Recently I have come across problems with my rock tumbler. I have been running it longer then I ever have when tumbling polymer clay. (Usually with a batch of clay I will take 36 hours to tumble it through three grits of sand paper and buffing.) The last two weeks I have been polishings sea shells that I found in Maine. I have done two grits, both being used for over 1 week. The poor tumbler got a work out.
The first problem was with the original belt breaking. The tumbler is a two barrel Chicago Electric. The belts have a history of breaking. I replaced that with a sewing machine belt of the same size.
The second problem happened when that belt over heated. It got brittle and then started to shred. To help with the over heating issues, we simply took the cover off of the motor compratment. I will be putting mesh over it to keep things from falling into to motor. So far it seems to be doing okay. I am about to polish the shells which will leave the machine running for another week.
I was wondering if your singer belt with the mesh cover worked. I’ve blown through about 7 belts on mine in the last 2 weeks while going through agate tumbling. If this worked, could I ask what size belt did you use? Thanks! Looking forward to reading the rest of your posts, I’ve never worked with polymer clay and now I’m fascinated!
Comment by Elizabeth — January 19, 2008 @ 1:12 pm
The sewing machine belt did not work for very long. Currently I am using large rubber bands, the ones that the newspapers are wrapped in. They have lasted through a week of tumbling.
Comment by Helen — January 20, 2008 @ 10:21 pm
Nice! I’ll give that a shot, my last belt just broke.
Comment by Elizabeth — January 20, 2008 @ 11:48 pm
hi, i have the toy also. an had to take it apart many times . here is how i solved the belt problem , bring the two pulleys together enough so that the motor will turn the barrel when it is fully loted , there should be a lot of slack in the belt. the-plastic motor pulleys have worn out on both of my tumblers, ive replace them with wood en dowel drilled to fit the spindles tightly, filed out a grove to fit the belts and to adjust the rpm. oil the spinning bars every couple of days.
Comment by tchin — July 3, 2008 @ 11:56 pm