11 Pound Rock polisher Rod Mill Project

[Seden]

Just bought an 11 pound rotary tumbler off ebay for my Rod Mill Project. I've read earlier threads about the Randy Clarkson rod mill plus the orginal paper. I also just bought the USA Prospector Miller Table with the patented ABS material with coating that holds on to the gold.

What motivated me is the amount of time it takes to crush my black sands using a jaw crusher is very time consuming despite the gold I was recovering. Here's the link:5kg Rotary Tumbler Surface Polisher Jewelry Rock Polishing Finishing Machine | eBay
As you can see it is transparent plus speed adjustable so you can dial in the speed of rotation while watching the action of the rods on the material.

So will see how this "pans out" and for the price, what the heck.
Randy-Midnight Miner in good standing (Hello Dave and Pam!)

 

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[motohed]

I was wondering how some hex rod material would work , only cause I have some and it's 1 1/4 " stock and I have about 20 feet of the stuff . It may be to heavy . Just thinking it might work well in a hex shaped tumbler .

 

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[GoldpannerDave]

I was wondering how some hex rod material would work , only cause I have some and it's 1 1/4 " stock and I have about 20 feet of the stuff . It may be to heavy . Just thinking it might work well in a hex shaped tumbler .

Well, you really want the material to roll; with hex sided tumbler and hex rods, I don't think that is going to do exactly what you want. But try it and see; remember, you want to flattened the gold (so it gets slightly larger) and crush the rest of the material. Then if it was 30 mesh, say, the gold is now +30 and the rest is much smaller and you can separate it on a 30 mesh screen. Well, that's the idea anyway.

Everything that goes through the 30 mesh you repeat the process with a smaller screen size.

 

[motohed]

Ok . so are there any updates ? Have you used it yet , we are jonesen to hear how it's working ? I came up with a couple weight lifting equipment bars from a yard sale for a couple bucks , so I think I'm going to repurpose them for a rod mill . I got 2 for 2.00 bucks what a deal .

 

[arizau]

Ok . so are there any updates ? Have you used it yet , we are jonesen to hear how it's working ? I came up with a couple weight lifting equipment bars from a yard sale for a couple bucks , so I think I'm going to repurpose them for a rod mill . I got 2 for 2.00 bucks what a deal .

Should make excellent grinding rods. Make sure that the drum container is longer than the diameter so rods cannot turn completely sideways.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Should make excellent grinding rods. Make sure that the drum container is longer than the diameter so rods cannot turn completely sideways.

Cannot emphasize this enough. You don't want them to bind because they are too long, but arizau is correct--must be longer than diameter.

 

[motohed]

I still have a fourty pound rock tumbler from when my parents had the rock shop back in the 80's , it has the hex desigh but is twice as long as it is in diameter , so my wheels have been turning it is all steal not plastic lined like the ones built today . It would take a lot of material to make it worth while I think , probly maybe a summer or two in the condition I'm in . I geuss , I will start to save all the fines I don't get gold from to run the thing from this summer on . I would need at least a 5 gallon bucket I think to bother with it . I guess I'll have to find a couple more bars at yard sales , being a cheap guy . LOL I spend a lot of money on hobbies but , I'm still a cheap skate at heart . LOL