Well, I've been getting a lot of questions about my tumbler, so I thought I'd repost the construction details. Please post any of your questions here. Also, some of you may have seen this back on OG...
(Original post)
Well, all the outdoor's been cut and cured, the inside room is filling out nicely, the rain is lightly falling and the temps are hovering in the low 40's...time for a project!
I was gifted quite bit of "fine trim" (only the trichome-covered tips) and had a good bit of trim of my own I was going to bubble, but I didn't really enjoy the whole bubble-hash process. This got my wheels turning - pun intended - why not build a tumbler and sit back and puff while my kief gets dry-sifted out?
I started with [the DIY in the faq of OG], then took a look at the mole's tumbler (he had a lot to process as well), and then got to work gathering materials. For the screen I went to DickBlick.com and got some 125 lpi monofilament. Here's the page: http://www.dickblick.com/categories/screenprintingfabrics
With this critical piece acquired, I set about finding a motor to drive this thing. Spending more than $20 didn't appeal to me, so I set off to the local thrift store to see what I could find. Outside sat this lonely pasta maker with the $10 price tag crossed out and $1 written on a note. Well, the price was right, so I plugged it in to see if it worked. It did, but was a bit loud. Of course, this won't bother me a bit since I'll be running this in the detached shop. My wife used to have one of those pasta machines and I remember that the lower extruding screw has a ton of torque...perfect for driving my oversized drum. I got the pasta machine home and promptly went about dismantling it.
Inside, I found a burly motor and a nice set of gears that brought the lower screw down to ~27 rpm. Thankfully, the "socket" for the drive shaft was just a bit smaller than a 1/4" hex head, so a little grinding got me a really nice fit with a long hex screw.
I got a sheet of 3/4 oak plywood and cut out a few circles for the ends (13" diameter) and used two dowels cut in half for the longitudinal supports. Here you can see the frame without the door or screen attached. I routed a small channel in the discs to put the screen on. If anyone has ever re-screened a window or made a silk screen frame, they'll recognize the technique. You push some spline material into the channel and it snugs up the screen really well. Around that I put some tape just to tidy things up.
The "door" is held on by three wingnuts. Simplicity where possible.
The opposite end holds the receiving gear. Remember that the motor turns at ~27 rpm? Too fast, so off to the hobby store for some RC car gears and bring that rotation down to ~12 rpm. I thought $3 a piece was good deal.
I had some weird metal pieces lying in a pan of random screws and these worked wonderfully for the hangars. Don't ask where they came from as I don't remember. Here you can see the drive gear and the hangar slot to put the drum into.
The drive was the hardest part (for me at least). I finally came to this solution and it seems to work well. I attached the bin to the bottom board for rigidity and have the drive going through the side. Inside the gear attached to the drum sits on top of the drive gear and the weight of the drum holds the teeth together.
The completed unit. Some edges still need polishing, but it clearly works.
(End of original post)
So, the follow-up to this was a total of one pound of kief (+/- a gram or two) and the completion of several bags of pressed hash.
…and a little “kief porn”
- Butte
(Original post)
Well, all the outdoor's been cut and cured, the inside room is filling out nicely, the rain is lightly falling and the temps are hovering in the low 40's...time for a project!
I was gifted quite bit of "fine trim" (only the trichome-covered tips) and had a good bit of trim of my own I was going to bubble, but I didn't really enjoy the whole bubble-hash process. This got my wheels turning - pun intended - why not build a tumbler and sit back and puff while my kief gets dry-sifted out?
I started with [the DIY in the faq of OG], then took a look at the mole's tumbler (he had a lot to process as well), and then got to work gathering materials. For the screen I went to DickBlick.com and got some 125 lpi monofilament. Here's the page: http://www.dickblick.com/categories/screenprintingfabrics
With this critical piece acquired, I set about finding a motor to drive this thing. Spending more than $20 didn't appeal to me, so I set off to the local thrift store to see what I could find. Outside sat this lonely pasta maker with the $10 price tag crossed out and $1 written on a note. Well, the price was right, so I plugged it in to see if it worked. It did, but was a bit loud. Of course, this won't bother me a bit since I'll be running this in the detached shop. My wife used to have one of those pasta machines and I remember that the lower extruding screw has a ton of torque...perfect for driving my oversized drum. I got the pasta machine home and promptly went about dismantling it.
Inside, I found a burly motor and a nice set of gears that brought the lower screw down to ~27 rpm. Thankfully, the "socket" for the drive shaft was just a bit smaller than a 1/4" hex head, so a little grinding got me a really nice fit with a long hex screw.
I got a sheet of 3/4 oak plywood and cut out a few circles for the ends (13" diameter) and used two dowels cut in half for the longitudinal supports. Here you can see the frame without the door or screen attached. I routed a small channel in the discs to put the screen on. If anyone has ever re-screened a window or made a silk screen frame, they'll recognize the technique. You push some spline material into the channel and it snugs up the screen really well. Around that I put some tape just to tidy things up.
The "door" is held on by three wingnuts. Simplicity where possible.
The opposite end holds the receiving gear. Remember that the motor turns at ~27 rpm? Too fast, so off to the hobby store for some RC car gears and bring that rotation down to ~12 rpm. I thought $3 a piece was good deal.
I had some weird metal pieces lying in a pan of random screws and these worked wonderfully for the hangars. Don't ask where they came from as I don't remember. Here you can see the drive gear and the hangar slot to put the drum into.
The drive was the hardest part (for me at least). I finally came to this solution and it seems to work well. I attached the bin to the bottom board for rigidity and have the drive going through the side. Inside the gear attached to the drum sits on top of the drive gear and the weight of the drum holds the teeth together.
The completed unit. Some edges still need polishing, but it clearly works.
(End of original post)
So, the follow-up to this was a total of one pound of kief (+/- a gram or two) and the completion of several bags of pressed hash.
…and a little “kief porn”
- Butte
.
