Homemade wet tumbler for stainless steel media

[jmorris]

The results using stainless steel media always impressed me; however, being accustom to the large batches my big Dillon tumbler can turn out the idea of only being able to 2 lbs of brass (only 230 rounds of 9mm) at a time just wouldn’t be worth it.

The Thumler’s tumbler despite costing almost $200 is only good for 15 lbs . Once you add 8 lbs (a gallon) of water and 5 lbs of SS media that only leaves 2 lbs of brass. You can also get a 40 lb tumbler as well but at almost $700...well if I wanted to burn money I would just buy new brass.

I started out ebaying parts, a 1/3hp 40 rpm gear motor ran $30, 1” pillow block bearings (1500lb load rating) for $8 and a Lovejoy coupling for another $10. I then made a frame out of ¾” to mount the motor and bearing box. Cut a disk out of 3/8” steel and mounted a 100 lb (12.2 gallon) bucket used to hold chlorine onto the disk using 10-32 bolts. I slid another bucket into the first one and cut slots into the outer bucket so the inner bucket would inner lock with it. I then cut 4 ribs 1 5/8” tall out of ½” thick plastic and bolted them in to the inner bucket, using 10-32 counter sink bolts, every 90 degrees to agitate the brass and media.

The media is pretty expensive at $25 for five pounds so I only bought 10 pounds for initial testing, so if it didn’t work I wouldn’t be out of too much money. So I started out with only a gallon Ziploc bag of .223 and a few hand full’s of 458socom for the trial run.

The mix was 2 gallons of water, 2 table spoons of Dawn dish washing soap, ½ teaspoon of Lemishine detergent. Even at over twice the capacity of the Thumler’s B model there is still a lot of room for more.

I ran the mix for 1 hour and separated the media/brass using my Dillon separator, rinsed the brass with clean water and dumped it onto a screen I built for drying dip lubed bullets. It was kind of cool today so I set a heated fan up to help dry them out. In about 15 min they were all dry.

It’s not much to look at but once I get a few more bags of media I figure it will tumble around 4500-5000 9mm cases at a time and I will have under $180 invested including the 20 lbs of media.



http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/SST/1.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/SST/2.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/SST/3.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/SST/4.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/SST/6.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/SST/7.jpg

[warf73]

Very nice work and the results look amazing.

[cigarman454]

Thanks jmorris,
That's awesome you have the option to do a little or a lot. Sweet. I can see one of these in my future.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

jmorris,

Could you please show a few more pics of how the buckets fit together and what type of bucket the second one was? Your setup looks great and of course I want to copy it if I can.


thanks,

Dave

[jmorris]

They are both the same type of 100 lb cholrine buckets. The outer bucket is notched so the inner buckets handle gussets slide into the notches and provide the "drive keys".

Look again at the 4 th photo above and closely at the one below. I can take some more photos it they don't help.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/SST/a.jpg

[dragonrider]

I was going to ask why TWO buckets but I think I see the reason now. So you can pull out the inner bucket and dump your cases. Yes??? I can't tell from the pictures but do you have rollers up toward the front of the bucket to ride on??? I think when you get more weight in there it may become necessary. Just a thought.

[jmorris]

Yes, two buckets are so I don't have to pick the whole thing up to empty it. There are no rollers just the 2, 1" bearings between the motor and 3/8" disk, they are good for 1500lbs each, way more than the bucket that normally only holds 100lbs. The frame does go all of the way to the front so weight in the bucket doesn't tip the machine forward.

[parrott1969]

Jmorris, are you sure you don't want to move to Oxford, MS??? Great weather, good people, low cost of living. I know where there is a house for sale, just down the road. You would have a good neighbor. Only problem is that he (me) would want to pick your brain on your toy design and maybe noodle a couple of your toys. Especially the drive train on your case pro.

[parrott1969]

On a side note, too bad that you can not put a drain plug in the bucket. I was just thinking something like the plug that is used on a jon boat. Then all you would have to do is make a hole in the table and stick a bucket underneath. Line up the hole, pull plug and whalah, empty bucket.

[garandsrus]

can you elaborate on how to find a motor that runs at a low RPM? I tried searching eBay and didn't find one

[jmorris]

Parrott, you can come to north TX and if you bring the frosty beverages, can play with all sorts of fun stuff (50 acres for sale next door).

I have a small strainer I am going to put into the bottom of the seperator I have.

For the ebay search type "gear motor" and refine to auction, you get rid of a lot of the BIN (buy it now) little DC gear motors.

