Performance improvement for Harbor Freight Vibrating Tumbler
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 พ.ค. 2021
- My Harbor Freight Vibrating Tumbler fell far short of my expectations. I expect that other makes of similar design could be improved also.
When I opened the machine I saw immediately the design feature that gave it such low performance. Fortunately, the physical construction lent itself to being modified and I was able to achieve a large performance gain.
I suggest watching the video through to the end.
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Solve the dispute once and for all…put parts in a stock one and the one you modified and tumble them with the same media for the same length of time and see which one does a better job of burr removal and surface smoothing
I have no dispute with anyone but I cannot do as you suggest because I do not have a stock one. In any case I have no intention of getting into a dispute nor trying to prove anything. The facts are that I bought the tumbler, I was not impressed by it, I modified it and now I am pleased with it. I thought that it might be useful to others so I made a video. If a few others do not like it that's fine by me, I have no desire to argue or try to change anybody's view.
@@MotoChassisByTonyFoaleYes, exactly. And thank you for doing it so we can see if we would benefit as well. You are not working for us. We are privileged to be able to benefit from your effort. Thank you.
Thank you for posting this, Tony! I just bought one of these for rock polishing, and noticed a bunch of reviews strongly advising against using it for that purpose. Instead of fabricating a different rotating weight, I cut the excess length from the original one and added some weight back by drilling/tapping a hole to thread a bolt to make a rough "L" shape. Just have to get some longer bolts & spacers, and we'll see how it does for polishing rocks!
I know nothing about polishing rocks but I would have thought that you would do better with a drum type tumbler. I prefer those but the noise is unbearable so I only use that when I am not in my workshop.
@MotoChassisByTonyFoale a rotary tumbler is better in terms of shaping and rounding rocks, but the smoothing and polishing steps are done much quicker in a vibratory tumbler. I just buttoned it all together, and it seems like it's going to do well. Stirring motion is good, noise is reasonable, and the whole assembly seems quite solid. Very impressed so far.
@@dmoore0079 Thanks for that. As I said I know nothing about polishing rocks. good luck with it.
Thank you for taking the time to do this video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks, Guess I'll need a tumbler to go along with the ultrasonic cleaner. Always a pleasure.
Very clever 👍
Thanks Tony. I love your content eagerly awaiting the next instalment
Hi Tony,
Very well explained and effective modification... Thanks for showing us...
Take care.
Paul,,
Good show ! ol’Boy
Well Done.
As a machine builder your explanation is easy to follow, the physics sound, and the improvements doable for those interested!
Just bought the same one two weeks ago for the sole purpose of polishing Oregon sunstones.
My understanding is it's not a beginner Thing, and I am to rock polishing.
First thing I saw was the ability to change the rotational Mass to produce different effect, like the agitation you have achieved and I'm quite interested in the final effect on the product.
I'm thinking that it's actually less violent while having more frictional values.
👍 Thanks
Thank you for sharing! Very educational and easy to follow. You’d make one helluva teacher!!
Thank you.
Got one of these a few years ago to clean up jewelry castings. Works ok... not supposed to use it with liquid, but I have used riogrande Sunsheen burnishing compound with it a little bit. Does keep the dust down. Blasted thing is outrageously noisy! Can't even stay in the workshop with it running. Haven't used it much at all, maybe about 10 hours worth of time in the past few years, started using it again last week, ran it off and on for about 3 more hours in half hour increments, and the bowl came right off the platform!!! Usually the lid just comes off about every 20 minutes... Now that I have to tear it down and see what happened to whatever secured the bowl to the motor, I will definitely be making your modifications to it! Great idea!!!!
I have that same tumbler with the same lackluster results. I hope it has the same configuration as yours. I'll have to see if I can scare up a suitable hunk of steel with which to retrofit it.
well explained, thank you
I greatly appreciate your sharing of this idea and explanation of the concept. To make this easier for other people who want to perform it, I found upon disassembly that in order to mount the motor inverted in the housing with 10mm spacers, you will need to buy m5-.8 threaded rod, as I wasn't able to find m5 bolts that long anywhere, and cut it to about 135mm (x4), and add nuts the what used to be the hex bolt head end.
In the US: McMaster Carr # Medium-Strength Threaded Rod
Class 8.8 Zinc-Plated Steel, M5 x 0.8 mm Thread Size, 1 M Long
99067A242
I do not recall having to get long bolts but it was done a while back and I might have forgotten. I'll check and get back to you.
