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Another Improved Version of the Tank Tumbler

One of my favorite dive buddies, Craig Miller,  built an even better version of my Tank Tumbler.  He refers to his tumbler as the "Boydski version 3 tumbler".   Craig mounted his motor on a third plate, and then ran the drive shaft through a bearing on plate number two. It made the motor/drive shaft connection a lot easier and very solid.

Craig used the same shaft that I did, but turned it down on a lathe.  This initially placed the two tanks too close together, which he corrected by gluing some rubber to the roller shaft.   He sent me a movie of his tumbler turning a pair of tanks and it's a thing of beauty, much more stable than my original tumbler. 

See the pictures that Craig was kind enough to send me, and I think you'll agree, his is the definitely ah improved model!

All the electrical stuff, capacitor, switch, and 110V cord are mounted on the outside of the motor mounting plate in a very nice electrical box.  Oh yeah, and I promised I wouldn't tell about Craig letting the smoke out of the start capacitor.  All of you DIY electricians out there, don't forget that smoke makes electrical devices work.  When you let the smoke out, they stop working!  ;-)

Be sure to notice the green Poly bumper on the end plate of the tumbler.  The Left tank tends to ride towards the motor and the right tank tends to ride away from the motor, so you'll need to provide some kind of stop for the tanks to ride against.  I clamped on a scrap of wood with some Polyethylene attached to it.  Craig's bumper is much, much nicer.

Thanks Craig!  Also, check out the photos of Craig's filling station below.   I think his setup is nicer than ANY dive shop that I've ever been in.  Wow!