Necessity is the mother of invention

Discussion in 'Anything Goes' started by OOTV, May 13, 2017.

  1. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    For some time now I have been changing my own tires as well as a few friends and neighbors and one thing that I try to do is save the wheel weights. This is not because I'm a tree hugger but for the fact that they are a bit of a cost in the scheme of things and I figure I could save some bucks and reuse them. Additionally, colored wheel weights are not all that common. most are either black, silver or "lead colored", if that can be called a color. With that, I am running out of white wheel weights as the supplier no longer offers them and I figured all these were are painted black or lead colored weights anyway. So I was trying to find a way to make my own so to speak. So I searched for heavy duty two way tape and a means to clean and prep the weights for repainting. I found the two way tape right away but for the quickest and easiest prepping device I thought a parts tumbler would do the trick.

    So on to Youtube I went and found quite a few videos on how to make a parts tumbler. Most people use these to remove rust and/or to polish parts. The media you fill the tumbler with kind of determines what the tumble will perform for you. The two types of tumblers I found were ones that actually rotated like a cement mixer and those that were more of a "shaker/vibrating" style. These seem to be the easier of the two to create as there are numerous methods of creating the vibration. Some folks used an old vibrating or orbital sander and attached it to a bucket or old bundt cake baking pan, others used plain motors and used an unbalanced "blade" to create the vibration.

    So I started thinking, do I have anything in the garage that I can use to build my own? Yes, I do! I had to look no further than the parts I recently took off of my wrecked 01. The radiator fan was one of the casualties but it appeared to be somewhat in useful condition. Not too long ago a friend of mine had given me a "bucket of cookies" from Solvang and I decided to keep the bucket in the garage for catching fluids when working on my vehicles. Bingo! I have all that I needed to make this happen. So I ended up grabbing the bucket, attaching the fan to it, sans one blade, which makes it out of balance and perfect for creating a vibrating motor for my tumbler/shaker.

    Turns out that the bucket bottom and the fan base are almost made for each other! I drilled 3 holes in the bottom of the bucket and placed some rubber grommets inside them and ran some bolts though them and did the same for the fan mounts. I then grabbed an old 12v power supply and plugged it and saw it work. I then went to Harbor Freight and picked up a 5 lb. bag of "rust removing" media and went to it. I have to say after about an hour and a half the weights that I placed in there were nice and smooth and almost ready for painting. All I have to do is wash off the media dust and spray away! Anyway, here is what I used and a video of it in action.

    From this...

    [​IMG]

    To this...

    [​IMG]

    To This!

    [video=youtube_share;hnODdKq1svc]http://youtu.be/hnODdKq1svc[/video]
     
  2. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    If you use a food grade container you could make smoothies innit too.
     
  3. sunofwolf

    sunofwolf New Member

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    hat does mother's day have to do with this? Perhaps you should wear a pantie hose too.:joker:
     
  4. sunofwolf

    sunofwolf New Member

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    P1010390.jpg Here is my broom stick trick afterwards it good to fend off BB trolls!:lever:
     
  5. RVFR

    RVFR Member

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    Well if that ain't clever. Did you take a bit of weight off one of the fan blades to get more action?
     
  6. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    Shame on you for taking away your mom's sole means of transportation particularly on this day. As Michelle Obama said of great leader, "What is wrong with you?"
     
  7. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    Was thinking a bucket of martini's, shaken, not stirred obviously
     
  8. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    One blade was already broken so I cut it down to the hub and it seems to work pretty well. I could probably take another blade off but the plastic bucket may not hold up to much more vibration than I am currently giving it. I may look at other containers but I don't think the wife would appreciate me confiscating one of her baking tins!

    Other than the media, I was trying to avoid spending money and seeing if I could do it first.
     
  9. sunofwolf

    sunofwolf New Member

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    out of rotation
     
  10. fatbastard

    fatbastard New Member

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    Just remember that you're going to build up some lead dust in the abrasive media, whatever you use. Lead oxide is powdery and fine, you don't want to breath that in long term or have small kids around it.
     
  11. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    ;) Martinis OK-Beer ain't.

    Probably a war story from one of the big wars. A fighterpilot took a round in one of the blades of his prop unbalancing it. He landed, climbed out of the cockpit, cocked his sidearm and shot a hole in the other prop blade.
     
  12. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    The old name of lead acetate is "sugar of lead" little kids in tenement housing we call "projects" would eat the old lead oxide containing paint with disastrous results. An intereresting sidelight is that POTUS big daddy, Fred Trump made his big pesos on those same projects in NY.
     
  13. 34468 Randy

    34468 Randy Secret Insider

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    I saw a video on making a similar devise a while back. I don't remember what site I was on but it was either here or a facebook link. That is about the only places I go on the computer.....other than nucking futs. It was built for cleaning parts if I recall. A cool and innovative idea. Goes to show you what you can do if you look outside the box and leave the wallet closed. Good on ya.

    BTW. You can get automotive trim double sided tape that can be used to hold those reconditioned weights on. It comes in a couple different thicknesses. High adhesive quality. I used model paint to paint my weights white when I was using weights. I use beads now. I know....that is a whole new discussion. But they work for me.
     
  14. sunofwolf

    sunofwolf New Member

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    safe for big Kids?
     
  15. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    Yep, The lid stays on when I run the tumbler for sure. I also use gloves when handling the weights afterward. The new wheel weights are steel, which I also have quite a few of but some of the older ones might be lead, certainly softer metal than the latter ones. Lead weights are frowned upon in many areas now so a lot of places are only selling the steel weights.
     
  16. RVFR

    RVFR Member

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    We need some before and after photos of said process. Back in the day I only used the faorty lead spring clip weights that was once used on the bikes back in the 90s. I really like them as you could move them around with out much trouble during the balancing act. Those today are like hard to come by. I'd still use them if I had any in the right weight, but no, gota use these double stick lead weight product that are a B* to get off, and add IMO they don't look that great either.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2017
  17. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    Yeah, I was so excited to see how this would work that I forgot to take a pic of the weights before they were dropped in. I suppose I could take a pic of the weights I currently have on the wheels and what the post tumbler look like. I have a busy day today so that might be a bit later this evening.
     
  18. VFR4Lee

    VFR4Lee Member

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    A lot easier than shaking the parts cleaner bucket by hand.
     
  19. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    Not an exact before and after but close. The ones on the left are about the same as what I threw into the tumbler. The ones on the right are what they came out like after about 1.5 hours.

    [​IMG]
     
  20. RVFR

    RVFR Member

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    That's more like it.. good job.
     
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