11 Pound Rock polisher Rod Mill Project

S

Seden

Sr. Member
Jan 28, 2008
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Just bought an 11 pound rotary tumbler off ebay for my Rod Mill Project. I've read earlier threads about the Randy Clarkson rod mill plus the orginal paper. I also just bought the USA Prospector Miller Table with the patented ABS material with coating that holds on to the gold.

What motivated me is the amount of time it takes to crush my black sands using a jaw crusher is very time consuming despite the gold I was recovering. Here's the link:5kg Rotary Tumbler Surface Polisher Jewelry Rock Polishing Finishing Machine | eBay
As you can see it is transparent plus speed adjustable so you can dial in the speed of rotation while watching the action of the rods on the material.

So will see how this "pans out" and for the price, what the heck.
Randy-Midnight Miner in good standing (Hello Dave and Pam!)
 

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Pretty cool. I hope you don't run into the barrell bouncing that I did when trying a rock tumbler for a rod mill. I can't tell from the pictures but does the barrell just lay freely on powered rollers or is the barrell powered with free rollers?

The other issue you might run into is barrell diameter and size. The rock tumbler barrels including yours are of nearly equall diameter and length. This will cause a failure. Your rods will go Cockeyed and get stuck. The length of the rods/barrel needs to be longer then the diameter of the barrell is wide so they cannot get out of wack. Anyways just my thought good luck and keep us posted on your results. I love the transparent barrell though!
 

Do you mean just copy and paste to that page? That would make sense to do that as that was a dynamite thread!
 

I'm thinking that barrel won't be transparent for long if you are pounding black sand in it. I guess if it holds up long enough to get your speeds and load tuned the scratching/fogging won't matter so much.

Heavy Pans
 

Clay Diggins said:
I'm thinking that barrel won't be transparent for long if you are pounding black sand in it. I guess if it holds up long enough to get your speeds and load tuned the scratching/fogging won't matter so much.

Heavy Pans
Click to expand...

That's for sure!
 

I would guesstimate that within 2-3 batches being run in that barrel it would be looking like frosted glass. Another problem I see is that the actual barrel is hex shaped so instead of a smooth rolling action it's going to have a tendency to lift the rods and drop them.
 

goldenIrishman said:
I would guesstimate that within 2-3 batches being run in that barrel it would be looking like frosted glass. Another problem I see is that the actual barrel is hex shaped so instead of a smooth rolling action it's going to have a tendency to lift the rods and drop them.
Click to expand...

That is what I thought also from owning similar rock tumblers. The hex shape works very well to help shorten runs times on rocks or other media, but I found that rods do not roll over very well in the non-round containers.
 

Any suggestions as to what I could replace the hex plastic barrel with?
 

Morning Randy, I use good old white pvc drain pipe, thick wall and balls as hex material never found. Screw fitting on one end , end cap other and good to go. Amazing rain here cme 2?John
 

I would also check out some kind of ball bearings ,ETC they may be a better choice than the rods . You could check at a heavy truck and equipment place and see if they will save you some , maybe flip them a 20.00 . I just looked up steel shot on ebay , it's pretty cheap . Just do a couple of searches , you may be able to get a good size , I seen some that were half inch some maybe bigger .
 

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motohed said:
I would also check out some kind of ball bearings ,ETC they may be a better choice than the rods . You could check at a heavy truck and equipment place and see if they will save you some , maybe flip them a 20.00 . I just looked up steel shot on ebay , it's pretty cheap . Just do a couple of searches , you may be able to get a good size , I seen some that were half inch some maybe bigger .
Click to expand...

No.
 

motohed said:
I would also check out some kind of ball bearings ,ETC they may be a better choice than the rods . You could check at a heavy truck and equipment place and see if they will save you some , maybe flip them a 20.00 . I just looked up steel shot on ebay , it's pretty cheap . Just do a couple of searches , you may be able to get a good size , I seen some that were half inch some maybe bigger .
Click to expand...
Not again...
 

What you use is going to depend on what you're trying to do with the black sands. If you simply want to crush them ball bearings will work fine. If you want to flatten out the gold to make it easier to see for recovery then you'll want to use rods instead. It's crushing Vs. rolling actions.
 

Great ideas guy's,thank you! Yeah I want to flatten out the gold so I'll go with Hoser Johns thick wall PVC and your post GoldenIrishman about using rods. As King Soloman said, there is wisdom in many counselors!
 

motohed said:
I would also check out some kind of ball bearings ,ETC they may be a better choice than the rods . You could check at a heavy truck and equipment place and see if they will save you some , maybe flip them a 20.00 . I just looked up steel shot on ebay , it's pretty cheap . Just do a couple of searches , you may be able to get a good size , I seen some that were half inch some maybe bigger .
Click to expand...

You are fairly new to this forum and I assume you have not read this thread... http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/panning-gold/456622-simple-solution-fine-gold-recovery.html
Ball bearings actually work counter to the desired results as proposed by the inventor and that is mostly what people using tumblers, etc are trying to do.
 

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arizau said:
You are fairly new to this forum and I assume you have not read this thread... http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/panning-gold/456622-simple-solution-fine-gold-recovery.html
Ball bearings actually work counter to the desired results as proposed by the inventor and that is mostly what people using tumblers, etc are trying to do.
Click to expand...

Ok , I see where your coming from . I was thinking about crushing the fines , rather than flattening the gold . Thanks for the insight .
 

If you scrounge around a bit you might be able to find a short section of the large PVC pipe. It would kind of suck to have to buy a full 10ft. length to get the short little piece you'll need. I'd check plumbing contractors and such. For such a short section they'd most likely give it to you for free if you explain what it's for. I know Home Depot has short sections up to 2" diameter but I'm not sure on larger sizes.
 

talk to a water a sewer contractor they will have what your looking for I have some 12" pcv sch40 that I used to build a telescope 13 years ago you can get the cap and clean out end from them.

good luck

Bill
 

goldenIrishman said:
If you scrounge around a bit you might be able to find a short section of the large PVC pipe. It would kind of suck to have to buy a full 10ft. length to get the short little piece you'll need. I'd check plumbing contractors and such. For such a short section they'd most likely give it to you for free if you explain what it's for. I know Home Depot has short sections up to 2" diameter but I'm not sure on larger sizes.
Click to expand...
Simple trip to Home Depot. They have 2ft pre cut sections of every size for like 2 bucks, at least the one in Folsom does. And your looking for ABS pipe not PVC. I'm sure PVC would work but ABs is a way better option
 

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