George Vontorne's propane tank sand muller

[bmac2]

It's a good idea. I'm going to steal it and create one for myself. Thank you.

wce4 ya that seat works great. I can’t remember what it was I was working when I first used it but I was cutting a lot of plate and my back was killing me. My saw just fits under the workbench when I’m not using it so even with the new base it’s to short to use standing. When not in use I keep the seat in the space beside the drawers.

 

[bmac2]

Kicking things around if I go with a simple belt drive I should be able to keep this thing very compact. I want to put the bearing as close to the secondary pulley as I can get so It looks like I’ll need around 3in’s between the bottom of the tank and whatever base I come up with.

 

[bmac2]

I can’t see this thing lasting long if the top of the drive left open with all that sand flying around so to attach the drive shaft to the blades I took the last 1/2in of the shaft down from .6in to 1/2in and made a cap the diameter of the blade shaft (1 in) with a small shoulder matching the ID to help with alignment. Drilled and reamed a 1/2in hole to accept the shaft then with the shaft inserted cross drilled #7 and taped the drive shaft 1/4x20. Opened up the hole on the cap to a clearance fit and welded the cap to the blade tube and secured it to the shaft with a 1 1/4"in long cap head screw.

 

[bmac2]

I don’t have anything suitable in my stash to make the base out of so I’m going to attempt to cast it. I’ve never tried casting anything this thin this size. It’s 1/4in thick and 15 1/4in long (6.5mm x 387mm). I’ve seen it done with plaques and if it doesn’t work out I can just melt it down and go to the store. The pattern is pretty simple and didn’t take long to make. I’ve given the holes plenty of draft and they will be cleaned up any way when I mill the slots for the 4 bolts on the motor. To get the “fingers” located I temporarily glued them to the base with the tank sitting on them. Then drilled 2 holes for small locating pins for each and broke them free before the glue completely set. The boss on the bottom will be a mount for the rear leg. The holes in the top of the fingers are for some 1/4in dowel vents.

 

[GreenTwin]

Perhaps pour a bit hotter than normal, and sacrifice a bit of surface finish.
You can also try a knife gate on one or both long sides.
I don't do plaques, but it seems like I have seen the knife gate used on them.
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