[bumpo628]

Where do you get the media for only $25 / 5 lbs?
Great design by the way (as always).

[Recluse]

Parrott, you can come to north TX and if you bring the frosty beverages, can play with all sorts of fun stuff (50 acres for sale next door).

North Texas?

Hey, wait minute--I'M in north Texas! And there's fifty acres next door for sale?

What county do you live in?

:coffee:

[scb]

can you elaborate on how to find a motor that runs at a low RPM? I tried searching eBay and didn't find one

Search for "gear motor". If you haven't got one "laying around" they ain't cheap.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Manufacturing-Metalworking-/11804/i.html?_nkw=gear+motor&_catref=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m1538 or http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/gearmotors/gearmotors/power-transmission/ecatalog/N-aqoZ1z12itr?xi=xi

[jmorris]

Where do you get the media for only $25 / 5 lbs?



http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/IMAG0462.jpg


They can ship 2 bags in a flat rate box.


It took me 4 months to "win" the motor I used but it was worth the wait. New from Granger it's $700 more that what I paid for it.

[Sonnypie]

For $100 worth of pins....
And a small plastic cement/mortar mixer (http://www.amazon.com/MARSHALLTOWN-Premier-MIX5900D-Wheelbarrow-Concrete/dp/B003DZ1CRY/ref=sr_1_4?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1323017517&sr=1-4)...

You could do barrels of brass. :shock:

Also, with V-belts (and jack shafts), speed reduction can be accomplished as well. Gearmotors are expensive gems of industry. :-(

The tops on chlorine buckets thread on and off, and some even have ratcheting locks to keep them sealed in transport and use.
I note that because I didn't see it mentioned. I buy chlorine in smaller buckets, but have seen the hugie-O ones at big suppliers.

Great build, jmorris! :grin:

[W.R.Buchanan]

Jmorris: I like the bucket in a bucket idea. It definately makes clean out go faster and also you could have several wash buckets that could be interchanged..

I have been looking at doing one of these as I have stuff laying around, and am not about to buy a tumbler when I already have several vibro units. I did figure out that they just don't work very well with the SS media as brass is lighter than the pins are. A rotary machine is definately needed for this type of cleaning..

Fortunately for us "millwright types" we can come up with a variety of ways to turn the barrel. Others may find this more difficult, but still with a little engineuity just about anyone with the ability to use tools should be able to make something that works.

It is a good project for the DIY crowd and your ideas help a bunch. I personally think we need a sticky entitled "The devices of jmorris" as i have seen a bunch of your stuff here. I really like your automated case processing machines.

Randy

[jmorris]

Also, with V-belts (and jack shafts), speed reduction can be accomplished as well. Gearmotors are expensive gems of industry.

Yep, after a few months I almost gave up on finding a gear motor so I started in the V belt/jack shaft direction using a pully off an old washing machine. I don't have any photos of the jackshaft uploaded but it used a pully off of a pre '69 SBC short water pump and another tiny pully to get to the 43:1 reduction using a 1725 rpm motor.

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/IMAG0398.jpg

[jmorris]

This is the jackshaft I was going to use. A small pully on the motor belted to the larger water pump pully then the tiny pully on the right belted to the huge bucket mounted pully.

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/DSC02488.jpg

lucky for me I found the perfect gearmotor making the machine much more simple to build.

[PatMarlin]

Outstanding.

[PatMarlin]

You can run a DC motor, and power it with an adjustable DC source. The less DC amperage the slower it turns.

[PatMarlin]

Here's a simple inexpensive control:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/30A-DC-PWM-Motor-Speed-Controller-Frequency-Adjustable-/260894874560?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbe8bdbc0#ht_2301wt_802

Of course it does come with chop stix so have your rice ready.

[PatMarlin]

Actually scratch the rice burner. I don't know what I was thinking.

Ebay "KB Control". You can get a heavy duty USA made control to run various inexpensive industrial DC motors 90-120 volts with a KB for under $50.

[Sonnypie]

Did you find the slotting was actually necessary for the bucket in a bucket drive system?
Seems like they would stick just by friction fit. ???

(But then, I haven't stacked two chlorine buckets to see if they stick like others do.)

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/SST/4.jpg

[pmn]

The media is pretty expensive at $25 for five pounds so I only bought 10 pounds for initial testing, so if it didn’t work I wouldn’t be out of too much money. So I started out with only a gallon Ziploc bag of .223 and a few hand full’s of 458socom for the trial run.

The mix was 2 gallons of water, 2 table spoons of Dawn dish washing soap, ½ teaspoon of Lemishine detergent. Even at over twice the capacity of the Thumler’s B model there is still a lot of room for more.

