read up on optimum ball mill barrel - half full of media, 1/4 full of material - and sized it for 500 grams of meal at 150mm sewer pipe, 150mm long. Media are soft lead .690 musket balls cast in a Lee single cavity mold.
One reason I chose that size is 1Kg at once is I think too big a hazard for doing serious harm if it goes off. THere are Youtube videos of someone setting off big fireworks in a tumble dryer, and I am happy that my sandbags and mesh will confine it OK. Also I pile foam and fabrics around it to reduce noise.
The barrel is closed with end caps; one end glued. The other cap is slip fit. I glued a collar around the barrel which touches the slip-on cap so it is easy to seal with grey tape.
Inside the barrel are glued three ridges to help tumble the balls.
Last edited by ChrisPer; 09-30-2021 at 10:08 PM.
Pro tips for making your own sewer-pipe barrel in a tumble dryer:
1 - Don't make a barrel with a full-size screw-on inspection cap as the closure. It will unscrew, even taped shut. And the damn things cost a lot.
2 - Don't keep the fan going even though cooling is a good thing. See 1 above and imagine a pound of meal evenly across every surface in your workshop, suspended in the air, waiting for a spark. Takes about a week to clean it up, very carefully indeed.
Most of what I've seen recommends 65 rpm for best ball milling.
I would imagine having an octagon shaped jar, or having "trippers" inside would change that and probably make slower ok. How much? Dunno..
Vettepilot
"Those who sacrifice freedom for security, have neither."
Benjamin Franklin. (A very wise man!)
It depends on media diameter and jar inner diameter, for me it was 90 rpm.
There is a reference that relates ideal RPM to ball mill diameter. For mine its around 60, and mine does about that.
(Rude not to provide the reference but I can't remember where I got it. I think it was a link from amateurpyro forum.)
Last edited by ChrisPer; 09-30-2021 at 11:35 PM.
Those with a Vibratory Tumbler may give it a try as shown here.
I've just received the 5 pound Vibratory Tumbler from Harbor Freight to give it a try myself.
Until now I'd been using my Thumbler's 12 pound unit purchased in '93.
Gosh, 28 years ago!
My, how time does fly!
When I started doing this I saw it as a possibility for helping myself and others stay in our sport. I need maybe 2-3Kg a year to stay in the sport. I don't think it makes sense for anyone but my own use, now.
It takes about 6-10 hours labor to make a kilo (2 mill batches, pucking, grinding & sieving, then testing at the range a long drive away). I have to make several batches, because sieving results in 4 different size fractions so each batch adds less than 200g to stocks of any one size.
Last edited by ChrisPer; 10-01-2021 at 02:26 AM.
While searching for more about Black Powder I came across this very interesting video.
An Active Duty Army Ordnance Officer tells us about Black Powder uses in today's military as well as its history and what it is that makes Black Powder really good for use in Muzzleloaders.
More specifically; what it is about the Charcoal that makes the Best Black Powder for Muzzleloaders.
The amount of Black Powder used annually by the Army today is quite impressive.
Once again seamonkey, thank you for your link, i have just started listening to this and its a really good video. Dogwood huh? hummm...looks like my state is full of it.
edit: the dogwood they refer to is rhamnus frangula or alder buckthorn, not the same...
its seems that swiss powder performance is a pretty good goal to aim for historically and based on current powders.
Last edited by almar; 10-01-2021 at 10:02 AM.
BALL MILL RPMWoodys just happens to be only about 6-7 miles from where I live. I ordered a 3" compression die from them with what seemed to be a high dollar amount of shipping and handling. When I got the package I discovered where it came from. Did not know they were here. Also just found out that Missouri Bullets is only up the road about 5 miles away. Anyway, I am happy with the compression die, just not the shipping and handling from 7 miles away. It did get here really fast though.
My old Thumblers Tumbler only rotates about 20 rpm. It has about a 15-17 lb. capacity tub and actually with the size motor I have on it, it can turn from now on completely full with no effort at all. I seem to get decent milling at that speed, but I could always put a bit larger pulley on the motor. Motor is a Westinghouse 6 amp, 1/4 HP at 1,750 rpm. I could speed the tumbler up plenty with that motor. Will see if it even needs it. It polishes a whole tub of brass in just a couple of hours at 20 rpm. What do you all think? Do I need more rpm's for BP?