@@MotoChassisByTonyFoale I could very well be mistaken, but it seems that since the motor shaft once went though the hole in the bracket that the motor was once flush-mounted inside, the fan end of the motor will now be bolted in that end, requiring the spacers to be located between the motor housing and once-motor shaft end/now fan end in order to clear the fan blades , necessitating the spacers and longer bolts/rod there.
@@kohgoes I think that you must have a somewhat different machine than I have. Mine had no fan, therefore I am unable to comment on what yours is like.
OK, I checked mine and as I thought there must be differences to those being mentioned here by others. Mine does not have through bolts to mount the motor and mine does not have a fan. So for anyone else who wants to follow my modifications all I can suggest is that you just take the basic idea and work out how to apply it to your own situation.
Very well done! My rotary tumbler recently let the smoke out, and I’m considering a vibratory tumbler to clean the staining from the coins I find. I’ll do this mod if I go that route!
I have not had experience with coins but I found that for some items a rotary tumbler is best, although noisier, yet for other jobs the vibratory one does a better job.
@@MotoChassisByTonyFoale The general concensus is that vibratory is not very effective for coins, but I don't see why not if the right media is used (and the tumber is upgraded to work effectively, as you show here!). Cheers!
@@Donorcyclist Interesting.
The part you show at 11:45 approximately how long did you run it in your Tumbler to get that finish? Thank you for showing us this modification.
Cheers
Willy
Thanks for a clear and good explanation. May I ask about your input how the steel springs affect the tumbling function. K-value of spring, diameter and length. Is a stiff spring preferable or a soft one. Thanks in advance
Ola,
The springs and the mass of the moving parts will define a resonant frequency. It would be best if that frequency coincided with the motor speed. However, the overall mass is not fixed, it depends on the load that you put in it.
I have not measured the spring rates nor the resonant frequency but that is an area for further investigation. It is doubtful if the "as bought" spring rates are anywhere near optimal.
It is a question of having spring rates within a workable range. It is not as easy as hard or soft. If very hard then it will lock the barrel and you will get no agitation, too soft and they will not be able to support the weight.
Nice 👍🏽
Ingenious my good man, but I wished you really had filmed the step by step process of *actually* converting this Tumbler to the MotoChassis improved version.
When I was doing it, I was not thinking about making any video, only after some time and period of use.
When I was an aircraft maintenance engineer with QANTAS Airlines we had a couple of industrial sized tumblers for deburring and polishing of gas turbine blades mainly. They did a great job and fun to watch in motion oddly.
yes, a vibratory tumbler is somewhat mesmerizing to watch when loaded and running.
Good work. It's a decent upgrade.
Reminds me of the old Princess Auto welders. You could take four screws out of the bottom, move the transformer over and get an extra 20 amps out of a 70 amp stick welder.
can you explain the welder some more.
@@MotoChassisByTonyFoale Sure. Princess Auto is like Canadian Harbor Freight. They used to (still do?) sell these cheap little arc welders. They had a 70 amp and a 90 amp for more money. The welders are identical, with the transformer installed in a slightly different position inside the machine.
There was a dial on the front of the welder that would push a separator plate between the primary and secondary of the transformer to decouple them magnetically. Turn the dial to minimum amps and the plate goes all the way in, mostly blocking the magnetic flux. Turn the dial to maximum and the plate comes almost all the way out. The chassis came with two sets of holes in the base where you could install the transformer. The 70 amp was installed in one position, the 90 amp in the other. All you had to do was move the transformer over to the other set of holes and the separator plate would be able to move to the full out position and you'd get the full 90 amps.
@@joels7605 I love it.
That piece you found in you scrap that you drew a picture of at about 9:21 looks like a parking pawl used in a gm transmission part# 24293387.
No it was just a remnant from when I was machining something long forgotten.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. It would be good to see before-and-after test of the results on work materials to see any performance gains. Super good demonstration.
Big difference in before and after usage.
Hi, Great video, Thanks! How did you get the 110 tvolts unit to operate in the UK?
I think he's in Spain nowadays. But they will be 230V as well, so I would assume a transformer, 230 to 110 are readily available for 110v powertools that you use in industry. Having said that, they also have 230V in the States for high load items.