I ran the mix for 1 hour and separated the media/brass using my Dillon separator, rinsed the brass with clean water and dumped it onto a screen I built for drying dip lubed bullets. It was kind of cool today so I set a heated fan up to help dry them out. In about 15 min they were all dry.

pelletsllc.com: They can ship 2 bags in a flat rate box.




jmorris: wondering if you could tell us what shot you got from Pellets LLC? The picture doesn't have spec detail on it.

Do you guys prewash your brass, or just drop it in the tumbler? No follow up in a vibrator needed?

Thanks! Phil

[scrapcan]

If you guys need low speed gear motors you can sometimes find decent pricing at surplus center

www.surpluscenter.com

look in the gear motor section, they have both ac and dc motors

[jmorris]

I had to slot the bucket to get them to "snug" up to one another. I asked the sales person at pellets inc for the "brass casing size" it's .248" long and .039 by a caliper but I didn't get out a mic. I didn't pre wash any brass but do rinse it off after. Surplus Center has some pretty good deals but nothing like ebay, if you take your time and don't get caught up in bidding and watch shipping.

[Longwood]

If you guys need low speed gear motors you can sometimes find decent pricing at surplus center

www.surpluscenter.com

look in the gear motor section, they have both ac and dc motors

The one for $12 on the cover page would probably work with some of round leather belt that McMaster sells for turning the large sheave instead of such a big motor and pricy coupling.

[W.R.Buchanan]

PMN: just ask the guy at Pellets LLC for SS brass cleaning media. He will know what you need.

The pins are actually .041 in dia x .2 ish long.

Randy

[LUBEDUDE]

That is an awesome beefy monster! My hat is off to you.

However, I did buy a new 40lb tumbler marketed on fleabay for around $275. Not bad for those of us without Jmorris's mechanical/engineering skills.

[crasher]

jmorris:

Back to the pictures of the bucket being assembled, please -

"I then cut 4 ribs 1 5/8” tall out of ½” thick plastic and bolted them in to the inner bucket, using 10-32 counter sink bolts, every 90 degrees to agitate the brass and media."

I'm curious about how you waterproofed the bolt holes against leakage. I can't find any products that stick to the HDPE-2 that the buckets are molded from.

Help a guy out?
Thanks.

[jmorris]

I was going to use a product called E6000. Its an adhesive sealant that I have always been impressed with, even on glass to glass.

However, after my first trial without using anything there was no liquid in the inner bucket. So until it starts leaking, I am just using the counter sunk screw head to seal it shut.

[Longwood]

Neoprene washers with fender washers slightly bent to fit.

[Longwood]

This tumbler sure is "kiss" engineered.

Don't recall where I found it.
Could have been here.

[crasher]

jmorris & Longwood:
Thanks for the reply's and info.

I've got 2 paddles in a 5 gallon bucket. I used a few different sealers (silicone types, caulk types) with about 80% success so far.
I'm going to try rubber washers between the bucket and the paddle with a dab of silicone in the hole before I thread the fastener through.

I got my Gamma Lids to leak a lot less through the screw on seal by whacking the cross-ribs on the lid with a rubber mallet in a CCW direction to spin the lid about 10* tighter.

I'm losing about a cup of water/30 minutes so far, and I'm hoping it doesn't get worse.
:violin:

[smilie=1:

[6bg6ga]

Yes, two buckets are so I don't have to pick the whole thing up to empty it. There are no rollers just the 2, 1" bearings between the motor and 3/8" disk, they are good for 1500lbs each, way more than the bucket that normally only holds 100lbs. The frame does go all of the way to the front so weight in the bucket doesn't tip the machine forward.

I don't think I'll ever have 100lbs in a bucket. I have been gathering parts and currently have a Bodine DC gear reduction motor and a Bodine 815 speed controller. Its .87-42 rpms. I was planning on using a 3/4" shaft and two pillow block bearings for support. Once thru the 3/4" ID bearings it will go to a lovejoy 3/4 to 1/2" coupler.

With the two pillow block bearings to take the load do I need anything under the bucket for support in your opinion?

[jmorris]

That one is still going without anything supporting the bucket. I guess it depends on your bucket, the ones I used are stouter than your homedepot/lowes 5 gallon bucket (on right).

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/SST/DSC02444.jpg

[beechbum444]

I keep looking at the HF cement mixers and thinking they would work.........1 1/4 cubic feet and 3 cubic feet, a 35 rpm motor, stand and tilter to dump the contents.......around the same price.....good looking work!!