Exploring Minds 15 Pound Speed Adjusted Heavy Duty Rock Tumbler

I ordered the 15 pound tumbler, expecting to get a single drum the could hold larger rocks and 15 pounds! I received 2 small 3 pound barrels!!! Not happy!!!! If I wanted a 6 pound tumbler I would have saved $40 and ordered the smaller

So far so good. I am using this to mill powders right now. I will update my review after my first 12 hour mill batch and let you know how well this held up. Until then,First- I bought this because of the size and weight capacity. The two barrels are just fine and I am usin them as we speak, however I got this one because i can make my own barrels out of 4"PVC and use them on this as well. so when i need a longer/ larger barrel with more bearings inside that will increase weight, it shoud be able to accommodate that.second- its heavy, it has some weight to it which im goin to assume its not made with a lot of plastic cheap parts. It seems well built and doesnt run as hot as my other ball miller.third- after first turning it on, i put prrssure and the drive shaft to see how much weight would stop it or slow it down. It takes a little bit of pressure to bog this thing down, in other words, this should be able to roll everybit of 25lb.Fourth- It comes with a variable speed controller. I didnt realize that when i bought it, but happy bonus for me.Thats my review for now. I will update later after my first 12 hour consistent run of this machine to let you know how it held up.*Update*After running the machine for 12 hrs straight, It held up well. Never got hot like my other machine. It was slightly warm but to be expected. Its quiet and runs smooth. I made a large 10" barrel from 4" pvc and im running it on the machine as well. As long as this machine will last a long time and not break down after only a few weeks, i would highly reccomend. I will update again on the logevity of the machine in a few months, but good heavy duty machine so far.*UPDATE*I have run this machine for many hours now. about 4 days straight(in 8-12 intervals)and it still runs really well without heating up losing power. So far im happy with this machine. I will update again in a few months to review the longevity. Hopefully it lasts a long time.

