thanks Hunter64. I used your design and information as a basis for mine. a lot of changes were based on what I had or didn't have available in the way of both tools n materials.
I built this about 18 months ago and only now figured how to get my pics down to an acceptable size.
1/2hp, two speed (1140/1726) Kenmore washer motor, 2" to 7.25" pulley reduction, gets me down to 36/53 rpm's on large drum and 47/72 on the narrow drum.
1/2" diameter steel shafts with rubber hose
set screw shaft collars with fender washers attached to ensure drums don't wonder to one end or the other.
23" X 8" blue fresh water schedule 80 pvc pipe,
6" green waste water pvc pipe and assorted capes, reducers, plugs
Vanes and permanent end plugs are made with PVC trim boards from Lowes. Used heavy, medium, and regular PVC cement to attach and seal all (no screws or holes in the drum). The PVC board is much less dense than the PVC pipe, so when I ripped the vanes down to 45s the porous flat side was glued towards the PVC pipe. Being less dense they melt-formed nicely against the round pipe. Vanes were held in place with a couple small sand bags for about 10 minutes each before moving to the next vane. I am seeing a little bit of wear on the vanes, but am pretty certain I will have been pushing up daisies for many years before they quit working.
I kept one drum smooth inside (no vanes) for cleaning sizing lube off loaded rounds in dry media. I was worried about pointy loaded 556 rounds tumbling end over end and making those dreaded muffled boom, boom sounds.
edited this in: I forgot to mention that I tied the drive and dummy shafts together with matching pulleys and belt. I was concerned that the drift shaft would have less friction on the inside of the rubber hose and possibly slip. I thought having both shafts driving equally would spread the torque to both shafts and prevent any slip. I don't know if that was a legitimate concern or not.
lessons learned n stuff:
if I had it to do again I would have used 5/8" shafts versus 1/2". 1K brass, 10-15 #'s of pins, and nearly 3.7 gallons of water equals a lot of weight and a slight bowing of the shafts. Of course I'd have to go with different pulley combinations to allow for the increased circumference of the rubber hose on the 5/8" drive shafts.
my schedule 80, 8" pvc pipe was not perfectly round, either due to age or manufacture. had to make my own permanent end plugs and bought the 8" Non-Metal Hand-Tite Plug ($35+ from: http://www.pollardwater.com/pages_product/HTPLUG4.asp ) They work great. I did however trim off about 1/4" from wing-nut ends to make sure I had clearance from the pillow block bearing's grease zerks.
Remember to inset the bottom permanent plug 3/8" so that you have something to hold onto when lifting or positioning the filled drum. Did I mention it is heavy?
Cut and install vanes/ribs 1.5" below mouth of drum to allow room for the hand-tite plug. cut vanes on open end to 45 degrees so that it is a relatively snug fit against the plug and doesn't trap brass.
the small diameter drum intended for smaller batches spins too fast and was a waste of time n money. better to have made a second shorter drum with vanes for smaller batches. just found me a new 8'+ piece of pipe in a construction site dumpster so now I have enough to make; two each of short/tall with smooth/ribbed drums.
designing/making the washer motor mounts and wiring was a bit of a challenge. a purpose built motor would have been easier but way more than the $10 bucks I paid for it. Also 3 position switches are not cheap. I found some really cheap ones on Alibaba but they are only rated to 10 amps. Not enough for this motor. I bought two and had the contacts seized closed on one of them. so now I select the speed I want and then on/off via the wall socket plug. After over a year I am still watching for a heavy duty 3 position switch I can afford.
as demonstrated by my Grandson, skipping the belt guard was not an option.
hope this is a help to others............ too much trial n error stuff to include here. if you have the need I'd be happy to try and help via PM or phone.