My homemade black powder

[Vettepilot]

If I recall, my screens fit perfectly into a 5 gallon bucket. (I just don't use them that way.) Anyway, it wouldn't be hard to make a receiver, or base, to bolt onto the top of a vibratory tumbler that would hold a cut down bucket. When time to change batches/buckets, you just lift off your bucket and set on the next one. The bucket would contain most of the dust, and the motor on those vibratory tumblers is sealed I believe. Even if not, the motor would be fairly divorced from the works.

A bit more work, but you can also remove the tumbler jar from the vibratory tumbler fairly easily. This would provide a nice flat base to work with.

That could work I believe, and be relatively safe. Just keep any dust that got loose cleaned up, which we always need to do in any case.

Yep, my screens do fit into a five gallon bucket, and of course, are stackable too: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Vettepilot

[DoubleBuck]

[QUOTE=mmb617;5291633]But then the lawyers would bankrupt us when some idiot didn't follow the instructions and got hurt.


10-4 on the Bankruptcy Lawyers. And people not following instructions. haha

[almar]

How many pounds do you guys process at a time??

[DoubleBuck]

How many pounds do you guys process at a time??

AlMar;
I do one pound or less. I've made several testing batches of 100 grams, just to make it easy to scale etc. But, if I'm serious I make two 1/2 pound batches and weigh pucks at one ounce, with a half gram of water, if the pudre is dry. My pucks average +- 5/16" thick, and 2" diameter.

[ChrisPer]

I designed my mill for 500g, so 1 pound meal batches. Given yields on corning, that gives about five ounces of each grade of usable powder.

[Vettepilot]

100 gram to sometimes 1/2 pound test batches, or a pound for regular use. That's enough IMHO.

Vettepilot

[DoubleBuck]

I just took the last powder I made, which was the 'brown' Black Willow I tested recently, and re-sifted it, this afternoon. Took off 4.6% more fines and actually separated it into 3f (27.77%) and 2f (67.58%) It has finally quit raining for a minute, so maybe I can tread out through the walnuts and melt some lead in the next couple of days! I was hoping for better results than I got, the way I normally make it, and am seeing if I can up the ante a little, with some simple adjustments. If that 40 inch barrel wants 2F, I'll feed it some and compare it to 3F, and to my other tests. Hopefully, I can gain recognition, before changing recipes, which I plan to do next, as a last resort. I really enjoy this hobby/habit.

[almar]

Ok, was wondering because of the screening "machines".

Im doing a lot of data crunching like a real nerd, but I found out a few things that will likely cause me to lower density even more for my pistols. Maybe in the 1.5's g/cc which right where the grains are still not too weak...I just bought a SAA in 45 colt with a 7.5 inch barrel. I have this big wedding to deal with but will likely get a siloh sharps 1874 in 45-110 soon after I recover from the financial hurt, they aren't cheap neither is the brass.I have a flintlock 50 cal Great plains hunter but its a pain for testing powder.

[DoubleBuck]

Ok, was wondering because of the screening "machines".

Im doing a lot of data crunching like a real nerd, but I found out a few things that will likely cause me to lower density even more for my pistols. Maybe in the 1.5's g/cc which right where the grains are still not too weak...I just bought a SAA in 45 colt with a 7.5 inch barrel. I have this big wedding to deal with but will likely get a siloh sharps 1874 in 45-110 soon after I recover from the financial hurt, they aren't cheap neither is the brass.

Don't take my screening machine serious, Almar! But, if you don't mind, we may use your kiln in the mainframe for the one button finale'. The 'Set It And Forget It' part. see? haha. Please don't be showing off that rifle. Or the pistol either. I get jealous really easy. But here's a congratulations, either way! And pictures are welcome, when stimulating jealousy.

[ChrisPer]

Almar, I like the cut of your jib! A Shiloh sharps for testing powder? If you took up yachting you would be right at home calling 'Water on the mark!' to Sir Thomas Lipton.

[almar]

Haha I've been wanting that rifle for some time, i may have to sell a few though, and the wait time is long too.

[mmb617]

I use the Harbor Freight tumbler which is supposed to be 3 lb capacity. I make 200 grams of meal at a time which when added to the weight of the media I use (.45 caliber FMJ bullets) comes out closer to 4 lbs total weight but so far no problems. I have 2 of those tumblers so sometimes I run them both which gives me 400 grams ready to be pressed.

I use 30 grams of meal in each 3 inch puck as that gives me a thickness that breaks fairly easy. If I process 400 grams that gives me 13 pucks which will easily fit in my dehydrator at one time.

[Vettepilot]

Yeah, I'm not going to build a sifting machine. It's just that I have a lot of experience designing and making things. So when someone poses an idea, I can't resist adding my thoughts/ideas to the mix, helpful or not...

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

@mmb17

Do keep an eye on that HF mill. They are apparently famous for the motor going bad. Mine did, and when it went bad, it got scary hot. The motors are not thermal limited with a safety switch to turn them off if something goes wrong.

