Author Topic: Case tumber - please recommend (Read 1735 times)

charles p · « **on:** December 31, 2008, 09:46:26 AM »

The only tumbler I have owned was a Lyman. It lasted at least 25 years and finally kicked the bucket. What do you fellows prefer and why? I'm not a large volume reloader so I don't necessarily need the very largest or very best, but don't want junk either.

LaOtto222 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 31, 2008, 10:10:07 AM »

I can always recommend a Thumbler's Tumbler. Get the biggest one they have. It will hold a decent amount of brass and will last almost forever. It really is a tumbler, designed to run for months at a time polishing rocks. You can use corn cob, crushed walnut or even rice as a media. They are in the $150 dollar range now days. They are quieter that a vibratory cleaner, but take a little longer to do it's job. I usually load up a batch and run it over night or all day while I am at work. As the media gets tired, it takes longer up to 8 hours to get a good cleaning. I have had mine for a long - long time. Some where around 30 + years. I got it before the vibratory type came out any way. I have used it for all my cases for years. I also have a Lyman Magnum vibratory cleaner I got last summer. It is quicker, cheaper, but nosier and does not hold up as well. I burnt one out in about 3 hours because I over loaded it. I put in 500 223 cases, 3 hours later - no go. I did get another one, but have not put that many cases in at once - just half of that. I have not had it long enough to determine if there would be any other problems or not. I am still using the Thumbler's Tumbler - I just supplemented it with the Lyman. Good Luck and Good Shooting

Badnews Bob · « **Reply #2 on:** December 31, 2008, 10:29:11 AM »

I've been useing a Frankfort arsenal one for about 8 years now still running strong I think I paid about forty bucks for it.

Ladobe · « **Reply #3 on:** December 31, 2008, 10:35:20 AM »

I agree if you want the best of all worlds get a Thumblers. I used to use them for, yep, rock polishing. Might be a little slower, but they are built like the proverbial brick s__t house and the low noise level helps keep the peace are the old home 20.

I have a vibrator type I bought from Midway years ago that was cheap, cheap cheap. The blue one they put their name on. I also have extra bowls and the clear lids they offered, and their media separtor (works well but kind of messy with corn cobs). It's done a lot of high volume work and is still as good as new.

So you can spend a lot or spend little and still have something that will last for years.

charles p · « **Reply #4 on:** December 31, 2008, 11:42:44 AM »

I now think I must have burned my Lyman up by overloading it. Wife put chunks of colored glass in it and ran it for weeks. I then loaned it to my neighbor and it failed at his house. Had to be 25 years old.
Worked forever with just brass and walnut shells.

Thinking of getting a Diesel powered cement mixer. Need to round off some granite boulders. Could use it each New Years as a bloody mary machine.

cbourbeau32 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 01, 2009, 09:45:55 AM »

Quote from: LaOtto222 on December 31, 2008, 10:10:07 AM

You can use corn cob, crushed walnut or even rice as a media.

LaOtto222 do you need to do anything special to use rice as media or just use it like you would corn cob? Thanks, Charlie

jasonprox700 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 01, 2009, 11:34:36 AM »

+1 for the Frankford. I have had mine for a couple years now. Can't complain. Paid about $50 for it. You can't do the huge batches, but I'm not a large volume reloader.

Curtis · « **Reply #7 on:** January 01, 2009, 03:03:52 PM »

Another Frankford Arsenal here, but I bought it because it was cheap (around $35 if I remember). Been running it lightly for a couple or three years now with no problems.

Curtis

quickdtoo · « **Reply #8 on:** January 01, 2009, 03:48:10 PM »

I've had the FA vibratory case cleaner for a couple years, works great, a local chain store sells it for $39.99. I plug it into a cheap timer so it turns off automatically after a few hours, inexpensive crushed walnut shells from the feed store works well in it with a little Flitz case cleaner added.

Tim

gypsyman · « **Reply #9 on:** January 01, 2009, 03:58:24 PM »

I have a Lyman 1200 that is over 20 years old. If it ever goes bad, I'll by another Lyman. I like to stick with what works. Little hint, common sense, plus an electrician I talked to at a gun show confirmed what I suspected. I always run mine on the basement floor. Cement floor is always cooler, so the fan is sucking up cooler air, to keep the motor cooler. Talked with several shooters over the years that had tumblers burn out. Seems they run them outside. Usually in the garage, where the sun heats up the floor. If you have to run them outside, try and find a shady spot where it might be cooler. gypsyman

FourBee · « **Reply #10 on:** January 01, 2009, 05:23:32 PM »

I've had this little jewel since '92'. If it ever goes out, I'd like to get the Frankford Arsenal.

Graybeard · « **Reply #11 on:** January 01, 2009, 06:00:07 PM »

I have one just like it except mine is not NEARLY as clean as yours. It's far older also I'm sure. Mine was in the recall from midway some years back and we had to send them in for a new motor due to a supposed fire hazard even tho it had been working for many years. come to think of it they replaced the entire unit tho not just the motor so maybe mine isn't that much older but the original one would have been had they not replaced it for free. I didn't even have to pay the shipping they covered that.

Don Fischer · « **Reply #12 on:** January 01, 2009, 06:25:37 PM »

Mine is also a Midway. Got it sometime in early 1990's. No problems. I'd get another. It just works!

