I made my own rock tumbler barrels out of PVC pipe. In this video I discuss they whys and hows of the project. Join me on the journey to figuring out if this crazy idea works! #rocktumbling #DIY
Hi there Up North Adventures With CCC, thank you for the kind words. Pt. 2 is out; Pt 3 will be slightly delayed because reasons. Thank you for stopping in.
Super cool ingenious idea!! I love your idea!! I cannot wait to see your finished rocks. I remember my brother tumbling rocks when we were little but this is so cool what you did. Reminds me of some of my Dad's little fun projects. Great seeing you.😊
Hi there and thank you for stopping by and the kind words. I would advise you to watch all these vids before rushing out to buy all this, the little ones did not work well near the end, I had some serious leaking issues.
I read about how to make an industrial tumbler out of a rear axle of a big semi truck with the rims and tires in place. You want to cut an opening in the highest part of the rim to load rocks. The article said a cover is not needed but I always thought if I was going to do one I would have a hinged door sealed with inner tube rubber. The idea is to set up a motor geared down so the tires rotate slowly and all the rocks stay in the lowest part of the tire at all times tumbling over each other. Each tire can hold about 100 lbs of rocks and you have 4 tires going at all times each one with a different grit. Always use the same tire for the same grit. You rotate the rocks once a week and you have 100 lbs of polished tumbled stones each week. I have been wondering if you could use quartz sand as grit for the first stage to do the rough rounding off? I am posting this on all videos about rock hounding to spread the idea, if this is you channel and you do not like that let me know. The fact that the tumbling will all take place in a rubber tire should help keep the noise down. The rocks should never touch the rim. I have suggested to people that they make a soundproof shed just big enough to be practical so the noise will be minimized. Plus the rubber in a tire is thick and should absorb a lot of the noise. Also you should have a small fan on the motor to keep it cool. A high quality motor will be a must as it will run 24 hours a day. I am no expert but with the proper gearing the motor should not be under too much stress. I would sell the tumbled stones. Once tumbled, you grade them by quality and type. Some would be really valuable. I bet you could average $10 usd per pound with just good found material and more if you have high grade material. Definitely not for the weekend rock hound but if you sell stones or want to, what a cheap way to start. You could tumble other people's rocks for a fee or shares too. You could make one with car tires for a smaller scale operation. There has to be a lot of people with 30 year in the making, 3 ton pile of rocks out behind their house. With this they could see results from all that collecting.
Hi there Kathleen Elliot, thank you and no I have not been out there, there are a lot of places out west with really nice rocks. Thankfully we have some nice ones here also so stay tuned for more tumbling and lapidary content. And please do a video with your painted rocks, would love to see that.
Hey there Cyclonic Silver, yeah it is a bit noisy, although a lot of that is my little furry shotgun mic pointing at the tumbler, but yes there is some noise. Thank you for stopping by.
Very cool! I hope they all turn out beautifully for you. The blue rock with gray and a bit of white looks like sodalite to me but I didn't get a really good look at it. You can look it up online and see what you think. Thanks for sharing!✌️🤠
Hey there Soul_Adventurist and thank you for the tip, I did find some on amazon, I need to find one that has a dimmer function for different rock opacity. Thank you for stopping by.
Hi there Todd Bauers, thank you for your kind words and for stopping by. The brand is a Lapidary Hobbycrafts- Gemlap, and I assume that they have long been out of business. I found both of mine at different auctions about 6 months apart and have not seen another since. You might try looking on ebay, or just copy them, I don't know what skill level you have but 2 shafts, 4 bearings and a motor and pulleys on a base and bam! you are tumbling, although I would not try and reproduce these barrels, I ended up having leaks so bought some Lortone barrels when they became available again. Let me know if this helps and if you have any further questions.
Hey there Robert Whitney thank you for watching. Yes we do need to do that but I am not sure that would work for these caps because of the curve, you would have to remove the lip and leave a flat part on the curved part.
Can you show a DIY for rocks about the size of a softball? I want to smooth some zebra stone for my aquarium. Basically i need it as smooth as a river rock so my algae eaters can attach themselves to it. Any recommendations or ideas on how i can do this? Ty
Hi there PiesWife, thank you for watching and yes I think I can help you, here is this for the DIY part-th-cam.com/video/uyWDB3dJfVA/w-d-xo.html and here is an example of a rock of about that size-th-cam.com/video/wxEoH9Pu8FQ/w-d-xo.html. I hope these help, please let me know and if you have any more questions.
Did you ever try to make a rock barrel out of thick rubber hose? I would use a 4in heater hose wi5h the metal n the hose. Just wondering if that would work
Hey there Richard Dubois, that might work but how do you cap is? I will see if I can locate some and give it some thought though. Thank you for stopping by.
