My case tumbler

[hdwhit]

Just thought I'd share a picture of my case tumbler.

When I first got into reloading I didn't have a lot of money so I had to improvise. The drive mechanism is from a Texas Instruments Omni 800 printer and the rollers came from a surplus store. The coffee can is from Folgers and the spacing of the rollers means it can handle either 1 pound (pictured) or 2.5 pound containers. I load everything in small batches (50 cartridges or less), so I generally only tumble 50 cases in the 1 pound container at a time, but the 2.5 pound container would probably handle a couple hundred cases from most calibers.

 

[mmorris]

A very resourceful solution.

Is there any chance of a video of this in operation, or if not, could you post a photo looking end-wise?
I am fascinated by the belt adjustment apparatus.

Mike

 

[Walkalong]

And if you have fascinated mmorris, you've done something. He's a mechanical genius.

Neat set up.

 

[ntg]

Looks sharp. You can quickly rig up that dusty treadmill to do the same.

 

[TexasDon]

Looks good..
I assume you use corn cob or walnut media.

I made one something like that, but then wanted to do wet tumbling.
Found that a Coffee-Mate LARGE plastic container fits into my coffee container with a little help. It has a screw on lid that will be water tight ( Mine was).
Because of the hand hold in the side of the coffee container, the inside container sits eccentric inside making the brass tumble well.

Just an idea....


TxD

 

[jmorris]

Should do the job, looks like a mini version of a few I built a while back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlZOYjmAnO0

 

[salpal48]

I found from Past Purchases @ Christmas Tree shop. They have a 1.5-2 Gal. size Plastic containers of Cheese balls. They work Great as Tumbler barrels. and The cheese balls are good also

 

[TexasDon]

That's NO coffee can jmorris.....

But I wouldn't have expected anything less...CooL..!!

TxD

 

[hdwhit]

A very resourceful solution.

Is there any chance of a video of this in operation, or if not, could you post a photo looking end-wise?
I am fascinated by the belt adjustment apparatus.

Mike

I'll try to get one up, but it is just the bracket that held the printer's motor held up by a C-clamp.

My first degree was Agricultural Engineering so I still relish "agrarian" solutions to problems.

 

[hdwhit]

Here are the requested photos of the motor mount. As you can see, it is just the reduction gear housing from the original printer mounted high enough on the vertical board to take up the slack in the belt and held in place with a C-clamp.

When I built it, the reduction gear housing was just screwed to the vertical board, but over the intervening decades, the belt stretched enough that I had to re-position it to keep the tension. It would be easy enough to add a nut and bolt affair to allow the tension to be adjusted by turning a nut, but the C-clamp was even easier and faster.

 

[hdwhit]

Looks good..
I assume you use corn cob or walnut media.

I made one something like that, but then wanted to do wet tumbling.
Found that a Coffee-Mate LARGE plastic container fits into my coffee container with a little help. It has a screw on lid that will be water tight ( Mine was).
Because of the hand hold in the side of the coffee container, the inside container sits eccentric inside making the brass tumble well.

Just an idea....


TxD

Yes, everything is tumbled in walnut media.

I haven't tried wet tumbling, yet, but thank you for the suggestion about putting a sealed contained inside the plastic coffee can. I doubt I would have thought about that on my own.

 

[hdwhit]

Should do the job, looks like a mini version of a few I built a while back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlZOYjmAnO0

Yeah, definitely a mini version.

I was really impressed with the pantograph video that followed.

 

[jmorris]

Thanks, that one has been a huge time saver as well. Didn't take that long to build it and after the first day of use I wished I had made it 20 years earlier.