Grit Tumbler

General vintage slot machine related topics.
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badpenny
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Grit Tumbler

Post by badpenny »

T'other week I popped around to the workshop of a Pennymachines' member.

A soopah time was had and I walked away with a 60s German wall mounted Death Machine to poke screwdrivers into when I'm feeling frivolous.

I noted he had bought himself a grit tumbler/cleaner gubbins. I know they're not cheap but he had done his homework and bought it direct for a very decent wedge.
This caught my attention because about fifteen years ago I sensibly plonked lots of hundreds of tanners, thruppenies and pennies into a large horse feed bucket along with a healthy dose of aluminium spares and denominator badges. I then appeared to have carefully placed it beneath the only hole in the roof of my Lock-Up.
Consequently when I returned to it after three years I wondered why I'd stored away 30ltrs of dirty water. The thought of decrapinating (copyright Clive Baker 1989) that lot was off putting, and I'd had enough of lugging it all around from home to home. It was time to do something.

So I made my own tumbler/cleaner.
I had an old random orbital sander which I set upside down in a heavy bench vice.
I then bolted a plastic bucket to the plate the sanding paper was velcro'ed to and chucked in a mixture of fine silica sand and aluminium oxide I had knocking about.
Because I didn't want to be standing around breathing a cloud of the stuff I bought a clockwork operated mains timer switch off eBay and fitted it.

It generates amazingly high ripples and waves, and the items not only rotate around the bucket but also flip over and rise and fall.
The first load of coins cleaned up well, the copper coins take a little longer than the cupro-nickel ones, but aluminium items are the quickest.

* One old cheapo 220W Random Orbital Palm Sander
* One plastic bucket from corner shop - £1.10
* A handful of random bolts, washers and nuts
* A small bag of silica sand - £1.85
* A clockwork timer switch from eBay - £2.95

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treefrog
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Re: Grit Tumbler

Post by treefrog »

Very good. Strangely I have a bucket of sixpences I accidentally left in rusty water for a long time and all stained and wondered what to do.....problem is I don’t even own an orbital sander, let alone having a spare old one... :!?!:
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Re: Grit Tumbler

Post by badpenny »

You can buy a really powerful one with a volume control from Screwfix for about £30 which makes it still only a third of the cheapest Rumbler.

Alternatively Adled regularly have small ones for under £20.
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Re: Grit Tumbler

Post by pennymachines »

!TWWP!

This is my barrelling tumbler, bought years ago in Birmingham's Jewelry Quarter. You load it with stainless steel shot, cleaning compound and water, plus the items you want to polish, and leave it tumbling overnight. Rusty but irreplaceable fasteners of all types, and other metal bits and bobs come out looking nice and shiny.


Barrelling.jpg


I see there's one on Amazon for £46.


tumler2.jpg

But homemade tools rule. **xXx** I want to see a !!PHOTO!!
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badpenny
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Re: Grit Tumbler

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You're a troublemaker Mr P!

You know full well I'm not allowed within 500 yards of a camera, not since the last Crown Court judgement. In fact if it hadn't been for your character reference I'd probably have gotten off completely.
Anyway I've grabbed my high speed tracing paper and my Shakespeare Pencils (2B) and knocked up some Victorian like silhouettes for your Magic Lantern Viewer.
IMG_3123.JPG


IMG_3124.JPG

I have it leaning Skew Whiff to stop the bucket from just spinning. Other buckets named after "80s rubbish pop duos" are also available.
The sponge is a weak attempt to cushion the vibration and quieten it a tad. Failed!
The strong of looking amongst you will notice not all my projects are slot related.

This is it running on tick over. The vertical coins are in the process of sinking beneath the surface before resurfacing near the bucket edge and flat.
If you turn the volume up to 11 then everything just leaps out the bucket. Test flights demonstrate a maximum altitude of volume 3 does the trick. However I'm averaging 15 minutes on regulo 1, until I feel braver or the safety net arrives from Amazon.

IMG_3125.JPG

With it switched off most of the coins are submerged.
IMG_3126.JPG

Having run it a few times now I'll plonk it in a larger steel vice or The Workmate as it does need bolting down to stop it ending up in Leicestershire.

BP
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Re: Grit Tumbler

Post by pennymachines »

Heath Robinson would have been proud of it. !!THUMBSX2!!
badpenny wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 4:28 pmThe strong of looking amongst you will notice not all my projects are slot related.
Oh, I thought the mortar bomb was retaliation from your neighbours.
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coppinpr
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Re: Grit Tumbler

Post by coppinpr »

My daughter has asked for a grit tumbler for Xmas and its due to arrive any day, now i have a reason to borrow it.
Have to point out Mr p. thats no mortar bomb!! Im guessing its one of bP's future projects,he said earlier in this thread he likes to poke screwdrivers into dangerous machines,TAKE COVER!! dont panic!! !!DIG!!
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geordy55
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Re: Grit Tumbler

Post by geordy55 »

Happy to have been some kind of inspiration
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badpenny
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Re: Grit Tumbler

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coppinpr wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 6:14 pm My daughter has asked for a grit tumbler for Xmas and its due to arrive any day, now i have a reason to borrow it.
Have to point out Mr p. thats no mortar bomb!! Im guessing its one of bP's future projects,he said earlier in this thread he likes to poke screwdrivers into dangerous machines,TAKE COVER!! dont panic!! !!DIG!!
Quite right Paul, that's the tail section of a 500 kg (.50 US Ton) Generic HE Ordinance. I know a retired Bomb Disposal chappie who in his last years was clearing the live ordinance run on the mud flats on the Wash. Most goes for scrap, others are tendered off. I'm hoping to convert it to old penny.
geordy55 wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 6:25 pm Happy to have been some kind of inspiration
Scary isn't it Dave the influence one may inflict unknowingly?

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badpenny
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Re: Grit Tumbler

Post by badpenny »

Anyone thinking of making a Grit Tumbler using an old orbital sander bolted underneath a plastic bucket should be advised it's not a good idea.
Save your £5.90 and put it towards a couple of bottles of White Snake Cider to drink out of a brown paper bag in the long grass down by the railway tracks.

Obviously the fact it has a grinding effect on the metal you want cleaning means it also attacks the bolts holding the bucket on.
Consequently, after oodles of minutes service it should be apparent it would only then need a slight gust of gravity to topple it.

Of course having a couple of kilos of sand etc chucked around with careless abandon is nothing more than an irritation.
It's the consequences that are worthy of note. The cooling fan on the sander sucking the grit into the electric motor and causing wear equivalent to years in only a cupful of seconds is most impressive.

I'd go back to my Drawing Board only it caught fire when the sander seized.

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Re: Grit Tumbler

Post by grains »

Oh dear! After the demonstration yesterday I do feel a little responsible for the demise of your Grit Tumbler :shock:
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badpenny
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Re: Grit Tumbler

Post by badpenny »

Fool! I was trying to keep your name out of it!

Once word gets around it'll all become public knowledge, and then before you know it somebody will associate you with that awful kerfuffle with the Jubileecratic Hi-Chief sold on Ee-buy-Gum Bay last Muck Spreading Tuesday. If anyone asks I'll have to tell the truth.

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Re: Grit Tumbler

Post by geordy55 »

And I thought it was the red arrows going over !
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