LaOtto222 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 01, 2009, 10:50:04 PM »

cbourbeau32 (Charlie) I use just plain rice. It does take longer to clean than treated media like corn cob and walnut shell. It will not have as shinny of finish either, kinda dull, but it will clean if given enough time. I buy 25 pounds at a time at a discount warehouse and store it in a covered 5 gal pail. As with any media - make sure all of it is cleaned out of the case before loading. Buy a few pounds of it and try it in your case cleaner - after a couple of uses, you will know if you like it or not. If not - then you are not out much.

gypsyman - I run my Lyman 2500 vibratory case cleaner on the basement floor also, not because of the coolness, because it will vibrate everything on my bench, making a heck of a racket - much louder than the floor. I wanted to run it on carpet to cut down the noise even further - but I know that it would cut down or stop any air flow. So it sets on bare concrete making a lot of racket.

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #14 on:** January 02, 2009, 02:49:56 AM »

i love my huge dillon but still run a lyman and a frankfort arseonal too, there a decent tumbler for the money. mine has held up better then the lyman. the lyman has been repaired twice in the time ive owned the FA one. By the want frankfort arsenol is owned by midway and the midway tumblers are the same as the FA ones.

Syncerus · « **Reply #15 on:** January 02, 2009, 03:32:22 AM »

+1 thumblers

FourBee · « **Reply #16 on:** January 02, 2009, 04:19:15 AM »

Quote from: Lloyd Smale on January 02, 2009, 02:49:56 AM

By the way frankfort arsenol is owned by midway and the midway tumblers are the same as the FA ones.

Thanks for that info Lloyd. I kind of felt there was a reason for the similarities of those two brands.

FourBee · « **Reply #17 on:** January 02, 2009, 02:24:38 PM »

Quote from: Graybeard on January 01, 2009, 06:00:07 PM

I have one just like it except mine is not NEARLY as clean as yours.

There's a little story behind that clean tumbler. Until a few years ago, I had really neglected it. It's a wonder that it didn't burn itself out. I'd ran across an article on the 1292, of Midway's recall because of motors shorting out . Seems the little fan on the motor was left off or something to that nature, causing them to overheat . Anyways that got my curiosity up, so I go out to my shop and turn my tumbler upside down and it was filthy. Then I noticed the rest of it wasn't a pretty picture either. It being somewhat of a novelty to own one these old Midway 1292's these days, I decided I needed to clean it up and try to make it last as long as possible.

FourBee · « **Reply #18 on:** January 05, 2010, 04:25:54 AM »

I know this is an old topic, but I found this add last night in an old GUNS Magazine dated Oct 1995. Mine was still going strong last time I used it to clean some .45 brass back in November.

wncchester · « **Reply #19 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:32:26 AM »

Fact is, vib tumblers are about as simple as possible, a plastic bowl and base, 4-6 springs, a power cord and a motor. None of the "makers" make the motors, they all buy them from the lowest cost motor maker so the tumbler makers have NO control over how good any given batch of motors may be. Most last a long time, some exceptions last a very long time while some others stop pretty quick - just luck, not the brand, may as well get an inexpensive one and hope.

Think they will all stand behind them for at least a year, some maybe two. If you get a really poor one, that's enough time to find out. Usually.

Pumah25 · « **Reply #20 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:48:41 AM »

I have an RCBS on its way back to them. Less than 2 years and it is not working. I am just glad it didn't quit 5 months from now when the warranty is up. BTW it has always been run on a cool basement floor.

quickdtoo · « **Reply #21 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:56:24 AM »

Midsouth has the least expensive unit that I've found.

Tim

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=00047VBSR0052001

Sweetwater · « **Reply #22 on:** January 05, 2010, 07:49:43 AM »

My first one was a Lyman 1200. My wife didn't like the "noise", so, having not read the book, I put carpet under it. WRONG!! Burned it up in no time. Not Lyman's fault for sure, but when I took it back where I got it, they didn't have any more Lyman's and I got a Hornady. Looks like the Midway and FA units. Works great after 12 years, 4 moves, 3 different climates, and no carpet.... LOL

Regards,
Sweetwater

FourBee · « **Reply #23 on:** January 05, 2010, 07:52:31 AM »

Wow, quickdtoo: Pricewise that's a real bargain. Do you have any issues with it?

Sweetwater · « **Reply #24 on:** January 05, 2010, 08:02:36 AM »

Hey Quickdtoo! That looks like 'all the rest' - is one company making these and changing the color for the respective marketers? It looks like my Hornady, for sure.

Regards,
Sweetwater

quickdtoo · « **Reply #25 on:** January 05, 2010, 08:09:02 AM »

I dunno how well it works, I don't have one, but it appears to be just like the FA but without a lid, they used to be out of stock all the time, but seem to have caught up with orders now apparently.

Tim

1 farmer · « **Reply #26 on:** January 08, 2010, 03:56:14 AM »

I looked at that Mid South tumblers last year. I think I'll give one a try.

kshock · « **Reply #27 on:** January 08, 2010, 12:45:06 PM »

If you have a Harbor Freight in your area, check out their tumblers. They have both vibratory and the true drum type tumblers considerably cheaper than the "reloading company brand names". I've been thinking of trying one myself even though my Lyman still works good.

quickdtoo · « **Reply #28 on:** January 08, 2010, 01:07:45 PM »

Harbor Freight wants more for their Chinese machine than the FA unit sells for, I checked em out too before I bought the $40 FA which from all markings appears to be made in the US, although I didn't disassemble it to see where the motor is made.

Tim

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93252

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #29 on:** January 08, 2010, 03:12:36 PM »

Mine is the Thumlers tumbler ultra vibe 10 model...It is over 20years old & still runs well.