Homemade Tumbler Question

[6bg6ga]

jmorris,

I would like to know the fractional HP of your direct drive tumbler motor. I've shopped ebay and haven't found one yet. Is it speed controlled or just a geared down motor.

I'm afraid I have to copy yours if you don't mind. Its straightforward and elegant in its simplicity. The money saved on bearings and rollers can be put into a decent motor and I'd rather go that route.

Thanks,
Joe

[jmorris]

It's way overkill for what I did but I only "win" 1 out of 100 auctions because I'm cheap and if your cheap you can't be picky.

This is it.



Some other photos of it in this album.

http://s121.photobucket.com/user/jmo...?sort=3&page=1

Its worth noting that there is no way in heck I would have bought the motor new for the project and only went that direction after I "stole" that one off eBay.

https://www.zoro.com/dayton-ac-gearm...42/i/G2560817/

[6bg6ga]

I especially like the lovejoy connector. It shows experience in design and function. If you happen across anymore motors like that one reasonable I would like to buy one. I'm sold on the direct drive setup. This morning I was eyeing my 2 wheeler thinking about incorporating your design so it could be attached to the 2 wheel cart for mobility and ease of storage. When not in use it would attach to the two wheel cart thus not taking much more floor space. When needed to clean cases it could be wheeled to a clean area in the garage and simply laid down to run. If the cart was needed to move something the tumbler would simply detatch from the 2 wheeler.

[jmorris]

I just lean it up against the wall, takes up the same floor space as the bucket alone would at that point.

I have notifications sent to me from eBay gear motor, auction and no reserve are what you want. Bid what is acceptable to you then go on and forget about it. Most times that will be the end of it but every now and then you get great deals. I especially like the "free shipping" ones because on most of the gear motors I have won, the shipping would have cost more than I paid for them shipped.

Like my personal best eBay deal ever, <$50 burgmaster turret drill.

[6bg6ga]

I just lean it up against the wall, takes up the same floor space as the bucket alone would at that point.

I have notifications sent to me from eBay gear motor, auction and no reserve are what you want. Bid what is acceptable to you then go on and forget about it. Most times that will be the end of it but every now and then you get great deals. I especially like the "free shipping" ones because on most of the gear motors I have won, the shipping would have cost more than I paid for them shipped.

Like my personal best eBay deal ever, <$50 burgmaster turret drill.

Almost made me cry watching that video as it brought back old memories. That is a super find.

[Traffer]

Yes I made one from a windshield wiper motor because that is what I had lying around. I collect DC power supply's because they are always handy. I have mine hooked up to a 4 amp 12 Volt power supply. If you don't have one I would suggest a cheap automobile battery trickle charger. I haven't tried it but 2 amp should do fine. The WW motor is big enough to run a direct drive 1 gal bucket full. I have mine rigged up with a 5 quart thermos type jug and a 140mm computer fan (12V) blowing on the motor. Otherwise it gets very warm in about 45 minutes. I would be confident running a 2 gal bucket on it and gearing it down just a touch. Mine runs at about 75 rpms. Just a tad fast. I think the target would be about 60 rpm or 1 rev per second.
Another option you have is to run a faster motor with a belt around the outside of the drum. Clothes driers work essentially like that. They have motor pulley at about 2" diameter and the pulley on the drum nearly the same size as the drum say 20' to 26" in diameter. That would cut your rpm's about 13 to 1 and allow you to use in the neighborhood of 1000 rpm motor.
There are lots of youtube videos on successful builds. I suggest checking as many as you can. Give yourself a lot of options. I have even seen people just weld up bars going across treadmills at the appropriate height and set 5 gal buckets on them. One treadmill can hold at least four 5 gal buckets at a time. As far as washing machine motors go, I have tried to use them for various purposes through the years and found them to be nothing but a pain in the patutchy.

Windshield wiper motor would require a hefty 12VDC power supply or a battery. Consider the cost of the battery or the power supply or battery and battery charger and its no real cost savings.

One needs to consider this direct drive option, yes. I believe one needs to find a frequency drive motor that one can adjust the rpm to suit the need and the tumbler load.

Yes, this type of motor is more costly. This type of design however will eliminate some of the more costly assemblies needed with other designs.

[jmorris]

Like this one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SEW-EURODRIV...UAAOSwTM5Yudp2

No one is going to do a search to figure out what a R17DT71D4-TH is so the buyer won't get as many bids. Most of my "wins" I am the only bidder.

Then you'll have the thing for a year or two before you finally come up with a use for something that powerful.



If the one above had free shipping I wouldn't have posted it here and bid on it myself.

