Vibration or Rotary tumbler??????

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ROBBYBOBBY64

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For any body using a Harbor Frieght Vibration or Rock tumbler I'd suggest just getting the real thing. Less Broken Bottles, Less Complications & Better Results. Once you get a real Tumbler you'll look back at the home made tubes & Duct Tape & other oddball tricks that never worked & say to yourself, What was I thinking back then. I know what you were thinking, But I'll save Money this way & a real Tumbler is expensive. Just my Opinion.
I love Jar Doctor, kind of the only Doctor in town. I have seen great homemade machines. They still use Jar Doctors tubes, stoppers and grit. Great advice from someone who believes (I hate to put it in audio terms) that your only as good as your worst component.
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Wildcat wrangler

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For any body using a Harbor Frieght Vibration or Rock tumbler I'd suggest just getting the real thing. Less Broken Bottles, Less Complications & Better Results. Once you get a real Tumbler you'll look back at the home made tubes & Duct Tape & other oddball tricks that never worked & say to yourself, What was I thinking back then. I know what you were thinking, But I'll save Money this way & a real Tumbler is expensive. Just my Opinion.
I know your right…. But wonder if we all have our stages of where we are in the journey?? l gravitate towards the top of the line stuff, when I get around to it, but right now I’m at the “holy crap, the one I would get is 2 grand! Do u know how many bottles I could find for $2000?!” stage. And it’s not that I couldn’t just go and buy the thing…. I’m guessing I need to bust the proper number of bottles, in this process of accepting the fact that I’m buying a $2000 bottle buster! And at that point I’ll be calling my good friend, Judy, the shrink, who will come over here and confirm, once again, what we all suspected. But ya know, ya can’t take it with you, so I could end up buying that if Santa doesn’t bring me that bottle breaker!. ean while. I have my eyes pealed for a sweet machine someone might be selling? I haven’t had any luck yet, other than “oh Doug sold his 4 months ago!” I’m getting better connected with the local bottle people in this area again. A lot of the bottle people I’ve known for 30 years died since lockdown? But now I know the president of the local bottle club and I’m going to ask. And also bottle shows are back with a bigger one, Nov. 12- I will ask around, there, too. I do know it’s going to bug me, until I get a good tumbler! Until then, I will just limp thru, best that I can, and hope not to break too many, ‍♀️
 
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hemihampton

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You don't have to buy a $2,000.00 set up. should be able to get a complete set up for under $1,000.00. I tried going the cheap route at first & was a waste of time. I've still gone kinda cheap but so far never busted a Bottle. If your busting Bottles your doing something major wrong. Just my opinion. I probably got $500 or less in my set up but made some of it myself. But can only do 1 Bottle at a time. LEON.
 

Wildcat wrangler

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You don't have to buy a $2,000.00 set up. should be able to get a complete set up for under $1,000.00. I tried going the cheap route at first & was a waste of time. I've still gone kinda cheap but so far never busted a Bottle. If your busting Bottles your doing something major wrong. Just my opinion. I probably got $500 or less in my set up but made some of it myself. But can only do 1 Bottle at a time. LEON.

I could deal with a smaller set up, as long as it could handle the largest whiskey, as I have mad love for them! Leon, do you have the variable speed motor, and if so, is that something you would use, or just a feature you would have sitting there? I’ve wondered if that’s useful or not. Also, is a less expensive model equipped to handle a larger diameter canister? Even if it’s 1 by 1 at a time? I love the hunt of a decent deal and am hoping I find 1 at that November bottle show! I could deal with the $1000 one if it would do what I need it to do. Kat >^..^<


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Wildcat wrangler

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I just purchased the large vibration tumbler for harbor freight. I am freaking out because I thing I should have bought a rotary tumbler. Will a vibration tumbler work just as good as rotary tumbler? The reason I got it was because it has more space for lager bottles.

What I noticed is it helped to pad or cushion that middle part of the machine with whatever, and duct tape! And I had luck protecting embossment with duct tape. Then I took a piece of old hose…. (If you don’t have one, your neighbors hose is kind of too long! Just kidding…. Just kidding, Julie, next door!) split a couple inch piece of hose up the length of it, put it over the lip and neck and duct tape that on to protect that- beautiful! Your golden. There are ones that I padded the bases on, too. If u take precautions and start learning on the junkers, I think u got it. Have u had any luck yet? It did make a lot of them a lot better, and busted some that probably needed it! Still, I wouldn’t put anything too nice in there…. Only the expendable ones.


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Wildcat wrangler

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Finally, I’ve got the tumbler to where it can work at its best, until I get an actual bottle tumbler! I told you I bought a double sized drum, BUT it has these stupid huge compression caps that take up 4” each, so the inside of the barrel ends up only about 1” larger than the 2 single sized barrels? I kept thinking of how I could fix it so the thin caps that came with the machine would work…. Here is what I did. I got a thick plastic canister that fits snuggly in the 1st rubber drum…. After a lot of dish soap, I did get it to go in that.
807f099aef6c4088d98c76a1652f277e.jpg

I was going to glue it, but this is water tight, as it is. Then I cut the end off the other barrel, got my soap out again, and with some prying on the rubber with a couple small screw drivers, I worked it on there.
87b36813c4609d1f070a50020624dbdd.jpg

I did have to notch out the lining canister, to get it to go.
9f8c722fbafbbd33d8a1b6bca4566590.jpg

So there’s nothing taking up space in the bottom of the drum- strictly a top loader. But check out how much space it bought me! It will handle a bottle almost 9”, and it did really well, on cleaning.
e4b4f57c9eb9a1b336e218ebc607e72a.jpg

d3b9258f351d7129478fffbf9ffa961b.jpg

Also, notice I didn’t butt the 2 drums up against each other? That’s so I could have this just as long as possible, and still turn.


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ROBBYBOBBY64

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Finally, I’ve got the tumbler to where it can work at its best, until I get an actual bottle tumbler! I told you I bought a double sized drum, BUT it has these stupid huge compression caps that take up 4” each, so the inside of the barrel ends up only about 1” larger than the 2 single sized barrels? I kept thinking of how I could fix it so the thin caps that came with the machine would work…. Here is what I did. I got a thick plastic canister that fits snuggly in the 1st rubber drum…. After a lot of dish soap, I did get it to go in that.
807f099aef6c4088d98c76a1652f277e.jpg

I was going to glue it, but this is water tight, as it is. Then I cut the end off the other barrel, got my soap out again, and with some prying on the rubber with a couple small screw drivers, I worked it on there.
87b36813c4609d1f070a50020624dbdd.jpg

I did have to notch out the lining canister, to get it to go.
9f8c722fbafbbd33d8a1b6bca4566590.jpg

So there’s nothing taking up space in the bottom of the drum- strictly a top loader. But check out how much space it bought me! It will handle a bottle almost 9”, and it did really well, on cleaning.
e4b4f57c9eb9a1b336e218ebc607e72a.jpg

d3b9258f351d7129478fffbf9ffa961b.jpg

Also, notice I didn’t butt the 2 drums up against each other? That’s so I could have this just as long as possible, and still turn.


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I like using a piece of pvc pipe and the oatey test caps. Duct tape it on, don't glue the cap.
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Wildcat Wrangling Kat

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I like using a piece of pvc pipe and the oatey test caps. Duct tape it on, don't glue the cap.
ROBBYBOBBY64.

I have a rock tumbler on back order, from the jar Dr. I hope I get it by next year…. It’s probably sitting off shore in a ship…. . Thanks, Robbie…. I’m going to be asking a lot of questions, soon! Rookie, here….


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