It depends, look at this reference on page 117-118, it depends on jar id and milling media diameter, that formula calculates the critical speed, knock it down to 65% and thats your target RPM. I think its a pretty good reference, so i used it for the design of my mill.
http://pyrotechnic.narod.ru/Black_Powder.pdf
Last edited by almar; 10-01-2021 at 11:19 AM. Reason: Proof read
Well here's my tumbler. It's a different design than most. The DC motor is geared down to where it turns at about 20 RPM at 12 volts and came off dialysis equipment that was getting trashed at work. I can adjust the RPM by increasing the voltage, the motor is rated up to 24 volts DC. The red bucket is attached to the motor shaft with a block of wood and the white bucket hold the polishing medium for brass or a smaller container for the tumbling medium and ingredients when I make BP. The bucket rides on two office chair casters near it's front to support the weight. I've loaded it up with over five pounds of mixed brass with no problems many times. I run it off a regular plug in timer and use dedicated empty plastic one pound smokeless containers for grinding the BP ingredients and have a separate one I use for the final milling. Sorry about the bad picture, the tumbler is pretty rough looking but works great.I scrounged the power supply off a copier and ran the output through a DC bridge with a couple of 1000uf capacitors to even the DC out.
ChrisPer;
I looked yesterday for over an hour, for what I think is the same link you're talking about. I thought it was early in this forum. I know the subject has come up several times.
Eddie2002;
My hat's off to you, for the ingenuity! Rough looking has never mattered to me. If equipment works, and a guy can build it yourself, especially free, or cheap, that's a huge step ahead in the game. I bet your tumbler works with the best! I knew I saved those office chair castors for a reason!
[QUOTE=SeaMonkey;5271287]While searching for more about Black Powder I came across this very interesting video.
Cool video, Seamonkey! They sparked something for me. They said Alder Buckthorn is also Black Dogwood. From the pictures of it that I found on the internet, it LOOKS just like the flowering Dogwood, that we have all over here. I'll have to check further, to see if that could be, but from what I've seen in several places, including your Swiss Powder link, the other day, that is the most coveted wood, there is.
If you freeze the video at 19:32, it is a picture of the results of gas tests, of several different woods. The top 3 being Dogwood, Willow and Alder . Thanks for posting that video, sir.
[QUOTE=DoubleBuck;5271616]
Doublebuck, if you look at my post 4403, I thought the same as you until I saw what they had in parentheses next to what they called "dogwood" its rhamnus frangula or alder buckthorn not the same thing we call "dogwood" over here.
Yep, sorry about that. My wife is the Horticulturist and I jumped her on it and she told me to put on my sad face. I like the Dogwoods, anyway. And, I wondered about it, because I cut a couple of Dogwood posts, one time, building a hog pen and that wood has to be close to Iron Wood in hardness. haha Brittle and hard. BUT,,,, I've never tried making powder out of it, either....
almar - The motor I have from a "human-stationary hamster ball" is a 100V DC motor, you wouldn't want to wire that into 120VAC, just making sure you & everyone here know and read the motor plate instead of setting their motor on fire.
Of course, you're probably a master electrician so I may not be teaching you anything! But I am just trying to keep people safe in hereGlad to see others doing the same, too.
Mr Sheesh, i am not a master electrician but i know a few things, enough to get by. Thanks for the tip.almar - The motor I have from a "human-stationary hamster ball" is a 100V DC motor, you wouldn't want to wire that into 120VAC, just making sure you & everyone here know and read the motor plate instead of setting their motor on fire.
Of course, you're probably a master electrician so I may not be teaching you anything! But I am just trying to keep people safe in here
Last edited by almar; 10-02-2021 at 08:27 AM.
Posting Permissions
| BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
| BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
| BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
| C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
| HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
| PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
| LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
| GC | Gas Check |
Reply With Quote