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All Forums >> [Bottle Forums] >> Cleaning and Repairing >> tumbling bottles

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tumbling bottles - 11/14/2002 5:07:06 AM    scott grandstaff   Posts: 17 Joined: 10/31/2002 Status: offline As far as I know, you can' t even buy hydroflouric acid in high liquid strength in the US, certainly not in volume. Except for rust stains or accumulated contents, milder acid never works. So, I build some tumblers. Back when I started it was a closely guarded secret and all I had to go on was a rough discription over the phone. I kind of invented a few aspects of it, knowing no better, and it still works very well for me. It' s very cheap and very safe once you know the ropes and most bottles and all jars can be polished with it. I' ll be happy to coach anyone who wants to make their own equipment. It takes some time to make your own from scratch, but it' s nearly free or at least very low cost if you can scrounge at all. yours, Scott Post #: 1

RE: tumbling bottles - 11/15/2002 6:22:45 PM    Guest Scott, I have wanted to build a tumbler for a long time now, but just never got around to going through with it. I have seen several machines, but I can’t figure out the pulley ratio. For example if I have a 1/3 hp motor, what size pulleys would I need? I don’t want to spin my bottles into dust, but I do want it to be effective. I think I have most of the parts for it, I just have to start putting it together. I would appreciate any help. Thanks, Ed Runyon http://www.capemaycountybottles.com < Message edited by Ed Runyon -- 11/15/2002 6:33:48 PM > (in reply to scott grandstaff)   Post #: 2

RE: tumbling bottles - 11/18/2002 5:07:43 PM    scott grandstaff   Posts: 17 Joined: 10/31/2002 Status: offline Hi Ed OK, you want about 75 rpm on the tube. At least I read a long time ago that around 75 was the optimum starting point for ball mills which is how rocks become dust and gold, copper or whatever is got to. Our copper chunks rolling against the bottle is basically the same thing in principle except we have a fine polish instead of something harsher. The ball mill uses 15 pound iron balls and we are using featherweight copper snippets. You' ll usually need a jack shaft to reduce the speed enough. This is a shaft separate from the motor or the machine. Kind of the intermediary shaft. It' s a long equasion, but simple enough even for me. You got a regular 1725rpm motor. About the smallest pulley you can get to reliably work is 1 1/2" , so you multiply motor speed by 1.5 which = 2587. Forget the fraction. Now, suppose you got a score on an old washing machine pulley that' s 10" . Your motor pulley will connect to this at the jack shaft. Divide by 10 and you get 259. That' s one end of the shaft. On the other say you have a spare 3" pulley. 10 to 3 is something like 3.33, so divide by this for the final jack shaft speed. So now we get 78. If you use another 3" pulley to run your tubes they' ll be running 78 which is close enough. This is all assuming you drive your tubes at the shaft speed. Directly connected from the end of the shaft to the tube is my point (it' s how I drive mine). If you are driving a roller and the tube will be laying on the roller it' s another kettle of fish. Suppose you have a 2" roller and will drive a 4" tube. That' s 1/2 speed from the tube to the roller so you have to adjust your setup accordingly. Either a smaller jackshaft big pulley (say 5" or for the big one) or a smaller pulley on your roller end, like about 1 1/2" instead of the three. This is all fast and loose but I hope you can get the idea of it. I never was good at algebra so I just swap in regular pulley sizes in my equasion and refigure until I come up with near 75. Of course, in a perfect world we' d all have variable speed dc motors and complimentary controllers so we could slow down the machine for squares or ovals and speed up a little for sodas and whiskeys, but close to 75 rpm has always worked for me even if not quite optimum. yours, Scott (in reply to scott grandstaff) Post #: 3

[Deleted] - 11/19/2002 7:43:21 PM    Guest [Deleted by Admins] (in reply to scott grandstaff)   Post #: 4

RE: tumbling bottles - 12/25/2002 6:44:33 PM    Guest Ok guys. you can build your and thats good that your able to do that. Alot of people are looking for people who tumble bottles for others. Is it risky? Yes it is. But no one is perfect. So to answer th first question. Acid is NOT the way to go. What if you have kids around or pets. What about your lungs? The only safe way is tumbling in a tube with copper and oxides. Depending on your grit size of oxid you can get different results. I have heard of some people removing embossing in 7 days on a jar. Well this person used the wrong grit size and didn' t know what they were doing. I have been tumbling for 2 plus years now and have lost 2 bottles, both my fault and I paid for them. none have been lost to the tumbler or none over polishing, which is impossible,well I shopuld say only if you leave it in for a month this could happen. for a good look at before and after results go to www.geocities.com/rjk6358/tumbling.html if you build your own tumbler, good luck. (in reply to scott grandstaff)   Post #: 5

RE: tumbling bottles - 2/20/2003 10:34:55 PM    Guest never use acids! can eat up some glass types.dirt and grime can be cleaned by brushes.dont tumble unless glass is sick .etched by ground water or other stuff that it came in contact in the dump.try a soak in amonia soap and water not hot.make shift brushes canbe made. cut stuff coat hanger tight loop in end wrap 000 steel wool around and pinch down tight with pliers .can bend to any angle be patient.send good bottles to pros to have tumbled. if you build a tumbler practice on junk bottles first.get an old electric clothes dryer strip out controlls direct wire motor.criscross four threaded rods through the drum2 in front 2 in rear suspend bottles in capped pvc tubes.dont let your bottles bounce around let the copper and oxides with water make a slurry and routate around the bottle. tumble for short periods.and check dont over tumble just let them get clean and shiney.practice on crap. get antique bottle collectors monthy. sometimes you can buy oxides through the adds. its a white powder called raybrite i believe.also cut copper.leave the best bottles to the pros.untill you know what you are doing. (in reply to scott grandstaff)   Post #: 6

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