Harbor Freight Tumbler Superframe Modification

[@jaycousland9835]

The best thing about HF tumblers are the rubber drums.I burnt up 2 dual HF tumblers,melted motors,had to resleeve the drive shafts with fuel tubing,bought the bulk 0-rings for replacement drive belts,etc. Finally I built a rotator for the 4 drums and scrapped the rest of the tumblers. But the rubber drums are good.

[@jsantos916]

100% Agree. I bet the price of two Thumers replacement drums cost more that the HF 2 drum unit!

[@kirkboswell2575]

The "white stuff" you were referring to is "schedule 40". They do make cheap white stuff as well, along with some even more expensive, higher number schedule pipe. That is a really neat idea with the roller bearing and frame. I REALLY like it. And thanks for sharing. The solution that I saw one other guy use was to glue 1/2 inch pipe cut in half lengthwise to the inside surface. He scattered short pieces of his around randomly on the inside. Another guy I saw used some 1/2 inch angle iron bolted thru the pipe wall to make actual vanes. rubber scrap, of course, to seal the holes. For myself, I think that the metal vanes would be more durable, but should probably be covered with a cushioning coating of some kind. Maybe several coats of Flex Seal? The screw on cap has many names depending on manufacturer, but is commonly referred to as a clean out port. Good video.

[@jsantos916]

Sounds like you came across all the same projects I saw, fun seeing other approaches. All done! kzbin.info/www/bejne/epiwXoehf75rkKM

[@parkerbenz]

Ive been running the same dual drum from harbor freight for 18-24 hours a day for the past week and a half. I have had ZERO issues with it, none of the rubbing and wear like is shown on your tumbler

[@lailasma]

Moo I'm

[@uarbor70]

It is designed to migrate the jars toward the ends that's why that rubber thing on the rollers does not go the whole way to the edge otherwise if you had one jar on there and the rubber side started hitting the edge you can imagine what the problem would be it doesn't matter how level you make it the jars will always migrate to the outer edges

[@WilliamL1988]

I'm glad I found your video because this is exactly what I have been thinking about doing, get a full tube. I just bought one of these tumblers today and I collect old bottles. I've tried a few times to make my own tumbler but I don't have a good motor and that's where all the money goes into. So where did you buy the tube and the caps for each end? Home depot, Lowes? My plan is to tumble some bottles and see if it will clean them like the more expensive machines people use.

[@jsantos916]

William Lack - Hey WL - Got everything at Lowes for about $15 or so, Do not forget the good cement AND , if you use the black pipe, to line the tube with rock hard plastic. Oh, the thing is completly leak free AFTER I wrap the threaded plug with a ton teflon tape. The tape is super cheap and fills up any imperfections in the threaded plug. Heres the whole process: jonathansantos.com/homemade-6lbs-rock-tumbler-barrel

[@jsantos916]

cap, here ya go : new.jonathansantos.com/rock-tumbler/homemade-6lbs-rock-tumbler-barrel

[@jsantos916]

Both Lowes and Home Depot carry the pipe and caps. One side has a permanent "Pvc Pipe Test Cap" sealing it off, the other an "Oatley Gripper Plastic Mechanical Test Plug" which is awesome. Google those terms and you should have everything you need.

[@jerryboothe6478]

So what is the result of making the barrel. Did the rocks tumble correctly? where is the finish product? I have a Lortone 33b, similar setup to yours. My barrels dont run out but I have been wondering if I could somehow fit a larger barrel to it, like a couple 4lb or 6lb barrels even from other brands. it this worked for you on final results, then I may try this instead of continuing my search for close sizes in larger barrels. Especially since it doesnt harm my original barrels. My only concern for the plastic tube is the slide effect that the rubber barrels help create on the inside where plastic wouldnt grip and give the same effect. So mainly.....How did it turn out?

[@jsantos916]

Turned out great, ran for a few loads. The missing piece was a liner... the rough grit tore up the inside of the cheap "foam" black piping. Should have used white PVC. www.jonathansantos.com/homemade-6lbs-rock-tumbler-barrel

[@jsantos916]

JB - here is an updated build, and the final tumbler I used daily: kzbin.info/www/bejne/epiwXoehf75rkKM

[@XRayCam]

Crawling is the answer to the problem you are having....Take a 4 strips of tape (duct tape or black tape) and run a few circles around each rotating rods about 1/3 distance (experiment) up from base of each barrel. With rotating objects like this....if one side of area is higher than "level" the barrels will ROLL towards the higher level because that tape on rollers will "grab" it. So what will happen now is that both barrels will constantly be guided to butt up against each other. That is what I am thinking anyway. Actually the rollers would be BEST fix but some don't have the tools or resources to complete that mod.

[@jsantos916]

***** Yup, great recap... akin to how old leather belts for water-powered sawmills broke in a self-centered. The only variable, well one of them, was friction and heat allowed the tape to a) abrade and expose the adhesive b) transfer the adhesive to the barrel c) lose tack from the dusty environment and increase the wear rate. All of this was exacerbated from the hot Arizona sun even though its in a semi cool shed.

[@borisscott9156]

Nice creative fixes. Thanks for sharing. But seeing all the work you've had to do wouldn't you be better off just buying a quality tumbler like a Thumler's Tumbler or even a Lortone?

[@jsantos916]

You are right, better. But the one I finally built came out : kzbin.info/www/bejne/epiwXoehf75rkKM

[@jimbasler9294]

I wasn't impressed with the quality of the Harbor Freight tumblers,either. I finally built my own,mostly from odds and ends that I had in my garage and shed. Very cool fix,though!!!

[@hobohacker258]

As simple as a tumbler is, its sad that HF still cut every corner. (And i like HF)

[@paulhamilton5634]

You can find a Lortone for the same price that you put all of your time & money into "fixing" the HF one & it will be bigger with a better motor.

[@redeyetrucker520]

I have one hf unit and 2-4lb TumbleBee units. The solution for me want to reengineer the cheap unit, I simply upgrade to a higher quality product. Done deal.

[@jamesritchie8540]

Hey DA!!!..go inside and get on a table to make your videos!!!!

[@lorddraylon]

The reason they wore of f was because you kept mentioning at an angle. Your fault. I've have three of those exact ones and have had them for six years now and mine never wore off. So again your fault.

[@jsantos916]

I had the unit bubble level perfect and it would "crawl" to one side or the other unpredictably no matter what I did. One day it would rub on to top tab, the next (without touching anything) it would be rubbing on the other tab. At least with the super-slight tilt I knew it would stay on the roller skate wheel with no wear. Glad you have perfect units.

[@jamesritchie8540]

we get the tab deal....move on...