I lived in the US for 3 years so I have enough 110 V tools to have warranted dual wiring my workshop with the US sockets fed from a largish 2:1 transformer. Of course I have 50 Hz not the US 60 Hz but that only affects induction motors.
Nice video but why didn't you show us the balancer you put in? you showed the before but you did not show the after ???
i'm curious if it made a difference before and after by moving the weight. And or if they had the weight there to counter balance heavy loads.
Mike, the weight is there to create an out of balance vibration which shakes the container.
Wow big diferent
Great info ty,
I have a question I have the the orange bowl 5lb #93252 which I just purchased used and I put everything in and tighten all and turned on the the bowl Spins and vibrates. Is this right thought was to just vibrate? Can you tell me if correct or not and how to fix the spinning. Thanks 🤩
The bowl should not rotate continuously but sometimes they do. I replaced the rubber mat under the bowl with a softer rubber and that fixed it.
@@MotoChassisByTonyFoale ty
I got one of these. The bowl broke, but the machine will be handy once it's repaired. I understand the original design. The more weight you add, the less amplitude it's capable of as it moves the center of mass higher up. I think the device operates above the resonant frequency of the springs (all damping drag and low resonance, therefore performing polishing work). Your proposed modification seems to work for a different reason. You moved the center of mass almost directly to the bowl, so it won't be uncontrollable while empty, while the end result is still an acceptably functioning polishing action.
Your bowl wore down and it leaked? If so, that's what I am dealing with right now. Learning all about HDPE.
@@Photomomlove Pretty much. It developed a leak at the parting line. I wrapped it with Gorilla tape, and then lined it with duct tape. Crude but effective repair.
@@Dr_Xyzt. You might try removing the tape inside, clean the bowl, and line the entire bowl with Plastidip. Should be resistant to wear and will plug the leak.
This HF tumbler works best with a total weight of media + objects in the range of 3 to 5 pounds. With this weight, the tumbling action is perfect and the unit does not need this modification. It was not designed for very light loads like 1 to 2 pounds. That is the cause of the problem that you observed.
Not so. Performance was improved at both light and full loads.
@@MotoChassisByTonyFoale My HF vibratory tumbler works absolutely *perfectly* at 3 to 5 pounds load with no modification. The tumbling action of the media is perfect. The vibrating action is smooth and the unit does not move during operation. I do not have any idea what your problem might be and from my experience with the unit, I completely disagree with your suggested modification.
can you show the piece you made and how did u attach it to the shaft?
I neglected to photograph the piece but it was as I drew on the board. Attaching to the shaft was just like the original, a hole fitted over the shaft and the piece was cross drilled and tapped for a retaining grub screw.
Any suggestions on how to strengthen the cheap HDPE bowl? In my attempt to mend the bowl, I made even bigger holes, plus I ruined my kitchen floor. There has to be a way to coat the inside of this bowl with an extra layer of High Density Polyethylene before the bowl wears out?
You can buy liquid rubber or vinyl and put several coats on the inside. Make sure the surface is very clean and roughed up so as to better the adhesive qualities. You will likely have to renew it every so often.
I have not had any problem like that but @melgross has a suggestion in his reply.
This video goea above and beyond. Please tell me you are a math and science teacher.😊
I was such a teacher for one year only. I hated it. I am a mere engineering scientist, completely self taught in the manual arts.
The bowls seem to get torn up by the diamond green rust remover media. The center section is prone to collapsing. Have you found a fix for that problem?
I have not had that problem but my use is not intensive.
Doesn’t the bowl have to be more full to properly work?
It did originally but after the mods it works fine whether full or half full.
The small piece looks like a torque Arm for a bike.
Can you polish gearbox in this small tumbler?
A gearbox for a model car maybe. You can get larger tumblers, my guess is that very large ones might have a different mechanism.
@@MotoChassisByTonyFoale sorry my English isn't so good Mr Foale... I mean gears from motocycle gearbox for reducing friction....
@@vpservice1016 No I do not think that it would suitable. I think that you have two options, one is precision grinding and there is a process called "chemical polishing".
@@MotoChassisByTonyFoale Look into the REM process. www.remchem.com/
@@chip-load Very interesting. Like @VP SERVICE I too want to get some motorcycle gears super-finished.
Anyone try tumbling rocks in on of these?
I believe so but I think that the tumbler type are more popular for rocks.
good jop papa can you fix mine too
My labour rates are high.
