Tank Tumbler

[Creed]

the larger tumblers that i have seen are on tables, and tilt so the media can concentrate on the neck or the bottom, as that is frequently where problems occur to start with.

I thought of this, and came up with a cool, high tech solution. I put a wooden block under one end of the frame when doing the top and bottom.

 

[Creed]

The guy who did the VIP at the dive shop was impressed by my tumbling job. He said the walls were perfect.

 

[boydski]

Hi Creed,

I recently built a tank tumbler using about $100 in parts from the Surplus Center.

I used an old gear motor (~$29 ), some conveyor rollers and a keyed shaft. It works like a charm. We are tumbling lots of steel tanks with ceramic tumbling media and Blue Gold cleaner.

A list of the major parts can be found on my web site.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

boydski,

did you build the frame or did you find it somewhere?

Thanks for the links to the website.

TwoBit

 

[boydski]

boydski,

did you build the frame or did you find it somewhere?

Thanks for the links to the website.

TwoBit

I built the end plates from some sheet metal, and the long members are 3/4" all-threaded rod on the bottom and 3/4" cold-rolled steel on the top. The plates are held in place sandwiched between a pair of nuts and washers.

 

[Creed]

Hi Creed,

I recently built a tank tumbler using about $100 in parts from the Surplus Center.

I used an old gear motor (~$29 ), some conveyor rollers and a keyed shaft. It works like a charm. We are tumbling lots of steel tanks with ceramic tumbling media and Blue Gold cleaner.

A list of the major parts can be found on my web site.

Nice. I originally used an ice cream maker motor on mine, driving the shaft directly, like yours. But it was too slow. I think my price came to around $20-30. But I already had the motor, wood, etc.

 

[Creed]

OK, snapped a quick pic of the tumbler. Here it is. It was cheap, fast and easy to build.

 

[markfm]

Curious -- what is a tank tumbler actually used for, what does it do? (Not sure hwat its purpose is.) Thanks.

 

[Creed]

Curious -- what is a tank tumbler actually used for, what does it do? (Not sure hwat its purpose is.) Thanks.

A tumbler is used to clean out the inside of a tank. You put media(ceramic chips, rocks, sand, brass, crushed shells or something else hard and sharp) into the tank, and the tumbler turns it. This is used to clean up corrosion and flash rust, strip epoxy, etc.

 

[markfm]

Thanks for the quick response.