Rock tumbler/cons crusher

[KevinInColorado]

I made a rock tumbler to crush super cons using an old inkjet printer...got the idea from a Facebook post. Right now I have some magnetic cons tumbling with a rusted piece of old drive chain, an old railroad spike and some steel rods. you basically just remove all the plastic casing and paper guiding surfaces and all the electronics. This leaves you with the metal frame with drive motor/gears and rollers. I then stripped the ends of the wires running from the drive motor and twisted them to the ends of the wires from the original power supply. The idea is really simple although the disassembly process took a while to figure out.
Here's the 5 gal bucket full of plastic from the disassembly.
i removed all the metal for recycling of course.

 

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[Jeff95531]

Cool Kevin! Got the original link?

 

[KevinInColorado]

No but all they showed in the original is what I've shown here. No assembly required except twisting the power wires together. Otherwise it's all just removing stuff

 

[2cmorau]

way to think outside the box still enjoy my impact mill for drywasher cons

 

[KevinInColorado]

I aspire to make an impact mill but this was free

 

[Jeff95531]

So the tumbler is already "in there"

 

[KevinInColorado]

So the tumbler is already "in there"

Yup! Cool huh?

The paper handling rollers and their frame does the job nicely.

 

[arizau]

How about loading with a mixture of ball bearings. Probably less overall abrasion of the cylinder and the weight of each bearing and those on top of it concentrates in one small spot to break down the brittle pieces of non gold. Speed it up and the bearings may actually rise up the side then fall down to add crushing force.

 

[KevinInColorado]

How about loading with a mixture of ball bearings. Probably less abrasion of the cylinder and the weight of each bearing concentrates in one small spot.

Yes, just gotta scrounge some up. For now I just grabbed some iron junk off my workbench...stuff found in the river while prospecting of course.

Also I'd like to add a baffle inside the barrel to force more tumbling. Have to figure that out...the guy on FB used a Folger's container since that has handles molded into it which would work as baffles so I may try that. Problem there is the Folgers lids don't screw on, guess I could duct tape it

 

[arizau]

Yes, just gotta scrounge some up. For now I just grabbed some iron junk off my workbench...stuff found in the river while prospecting of course.

Also I'd like to add a baffle inside the barrel to force more tumbling. Have to figure that out...the guy on FB used a Folger's container since that has handles molded into it which would work as baffles so I may try that. Problem there is the Folgers lids don't screw on, guess I could duct tape it

Faster speed will pin the media to the side then gravity will let them fall. Same same.

 

[arizau]

Another thought for lifting vane/s. A row or two of closely spaced screws through the cylinder will create a lift too. Probably create leaks too so need to carefully seal.

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Great way to repurpose and save from land fill

 

[PaulieNoNuggets]

I've been trying to figure out a quick and easy way to build a tumbler, AND I happen to have an old printer out in the shed.
Thanks Kevin!

 

[Bonaro]

Nice.
You could put a section of ribbed matting coiled inside, that may lift the media and keep the plastic drum from wearing out.
I have used ball bearings and they work well, large ones are best, stainless ones wont rust on you
or you could use 3/4 nuts

 

[boogeyman]

Yes, just gotta scrounge some up. For now I just grabbed some iron junk off my workbench...stuff found in the river while prospecting of course.

Also I'd like to add a baffle inside the barrel to force more tumbling. Have to figure that out...the guy on FB used a Folger's container since that has handles molded into it which would work as baffles so I may try that. Problem there is the Folgers lids don't screw on, guess I could duct tape it

Why not just run a long bolt through it, and add a big fender washer on either end and a wing nut? If you want to really agitate things bolt or screw a paddle to the long bolt. If you're working it dry, BBs are relatively cheap. They don't work well with wet media since as soon as the plating is gone they rusty up everything.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Why not just run a long bolt through it, and add a big fender washer on either end and a wing nut? If you want to really agitate things bolt or screw a paddle to the long bolt. If you're working it dry, BBs are relatively cheap. They don't work well with wet media since as soon as the plating is gone they rusty up everything.

Old thread but...
1. Thru research and testing (in a diff thread) we learned a rod mill in a simple drum is best.
2. By running the rotational speed at the right rate you don't need paddles or anything to agitate the rods, they ride up the side and fall/roll down quite efficiently.
3. The debate continues on running dry vs. wet. Personally I like dry.

On a personal note, I'm not actively doing this right now since I don't have a workshop these days. Feel free to share your own experiments here