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Cheep tumbler

Deft

Deft

Get two birds stoned at once
Veteran
I'd like to get a tumbler so I can stop wasting good trim. Bubble bags seem cool but I dont care if its seperated out into 10 differnt grades!

It would be nice to find a cheep one but I am willing to build my own.. but I would need a place to get the screen material or an assembled drum. So if anyone knows of a place for any of this (preferably cheep) I would be gratefull!

I have seen some modles like the polinator ones but they are outragously expensive for what is essentialy a rotisary motor and a box with a drum in it.

Also, what micron screen will get most all the good stuff but not too much leafy junk?
 
H

hazeywonder

Member
i would try the gumby method i found it on the advanced medical boards.. Basically it involves using gravity to separate the glands. You mix and agitate in a bucket with ice just like bubble bags. Then you use a kitchen strainer to remove the leaf and ice. Surprisingly this removes most all the leafs and large partials. Then you let it settle for 5hr the leaf matter and small particles remain suspended in the water and the gland heads fall to the bottom. From there you siphon off the water and leave about a 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch pour in the mason jar let settle again siphon of the water again and now you are left with all the gland heads. let dry, cure, roll and smoke.. its good hash to easy and simple method. maybe not quite as pure as bubble but its pretty close.
 
Deft

Deft

Get two birds stoned at once
Veteran
I want a tumbler! They look so effective and easy once you have one.
 
Deft

Deft

Get two birds stoned at once
Veteran
Was hoping for cheep, the $150 okeef one seems deecent, might spend a little more for the big one but dont know yet.
 
Dkgrower

Dkgrower

Active member
Veteran
Chiefsmokingbud

Chiefsmokingbud

Slap-A-Ho tribe
Veteran
LOL, a square drum. Only problem i see in that video is the speed it turns and being square, looks like most of it stays in a corner. it probably works but the effeciency is questionable.

Here is my experience with building a tumbler. Can't rememember the exact time but i believe in '04 i set out to build one. looked all over online to get some ideas and bought the parts. Had problems sourcing some parts but managed to get everything i needed. Had to try a couple different motors which added up and long story short, it worked but not as good as i wanted and by this time i spent $100 on parts and god knows how much time i wasted. I went back online to get some more ideas to improve it and ran across okief and about fell out of my chair at the price and just bought one. You can build your own but you better have some good ideas first and learn from others mistakes. Keep in mind i'm extremely mechanically inclined and was a machinist at one time, but some things still take trial and error...which costs.
 
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Deft

Deft

Get two birds stoned at once
Veteran
Yea, I think I will just end up buying the 300g okief one, would be hard mounting everything and getting a trap door that works on the drum I think.

If I were to build one I would probably just buy a rotisary motor for a grill, might have one around actually lol.


As for efficiency and yield of tumblers.. does anyone else wat to weigh in on this? I would cut the trim so as to maxamize suface area and use a few large silver dollar sized glass marbles to agitate and press the trim which I think will increase the effectiveness over the rubber balls.

Who knows I might get bubble bags but the yield from them always looks minascule and I will be runing around 7-10 outdoor plants this year depending on the M/F ratio I get.. I plant to run around 20-30 female clones the year after once I have more sites scouted and improved soil and light wise. I want a LOT of bud and that many plants seems impractical to run the trim through bags.. am I way off base in my thinking? Please comment!
 
Chiefsmokingbud

Chiefsmokingbud

Slap-A-Ho tribe
Veteran
Actually all the rotisserie motors I've seen turn less then 3 rpm, most are 1 rpm. RPM can make you or break you. When dry sieving you don't want to turn it too fast or too slow. Too fast breaks the material up too much and too slow just takes too damn long. My tumbler turns about 7-8 rpm so there's a base line you could work off of. You do want to be careful what you put in it to agitate it. The best thing is rubber balls and i would be afraid if you used marbles they could damage the screen or break the material down too much, just depends how big the marbles are. rubber balls have some give to them where as marbles don't. Remember the more the material gets broken up, the more contaminants are introduced.

