Somehow I posted this to alt.r.c.m over a week ago. Pretty dead there. Here it is again.
I have some stainless manifolds that I would like to polish up by tumbling. I saw some 12 inch PVC the other day and thought that would make a good tumbling barrel. However, that stuff is expensive.
I was thinking about capping each end, running a rod through it and mounting it on my lathe. Turn it on low overnight and see what happens.
Any thoughts on cheap sources of 12 inch diameter pipe, or other alternatives?
I'm referring to something like a drywall bucket when I say 5 gallon pail
But a rod through it isn't such a great idea, no matter what you use. Support it from the one end using a piece of plywood and a pipe flange, or make a set of support rollers like a conventional tumbler. Kind of depends on the weight of the parts and the tumbling media.
we did some parts in a square pail that kitty litter comes in. the flat sides tend to help the tumbling action. We were deburring brass parts, I used #1 limestone chips and water, it did ok at deburring, but made a beautiful satin finish. Cheeep.
Guys installing new sewer and watermains in a sub-divison may see some of that. Also, in Canada, it is used to jacket elevator hydraulic cylinders in some instances, and they might have a slice or two left over. Give a few of them a call, and get the Construction Superintendent, not somebody in the "office".
You could improvise a ball mill or tumbler on the lathe. I built a separate unit (after Dan Williams) before I had a lathe, but I've speculated on the following lathe-based design:
Make 2 rollers by slipping heater hose over rods. One rod goes between the spindle and live center, like an ordinary workpiece, becoming the powered roller. The other rod is a parallel idler on bearings (or you can use a workpiece roller, like you might have already for bandsawing); not sure of a good way to attach that to the lathe bed; could be a piece of plywood C-clamped to the bed, with pillow block bearings. Or maybe just a single fixed caster wheel held in the toolpost could serve as an idler (not as stable).
Run the spindle at the critical speed, fast enough to lift the media most of the way up the side of the barrel, and flop it over, but not so fast that the centrifugal force keeps it pushed against the barrel at the top. Anything slower or faster will greatly reduce efficiency.
You must also rig some kind of stop to restrain the container from creeping off the end of the rollers.
A ball mill is a useful thing for milling and mixing things to fine powders. Or mulling casting media.
I would thing the cat pee would soak into the plywood. What is the advantage in having a round cat box anyway? Also given cats aversion to water, do you really thing they enjoy sailing?
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.