Harbor Freight Tumbler Mod

[RVTECH]

Those of us who have the two drum Harbor Freight tumbler know how well they work but get a little annoyed by the small capacity and the slightly PITA lids and covers they use.

Well there are a few ideas to make larger capacity 'drums' and here is a simple one I came up with.

Start with a clean, large plastic container with a screw lid - the one in the pic is the 'large' size pysllium powder supplement container.

Cut two plastic 'rods' from plastic hangers the length of the inside 'flat' surfaces and hot glue them opposite each other on the inside. These will function to 'upset' the brass and keep it moving inside. The black tape around the drum is to provide a slight resistance for the motor driven shaft to turn it.

I can't say how well it works (yet) because I currently have a load of 9mm brass running but it seem to be working great, nice smooth sound of the brass moving and no leaks from the lid!

The up side? Free, minutes to complete and you could use the 23 OZ container to make a smaller 'drum' and I plan to do that as well for smaller runs of brass.

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[DizzyJ]

I've saved a few containers to try this out. Just haven't gotten to it yet.

 

[RVTECH]

I've saved a few containers to try this out. Just haven't gotten to it yet.

So far so good!

I'll run it for an hour or so and dump it and see how well it works. The brass I am tumbling isn't super dirty.

It is a bit louder than the rubber HF drums but not objectionable. My tumbler is inside and sets on my clothes dryer on a folded towel.

Another hint - if you USE the supplement containers they originally come with the glued aluminum foil safety seals under the lid. Originally when I was just experimenting I left the ring of the aluminum foil on the flat mouth of the container and I noticed a bit of water 'weeping' out so I peeled the alum foil off the mouth so it was just plastic to plastic on the lid to the mouth and NO leaks at all now.

Leave the container out in the sun for a while to soften the glue that holds the alum foil on the mouth and use a pair of tweezers to get a hold of it to peel it off.