rhubarb
Member
I went to the flea market last weekend looking for a blender, fan or other small motorized mechanism from which I could scavenge a motor to make a tumbler. Right away I spied an orbital sander for $7, but that wasn't really what I sought. I wandered around for an hour or so (flea markets down here are bigger'n Wally World) and didn't find anything that really fit the bill. I decided to try the sander. I was able to get it discounted to $6.
I took it home and glued one of the plastic bowls I use to store cases to the sandpaper. That way, I could remove the bowl via the hook and loop. Neat, huh? Didn't work - the glue wouldn't stick to the plastic bowl. I then unscrewed the base of the sander and used the screws to attach the bowl. I filled the bowl with media and about 100 223 cases and turned it on. Wow! This dude moves! Putting it down on the floor, it vibrated and jitterbugged crazily. I've seen various home-made tumblers, but none were as simple to assemble as this.
I set it in a canvas chair and it sat still and started churning the media. In addition to the aggressive vibration, the media rotates around the bowl at 7-8 rpm. Within an hour in the mixture of crushed walnut and Mother's Mag Wheel Polish my grungy thrice-loaded cases sparkled. Sparkled!
I think the sander would move a larger bowl as well as the small one. I'm also going to screw the lid to the sander instead of the bottom of the bowl so that emptying and filling the bowl will be easier. That'll have to wait, though. More .223 cases are tumbling now, and there are thousands of 9mm, .45, .38, .357, .30-30 and .308 in line.
I took it home and glued one of the plastic bowls I use to store cases to the sandpaper. That way, I could remove the bowl via the hook and loop. Neat, huh? Didn't work - the glue wouldn't stick to the plastic bowl. I then unscrewed the base of the sander and used the screws to attach the bowl. I filled the bowl with media and about 100 223 cases and turned it on. Wow! This dude moves! Putting it down on the floor, it vibrated and jitterbugged crazily. I've seen various home-made tumblers, but none were as simple to assemble as this.
I set it in a canvas chair and it sat still and started churning the media. In addition to the aggressive vibration, the media rotates around the bowl at 7-8 rpm. Within an hour in the mixture of crushed walnut and Mother's Mag Wheel Polish my grungy thrice-loaded cases sparkled. Sparkled!
I think the sander would move a larger bowl as well as the small one. I'm also going to screw the lid to the sander instead of the bottom of the bowl so that emptying and filling the bowl will be easier. That'll have to wait, though. More .223 cases are tumbling now, and there are thousands of 9mm, .45, .38, .357, .30-30 and .308 in line.