Seeing a different action from the media doesn't mean crap, before and after results on parts is what matters and that wasn't shown.
Whot about the motor bearing
Bearings get hammered in all these tumblers, this conversion is no worse.
I have the same tumbler! I've often run it wet, with WD-40 or Windex, depending on what I was trying to accomplish. It works very well!
My chief complaint is that the lid likes to come off, so I've had to experiment with various fasteners on the central bit of all-thread.
Thanks for all that you've contributed to motorcycle design and engineering, Tony! Keep up the good work!
Thanks, I'll have to apply this fix to mine. I got mine 10 years ago, and used them once on removing corrosion from a Lauson 2.5HP motorcycle engine from the early 1950s. It was on a Safety-cycle motor bike made in LaCrosse Wisconsin. Anyway I was disappointed at how poor the surface cleanup was. And ended up using a Dremel tool with a brass wire wheel to do the cleanup.The actual machine I was working on was one of these for my brother in law;
th-cam.com/video/RthUz_ijUds/w-d-xo.html
Interesting.
@@MotoChassisByTonyFoale This same engine 2.5HP, with other mods was used in WWII bomber as an APU. It has ball bearings on the main crankshaft, what I found clever was a check valve that let the crankcase pressure out on the piston down stroke, so a negative pressure was formed, which kept oil from leaking out the metal shields on the ball bearing mains. Also had an interesting cam follower that must have modified the cam timing. It is of that era with a flat head or "L" head combustion chamber. The Lauson brand got bought by Tecumseh in the late 50s. And it looks like they just bought the production facilities and abandoned the Lauson engine designs.
I can't imagine this 2.5HP being much of a motorcycle engine with Indian, and Harley Davidson being available at that same time, with much more power.
So now I will modify my vibrator and see if it will actually clean corroded metal.
Thanks for you videos.
You and i have very differing opinions of an easy fix. Lol
You have moved the mass from the end of a rod to close to the center of the rod, so you have infact reduced the amount of mass and force applied, you have reduced the leverage of the force applied to the media, you can clearly see the modded version is just going around, whereas the unmodded version wasnt tumbling correctly, but if you had read the instructions you would see that its best performed when its 3/4 full of media, alot of the impacting movement is lost from half way up the barrel, thats why you where disappointed with the outcome as standard
It works for me and I have read the instructions.
The modded version generated more movement near the media, he made the machine better at using smaller batches of media. Originally it was designed to move a greater quantity of media which would have reached higher up the shaft. His modification did reduce the leverage, but positioned it at the right height to move his media.
@@connercoulson9247it didn’t improve it. It just changed the amount of media needed, which is fine. But the more media, the stronger the results. Everyone making mods to equipment is convinced they discovered something and that it’s better.
Could not get this idea to work. It's not possible to flip the motor without modifications. Additional parts would have to be purchased that are not locally available to me. I had to put it back together, then watch it completely melt the threaded rod and fly apart again.
Sorry to hear that you had a problem. I did not need any additional parts.
Actual pictures of the modifications instead of illustrations would be much more helpful.
I made the video because I was asked to but that was a year or two after making the mods so I not video the actual modification.
Way to much jabbering. Just tell what you done to it (like turn the motor over and changed the weight )
The CoG has to be a user input because it varies with bike, rider and setup.
Your theory is flawed. When the bucket is filled with aggregate, the center of gravity is centered between the motor and the bucket. Your modification will cause both ends to gyrate in the same direction, in unison, which will cause a 50% reduction in movement. The original design is the best case scenario for the largest orbit, ie: the maximum vibration.
Yea,but i thought you were going to show how to modify the machine,not a lecture.
Some of us like a good physics lecture...
When you understand the operating principle and physics of it, rest is simple. Also he explained what he did. Cut the shaft shorter, made similar weight but shape counter weight, swap the motor upside down with 4peaces of 10mm spacers dropping motor bit further down.
Ungrateful
@@angusgathis wasn’t a lecture in physics. It was his thinking about what he believes is a problem and his supposed solution.
A little tongue in cheek comment on the parent comment here. Just roll with it.
@@melgross
I have a harbor fright tumbler that your fix would never work. First it has a fan on the bottom,on the end is flat bar for the weight. Second, the motor mounts are way to close to reverse the location of this weight. So, this idea is worthless!!
Obviously our tumblers are different models, mine has no fan.