Homemade 30 lb rotary tumbler

[kweidner]

Ok so I ordered 10lbs of stainless media. Wasn't about to go for the 700 dollar 30 lb tumbler so I redneck engineered one. 1, 3 gallon sprayer, old motor from the shop, 4 6" lawnmower wheels made into pillar block bearings, 2 pieces 1/2 inch cold rolled and stops, a six inch pulley, a 1 3/4" pulley, three 2x4, 1/2 inch inside diameter sprayer hose, old skateboard wheel, tennis ball, 1/2 all thread a bunch of screws, about 4 hours and voila. Pictures are 2 hours with stainless, lemoshine, dawn, 2.5 gallons water, and 700 45 acp cases. Runs 55 rpm. Wish I could figure out how to post a video. I have $250 in it including the media. Here are some before and after as well as the machine. 66011660126601366014

[TheCelt]

Wow, nice looking rig!! How many cases (223) will it do at a time???

[kweidner]

I have only put about 7 pound of brass in the first go around. that said my guess is 523 based on a 93.7 gr case. 49000 grains in seven lbs. May do more but 525 is what my next run is gonna be and in .223. I got a whole 5 gallon bucket full I need to tumble. I also have about 20000 40sw that are in need of cleaning to. It would have taken 6 months with my 3 vibratory tumblers.

[kweidner]

Here is the batch of 40sw I just ran. Gotta be close to 1000. oh and this is how im drying them. my jerky dehydrater. 660216602266023

[W.R.Buchanan]

Well I finally found a use for that food dryer we bought about 20 years ago and never used but once.

Did you put any baffles in your drum to help with turning the cases over?

Randy

[kweidner]

I thought about it. Figured I would try without. It works fantasic with none. My little harbour freight one doen't have baffles so i figured what the heck. Glad I tried without first. Saved a step.

[M Hicks]

That is a pretty sweet set up. I made one for myself because of the same $700 reason. I ended up using a 24"x6" piece of PVC with a reducer on one end and a cap on the other for the tumbler body. Initially I had a 2x6 wood frame but finally got around to welding a metal one together using 1 and 1/4" angle iron. Those things work awesome.