I've had this tumbler for a while now. It lives in the shop under a dust tent (aka garbage bag). Tonight I ran some garbage trim that I usually throw out - fan leaves, floor scrapings, etc. I let the stuff get super dry. There's probably only a few ounces in there. The motor on this has a square hole (female) on the end of the drive shaft. This is where the rotisserie spit used to go. In order to get it to drive my drum, I put a fat bolt through the bottom of the drum (dead center - very important). I used a bench grinder to made the end of the bolt square to fit the motor drive shaft. The other end of the drum has to be supported and has to spin, and be removable. I accomplished this by again putting a bolt, this one thinner and longer, through the center of the drum end (which also happens to be the opening lid side). On the end of the bolt I used some washers and fixed a round ball bearing ring like the kind that go into motorcycle axles. You know the doughnut ball bearings. Once I had the bearing mounted on the bolt end, the inside center of it was fixed to the bolt, but the outside sleeve of the bearing was still free to spin. So my first thought was to just make a scooped out rest for the bearing such that it would remain fixed in place while tumbling and then could just be lifted out of it's rest to remove thr drum. But getting a round bearing to sit in a round depression and NOT move a little when the thing is spinning was hard, and also getting a good grip on the bearing when pulling the drum out of the box. So I drilled out a depression in a piece of wood with a hole saw that just happened to cut the perfect sized hole for my bearing to press into. I made a rest for the piece of wood such that is sits still when tumbling and has a little bit of a lip to grab when removing the drum. You can't see it but the bearing is in that wood hole. And after letting it spin all night, I got a nice little pile of gold. Hope this gives some ideas. I am sure there are a million ways to get this done. I tend to just look around the shop and try to make due with what I have.
How about cross referencing this thread to a stickie in DIY or Hash forums? You've got some really cool simple solutions in there FF. That thing is a piece of craftsmanship, shame to see it sitting under a tarp where no one gets to see it. assit: up for a vote?
So are you still going to upgrade your motor with the 35 rpm one? The ball bearing idea on the one side is the best Idea I have seen anywhere. Great thinking. My mind is spinning with a Mount Idea for that. Thanks for showing the pics of how you attached the motor shaft to the side of the drum, its the only issue I still needed to figure out how I was going to do mine. So do you see any pro's or con's which side of the drum you put the door on? Most use the motor side, I seen one that had a door on the other end that was held to the drum by magnets, I am not so sure thats a great way to do it but to each their own. Oh and inside the drum, do you think it matters much using 3 or 4 threaded rods to hold the two sides together. Looks like most people use 3 and put them as close to the outside edge as possible this is where I figure a small "L" shaped bracket lip might be good to run along the length of the rods to help mix up the trim as it Tumbles. I should have mine done next week, i will post some pictures of the build. People searching around will be impressed when they see the ones we built. I really appreciate the help on my build. Its going to look sweet!! Thanks man!
Dude just make sure the threaded rods are an inch or so away from the edge of the drum screen, cuz chunks of leaves and shit get trapped between the screen and the rod if it's too close, and never tumble just ride round and round. I made mine a little too close to the outside edge of the drum. There's a reason to push those rods out to the edge tho, because your drum door has to fit inside the rods with clearance for the bolt heads. And you want a BIG drum door. That's why I was saying like a ferris wheel, so you have room to fit a nice big door on the tumbler AND keep the rods an inch off the screen inside the tumbler. That's a good idea to put angle pieces in there to agitate. I used to use marbles or those little rubber super balls to bounce around and it really makes a difference. Sadly they eventually get lost in the tossing of the spun trim...
oh another thing The other thing is that when you seat the drum into the thing, you need to insert the squared off bolt into that hole, which requires a bit of a lateral slide. So to allow this I made the rest for the bearing housing to allow for this. that's the reason for the funky angled wood block between the bearing rest and the wall.
Looks kick ass. Do you have a link to a DiY thread? How long did it take to build, cost, ect.? Have you ever thought about custom sales? More importantly, is it loud?
Can't hear it from 2 feet away. Up close you hear the slight grind of the motor and rhythmic gentle crunch of the trim falling. Sounds very much like a small wave crashing on gravel. I've thought (often) of putting it next to my bed, kinda like a wave machine or white noise producer. It's very relaxing to me. I didn't do a full build thread. I started too then got hung up on some engineering that i had to re-do a few times, which took the wind out of the sails. I got too focused on getting it to work and forgot to take pics. Maybe JCIO will do his build thread. That would be way cool. Mine works too good to fool around much with another one. But it would be fun to build one for someone and just have them pay for the materials. If I had more than a few to build I could certainly streamline the process to cut down on time.
On the Stainless 304 wire cloth screen we talked about, there is the one thats under "corrosion resistant 304 wire cloth" 100x100 mesh size, .0055" open area size, part number 85385T101, it is a woven screen. I remember you said you were not going with the woven one. Did you see/ have a different part number for one thats not woven? P.s. I will post the build, I am going to make sure I post the dimension size of the box and stuff, alot of stuff on other sites dont show alot. Should help alot of others out.
Nice Machine, I remember it posted way back. That's an impressive haul from what most of us throw away!
I told FF, we were going to all be hash smoking zombies when he was going to post this pic thread of the tumbler, (picture Van Hallen song..."Everybody wants some...I wants some too...) I made a pre fab prototype yesterday of the box, glad I did, I need to change a few things and Just one more screen question (below), and I think I should be able to get the box and drawer done next week, will just have to order motor and screen/clamps and wait for the delivery. I am super exicted! FF---(I bumped this question from last page)."-On the Stainless 304 wire cloth screen we talked about, there is the one thats under "corrosion resistant 304 wire cloth" 100x100 mesh size, .0055" open area size, part number 85385T101, it is a woven screen. I remember you said you were not going with the woven one. Did you see/ have a different part number for one thats not woven?"
JCIO for the stainless steel screen I would get the woven 304 wire cloth, NOT the DUTCH weave - that's all I was saying in that PM. The part number you posted 85385T101 is the correct one. That's cool that you mocked it up. :thumbs-up:
Ok cool FF, I was thinking the woven may have been a dutch weave, I have no Idea what a duch weave is. Lol. man I really appreciate the help. Yes sweet Jesus! Hash is on the way!!!! Only problem now....:roffl: Well shit, my Outside AC motor took a shit and maybe (hopefully not) the compressor, sitting in 85* house. So it might be another week before I get tumbler motor. I still plan to post the build in the other fourm here So stayed tuned.
OH man! I dig me some central air. Good luck getting it working again. I am pricing systems ATM. Trick is to get an HVAC guy in here who...
I traded a AC guy a oz for labor charges on a job years ago, so its def a good way to save some cash. :thumbsup: I did get mine fixed today, talk about crossing your fingers and hitting the breaker. I changed the motor and capacitor. It was one of those deals where the motor had one less wire than the old one, the wires were different colors and the cap had one less tab than the old one. But I did it for $140 in parts. Now back to the tumbler!
