Rock Tumbler

[wmetfab]

..eratta.. I have several of those smaller tumblers on the shelf waiting for re conditioning

 

[Susquatch]

I expect that because it's not a Bambu filament ergo no RFID tag then that means you need to specify the print speed in the slicer.

Holy Crap! Filaments have RFID tags?

 

[wmetfab]

A friend of ours has taken up jewellery making and I remembered somewhere in my boxes of stuff I have an old rock tumbler that my mother used when she was into it. I found it, pulled it out and realized why we'd never done anything with it.

View attachment 57846Seems the drum that holds the rocks and abrasive was missing.

No problem. I have a 3D printer. A bit or research online and I found this one. A lid for each end. So it rides on the drive shaft on the outer part.
View attachment 57848 View attachment 57849

Didn't work well. Slipped with so little in contact with the long shaft. So I put some rubber around it. Better but as soon as I out rocks in it the drum just sat there.

So I designed my own.

View attachment 57851

Works much better but still slips a lot. Even after smoothing out the bumps from the 3D printing.

The problem is the drive shaft and idler are actually a steel shaft covered in a plastic tube. The plastic has hardened over time which isn't surprising given that it's likely 40 years old.

View attachment 57852

Looking for suggestions on what time of hose or tubing to use that would improve on what is currently there.

A friend of ours has taken up jewellery making and I remembered somewhere in my boxes of stuff I have an old rock tumbler that my mother used when she was into it. I found it, pulled it out and realized why we'd never done anything with it.

View attachment 57846Seems the drum that holds the rocks and abrasive was missing.

No problem. I have a 3D printer. A bit or research online and I found this one. A lid for each end. So it rides on the drive shaft on the outer part.
View attachment 57848 View attachment 57849

Didn't work well. Slipped with so little in contact with the long shaft. So I put some rubber around it. Better but as soon as I out rocks in it the drum just sat there.

So I designed my own.

View attachment 57851

Works much better but still slips a lot. Even after smoothing out the bumps from the 3D printing.

The problem is the drive shaft and idler are actually a steel shaft covered in a plastic tube. The plastic has hardened over time which isn't surprising given that it's likely 40 years old.

View attachment 57852

Looking for suggestions on what time of hose or tubing to use that would improve on what is currently there.

JCD, Well done.
The drums are always missing when one finds these. They are expensive. I might be willing to buy several from you.
As far as the rubber part I just take a piece of black rubber hose and slip about an inch long on each end.

 

[Doggggboy]

Holy Crap! Filaments have RFID tags?

The Bambu filaments have RFID tags on the spools that are read by the AMS ( multiple spool holder thingy}. This way the printer knows which filament is in which position, what parameters to set the printer at for that particular filament, and how much filament is left on the roll. If you order a cheaper replacement roll of filament from Bambu, you just get a roll of filament that fits onto the original spool and another RFID tag to place on the spool.
And no, you are not locked into the Bambu ecosystem for filaments. They have presets for multiple filament brands as well as generic but Bambu is the only one that uses the RFID tags.

 

[Susquatch]

The Bambu filaments have RFID tags on the spools that are read by the AMS

Sounds both awesome and scary. Love the improvement and the plug N play aspect. But one more thing to know and remember and go wrong.

 

[Doggggboy]

Sounds both awesome and scary. Love the improvement and the plug N play aspect. But one more thing to know and remember and go wrong.

Anything can go wrong but this is one less thing to dick around with when you actually want to print something.