@@richarddubois7921 they are kind of loud but not real bad, do you have a basement? you could also put your tumbler in a box or closet to quiet it down, just need a fan for cooling if a small encloser. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.
@@MrChubbyHubby. thank you. I don’t have a basement. I live in a mobile home. I guess I’m going to come up with some kind of box. Maybe wood with sound damping stuff on the inside with a couple of computer fans for ventilation?
@@MrChubbyHubby. ohhhhh in your video you talked about getting into reloading. lately the reloading hobby makes a dead stop at primers lol. none available. i just assumed that's what you meant from the comment you made lol
@@invictusfarmer7188 LOL, ok yes now I get it, I forgot I had said that, and it was primers, and dies sets, and bullets too, and powder, lol, but other than that I was all set. Thank for clarifying and also for stopping by.
@@MrChubbyHubby. lololol. i found shotshell, and calibers that allow for casting can really knock down the cost when primers so become available. almost every scrap yard has lead and hardness testers are cheap for making your own alloys. i got into it very early in life making sinkers so it was a good progression. but i can still kick out a few thousand 9mm in an afternoon if need be lol. nice chat and you take care now.
Greatly appreciated Sir. You've saved me a lot of testing time.
That is great ! Looking forward to seeing the next video ! Enjoyed watching 👍😊
Hi there Up North Adventures With CCC, thank you for the kind words. Pt. 2 is out; Pt 3 will be slightly delayed because reasons. Thank you for stopping in.
hi chuck great job on stage one see you on stage 2
Hey there Mr. Ron, stage 2 is complete, just need to edit and then you will see.
Super cool ingenious idea!! I love your idea!! I cannot wait to see your finished rocks. I remember my brother tumbling rocks when we were little but this is so cool what you did. Reminds me of some of my Dad's little fun projects. Great seeing you.😊
Thank you for your kind words Pattie Ferguson, I hope it works out and please stay tuned for more videos coming soon.
Great vid!!!! Cant wait for part 2!!
Hey there PFP I can't either! I so want to go peek, this hobby I think will help hone my patients for sure! Thank you for stopping in.
@@MrChubbyHubby. ill make more of an effort i like what you do! love the old trains , steam engines, and cool projects!!
Awesome video, love the testing and the barrel idea! Thank you for posting this.
Hi there and thank you for stopping by and the kind words. I would advise you to watch all these vids before rushing out to buy all this, the little ones did not work well near the end, I had some serious leaking issues.
This is so cool thank you for sharing
Hi, Chubby. This experiment looks interesting. Best of luck with it. I love rocks and have thought of tumbling for years. What a grind! *TYU*
Hey there Donald in New Mexico, I hope it is a good grind, LOL. Thank you for checking in my friend.
I read about how to make an industrial tumbler out of a rear axle of a big semi truck with the rims and tires in place. You want to cut an opening in the highest part of the rim to load rocks. The article said a cover is not needed but I always thought if I was going to do one I would have a hinged door sealed with inner tube rubber. The idea is to set up a motor geared down so the tires rotate slowly and all the rocks stay in the lowest part of the tire at all times tumbling over each other. Each tire can hold about 100 lbs of rocks and you have 4 tires going at all times each one with a different grit. Always use the same tire for the same grit. You rotate the rocks once a week and you have 100 lbs of polished tumbled stones each week. I have been wondering if you could use quartz sand as grit for the first stage to do the rough rounding off? I am posting this on all videos about rock hounding to spread the idea, if this is you channel and you do not like that let me know. The fact that the tumbling will all take place in a rubber tire should help keep the noise down. The rocks should never touch the rim. I have suggested to people that they make a soundproof shed just big enough to be practical so the noise will be minimized. Plus the rubber in a tire is thick and should absorb a lot of the noise. Also you should have a small fan on the motor to keep it cool. A high quality motor will be a must as it will run 24 hours a day. I am no expert but with the proper gearing the motor should not be under too much stress. I would sell the tumbled stones. Once tumbled, you grade them by quality and type. Some would be really valuable. I bet you could average $10 usd per pound with just good found material and more if you have high grade material. Definitely not for the weekend rock hound but if you sell stones or want to, what a cheap way to start. You could tumble other people's rocks for a fee or shares too. You could make one with car tires for a smaller scale operation. There has to be a lot of people with 30 year in the making, 3 ton pile of rocks out behind their house. With this they could see results from all that collecting.
This is really cool. I love rocks. Ever make it to Quartside Arizona, pretty cool place. I like to paint them. Thank you for your video.
Hi there Kathleen Elliot, thank you and no I have not been out there, there are a lot of places out west with really nice rocks. Thankfully we have some nice ones here also so stay tuned for more tumbling and lapidary content. And please do a video with your painted rocks, would love to see that.
