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!