Motor for Tumbler?

[Ryan]

I've been wanting to build my own tumbler (I'd buy one but I'm nowhere near able to afford one). I was thinking of using a spare garage door opener motor, but after doing the math I figured it would cost me $3.50 in electricity to run it for 3 days straight. Not bad compared to what it would cost to pay someone else to tumble it, but I'd still like to cheapen it if possible so I can tumble some fairly common bottles.

So does anybody have any advice as to what is the ideal motor? How many amps and RPMs it should have? The fewer amps the better as far as operating costs go, but I want to make sure it's strong enough to spin the bottle and copper. I will only be doing one bottle at a time, so it doesn't have to be super strong...

Thanks!

-Ryan

 

[Gunsmoke47]

Hey Ryan, as Rich states, the motor is very important. The thing you need to remember is a very sick bottle will sometimes require 4-7 days with cutter oxide and 3-4 days with polish oxide. This has to be going 24/7 the whole time. If you use a cheap motor, you run the risk of not only burning your machine up but also your house. Something to think about. Godd luck with your project, Kelley

 

[slimdigger]

I use a 1725rmp 1/4 hp motor on my tumbler. You just have to reduce the rpm's using pulleys. I have my tumbler geared down to turn a 4 inch cannister about 60 revolutions per minute. Works great. The size of the motor is not that critical as long as you can do the math and slow it down using pulleys or gears. Slimdigger