Homemade Tumblers

[cheese1566]

Anybody have some pictures of their homemade brass tumblers?

I already have a Hornady tumbler, but tinkering with a project for a large rolling style for 100's or up to a 1000 cases. Kind of like the one posted a few weeks ago of the cement mixer style- but a little smaller.

Thanks

[ddeaton]

I am in the thinking stage myself. I want to build a 5 gallon tumbler. I am trying to find a container that will not leak and one can open easily to get the goodies out. I guess a new 5 gallon bucket with a lid will work. I have a plastic tool to open drywall bucket lids and if you are careful I dont think it distorts the lid. Ideas anyone?

[briang]

There used to be lids available that had a ring that snaps onto the bucket then the lid threads into that. I have a couple from a while ago and they work great. Really easy to take on and off and are very secure when tightened. I haven't seen any for sale in a while though. I was thinking about making a tumbler out of one of them.

[hammerhead357]

Well if I wasn't in the process of getting everything together to go camping and fishing for three days I would try to post a picture of mine. It is an old ammo can that messures about 19 inches long X about the same deep and about 9 inches thick. If that makes any sense.
It has metal plates welded onto the ends and then a shaft welded to that and they turn in bearings with a pulley on one end powered by a gear reducer.
It turns about 22 RPM. The whole thing holds about 20 lbs. of media plus about that much brass.....Wes

[bedwards]

Don't have a pic but take the guts out of an old electric ice cream maker, put a plug in the hole in the lid, fill with appropriate media and brass, lay it on its side and plug it in. It worked for me for years until I bought a real one.

be

[Ron]

After burning out two Lyman vibrating case cleaners in six months, I decided to build my own tumbler instead of laying out AU$135.00 for another Lyman.

I got the electric motor from a friend for no cost. It is out of an electric tumble dryer.
The timber and bearings cost about AU$60.00.
Two lengths of half inch round bar was AU$5.00
The barrel, a camping water container was AU$20.00 (It has a nine inch opening.)
The rubber sheet to go round the barrel was AU$8.00
Total AU$93.00 plus my time.

Installed it on the bottom shelf of my casting bench so it's out of the way.

It works very well. I have cleaned 1500 cases at the one go using rice & corn cob with a dash of liquid car polish.

[Mtman314]

for the lids that screw on 5 and 6 gallon buckets look in a survival mag or website they aren't cheap though. I have a catalog at the house with them in. If anyone wants the site let me know I'll post it on here.

[cheese1566]

Cool workings Ron! That's what I talking about!

How long does it take to clean up that many cases? I was looking to do bulk cases for a general cleaning, then letting my Hornady M2 tumbler do the final polish.

Jason

[ddeaton]

Ron, you hit it on the head, exactly what I want. Does the barrel hold liquid? I want to use it with ceramic media. I have a guy in our building that mixes up soaps for car washes, I am going to visit him and see what kind of containers he has. Now you got me thinking plastic 55 gallon drum!

After burning out two Lyman vibrating case cleaners in six months, I decided to build my own tumbler instead of laying out AU$135.00 for another Lyman.

I got the electric motor from a friend for no cost. It is out of an electric tumble dryer.
The timber and bearings cost about AU$60.00.
Two lengths of half inch round bar was AU$5.00
The barrel, a camping water container was AU$20.00 (It has a nine inch opening.)
The rubber sheet to go round the barrel was AU$8.00
Total AU$93.00 plus my time.

Installed it on the bottom shelf of my casting bench so it's out of the way.

It works very well. I have cleaned 1500 cases at the one go using rice & corn cob with a dash of liquid car polish.

[ddeaton]

for the lids that screw on 5 and 6 gallon buckets look in a survival mag or website they aren't cheap though. I have a catalog at the house with them in. If anyone wants the site let me know I'll post it on here.

If you could post the link it would be great.
Thanks,
Danny

[JeffinNZ]

I kept mine very simple and made a shaker rather than a tumble. Electric motor with an off balance bush. Cradle is suspended on bicycle tube to allow the unit to vibrate. Works great. Put a server fan on it also to move the air around and keep things cooler.

.

[Gerry N.]

Now that's a case cleaner! What kind of motor did the shaker motor start out as? Do you guys in NZ use 220 or 110 V? Not that it matters, just curious. What sort of medium are you using?

I worked in a machine shop for a while. They had a deburring tank that held about three tons. They changed media type according to need, all ceramic bits of differing sizes, shapes and abrasive coarsenesses.

Gerry N.

[Mtman314]

If you could post the link it would be great.
Thanks,
Danny

www.beprepared.com

number is 1-800-999-1863

GAMMA SEAL LIDS $7.95 EACH

[Ron]

Cheese 1566, the container is a 5 gal (I think). It contained 6LBs of rice and 1LB of corncob when I cleaned the 1500 cases, making it about half full. With the addition of the old car polish, they came out like new ones. I think I had it running for about 3 hours.


DDEATON, The container is a "Water Container" for use on camping, specifically for canoes/kyaks etc. It has a large rubber ring built into the screw on lid to keep liquids inside. I think it would be ideal for wet tumbling with ceramic medium.

JUst remember to attach some rubber sheeting to the outside of the container and sleeve the rods with suitable material, rubber, to enable the barrel to turn. This also helps to keep the noise down

[Lloyd Smale]

why dont you look into one of the cheap small cement mixers in harbor frieght.

[cheese1566]

That would be too quick and easy!!

I like a challenge and it gets me to my hide-away in the garage.

[JeffinNZ]

Now that's a case cleaner! What kind of motor did the shaker motor start out as? Do you guys in NZ use 220 or 110 V? Not that it matters, just curious. What sort of medium are you using?

I worked in a machine shop for a while. They had a deburring tank that held about three tons. They changed media type according to need, all ceramic bits of differing sizes, shapes and abrasive coarsenesses.

Gerry N.

220-240V down here and the motor started life as a rescirculation fan motor on a post mix soda machine. I might have used to work for the red and white soft drink company..... Media is walnut.

[moptop]

Here's a pix of my home built vibratory tumbler. Works the same way that JeffinNZ's unit does. This one is about the same size as a Lyman or a Franklin Arsenal but there is a u-tube video showing one a guy made out of a 5 gal bucket.

Hope this helps.

[ddeaton]

good stuff guys, I like the homemade stuff. I also like the cement mixer idea also

[Morgan Astorbilt]

This subject has been covered several times before. It's an area of reloading where our "Creative Side" seems to flourish.
I'll post my photos again. My tumbler was made from a variable speed DC gear motor, salvaged from a conveyor belt, and an eight gallon olive importing barrel, with four 1"x2" wooden vanes. The 1/6HP motor, which is powered by a transformer and full wave rectifier, draws about 40 watts, and rotates the drum at 45rpm. Timer is a 12hr. mechanical timer, of the type motels use in bathroom heaters. Three hrs. will polish a thousand .45LC cases to a bright finish, using corncob media and Lyman Turbo Brite. The drum/motor is mounted on hinges and tips over to dump. A few rotational shakes in the 1/4" hardware cloth strainer, removes all media from the cases.
Morgan