win a ball from Bowling.com

Author Topic: My home made spinner.  (Read 5138 times)

kakan

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 17
My home made spinner.
« on: January 26, 2008, 06:08:14 AM »
I see alot people on here asking how to build spinners so I thought I would share some pictures of the one I built last spring.









The whole thing is built on an old school desk thats been sitting in my garage.
The ball cup is a SS mixing bowl mounted to a gokart wheel hub and a piece of 1" drive shaft that runs thought the 4 bolt flang bearing to a 7" pulley.

The motor is 1/2 Hp 1225 RPMs with a 2" pulley I cant remember my exact math but I think the two pulleys gave me somewhere around 500 RPMs.

This thing has been working great for the last year I've done 5 resufaceings and tons of sanding and cleaning.

I all it cost me about 90$

Motor= New from Ebay/35$
Pulleys and belt/30$
Bowl/20$
The bearing, Hub, and shaft were free from my brother inlaw who builds and races gokarts.

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.

 

Juggernaut

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6498
  • Former good bowler, now 3 games a week house hack.
Re: My home made spinner.
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2008, 02:28:14 PM »
Pretty nice work man.  That thing looks like it should get the job done and last a while too!

  A friend of mine had/has an old washing machine that the water pump went out on, so he bought a new machine.  After letting it sit in the storage building for about a year, we decided to make a spinner out of the thing because the motor still ran well, just the pump was out.

  We also used a bowl almost identical to yours, and used small guage rubber hose around the top edge to help keep from scuffing the ball against the metal bowl.  We cut the agitator shaft off short enough that, when we installed the bowl on it, you can still close the lid.  That put it down far enough to keep the spinning ball from slinging water and polish everywhere during the process.

  We took the timer out and directly wired the motor and transmission to toggle switches so that we can use it on a low or a high speed, but that high speed spin was REALLY fast ( so fast it was scary.) Better not try to use an unbalanced ball on high speed or you will be picking it ( and maybe your teeth ) out of the wall somewhere.

  Like you, this thing worked great last time we were using it.  Haven't used it in a couple of years though.  My friend quit bowling ( due to injury of his back ) so I don't do any ball work there anymore.
--------------------
I'm really tired of the whining, so, JUST SHUT UP AND BOWL!  


My Bowl.com member page

Learn to laugh, and love, and smile, cause we’re only here for a little while.

Brickguy221

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9918
Re: My home made spinner.
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2008, 10:09:04 PM »
Great looking set-up complete with the table-top. I would like to suggest that you might look at covering the rim of the bowl with some type split rubber tubing or similar material to give the ball a softer cushion to set on in place of the bare steel edge of the bowl. Maybe you have done this, but the pictures didn't look like it to me.
--------------------
"Whenever I feel the urge to exercise I lie down until the feeling passes away."

Brick
"Whenever I feel the urge to exercise I lie down until the feeling passes away"

Rev_O

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5060
Re: My home made spinner.
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2008, 10:28:43 PM »
Looks very nice, but doesn't it get messy?
--------------------
Rev-O










dizzyfugu

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7606
Re: My home made spinner.
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2008, 02:53:46 AM »
Cool piece!

How stable is the axis that holds the ball cup? How about vibrations (esp. with strong MB balls)? I also have a home-made device using a strong power drill with a rigid mount - the only thing that worries me are sometimes very strong vibrations when the cores are in a (relative) strong prosition to the spinning axis. Since your construction also has a pretty high ball CG, I wonder if you face similar "problems"?

Anyway, impressive work!
--------------------
DizzyFugu - Reporting from Germany

Confused by bowling?
Check out BR.com's vault of wisdom: the unofficial FAQ section
Xmas special: a handy Java online score calculator

DizzyFugu ~ Reporting from Germany

scooter19530

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 423
Re: My home made spinner.
« Reply #5 on: January 27, 2008, 06:24:01 AM »
i took a treadmill motor and turned it upright with the flywheel facing up, mounted to a cabinet with brackets and attatched a flower pot to the top. used the front panel to control the speed (it's a 2 1/5 hp moter that will go up to 8 mph) i use it at about 1/4 speed  for cleaning and resurfacing, any faster and the finger grips will literally fly out, (it did happen on the maiden trial). if i can get some pics set up, i'll post them. we weren't using the treadmill because the belts kept going bad so i decided to try this. took me about 4-5 hrs to hook it up the way i wanted it, it's really solid. with the brackets and bolts and flower pot, it came to about $10.00. if anyone has an old treadmill (a.k.a. clothes rack) that has a good motor, contact me and i'll help you set it up. i haven't figured how to put a tub around it yet but i'm working on it. it's only a matter of time.

eaglesstorms

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 5
Re: My home made spinner.
« Reply #6 on: January 27, 2008, 08:01:28 AM »
i took a 1/2 hp grinder that i got at a tool show new for $25. i took one of the grinding stones off and mounted a bowl to that spot. the bowl was actually one of those big insulated water coolers with the spout on the bottom. i cut it down and insulated the cut edges. then i mounted the grinder sideways on the edge of my work bench and have been using it for years now. i also can still use the bottom grinding wheel when i need to do some grinding.

Fluff E Bunnie

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5617
Re: My home made spinner.
« Reply #7 on: January 27, 2008, 08:10:01 AM »
I likey!
--------------------
Tom Cruise has officially reached Michael Jackson status.

kakan

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 17
Re: My home made spinner.
« Reply #8 on: January 28, 2008, 07:51:21 PM »
Thanks for all the comments everyone.

 To anser a few questions for the lip of the bowl I had a piece of rubber gasket on there but it keep falling off so I bought some Plasti Dip and used it to coat the lip of the bowl. I also have a splash guard that I use I just removed it to get better pictures. As far as it being stable I sometimes get a little wobble with some of my stonger balls but most of the problem is do to the skinny legs of the desk.

SrKegler

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3020
Re: My home made spinner.
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2008, 08:54:30 AM »
If the bowl ever gives out on you, try using the rear break drum off of a honda.  Perfect fit for a bowling ball and a lot more sturdy.
--------------------
Charter Member FOS

Have Balls - Will Travel
Have Balls - Will Travel


RIP Thongprincess/Sawbones