Noise level of vibratory tumbler...

Well, the good news is that I received a Frankford Arsenal "Quick-N-EZ" tumbler this evening as a gift for Father's Day. (I didn't have a tumbler, so of course I was delighted to get one.) The bad news is, the thing is REALLY loud when it's cranking away. I've never been near any other tumbler before, so I have nothing to compare it to. But this is far louder than I expected. :mad: Is that just part of the price you pay to have one of these contraptions?

I recall at least one enthusiast saying in a thread on here that he often forgets that his tumbler is running and that he sometimes leaves it running for a day or so. I guarantee that you wouldn't forget that the one I have is running... ;)

Corner Pocket

try either adding media or cutting down the # of cases you are tumbling. you will have to experiment to find a tolerable volume/sound solution.

You gotta watch those vibrations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY7_8Q15ChQ

Some fixes--

Make sure the lid is screwed down tight
Set the tumbler on some soft carpeting
Make sure the floor underneath is solid, like a concrete basement. Otherwise it will turn the house into a big drum.

A concrete floor helps a bunch, also if it's overfull it will make more noise than usual. The motor on mine became loose the first couple of times I used it and that was extremely noisy. I used red loctite on the nuts that hold the motor to the base and it's much quieter and hasn't worked loose again.

Yep, try upping your media to brass ratio. Mine makes quite a racket when I first start it up, but once the cases get pulled down into the media it gets much quieter. You're probably getting a lot of noise from the cases vibrating against each other.

"You gotta watch those vibrations"
too funny looks like my "rec room"

My FA tumbler isn't much louder than the Dillon tumbler I borrowed from a friend. I cured the noise factor by putting it in the garage, so I don't hear it in the house. Sometimes I forget it is running. You might try putting more media and fewer hulls when you run it.

I bought mine from Harbor Freight, I noticed that if I tighten the nut inside the tumbler it mellows out a lot.

Thanks for the replies. I dumped 300 .45 casings into it to start. That may be too many and the noise is being generated from the casings shaking against each other. I'll try taking out a bunch of them and see how that works.

Later edit: Well, heck. I removed 200 casings, but it still sounds about as loud as it did before. Maybe I can wrap a quilt or something around it and dampen the noise some. I mean this thing is loud enough that I would not want to be reloading in the garage when it is running...

CP

Years ago I needed a tumbler right away and the local store didn't have any in stock. Consequently, I put one together out of a small motor and some large PVC pipe. I then put it out on the picnic table in the back yard for lack of space on my bench. Later on, several of the neighbors asked where I had purchased the waterfall that they were all hearing? And I could see why, because that's exactly what it sounded like.

take a small piece of icemaker plastic pipe and put it over the threads in the middle..........a lot less noise!

also do it to the threads on the top and you will only have to screw the nut a little ways............

I have the same, it is loud. I set it onto the concrete floor on a piece of old carpet and it's bearable now. does a good job.

Vibratory tumblers are loud, period. If you don't have someplace removed from your living spaces where you can run it, you either suffer or pay the price and replace it with a rotary model, which is what I did.

Shouldn't run it in your living spaces anyway. Tumbling is best done outside, in the garage or something. After cleaning brass, separating media and such I try to get clean before I go back to the house, there is lead residue in all the crap you polish off. I've got a big Dillon, yeah it's loud. I don't mind, but the wife unit...

I put it down the driveway with an extension cord so she doesn't hear it.

Worry more about the dust than the noise. Don't use it anywhere near where people or pets eat. Short of casting bullets, the dust from cleaning cases is your worst potential for lead contamination.

--wally.

It should not be placed on any type of carpeting or soft dampening material for two reasons. One...It might stop the flow of cooling air to the motor. And two...If you dampen the vibration it will take a lot longer to properly clean the cases...Place in the garage, back porch or outside on the stoop...

Good points about what surface you place it on. Mine is in the shed out back. I can't hear it at all. :)

hahahah i can only run mine outside. Then it has to be when my wife is ok. Otherwise its going to be a bad day. She hates that thing. That loud noise thing she calls it.

I recall at least one enthusiast saying in a thread on here that he often forgets that his tumbler is running and that he sometimes leaves it running for a day or so. I guarantee that you wouldn't forget that the one I have is running...