Tumbling…. I haven’t tried that yet… I’m gonna let you do it as the sound would drive me crazy!! Can’t wait to see how they come out though
Hey there Cyclonic Silver, yeah it is a bit noisy, although a lot of that is my little furry shotgun mic pointing at the tumbler, but yes there is some noise. Thank you for stopping by.
Love the hat!!
Hey there Jeff Brown, thank you for the hat tip to my hat LOL.
Thanks for sharing 💚👊
Howdy there 710 is OIL UpSide DowN, thank you for sharing in my sharing.
Very cool! I hope they all turn out beautifully for you. The blue rock with gray and a bit of white looks like sodalite to me but I didn't get a really good look at it. You can look it up online and see what you think. Thanks for sharing!✌️🤠
Hi there Kyla Abegglen I hope so too, and I do believe you are correct on the Sodalite, those are so beautiful!
Very cool!!
No! you are the cool one Fury, Plants, and Coins, cool of you to check in, thank you much.
love it
Hey there Dad Learning Coins, thank you for stopping by buddy.
You can by led lighted stands that change colors. Kyle at World of Rock Hounds sold some. That’s where I got mine. They were $10 each.
Hey there Soul_Adventurist and thank you for the tip, I did find some on amazon, I need to find one that has a dimmer function for different rock opacity. Thank you for stopping by.
@@MrChubbyHubby. you’re welcome. Thanks for subscribing to my channel ❤️
Love your video. What is the brand of your tumbler machine that you show at the end? I wanted to try and build my own but I like yours
Hi there Todd Bauers, thank you for your kind words and for stopping by. The brand is a Lapidary Hobbycrafts- Gemlap, and I assume that they have long been out of business. I found both of mine at different auctions about 6 months apart and have not seen another since. You might try looking on ebay, or just copy them, I don't know what skill level you have but 2 shafts, 4 bearings and a motor and pulleys on a base and bam! you are tumbling, although I would not try and reproduce these barrels, I ended up having leaks so bought some Lortone barrels when they became available again. Let me know if this helps and if you have any further questions.
Cool video
Thank you very much.
HI HCH I got you on the rerun. I was thinking we need to get your lathe running and you can modify your end caps to your specs. 👍
Hey there Robert Whitney thank you for watching. Yes we do need to do that but I am not sure that would work for these caps because of the curve, you would have to remove the lip and leave a flat part on the curved part.
@@MrChubbyHubby. we will have to got creative and don't tell the cap😁👍
Can you show a DIY for rocks about the size of a softball? I want to smooth some zebra stone for my aquarium. Basically i need it as smooth as a river rock so my algae eaters can attach themselves to it. Any recommendations or ideas on how i can do this? Ty
Hi there PiesWife, thank you for watching and yes I think I can help you, here is this for the DIY part-th-cam.com/video/uyWDB3dJfVA/w-d-xo.html and here is an example of a rock of about that size-th-cam.com/video/wxEoH9Pu8FQ/w-d-xo.html. I hope these help, please let me know and if you have any more questions.
Did you ever try to make a rock barrel out of thick rubber hose? I would use a 4in heater hose wi5h the metal n the hose. Just wondering if that would work
Hey there Richard Dubois, that might work but how do you cap is? I will see if I can locate some and give it some thought though. Thank you for stopping by.
I was just wondering. I think the pvc would be to loud in my house.
@@richarddubois7921 they are kind of loud but not real bad, do you have a basement? you could also put your tumbler in a box or closet to quiet it down, just need a fan for cooling if a small encloser. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.
@@MrChubbyHubby. thank you. I don’t have a basement. I live in a mobile home. I guess I’m going to come up with some kind of box. Maybe wood with sound damping stuff on the inside with a couple of computer fans for ventilation?
Yee Haaa
Yee Haa indeed my fine Aussie friend.
the rubber aides in the tumbling in a plastic tumbler u need agitation bars NO QUESTION its simple physics
bet it was primers lol.
Your comment is a mystery to me Invictus Farmer, can you dumb it down a bit for me?
@@MrChubbyHubby. ohhhhh in your video you talked about getting into reloading. lately the reloading hobby makes a dead stop at primers lol. none available. i just assumed that's what you meant from the comment you made lol
@@invictusfarmer7188 LOL, ok yes now I get it, I forgot I had said that, and it was primers, and dies sets, and bullets too, and powder, lol, but other than that I was all set. Thank for clarifying and also for stopping by.
@@MrChubbyHubby. lololol. i found shotshell, and calibers that allow for casting can really knock down the cost when primers so become available. almost every scrap yard has lead and hardness testers are cheap for making your own alloys. i got into it very early in life making sinkers so it was a good progression. but i can still kick out a few thousand 9mm in an afternoon if need be lol. nice chat and you take care now.