Tommymac
Contributor
This is the first one I made, after this I used a steel frame car creeper frame. White uprights are carriage bolts with PVC pipe over them to protect tank from creeping into pillow block bushings. Rollers are 7/16 steel rods with milking machine hose slipped over them. Needed soapy water to do this but they stay in place. Board base needs to be stiff and elevated off floor because 4 1/2" pully on one shaft needs a cut out to go thru board.
At first you need to keep oiling the pillow block bushings but after they wear in, they work well. Expense of bearings simply not needed. One shaft is driven, the other is an idler. Motor discard from an old furnace. It likes to get a little warm, but a cheap table fan takes care of that. Probably tumbled 60 tanks with this one. The long rubber rollers has not damaged paint jobs on tanks if they are wipped off clean before use. I don't recall the tanks rpm anymore but I calculated it to rpm recommended. To work on the tank bottom, a small ladder, milk crate, whatever you can find, can lift the light end (keep motor on bottom).
At first you need to keep oiling the pillow block bushings but after they wear in, they work well. Expense of bearings simply not needed. One shaft is driven, the other is an idler. Motor discard from an old furnace. It likes to get a little warm, but a cheap table fan takes care of that. Probably tumbled 60 tanks with this one. The long rubber rollers has not damaged paint jobs on tanks if they are wipped off clean before use. I don't recall the tanks rpm anymore but I calculated it to rpm recommended. To work on the tank bottom, a small ladder, milk crate, whatever you can find, can lift the light end (keep motor on bottom).