That could easily have been me you are referring to. Mine is set up in my back room/reloading room on commercial grade carpet (the flat indoor/outdoor stuff) on a timer. It is a plywwood floor, as is the rest of my cabin. Doesn't fit the descriptions above in other posts.

The key to it might be that I am somewhat hard of hearing, and I "tune" out background noises to be able to keep track of out of place noises, It is a habit I picked up 40 years ago and still have to this day.

Mine seemed loud when I first fired it up too. I found that if I merely added media a little at a time until the noise subsided that was all it took. For some reason the instructions are a little stingy on the amount of media to use.

I cut up a full dryer sheet and put it in the tumbler. Keeps down the dust and helps to keep the media clean as well.

Yea, mine is a little noisy but tolerable. Its a Lyman and used in the garage.

hahahah i can only run mine outside. Then it has to be when my wife is ok. Otherwise its going to be a bad day. She hates that thing. That loud noise thing she calls it.


HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY WIFE!!!??? Come to think of it, keep her a few weeks, I've got a ton of brass to tumble.

Put a piece of rug on the concrete floor.
Put the tumbler on the rug.
Put a cardboard box over the tumbler.
Don't let the tumbler touch the box.
Close the door on the room.

A while ago, I made a wooden frame to hold a fluorescent light over the reloading bench. Then I got a Lyman 1200, and right away(!) noticed the noise level. So, being a considerate condo dweller, I put the tumbler in a plastic "milk crate" and hang that from the light frame with bungee cords. Now the only noise is transmitted through the air and is quite moderate. Plus it does in 2 hours what used to take a day and a night in the little Thumblers Tumbler.

+++1 for keeping the tumbler in the garage, away from living areas, with cut up dryer sheets, Lay a shop towel or wash cloth on the cement floor and put that tumbler on the wash cloth and set it and forget it for a couple of hours and check if more tumbling is needed.

I use two tumblers, one with crushed walnut and Nu Finish for cleaning and a second tumble in corn husk for polish. BLING BLING!!!!

I run mine while I sleep, it's three rooms and two closed doors away.

When it is chock-full (probably overfull) you get a grinding rattle that is the cases chunking together. When it is loaded to "proper" brass levels and enough media, it just sort of makes a hissing humming sound.

I like the white noise anyway.

I have the same tumbler as the OP.

Make sure you use enough media, and make sure you have the lid screwed on tight (if there is any wiggle in the lid, it will make one heck of a rattle).

Anyway, I put mine in the basement, and it doesn't really bother me there. The reloading room is right below my office, so I can hear it slightly while I type. But, after five or ten minutes of hearing it, I drown it out just like other ambient noises (like you would a fan or air conditioner, etc).

They certainly aren't the quietest devices ever made!

Thanks to all who replied. I've experimented a bit in the past couple of days. I now have a better idea of how to do it, and the batch that I tumbled this morning did not sound quite as loud as a helicopter landing on the roof. :D

CP

Mine is in the garage. I use a light timer (like you use for Christmas lights) and let it run while I'm at work.

mine is loud enough to bother me. so i put it in a basement closet that has a concrete floor, close the door and plug it into a timer for 2 hours. being in the basement closet keeps it very quiet in the rest of the house, and the 2 hour timer is so i dont forget it is running!

The noisy operation of the tumbler notwithstanding, I've now tumbled several hundred cases of different calibers. These first experiments have shown me that a reasonably nice cleaning/polishing operation takes about three hours with the tumbler that I have. (Using walnut media.) By adding an additional hour to the process, the shine is MUCH better. Not that the shiny ones shoot any better, but it is nice to start off with some really nice-looking brass, no? :D

CP

You'll probably find that it starts to work better with each load you run. New media has a "break in" period, where initially your cases get cleaned but have sort of a filmy appearance. This goes away after a while. I think you'll also find that corncob media will produce more luster, whereas walnut is better at cleaning. I run a batch through walnut, then through corncob if I want it really, really shiny. And yes that nice shiny brass is nice! It may not shoot better, but then again a freshly washed and waxed car seems to run better. :)

Mine runs smooth and quiet with around 200 .45 ACP cases.