***Update as of: 10/11/2018***Please note that the company MOKS Retail has reached out to me after I contacted Amazon and resolved this issue with me (shouldn't really have to go that far - but having a resolution is better than having no resolution). There could be something wrong with Amazon's communication's system(?), as it seems the seller's response was somewhat disjointed with mine. I have upgraded my star rating from 1 star to 3 stars (to average out this transaction and bring the rating to neutral) to be fair. However, as the incident and items are factually true, I have left my original review intact below so potential buyers can understand what to expect if they are still looking at this unit.***Below is original review***This review is for both the item: Exploring MInds 15 LB Speed Adjusted Heavy Duty Rock Tumbler, AND: MOKS Retail (the company that sold it) - You may be able to avoid customer support issues by buying from a different seller. Please make a point of checking the "sold by" line in your carts to avoid the hassle I was put through.Short Review:Deceptive listing and poor customer service makes this item hard to swallow at $110.00 as of Oct 2nd, 2018. Comparable items can be purchased for approximately $70.00 WITH 2 year warranties AND accessories included. Avoid making the same mistake I made - Other reviewers were correct in stating that these barrels are MUCH, MUCH smaller than the combined 15 lb capacity as they are listing here (they are less than 4 lbs COMBINED). I have included photos for confirmation. I have reported this to the company and to Amazon. MOKS Retail Company believes that they are in the right, and have become unresponsive after an email exchange. Hopefully this listing will be taken care of before more people fall victim to this poorly-worded and deceptively listed product.Long Review:This item was listed as a "15 lb speed adjusted heavy duty rock tumbler." I was a little weary at first, as I saw other reviewers stating that the barrels were not 15lb barrels. I thought that maybe they got the wrong item. Amazon sometimes lumps their reviews together for different sized (but same category) items. I took a chance and ordered this item thinking, if this was a problem, it should have already been resolved by now. I was wrong. As stated above, there are comparably cheaper items with more accessories listed on Amazon at this time, but listed at lower (6lbs) capacities. These listings also include starting accessories to make the hobby even easier to get into - such as grit and actual stones. I recommend looking into these items FIRST before putting yourself through the hassle with this item and company.PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE AWARE OF WHAT YOU ARE GETTING BEFORE JUMPING INTO THIS PARTICULAR PURCHASE. I have sent out an email to the seller. They know what is being sent out, it is INTENTIONAL. THERE IS NO MISTAKE IN SENDING OUT 2 SMALLER (as in: less than 4 lbs), NON-7.5LBS BARRELS.Their explanation was basically, the motor is a 15lb capacity motor. Meaning, the motor is able to handle up to 15lbs of barrel weight. However, the barrels included measure LESS than 2 pounds each. You will be receiving less than 4 pounds of barrel capacity for $40.00 more than other tumblers. Be aware, instructions state that these barrels are not to be filled up more than 1/2 - 3/4 capacity (so you are getting EVEN LESS capacity)! Also, 15 lbs worth of barrels will NOT FIT into this unit. It is tight even with these tiny barrels - even if they were thicker (instead of longer), you would have balancing concerns.As one may imagine, this response confused me. Questions like, "Are there actually people out there that would sell me huge, 7.5 lb capacity barrels along with a machine that could only handle a 1-2lb load (because that is basically the barrel load for the cans they sent me)!?" cycled through my mind. As well as the question, "WHY?" Even if this was a machine rated at 15 lbs of capacity, the two tiny 28oz (1 lb 12oz barrels) barely even fit on the rollers. Meaning, if you had 15 lb barrels (or two 7.5 lb barrels lying around), you probably still would not be able to use this machine! They simply would not fit!!!!! So why would ANYONE sell you a 15 lb rated capacity motor that can NEVER roll a 15 lb barrel?!? Mind blowing.When I brought this question to the seller, seller stated that it was in the listing. They felt that the wording, "15 LB Motor Capacity Speed Adjusted Rock Tumbler (Comes with 2 Smaller Drums)" was sufficient to describe that it was ONLY the motor capacity they were referring to, and that they were not including properly sized drums to handle that capacity. They welcomed me to return the item as long as the original packaging was intact... ruh roh!My only two issues being:1.) I had read the 15 lb motor capacity as a "given" - (who sells 15 lb barrels along with the machine, but with a machine that can't handle the load?! a minimum of 15 lbs motor capacity would be required!) and that the (2 smaller drums) didn't mean 1 huge 15 lb drum, but meant that the combined lbs of the drums would be 15 lbs (7.5 lbs give or take would have been fine)!!2.) And; The item came wrapped in a thin film of plastic wrap which I had to tear apart in order to get to the item itself... HMMM... company shenanigans?When I contacted the company about this... *silence*They never returned a response. Had to contact Amazon.On top of all this? The barrels were cheaply made, damaged and dented.I've included photos for your own verification. I included a tomato sauce can (I originally thought it was a 3 lb can, but it was less than 2 lbs!) I know that the M&M square container isn't round or "cylinder" shaped - but it gives you an idea of what a 3 lb barrel would kind of look like in terms of sizing. Now if you were multiply that by 5, you would have something somewhat representing a 15 lb barrel... so... yeah. Look at the company's own photos in the listing and use your own judgement as to whether or not this machine will ever fit 15 lbs worth of barrel in it. Trust me, you'll never need 15 lbs worth of motor for 1-2 lbs of tumbling. It's overkill and pulls more electricity than you want/need.Hope this helps.I purchase these items with my own pennies. 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I liked it very much

Great Quality

Can't wait to open at Christmas!

This seems to be a good tumbler so far.I bought it with the intention of using it as a ball mill, as real ball mills are (in my opinion) wildly overpriced. The speed is indeed adjustable, and I do appreciate that. However, it is adjustable between the speeds of "barely turning" and "slow". By this I mean you can go from off to the jar turning at about 42 RPM, as I counted. As far as I understand, the other rock tumblers on the market turn the jars at about 60 RPM; my old one did, at least (a Tumbler Bee). For ball milling purposes, if you too want to mill something, you need the jar at this size (I think about 36 centimeters in circumference, but that's my old jars--though they look the same) to turn at 90 RPM, over double what this tumbler turns at.To fix this issue, I bought some wide gorilla tape and wrapped it around the shaft driven by the motor to a thickness of about half an inch. This will boost the jar turning speed up to a bit over a hundred (it was hard to count). A little less thick will make it go slower, but since you can slow the speed with the included controller, it's better to go for as fast as you can with the thickness you build up around the rod.Other than that, it does seem to be good quality. Whether or not I continue to enjoy the product will depend on how well my speed fix holds up; this may seem unfair, but without this modification this tumbler turns entirely too slow for me (and possibly too slow for you too).

I am in the process of returning this item. It broke a belt after the first day of tumbling, then went completely dead after the second day of the second tumbling cycle.