Exercise your brass

[BEANC0UNTER]

Treadmill has been turned into a brass tumbler for exercising your fat brass.

Maybe someone can help me embed this video instead of the link?
Youtube treadmill link
Another video http://youtu.be/qouLKaxLj6s

Here are some more pictures. I still need to clean up the drum and glue it. The pvc was free from the local plumbing supply as the end was cracked. I need to decide how long to cut it.

I need to shorten it just a bit and maybe install some type of wheel or bearing to keep it from hitting the metal piece just to the bottom right of the sticker.

Need to reinstall the back cover for the wiring and anchor the ground wire

Need to trim off all of the ends of the support bars even. I left them plenty long for any adjustments needed. This thing could hold a small drum considering it usually has people running on it.

I reinstalled the motor cover

I ordered 25 pounds of ss pins today. I am going to sell what I decide not to use. I was not sure how much to use in the drum.

I bought the cap, reducer and the rubber cap (not pictured) all from Menards for about $20. I spent about $10 max on nuts, bolts, and washers so the most expensive part for me was the ss pins. That is a tumbler on a budget!

I have some before and process pictures that I posted on another sight but I was not sure if I could link to it or not so I just uploaded the mostly finished product.

 

[THard6]

seems like a head-ache! and not to mention all the room that thing takes up..
for $40 you can have a little tumbler.
kinda need to see though.

 

[BEANC0UNTER]

I have a vibratory tumbler for corn cob media but this is for stainless steel wet tumbling. The foot print is not all that big and it could be reduced down some.

 

[william]

As far as I'm concerned that's the best use I've ever seen for a treadmill! Awesome

 

[BEANC0UNTER]

Definitely easier to watch it than to run on the thing

 

[Broom_jm]

How do you load/unload it? Does the cylinder slide easily into and out of the position where it is rotated? Seems like an AWFUL lot of work to save $50.

 

[CountryBoy19]

seems like a head-ache! and not to mention all the room that thing takes up..
for $40 you can have a little tumbler.
kinda need to see though.

Rotary tumblers are not $40... they are expensive... especially for ones large enough to tumble reasonable quantities of brass. Thumblers tumblers are in the $200+ price IIRC.

How do you load/unload it? Does the cylinder slide easily into and out of the position where it is rotated? Seems like an AWFUL lot of work to save $50.

Looks to me like the drum (made of pvc) just sits on the rollers. It appears that there will be a rubber cap clamped in place over the opening in the end of the PVC reducer on the right side. You load/unload the drum through that opening. You "load" the drum onto the tumbler by setting it on top of the rollers. Seems pretty simple to me. See above about the cost of rotary tumblers.

This appears to be a great use of a treadmill. I was actually just going to set out making a better rotary tumbler (the homemade one I have now sucks), and I hadn't even considered this approach... off to craigslist to find a free treadmill now...

ETA, for clarification. Wet tumbling brass in stainless media can ONLY be done with a rotary tumbler. Why would anybody want to do that? Well, you have NEVER seen clean brass until you've seen it cleaned this way. Primer pockets and everything are shiny and polished just like they came out of the factory. Even heavily fouled brass found on the range months after being fired can be return to a state that is shiny and polished... and you never have to buy tumbler media again. Just a dab of dish soap and lemishine.

 

[BEANC0UNTER]

I agree with country boy. They are not cheap. They do a much better job on the brass. Google it if you do not know what it is.

I should have put the rubber cap on for the picture to make it more clear.

 

[jdhaines]

I ordered 25 pounds of ss pins today. I am going to sell what I decide not to use. I was not sure how much to use in the drum.

I'm not sure how big that drum is, but in the large model B thumler's you only need 5lbs of pins. It doesn't take many. Water is far an away the largest part of the ingredients.

 

[kwatters]

I had this very idea myself, just have not put it into action yet. People practically give away old treadmills all the time.

 

[kwatters]

Here is a link to a guy who built his own, you will probably need to implement the paddles in your drum like he did to get the proper action.

My home built wet tumbler - General Reloading - Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

 

[redneckmedic]

Maybe Andrew from Profire will post a pick of his 55gal drum he tumbles with... WOW!

 

[BEANC0UNTER]

Here is a link to a guy who built his own, you will probably need to implement the paddles in your drum like he did to get the proper action.

My home built wet tumbler - General Reloading - Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

That is one of the last parts that I have to finish.

 

[1$Chuck]

That's a great idea. I've got a treadmill that I still use for its original purpose, but I suppose I could use it just by making something to hold the drum on the belt and then I'd have a duel purpose machine.

 

[rockhopper46038]

I like it! The tinkering alone gets reps from me...

 

[BEANC0UNTER]

That's a great idea. I've got a treadmill that I still use for its original purpose, but I suppose I could use it just by making something to hold the drum on the belt and then I'd have a duel purpose machine.

I did see a guy that built a wood frame that clamped to the treadmill and had a roller for the one end of the frame so that he could still use it.

I had to find some way to keep the dust off of it!

 

[BEANC0UNTER]

I received my pins. I used one of the small wheels from the treadmill and mounted it to keep the drum in place. I did not include a picture but I added a wheel to the other side as well.

Up and running

[ame]http://youtu.be/-TsnBx9R7d4[/ame]

 

[BEANC0UNTER]

Before picture, they were not that dirty but I had to try it out!

After pictures

Overall I am very happy and would not make any adjustments. Worth the effort.

 

[blurr95]

The only problem i see with it is, where do you hang your clothes now. That is a cool idea though. I have been looking into build a rotoray tumbler myself. Never would have thought of doing it this way.

Jason

 

[BEANC0UNTER]

The only problem i see with it is, where do you hang your clothes now. That is a cool idea though. I have been looking into build a rotoray tumbler myself. Never would have thought of doing it this way.

Jason

who needs a place to hang them when you have a clothes basket, erm I mean dresser