Wet Tumbler RPM range?

acebanana

Obi Wan Kanobi
Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 7, 2012
58
0
Charlotte, NC
Just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for the RPM range for a wet tumbler? Was thinking about using a blower motor I have laying around, 1/4 hp @ 1725RPM single phase, and mounting the PVC tube directly to the shaft and supporting it on the other end with some casters or something. Had no idea what kind of RPM the conventional tumblers run at though, and if I need to slow this motor down a significant amount or not.

Thanks
 
Re: Wet Tumbler RPM range?

My homemade effort was turning at 50rpm, and that was a bit too fast,
Centrifugal force was keeping the brass pinned to the outside of the drum too much and not 'tumbling' the contents enough.

Baffles inside the drum to 'agitate' the brass/steel pins made it worse by picking up and holding onto the contents rather than turning through the brass and media.

The results was a 'chunk...chunk...chunk' noise instead of a constant tumbling noise.

30rpm much better.
 
Re: Wet Tumbler RPM range?

Pretty sure the Thumlers Model B spins at 30RPM, once around every two seconds.

You'll probably need to run a drive-belt rather than going direct-drive, so then you can also reduce the speed by changing the pulley's size.