Dutchman
06-19-2009, 07:15 PM
I have only this one photo of this old thing I made long ago and no longer have.
The green tub is half of a 50 pound freon tank. The first word of warning about using this type of tank is the DEATH-CAUSING-FUMES of freon. It literally takes your breath away. Trust me, intimate knowledge here. We cut this tank in an enclosed and ventilated industrial welding room. I was standing over the welder who was cutting the tank with an oxy-acetylene torch. We ventilated the tank with air pressure from the compressor. The fumes hit me first as they're lighter than air so they go UP. Where ever freon fumes are - there is no oxygen. Soon as I caught a wiff I smacked the welder on the head and yelled to shut down and get out of the room. He didn't know what was going on but he believed me.
Be very careful with using such tanks. I would recommend using a die grinder and cut-off wheel OUTSIDE with an assistant present. Don't do it alone as you may lay there and die before someone finds your body. Even outside - still use air pressure to ventilate the tank. Freon fumes will KILL YOU in a few minutes. I do not and would not recommend using a propane tank for this type of project. Unless you have specialized training in handling propane tanks with possible explosive results. Don't trust your own common sense, insist on a 2nd opinion!!
Around the lip of the tank we put a vinyl molding for windows or sheet metal. It provided a wide and fairly soft surface for the lip to tighten down on.
The aluminum plate on the bottom is just bolted on. There was a threaded rod going up through the center for the lid to tighten down.
The motor was a very old GE 1/4 hp washing machine motor from the stone age. Ran beautifully, very smooth. But.... when hung at an angle the fan blades on the front of the commutator rubbed the frame. So I lathe turned a piece of hard bronze about 1/4" thick as a thrust washer and put it back together. Perfectomundo! That puppy ran forever with no further maintenance.
The eccentric weight on the motor shaft was purely guessed at as to offset and size. It was adequate but probably would've been better if a heavier piece was used.
At first the whole shebang was hung horizontally. But there was ZERO "tumbling". It vibrated pretty good but I wasn't satisfied with it. So I had an ephiphany and my head tilted sideways and the little lightbulb in my noggin went on. I put a steel eyelet on the side opposite the motor eccentric and hung it from whatever there was to hang it from. It actually tumbled pretty good. I never pushed the capacity of the tank as I had no need. You don't actually have the capacity you'd expect from a large tank like that when its laying at a 45 degree angle. You can fill the tank to the edge and tighten the lid on and away it goes. No leakage whatsoever.
Since the tumbler isn't sitting on the floor or mounted anywhere it didn't make excessive noise. It sounded like a free running 1/4 hp motor. It would run for days at a time.... 2-3-4-5 days continously. You couldn't put enough load on the motor to cause it to get warm. The bronze thrust washer never wore out. The tumbler was used for about 10 years, from the early 1980s to the early 1990s.
Overall I'm a little sorry I dismantled it and went with a Midway orange tumbler. It lasted about 12 years and then went up in smoke. The huge Lyman tumbler lasted exactly 1 year and then the tiny motor when up in smoke.
I think I may have to build another but it won't be like this one. I've been collecting photos of other designs....:)
http://images24.fotki.com/v861/photos/2/28344/1676633/tumbler-vi.jpg
Dutch
The green tub is half of a 50 pound freon tank. The first word of warning about using this type of tank is the DEATH-CAUSING-FUMES of freon. It literally takes your breath away. Trust me, intimate knowledge here. We cut this tank in an enclosed and ventilated industrial welding room. I was standing over the welder who was cutting the tank with an oxy-acetylene torch. We ventilated the tank with air pressure from the compressor. The fumes hit me first as they're lighter than air so they go UP. Where ever freon fumes are - there is no oxygen. Soon as I caught a wiff I smacked the welder on the head and yelled to shut down and get out of the room. He didn't know what was going on but he believed me.
Be very careful with using such tanks. I would recommend using a die grinder and cut-off wheel OUTSIDE with an assistant present. Don't do it alone as you may lay there and die before someone finds your body. Even outside - still use air pressure to ventilate the tank. Freon fumes will KILL YOU in a few minutes. I do not and would not recommend using a propane tank for this type of project. Unless you have specialized training in handling propane tanks with possible explosive results. Don't trust your own common sense, insist on a 2nd opinion!!
Around the lip of the tank we put a vinyl molding for windows or sheet metal. It provided a wide and fairly soft surface for the lip to tighten down on.
The aluminum plate on the bottom is just bolted on. There was a threaded rod going up through the center for the lid to tighten down.
The motor was a very old GE 1/4 hp washing machine motor from the stone age. Ran beautifully, very smooth. But.... when hung at an angle the fan blades on the front of the commutator rubbed the frame. So I lathe turned a piece of hard bronze about 1/4" thick as a thrust washer and put it back together. Perfectomundo! That puppy ran forever with no further maintenance.
The eccentric weight on the motor shaft was purely guessed at as to offset and size. It was adequate but probably would've been better if a heavier piece was used.
At first the whole shebang was hung horizontally. But there was ZERO "tumbling". It vibrated pretty good but I wasn't satisfied with it. So I had an ephiphany and my head tilted sideways and the little lightbulb in my noggin went on. I put a steel eyelet on the side opposite the motor eccentric and hung it from whatever there was to hang it from. It actually tumbled pretty good. I never pushed the capacity of the tank as I had no need. You don't actually have the capacity you'd expect from a large tank like that when its laying at a 45 degree angle. You can fill the tank to the edge and tighten the lid on and away it goes. No leakage whatsoever.
Since the tumbler isn't sitting on the floor or mounted anywhere it didn't make excessive noise. It sounded like a free running 1/4 hp motor. It would run for days at a time.... 2-3-4-5 days continously. You couldn't put enough load on the motor to cause it to get warm. The bronze thrust washer never wore out. The tumbler was used for about 10 years, from the early 1980s to the early 1990s.
Overall I'm a little sorry I dismantled it and went with a Midway orange tumbler. It lasted about 12 years and then went up in smoke. The huge Lyman tumbler lasted exactly 1 year and then the tiny motor when up in smoke.
I think I may have to build another but it won't be like this one. I've been collecting photos of other designs....:)
http://images24.fotki.com/v861/photos/2/28344/1676633/tumbler-vi.jpg
Dutch