Dry sieving can be very efficient if done properly and Jesus are they easy to use. The only thing is you don't get as many grades as with bags. But if you do it right you'll have superior kief from the get go....just ask Sam S.
 
Deft

Deft

Get two birds stoned at once
Veteran
Yea, bubble bags seem like a lot more work what with the mixing for half an hour and drying etc.. I'd rather just dry it in the woods and toss it in the tumbler and flip a switch.. and I can always take the first 20 min of sifting results and keep them seperate for the better quality hash.

And the marbles I am talking about are called shooters I think, large but not always very heavy allthough they are much harder than rubber lol, I dont think they would damage a SS screen!
 
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C

Chamba

Also, what micron screen will get most all the good stuff but not too much leafy junk?

depending on your strain...a 130 ~ 150 micron mesh will work (or 110 ~ 135 lines per inch mesh)

a cheap way is to get yourself a suitably sized bucket and lid or a metal container with lid, cut "windows" in the sides of the cylinder and glue the mesh over the openings, buy a rectangle shaped plastic storage container, attach motor to the side of the plastic container and the drum to the motor ..(a DIY copy version of the commercial tumbler)

a metal container, a few sq ft of mesh, a storage container and motor should be less than $50 or $60 (I'm guessing..but around here, where many of the parts are made here or commonly used, the total price would be even less and less again if secondhand parts were used)
 
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C

Chamba

I have seen some modles like the polinator ones but they are outragously expensive for what is essentialy a rotisary motor and a box with a drum in it.

not everyone has the money, time, tools and ability to produce a reliable tumbler that works well..but if you have, then, why not!

if not, it's nice to order it and then come home a week later to find it there...take it out of the box, clean it and then plug it in...you could be sampling the world's best hash in a matter of a few minutes.
 
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C

Chamba

tumblers waste a ton of crystals compared to water methods

tumblers or flat screen methods of dry sifting do not "waste" resin......both experienced tumblers and ice hashers leave about 5% of the resin behind with the separated plant material

ice water hash is purer and the high is very "heady", while dry sifted hash tastes better and I feel has a more complex high

to maximise quantity while maintaining quality it's best to match the strain to the ideal sized mesh

and although I haven't had much experience with tumblers, but it might be worth doing what I do when making hash with flat screens...double or triple sift it...clean out the plant material from inside the tumbler, scoop up the resin and place it inside the tumbler and run it forp a short time, stop when about 90% of the resin has fallen through the mesh..the remaining stuff on top will be mostly broken up plant matter and the heavier, round shaped balls of resin will pass through the mesh (initially in greater numbers)...do this several times and you will greatly improve the quality
 
C

Chamba

Yea, bubble bags seem like a lot more work what with the mixing for half an hour and drying etc..

the best thing about bubble bags is you can harvest and turn the entire crop into ice hash on the SAME day
 
Chiefsmokingbud

Chiefsmokingbud

Slap-A-Ho tribe
Veteran
Yeah most resin heads range between 120 micron to 155 micron. Indicas having larger heads while sativas have smaller heads. So using the proper screen size is essential. You can even run material through a 110 lpi drum then take that kief and card it across a 110 lpi flat screen to clean it up. carding over a screen is not as aggressive as a tumbler so contaminants have a tendency to stay on top. I've done that many times with my set of screens.
 
C

Chamba

Chief....does that mean that re-sifting the loose resin through a tumbler doesn't work well?..what about just tapping the sides of the tumbler or picking it up and gently rocking it from side to side instead if using electric power?...what I mean is, if that's all you have, then try to use it the best way you can

most resin heads range between 120 micron to 155 micron.

....I don't have a microscope and measuring equipment....there is certainly lots of variety in the size of trichomes (resin heads)

Bubble bags have shown the various sizes of resin heads range from mostly 35 ~ 105 micron (immature, mature and over mature)..some strains on average are even large in size...but these are fresh trichomes...I've seen macro photos of dried and cured trichomes and they are like a dried prune, shrunken and wrinkled..

I'm not sure how much shrinkage takes place?
 
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