|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 27, 2018 8:54:38 GMT -5
I have ran my home built tumbler for five years now. I did one overhaul after 2 years which was mostly a clean up and replacing belts. Now it has been another 3 years and this time is going to be a bit more extensive. This was my first tumbler build and while it has worked flawlessly I have learned some stuff that would make me do it a little different next time. This thing is really heavy so the first task was carrying it up the basement stairs and out to the garage. It is way overbuilt. Here's a few pictures of the current condition. (believe it or not this thing was still running rocks this morning with no signs of any issues) Lets start with the belts Now for the trashed bearing which in turn ruined the shaft. That shaft is not supposed to have a step in it. I wonder how long that took for the steel on steel condition to create that step? This is an original bearing though so figure about 45,000 hours on it. The motor being mounted on the bottom and out of site is an issue. It never gets cleaned under there. Overall condition really is not that bad considering the amount of tumbling it has done. Since it pretty much needs to be torn down and cleaned/repaired I am going to go back to the drawing board and make some design changes. I'll keep the main framework but now the motor may end up mounted to the top. Stay tuned for version 2.0 coming soon. Chuck
|
|
|
Post by woodman on Apr 27, 2018 9:37:44 GMT -5
Are the bearings locked to the shaft? does not look like it.
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 27, 2018 9:42:03 GMT -5
Are the bearings locked to the shaft? does not look like it. Not sure how it would work if they were not locked to the shaft? On the opposite side from that photo there are two set screws on each bearing. I suppose the setscrews could have come loose but they were on with Loctite. Other 7 bearings are still fine. After 5 years I am not upset about losing a bearing. Will probably replace them all while I have it apart anyway.
|
|
|
Post by woodman on Apr 27, 2018 9:57:28 GMT -5
I was figuring that I could not see the locking collar. I have some that have cam lock ring, You got good service from them but it is a shame about the shaft. Nice looking unit.
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 27, 2018 10:26:43 GMT -5
I was figuring that I could not see the locking collar. I have some that have cam lock ring, You got good service from them but it is a shame about the shaft. Nice looking unit. I will take the blame. I feed it way too many rocks and not enough grease and TLC. If it were easier to take up the stairs to the garage I would be more likely to do a yearly check up. Chuck
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 27, 2018 10:29:27 GMT -5
All the moving parts are out. Time to figure out what to order. I think I have a brand new 1/3 HP motor in the attic so I'll probably replace that. Chuck
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 27, 2018 11:06:34 GMT -5
Not sure how much of the original tumbler I'll end up with. I like the beefy 2x8 legs but they just add unnecessary weight. If I change those I'll just be keeping the original top. Chuck
|
|
Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,422
|
Post by Wooferhound on Apr 27, 2018 11:39:12 GMT -5
Love that machine ! ! I tend to try and make things permanent and would have probably glued everything together making it hard to modify. It's cool that you can rebuild it so easily. The top surface has survived really well.
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 27, 2018 12:20:41 GMT -5
Love that machine ! ! I tend to try and make things permanent and would have probably glued everything together making it hard to modify. It's cool that you can rebuild it so easily. The top surface has survived really well. Thanks- With this being my first time designing and building a tumbler it had to be able to be modified so everything was screwed together VS nails and glue. For the first year it only had one row then the second row got added. Chuck
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 27, 2018 13:42:25 GMT -5
I was figuring that I could not see the locking collar. I have some that have cam lock ring, You got good service from them but it is a shame about the shaft. Nice looking unit. Turns out the set screws had worked their way loose on that one. I guess the steel on the bearing was harder then the 1018 cold rolled shaft because there was no damage to the bearing. The shaft had over 1/8" of steel worn away. It never made any noise at all to indicate a problem though. Chuck
|
|
|
Post by Jugglerguy on Apr 28, 2018 7:55:57 GMT -5
I’m excited to see what the new tumbler looks like. Could you try to continue taking pictures along the way?
What did you cover your shafts with? It looks like that held up well.
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 29, 2018 8:18:22 GMT -5
I’m excited to see what the new tumbler looks like. Could you try to continue taking pictures along the way? What did you cover your shafts with? It looks like that held up well. I'll take some pictures but the build will go really fast. Very minimal fabrication work. Much more time will be spent on the design. Those shaft covers did hold up great. Those were made from 3/4" I.D. Heater hose. Unfortunately I think for my new plan I may need to cut them off and replace them all. Chuck
|
|