Wet Tumbler

P

PreLockSmith

Inactive
Hi guys, does anyone have any experience with the Lortone range of tumblers? Ive tried searching but there doesnt appear to be much info on here. From what I have read they are supposed to be fairly well made & quiet.
 
They appear to be round drums, like the Harbor Freight drums, and a number of folks use those. Drums with polygonal profiles lift the contents and drop them on each other, which is theoretically more aggressive action, so I suspect the only penalty for a smooth interior drum surface is perhaps having to run it a bit longer for the same degree of cleaning. But even that much, I don't know from experience. I've been using one of the crashing gravel sound Frankford Arsenal units for this purpose as well as a quieter older Thumbler's Tumbler, and both have polygonal drum barrels.
 
for that kind of money, you could get a frankford case tumbler. any particular reason your wanting to get and repurpose a rock tumbler, instead of just buying a brass tumbler?
 
I built my own wet tumbler for about $100. I used an old washing machine motor that was way more power than I really needed but it worked. A few bearings from the local Ag store, two sticks 5/8" OD tubing, a couple of belts & pullies, I was ready to clean brass.
I used a 4"x 2' piece of PVC drain pipe & glued two cut in half pieces of 3/4" PVC on the inside to get brass to tumble, I put a cap on one end & a threaded cap on the other end.
I can tumble about 1500 9mm or about 700 223/5.56 at one time.
 
I had used an RCBS for years; they even rebuilt it for me once. The bearings went on it. The drum finally started to leak, and I couldn't find a replacement. The new RCBS is a Franklin in green and a lot more expensive, so I went with the latter.
 
Here in Australia the Frankfords are roughly another $100 more. I am looking at the Lortone tumblers as they appear to be of a higher quality than most of the other others available & theres no shortage of spare parts of them for when something needs replacing. They also appear to have a moulded rubber barrel so should run quieter in theory & are made in the US as opposed to China like the Lymans etc. Thanks for the replies guys, I might just have to take a chance on one.
 
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