Granted, I had finally overloaded mine, but when I got to studying about it looking for a new motor, I found many, many complaints about the motors burning up, even when not overloaded. Be careful. They are definitely "light duty use only" from what I've been able to learn.

Vettepilot

[mmb617]

My conversion of a vibratory brass tumbler to a screen shaker worked out really well. I simply removed the bowl and center stud from it and mounted a piece of plywood in it's place. It shakes the screen stack just the right amount in my opinion. I do have to stand over it with my hand on top supplying slight pressure. I start off with the lid on it to shake most of the fines down without putting dust in the air then remove the lid and work down one level at a time watching the granules dance on the screens. As I move my hand around the granule dance moves around on the screen. It's pretty neat to watch and only takes a few minutes to get a batch well sifted.





It's not too hard to switch the tumbler from screen shaker to brass cleaner but I'll probably wind up buying another one since my reloading area is in the basement and my black powder production is in a separate building away from the house.

[mmb617]

@mmb17

Do keep an eye on that HF mill. They are apparently famous for the motor going bad. Mine did, and when it went bad, it got scary hot. The motors are not thermal limited with a safety switch to turn them off if something goes wrong.

Granted, I had finally overloaded mine, but when I got to studying about it looking for a new motor, I found many, many complaints about the motors burning up, even when not overloaded. Be careful. They are definitely "light duty use only" from what I've been able to learn.

Vettepilot

That's some food for thought. I run my HF tumblers on a timer and while I don't run them during the overnight they are in a separate building and I'm not there to keep an eye on them most of the time. I would have thought that if the motor malfunctioned it would kick a breaker. Is that not the case?

[Vettepilot]

Nope!! Not at all!

I was lucky. Something made me go outside and check mine. It had run for a couple of hours already with no problem, and had made batches running 12 hours before. But when I checked that last time, it was stalled, and near melting from heat!!

They don't draw enough power, even when stalled to pop most breakers. But it IS enough amp draw to create some serious heat. That's why I thought I ought to warn everyone.

Vettepilot

[Vettepilot]

I have had other motors that were thermal/safety limited burn up and not pop breakers. Motors far more powerful than what we use on most tumblers. A bearing would go bad, and the thermal limiter would kick in and turn the motor off. Once it cooled down, it would turn back on. Then it would heat up again, then shut off, etc. It would repeat this cycle until the motor burned up, and never once pop a breaker!

The last time I had this happen was on a 3/4 horse swimming pool filter motor...

At least if it's a thermally protected motor, it shouldn't get hot enough to cause a fire.

Edit to clarify: When I've trouble shot cases where this has happened, the circuit breaker did not pop while the thermal safety switch was cycling. However, once the repeated overheating burned the motor up, then the circuit breaker would finally pop.

Vettepilot

[SeaMonkey]

Yes, those Harbor Freight tumblers are definitely "light duty" machines.

While those small Induction Motors can be repaired and rewound by anyone who has electrical knowledge and time, it is best to assure that they are not pushed too hard with heavy tumbling.

I don't modify my tumblers to increase their tumbling speed as some do. I'm just never in a hurry to git 'er done.

It wouldn't be too difficult to design and put together a Motor Protection Device to shut the motor off if the noise of the tumbling ceased for some reason.

Or even with a Thermal Sensor on the outer surface of the motor to shut it down if overheated without trying to re-start it.

I wonder if something like that is available for small electric motors.

Well, after searching and digging there is such a sensor but finding a vendor who will sell one in small quantities is a problem.

I'll have to contact one of the manufacturers to see what sort of a "deal" they'd be wiling to make for a small number of them...

[Lloyd Smale]

Yes, those Harbor Freight tumblers are definitely "light duty" machines.

While those small Induction Motors can be repaired and rewound by anyone who has electrical knowledge and time, it is best to assure that they are not pushed too hard with heavy tumbling.

I don't modify my tumblers to increase their tumbling speed as some do. I'm just never in a hurry to git 'er done.

It wouldn't be too difficult to design and put together a Motor Protection Device to shut the motor off if the noise of the tumbling ceased for some reason.

Or even with a Thermal Sensor on the outer surface of the motor to shut it down if overheated without trying to re-start it.

I wonder if something like that is available for small electric motors.

Well, after searching and digging there is such a sensor but finding a vendor who will sell one in small quantities is a problem.

I'll have to contact one of the manufacturers to see what sort of a "deal" they'd be wiling to make for a small number of them...

dont know about light duty. Ive got two along with a lyman and a big dillion. THose harbor frieght units are probably the best bang for the buck in a vibrating tumbler. They dont clean quite as fast as a lyman but faster then my dillion. My older one has been tumbling bullets with pc for about 2 years. I put about 10lbs of bullets at a time in it and run it for 30mins. MANY thousands of cast bullets have been done using that machine. I thought it died once so pulled off the bottom and found the electrical connect had broke off and i had to crimp a new one on. Its been running at least another year since then.