Newby on the block... well, to casting anyways.

[triggertreat]

It looks really good.  I like the 40 amp SSR and is what I use.  I don't find the fan necessary and don't use one but it can't hurt.  I just use a heatsink with thermo paste.  I haven't had any issues with mine.  You'll really appreciate the PID going forward.

[avator]

Agreed..
If things begin to go wrong it's good to know it's not pot or mold temps.

[2A Georgia]

Looks good, nice job.
Only thing I might suggest at this point, if you haven't already, is to find something to use as feet to stand it up off the floor enough to get some air flow under it.

The feet from China are in the parts box.  Almost had a SSS moment and forgot them.....

tomorrow after chores I will probably wire it up.
Bill you'll laugh, I'm cheap and an efficiency nut with OCD so I optimized the positioning on the box we thought might too small and got everything in there including the fan. 

In hind sight more room would have been better as things got tight as the last wires got connected.  Everything is in there and no wasted space...lol
Test powered up, fan runs and getting 120V in the accessory switched outlet.  Last thing (besides the feet) is the TC plug.  What a PIT@ stripping the cloth insulation and getting everything stuffed in the plug.  Memsahib announced bedtime just as I was getting frustrated so I called it a nite.  I also need to get the heat sink paste and didn't want to go to Micro Center so I'll work that in during the week, it's 5 minutes from my office.  Didn't want to "drive to work" on the weekend....

[avator]

Looks good, nice job.
Only thing I might suggest at this point, if you haven't already, is to find something to use as feet to stand it up off the floor enough to get some air flow under it.

The feet from China are in the parts box.  Almost had a SSS moment and forgot them.....

tomorrow after chores I will probably wire it up.
Bill you'll laugh, I'm cheap and an efficiency nut with OCD so I optimized the positioning on the box we thought might too small and got everything in there including the fan. 

In hind sight more room would have been better as things got tight as the last wires got connected.  Everything is in there and no wasted space...lol
Test powered up, fan runs and getting 120V in the accessory switched outlet.  Last thing (besides the feet) is the TC plug.  What a PIT@ stripping the cloth insulation and getting everything stuffed in the plug.  Memsahib announced bedtime just as I was getting frustrated so I called it a nite.  I also need to get the heat sink paste and didn't want to go to Micro Center so I'll work that in during the week, it's 5 minutes from my office.  Didn't want to "drive to work" on the weekend....

Trust me, after building 3 of these and rebuilding at least 2 times, I know your frustrations with the wiring.... especially with sledge hammer hands and sausage fingers. But on the bright side, I got pretty good at it and can wire one in my sleep.

[Madd Hatter]

Hey Bill, when you tumble your slugs and pellets you don't put anything in with them just the slugs and pellets? I'm probably going to run a batch today.

[avator]

Hey Bill, when you tumble your slugs and pellets you don't put anything in with them just the slugs and pellets? I'm probably going to run a batch today.

Correct... I let them cool then tumble them for about 20 minutes, or until they are nice and shiny, with no media. Some folks use SS pins as media but I don't. I've tried BBs, SS washers and SS nuts. I couldn't see any advantage. I've also tried water and I even lubed them in the tumble before. After all that I prefer just letting them cool and tumbling alone. Other's methods may work well for them but this is how I do it.

[avator]

If you do choose to use SS media, a magnet in a sock is a great way to separate them. Just glide the socked magnet around in them then turn the sock inside out and all your media is in the sock.

[Madd Hatter]

Hey Bill, when you tumble your slugs and pellets you don't put anything in with them just the slugs and pellets? I'm probably going to run a batch today.

Correct... I let them cool then tumble them for about 20 minutes, or until they are nice and shiny, with no media. Some folks use SS pins as media but I don't. I've tried BBs, SS washers and SS nuts. I couldn't see any advantage. I've also tried water and I even lubed them in the tumble before. After all that I prefer just letting them cool and tumbling alone. Other's methods may work well for them but this is how I do it.

Thank you, I'll give that a try.

[triggertreat]

I have to get me one of those tumblers Bill uses.  I use a T-shirt and tumble my cast around in all kinds of directions.  I've gotten fairly good at doing this and rarely lose one, but still a tumbler would be more controlled.  I believe they were out of stock when I last looked up the link.

[avator]

I looked at options costing much more but I thought I'd give this el cheapo a shot. I'm glad I did and have since tumble a few 1000 pellets in it. I did have an issue with the gear skipping teeth on the rubber belt but, like I said before, I jusst put one wrap of electric tape around the drum under the belt and it hasn't skipped a tooth since. It also comes with a spare belt.

[avator]

I have tumbled a few hundred or so at a time but now I only run 100 or so at a time.. it's just more manageable to cull and sort that number. It breaks up the casting session.

[triggertreat]

I looked at options costing much more but I thought I'd give this el cheapo a shot. I'm glad I did and have since tumble a few 1000 pellets in it. I did have an issue with the gear skipping teeth on the rubber belt but, like I said before, I jusst put one wrap of electric tape around the drum under the belt and it hasn't skipped a tooth since. It also comes with a spare belt.

I have looked at other rock tumblers and found them to be too pricey.  With the T-shirt trick working so well, I can't justify buying one of those expensive ones.  The tumbler you linked I can splurge more comfortably on.  Thanks for the link.

[avator]

Welcome. IIRC another member pointed it out to me but I'm not sure who.

[triggertreat]

I have tumbled a few hundred or so at a time but now I only run 100 or so at a time.. it's just more manageable to cull and sort that number. It breaks up the casting session.

The thing with using a T-shirt is that you have to have a good quantity of them for it to work well.  Otherwise, there's not enough to do any good at smoothing them all out.

[avator]

This tumble has round edge ribs kinda like the household dryer that mixes them well.
It is quite noisy though. You wouldn't want to run it in your family room.   

[Madd Hatter]

You're not kidding about needing to wrap some tape around it. 😡 I guess for $16 I can't complain.😂

[avator]

Works great though. I'm not sure how it's supposed to tumble that stuff that comes with it. I tossed it all.
BTW... that drum only fits in one way.

[Madd Hatter]

Yep, I seen that. I did a batch of noe .25 hunters. They turned out real nice.  I then did some.25 47 grain slugs but had to cut it short as something caused a breaker to trip in my solar system. Reset it but still not sure what happened. May have had to much running at the same time between the washer, dryer, vacuum cleaner, fridge, water pump and the rock tumbler. Going to keep an eye on how the system performs over the next few days.

[avator]

I fired up Casting Corner and donned my director's cap and made a couple videos of my way of casting. Then I transferred the files to the main PC and did a bit of editing with Open Shot video editor. Now I'm just waiting for it to convert the project into MP4 format so I can upload it to YouTube and maybe throw a link up here.

[avator]

.... meanwhile the WC mold shows out for delivery.