[Traffer]

One of the best designs I have seen on Youtube is a bucket in bucket tumbler. The guy direct drives a 5 gal bucket with a gear motor (hard to find a cheap one, this is the only draw back with his setup). But the direct drive 5 gal bucket with another 5 gal bucket inside for the media and brass and liquid. He highlights a lid that is available at places like Home Depot. It is a snap on a 5 gal lid with an unscrewing lid in the snap on part. The unscrew part is almost as big as the opening. Very nice. The next one I build will be like this. He also shows why he went to direct drive instead of using rollers that the bucket sits on. When the bucket gets heavy the rollers want to slip. People have gone to extravagant extremes to try and solve that problem. The most practical way that I have seen is to put a belt around the outside of the bucket instead of having powered rollers underneath.
Folks Tumblers are VERY simple rigs. You just need to spin a waterproof drum slowly with some ribs inside to help move the media around. There is no need whatsoever to make them complicated. By scrounging the parts you should be able to make one for well under $20. I think I paid less than $10 for the parts for mine. (Of course if I were to buy the parts new it would be very different, considering a new windshield wiper motor itself would run into the hundreds of dollars. So the first steps I would take would be to see what I had our could get dirt cheap for parts and design it from the parts. Not design it then try to find the parts.

[Kenstone]

One of the best designs I have seen on Youtube is a bucket in bucket tumbler. The guy direct drives a 5 gal bucket with a gear motor (hard to find a cheap one, this is the only draw back with his setup). But the direct drive 5 gal bucket with another 5 gal bucket inside for the media and brass and liquid. He highlights a lid that is available at places like Home Depot. It is a snap on a 5 gal lid with an unscrewing lid in the snap on part. The unscrew part is almost as big as the opening. Very nice. The next one I build will be like this. He also shows why he went to direct drive instead of using rollers that the bucket sits on. When the bucket gets heavy the rollers want to slip. People have gone to extravagant extremes to try and solve that problem. The most practical way that I have seen is to put a belt around the outside of the bucket instead of having powered rollers underneath.
Folks Tumblers are VERY simple rigs. You just need to spin a waterproof drum slowly with some ribs inside to help move the media around. There is no need whatsoever to make them complicated. By scrounging the parts you should be able to make one for well under $20. I think I paid less than $10 for the parts for mine. (Of course if I were to buy the parts new it would be very different, considering a new windshield wiper motor itself would run into the hundreds of dollars. So the first steps I would take would be to see what I had our could get dirt cheap for parts and design it from the parts. Not design it then try to find the parts.

Lots of used wiper motors on ebay for $20 or less with shipping included.

How do I know this, I've been looking
Thanks for posting about your build,

[No Blue]

The Neptune and other washers that use 3 phase motors have a VFD built in that take 120V single phase and electronically converts it to 3 phase. The VFD controls the motor speed by varying the frequency of the 3 phase power created. I worked in the Emerson factory that made the Neptune motors about 7 1/2 years, they ARE 3 phase motors.

I stand corrected. Using a VFD starts to explain why those Neptune's cost a fortune and were nightmares for the owners and Maytag. That was one lousy puppy of a washer.

I built a rotary convertor to run the Bport, 5hp 3phase motor, some caps, heavy duty switch. Found out about VFD's 5 years after I built the rotary; no Internet 20 years ago to find out about them and then have a way to find good deals.

The machine Danomano made is what I'm going to make; no welded steel frames, no pillow blocks, just something simple and cheap. All I want to do is spin a drum with some metal in it....

[SlowBurn]

The machine Danomano made is what I'm going to make; no welded steel frames, no pillow blocks, just something simple and cheap. All I want to do is spin a drum with some metal in it....

If you can, consider building with the idle shaft higher than the driven shaft. When they're at the same elavation, they share the weight equally. When the driven shaft is lower, more of the drum weight rides on it, increasing friction, decreasing opportunity for slippage.

You may be able to see the elevation differences in post 46 where the idle shaft's main purpose is to balance the drum over the driven the shaft.

g'luck and have fun

[No Blue]

If you can, consider building with the idle shaft higher than the driven shaft. When they're at the same elavation, they share the weight equally. When the driven shaft is lower, more of the drum weight rides on it, increasing friction, decreasing opportunity for slippage.

You may be able to see the elevation differences in post 46 where the idle shaft's main purpose is to balance the drum over the driven the shaft.

g'luck and have fun

Very good point! You have superior spatial relationship ability. I'll do it that way.

Traffer made a good point of collecting the material and then design to use it.

Instead of designing first and then have to buy the material at whatever price.

DIY is to save money, so I do.

[6bg6ga]

I had started down the road of pulleys, jackshafts and pillow blocks, when I set out to build one.



As luck would have it, I found a suitable gear motor for less that the bearings would have cost before I went to work on it. I used 2 100lb 12.7 gallon chlorine buckets (any pool guy will give them to you) they are stronger than your normal 5 gallon bucket and hold a lot more. One is mounted to a case plate permanently and the one with agitators in it just slides in and out of it.

On your tumbler John is there any support rods under the bucket?

Looking at the motor assembly it looks to me like a love joy connector and then a bearing and then the bucket attaching plate. Am I correct here?

Thanks,
Joe

[jmorris]

There is additional support under the bucket, it is just bolted to the plate that is welded to 1" shaft. The 1" shaft rides in two bearings that are for go kart axles bolted into a box I welded together. They make sure no load ever sees the output shaft of the motor except rotational. The love joy coupling was used because the motor already had half of it and I happened to have the 1" side so all I had to buy was the spider, makes everything go together faster because it doesn't have to be perfect at that point.



I will point out that a 100 lb chlorine bucket is a lot stronger than your average 5 gallon bucket.