tigman250











Group: Members

Posts: 7

Joined: May 2013 Posted: May 23 2013,20:16 Quote (darsmark @ May 23 2013,19:44) Tigman;

If I may offer a word of advise on your tumbler project;

I use SS shot for cleaning up Sterling Silver jewelery,and gun / knife part castings.

A 6 in. sq box of it weighs 10 # so put plenty of reduction in your power train.

I decided one day to put some cases in,that had laid on the range over the winter,and did not clean up in corn cob.

The shot I have ,is various shapes,round,ovals,flying saucer,and sharp pins.

When I went to remove the brass,I found they were full of the shot,and some were wedged in the primer pockets.

I tried air blown through primer pockets,a kinetic bullet puller,and hemostats ,to get the shot out of the .223 cases.

Some I even squished with pliers,to get them oval shaped,where 2 pieces of shot were wedged together. Resizing returns them to re-usable shape.

So if you can find it,buy shot,larger than .230 diameter,so they do not go inside the case, as it is a pain to remove.

If you find some large shot,let us know where,and the price,as I pay app.$115.00 per 10#.

I use a ''coolant'' in my drum,a concentrate mixed with water,and mix in a latex based anti-tarnish liquid with the coolant,and jewelery,(and the cases) do not tarnish for months.

Open mouthed cases such as .38,.45,etc,are no problem.

Another silver caster I know built a drum,out of seamless refinery pipe,app.12 in dia,and it was so noisey,he found a piece of black 12 in drainage tile to line it with,and it is molded with a spiral,and keeps pushing the load against the bottom,and circulating it.

I found some stainless screen,and made a wood frame,to dump my loads over a plastic wash pan,to sort parts,from shot.

Keep us informed on this project ,as I am really interested in it.

My motor is a 1050 rpm motor, if I put a 2" pulley on the motor, a 1.5" on the driven shaft and the shaft turning the 17" end cap on the drum I should be in the 60 drum rpm range...... (if I calculated right!) all the research I have done guys spin them between 40 and 100 rpm so I thought 60 should be about right. With a 3/4" shaft turning the 17" drum I'm hoping that's enough reduction haha!



The media I have is cut wire media, it's cut long enough that it won't wedge in the case mouths but small enough dia that it cleans primer pockets, one complaint I have seen is you need to watch flash holes to make sure none got caught inside. I paid just over $40 for 5 pounds.



progress to date, drum has all brackets removed and is sand blasted, end plates are cut and ready for a coat of paint. tomorrow I hope to find a sheet of rubber I can use for a gasket, weld holes shut in drum, build a frame and hopefully MY MOTOR WILL GET DELIVERED.... Back to top