So inspired by others' posts here with their homemade wet tumblers was I, that I set to work on my own rendition.

I had much of what I needed to pull it off.  And without a doubt a few things are still jury rigged.  But it works well.

Here are the pics:







The container:

I used a weed/insect sprayer I already had with busted nozzle.  I deemed this container to be very suitable since it seals with an O-ring and is a very appropriate size (6.5" ID).

I removed the spraying components and the center pump column.  I filled the pump column hole with a round block of wood, and permanently affixed and sealed it with epoxy.  I also filled the pressure relief and sprayer ports with epoxy.  

I took a thick, plastic cutting board and ripped 3x 1.5" stips from it.  I used it to create agitators inside the tank.  I'll take a few pics of how I arranged this; it works quite well and my design requires no fasteners.

I needed some better grip on the outside of the container so it wouldn't slip on the bed spindles.  I wanted to use something like skateboard tape, but did not want to make another run to the store.  I eyeballed a few well used sandpaper belts for my belt sander, and dang, they fit around my container perfectly, with only about 1/8" of slack.  Fixed that with some duct tape.  I will probably pick up some skateboard tape soon, though, to replace the ghetto sandpaper.

The bed:
I cut some 2x4 scrap I had to appropriate dimensions.  

I bought 2x 24" pieces of 3/8" all thread, 4x 3/8" bearings, 1x 3/8" lock washer, 10x 3/8" nuts, and 12" of 3/8" ID fuel hose at Ace Hardware.  

I bored out my 2x4 with a 1 1/8" spade bit to inset my bearings.  They are locked in place by the two nuts snugged together on each end of the all thread.   There is no play in the spindles.

I cut my 12" piece of fuel hose into 4 equal sections and threaded it onto my all thread to provide traction to the tumbling container.

I snugged two nuts together with a lock washer on the one protruding end of all thread, where my drill drives the spindle.

The drill:
I have had this old craftsman drill for a long time and don't use it much more.  I is quite powerful, has bearings on its motor, and is geared between the chuck and motor.  I just used a 3/8" socket adapter on it, put on a 9/16" socket, and it drives that spindle beautifully.  The drill has a large fan blade in it, keeping the drill cool, even after 3 hours of operation.  The trigger on the drill has a 3-position lock button on it that allows you to set the drill at three different speeds.

Also, the arbor of the drill was already drilled and tapped with a hole for a 3/8" machine bolt.  This is what I used to fix the drill to my longer length of 2x4.

Operation:
I ran my tumbler for 3 hours on the drill's highest speed setting.  The weight of the water, 1000 rounds of .223 brass, and 5 lbs of SS media bowed my 3/8" all thread spindle only slightly when I initially at it all on there, but under operation, with the spindle turning, it ran straight.

I put in a few squirts of Dawn dish detergent and a shot of Lemishine, as others do.

I used SS media I ordered from Buffalo Arms.  Paid ~$35 shipped for it.

You can see in the pics that I secured the 2x4 bed to my bench with clamps to avoid it walking around.  I did not test it without the clamps to actually see if it would walk around.

Results:
I first ran a few hundred .223 I had and wound up with perfect results.  Then I went for a bigger load of brass.  After three hours of operation I had 1000 rounds of perfectly clean and shiny .223 brass.

Overall Costs:
The hole thing cost me ~$30 + another $35 for my SS media.  Of course, I didn't have to buy the container that I converted, the 2x4, or the drill.

Those sprayers typically sell for $15-$20.  Make sure that if you get one it is sealed somehow.  Water will obviously leak from an unsealed container.


Let me know if you have questions.  I am only offering the info up to help other tight-wads like me who want a cheaper solution to SS wet tumbling.  It works.

Looks awesome, it also looks like I will have another project. Would it be possible to get a better picture of the gearing/hook up, and the inside of the container, and cleaned brass, I'd appreciate it when I go to build it for myself. Also what did you use for bearings on the rollers?

Gearing hookup is simple.  I put a 1/4" to a 3/8" socket adapter in the drill chuck, and put a 9/16" adapter on the socket to drive the 3/8" nuts.  Will take a pic of that and the inside of the tumbler... and closer pic of cleaned brass.  The bearings are simple $4.00 bearings sold at Ace Hardware.  I'll try to get you a better pic of one of them as well.

Bearing setup:  (the one on the left is used to keep the container from rubbing into the wood frame)


Clean brass after running:


Internal agitators: (I need to make a diagram for these.  They are two container length blades locked into place by two shorter cross pieces)

NICE

Thanks for the extra pictures, it look awesome!

An illustration of the agitator setup:


Dimensions completely depend on your container.  It helps if your container has dimples on the bottom of it like mine does, because it will help lock the agitators in place vertically, so the whole apparatus doesn't spin inside your container with your brass and media.  Without those dimples I assume your could use some epoxy on the sides of the agitators to lock them in place.  But even with epoxy, I would probably still use the cross pieces for support.  The weight of SS media and brass would break the agitators loose without the cross pieces.

Oh yeah, set the height of your top cross piece low enough that it does not block the flow of brass in and out of the container.

Bumping this up with a request for some pics of your roller and bearing setup... I think Im gonna hafta try this

Nice

I can't really get a better pic than this to illustrate it:

Bearing setup:  (the one on the left is used to keep the container from rubbing into the wood frame)


The bearing on the left is just rigged up to keep the container from rubbing up against the wood frame.  You can probably see where the wood frame did get rubbed before I installed that left bearing.  There is no special way to set this up, I just used some fittings I had available.

The bearing on the right:  the 2x4 frame is partially recessed with a spade bit to allow the cupped bearing to sit in it.  The two nuts on the all thread spindle lock that bearing in place.  Without the two nuts on each side of the spindle, the bearing would fall out and the spindle would be catawampus.

Let me  know if you have any other questions, or if I need to clarify something.

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