Need a new tumbler

If you go vibratory,in my circle the Dillon has taken over. My old Thumbler vibratory still works.
I'm pretty sure my brother ditched both pins and media. Just Lemon-Shine and water.
 
The instructions say Dawn but on asking my wife what she likes best. She felt Sun liquid detergent. Now I use Sun instead of Dawn with very little LemiShine, now they come out squeaky clean.
 
My tumbler is a Thumbler's A-R6 #120 rotary tumbler. I didn't even know they had vibratory tumblers.

I use my rotary with crushed walnut shell media. I buy it at the local feed and grain store for less than $1 per pound. (I think I got 20 pounds for $16)
It cleans fast and there is no mess to deal with afterwards. It takes just a half hour to clean the grungiest range brass when the media is new and I add a teaspoon of silver polish in the walnut shells. When it gets old and takes an hour to clean brass I take the old stuff out and replace it with new. Then I wash the old stuff and let it dry to cycle it back in. There is less dust than with the corn cob stuff and it lasts a lot longer.
The only reason I hang onto the vibratory cleaner is to loan it out to new reloaders. They compare the results in it with the results I get with mine and usually get a tumbler in short order. I don't think I will ever use a liquid cleaner with or without the pins. There is just way more work and time involved in rinsing, separating and drying it all. I take my brass out of the tumbler, by dumping it into a bucket with a cap of 1/4 inch hardware cloth and the media goes into the bucket and the brass stays in the hardware cloth. A quick wipe to inspect it and I start loading it.
 
I use the same procedure with my rotary and my wobbler. Dump brass into the drum/bowl. Add media. Turn machine on. (If I think my machine is too loud, I'll add some media). Check after a while, at least an hour, and continue until you get the cleanliness/shine you're looking for. Some folks add different chemicals/waxes/polishes to the media, but try nekkid media, cob or walnut first to see how the process works, you may not need anything added.
 
I use the lyman 1200 and a harbor freight 5 pound vibratory tumbler, both can be had for $60 bucks or so. both work great with dry media. The harbor freight one can be run wet, haven't found much use for that yet. Another bonus of the harbor freight one is the sealed lid, no dust when I tumble inside.
 
I have a Lyman 1200 I use at the beginning of the case reconditioning process (to clean the cases back from the range so they're ready to go through the dies).

I have a Frankford Arsenal rotary tumbler with ss pins that I use at the end of the case reconditioning process (final clean and shine - inside n out, including primer pockets - so they're ready for reloading.

If either one bit the dust, they'd likely be replaced with the same unit. I am very pleased with their performance - both.
 
I have a Dillon 750 that I run with the crushed Walnut. But I have not used it ever since I got the FART.

(Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler)

The brass is so much nicer and best of all, no lead dust from the vibrator and the separator. I bought a cheap Frankford Arsenal separator to separate the pins and that works really good. Check out their videos for the details.

FART.

;)
 
I talked to Lyman customer service and they have advised me that I cannot purchase just the motor, I have to purchase the base and the motor together for $36.95 and they are out of stock. They also told me that the bowl from the 1200/Auto Flow will fit on the 1200 so, for $43.99 from Amazon, as noted by hounddawg, I think I will just get one of those and use the bowl from my AUTOFLOW 1200.
 
That sounds like it makes the most sense. Do you know what quit on the old one? I took the bottom grill off mine years ago to increase air flow over the motor, which I thought got a bit warm on mine. You just don't want to do that if you are around kids or pets or anyone else who might be tempted to put their fingers in there while it's running.
 
Unclenick said:
That sounds like it makes the most sense. Do you know what quit on the old one? I took the bottom grill off mine years ago to increase air flow over the motor, which I thought got a bit warm on mine. You just don't want to do that if you are around kids or pets or anyone else who might be tempted to put their fingers in there while it's running.
Click to expand...
It was the motor. One day last week, I decided to dump the media and cleaned brass into the separator instead of using the autoflow (I normally always used the autoflow but this day I was in a hurry to get the brass out of the tumbler). So, instead of taking the bowl off, I turned the whole unit upside down and that's when the motor went caput. Now it just hums. Lesson learned.

I may still get me a rotary tumbler eventually but usually, I am in a hurry and don't have time to wait for the brass to dry out. I usually tumble it in the morning so I can use it in the evening and de-capping it first is not an option for me.
 
Once its kicked around here for awhile, it will wind up what's best. Glad it worked out. That's why I'm a member of this forum . Great group of people.

Chris
 
Roland,

Have you tried spinning the motor by hand? If it drags or doesn't turn, maybe some media got caught between the rotor and the stator. Get the grill off to see if you can turn it, and if it's not free, slip a piece of paper into that gap and see if you can move it around until you find the problem particle.
 
I built my own rotary tumbler using the drive mechanism from an old Texas Instruments dot matrix printer and some ball bearing rollers from Harbor Freight. I use plastic coffee cans for the drum and tumble dry using walnut media.

It is loud because the printer was loud to begin with so it lives in the garage. I load up cases and media before I go to bed and start tumbling. In the morning, I take that coffee can off the rollers, replace it with another one and head to work. By the time I get home, I have two batches of brass that have been tumbling for 8 hours each.

I don't get the mirror shine that comes from wet tumbling with steel pins, but it is shiny enough for me.
 
I had one, but it was very noisy (shotp attached to house so not a good thing to having going while the wife is relaxing at night, I got to bed early as I have 10 hours shift and not bothered by it in the far end of the house but she is right next to it)

The Thumbler did a far better job and was vastly less noisy.

Frankly I would go with the stainless steel media units now, have seen the results, clean inside as well as outside.

More a bigger deal if you anneal (not smoke)
 
Unclenick said:
maybe some media got caught between the rotor and the stator.
Click to expand...

You were exactly right. I took a screw driver and poked the blades of the fan a couple of times while the tumbler was turned on. Whatever it was, popped out and the darned thing started running again. Not sure why I didn't try that first before ordering a new one.

Fortunately, I was able to get in touch with Amazon and cancel the order for a new tumbler before it got shipped and all seems to be well.

Well, now that I've saved myself the expense of a new tumbler, maybe I'll start saving for a rotary one ;)

Thanks for all the tips
 
I wouldn't recommend the "Midway" Frankford Armory brand. They don't work well nor last long. I'm running a pair of Lyman 1200's, a Lyman 600, and a Dillon sized about 1/2 way between the 600 and 1200-I have 2 FA units sitting on the shelf because they just don't get the job done.. The Lyman 1200's are fast and effective(and easy to overload). If your motor burned out, I'll wager it was due to overloading the tub.
Harbor Freight is a no-go for me-too many "stories" on their stuff.
 
I know Harbor Freight isn't known for quality but I tried their tumbler single drum just to see how wet tumble with SS pins. I only shoot 30 rounds each week, bench rest only. I use it every week brass looks brand new. Once I saw how it worked I bought the red tumbler B tumbler. Will never go back to dry.
 
That's my advise if you are staring out.

Just go with the stainless pins and a good unit.

I still think if I am not annealing I will use the Thrumbler, but am working up to the stainless wet setup for when I am doing the anneal on the brass as its not just the lack of smoke, the heat is more evenly controlled.
 
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