Ever have to repair your tumbler?

[Peter M. Eick]

I had to repair my Midway 1292 tumbler last night again. This time the other power wire going into the motor broke at the plug connection. Looked like just plain metal fatigue. I soldered the wire together and it is back in action (after a bit of electrical tape). The tumbler is about 10 years old and has had probably about a quarter million cases run through it over the years.


Anyone else had to jerry-rig the tumblers? If so, what did you have to do and what model was it.


It started me to thinking that maybe I should get another one. I like the midway, but a bit bigger would be nicer and a lot quieter would also be nice. Any suggestions?

 

[P0832177]

I have to say that my Thumblers Model B is pretty darn quiet. It has been used for the last 17 years with few belts replaced along the way. Some lubrication and some general cleaning! Runs well, and it is nowhere near as noisy as my Dillon CV500.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Been runnin' this ol' Lyman 1200 about 15 years without a belch from it and I have never cleaned the motor compartment yet. I keep thinkin' I should get to it, but haven't yet...Dependin' what it's settin' on as to whether it makes very much noise. If it's settin' on a loose bench it can really rattle. If it's settin' on the concrete floor it makes little noise.

 

[capbuster]

I would quess that alot of us use trumblers which were designed to polish stones for the making of jewlry.That is the case with my tumbler and it has given great service for many years.The drive belt is designed to slip if the load is excessive.On some ocassions I have to hold a scott towel against the inter surface of the moving belt to remove any trace of oil/debri. This done, the belt is dry and the tumbler moves on without any other problems.

 

[oscar]

Several years ago Midway replaced some tumblers because of this problem.

 

[mbott]

I had to repair my Midway 1292 tumbler last night again.

I thought the Midway tumbler had a lifetime warranty? Last time mine failed, I sent it off and they replaced it.

--
Mike

 

[Fumbler]

If that little break was the problem then 5 minutes with a soldering iron is a heck of a lot easier than $8 in shipping and being without your tumbler for a week and a half.

 

[HSMITH]

My little Frankford Arsenal died this weekend. Motor got stinky and hot with just media in it, I was running it to mix in the polishing additive. It probably has done a couple hundred thousand cases, and considering the $40 I spent on it I guess that is reasonable service.

This time I'll get a big one, save some time cleaning cases.

 

[JSR]

The recall on those tumblers is still on,I'd send it in and get a new one.

 

[Rico567]

Exactly the same thing happened to my Midway tumbler. The connections to the motor are a lot cheesier than on my old Lyman Turbo tumbler, which just keeps on truckin'. I just put on a new connection, and soldered it, and it's back in service. We'll see how long that lasts....

 

[road.warrior]

Buy a new one: ~$35

http://www.bosesguns.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1580

 

[Black Snowman]

Only had it maybe 5 or 6 years but my Lyman Auto-Flo 2200 is still trucking fine. I run it on my concrete basement floor to keep the noise down, with the clear plastic lid on to avoid airbore dust.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

My thought was with Fumbler. 5 minutes with the soldering iron, a bit of tape and it was back in service. Its a good unit, but just a bit smaller then I really want now. I can make do till it dies (probably another few years), but I was just "a thinking".

 

[armabill]

Mine doesn't tumble but vibrates.

Midway replaced mine free of charge for problems (?). Mine worked ok but I sent it in anyway just in case.

 

[Fumbler]

Midway's pretty good about taking care of things.

I bought some Lee dies and the set had two expanders and no bullet seater (Lee's fault). They sent me some more dies, but sent the wrong ones (357). They let me keep the 357 dies and sent me the correct 9mm dies.

 

[HSMITH]

Turns out Midway is going to fix mine for me, looking like it will be just shipping to them for costs to me......

I guess there was a recall on mine too.

 

[dleong]

The motor on my Midway 1292 tumbler ran ridiculously hot and burned out within about six months of the tumbler's acquisition. I sent the entire tumbler back to Midway and they replaced the motor at no charge.

There is a little fan attached to the bottom end of the motor shaft that is supposed to circulate air and cool the motor proper, but my particular tumbler had NO ventilation holes on the baseplate. I ended up removing the baseplate entirely, so there is now unrestricted airflow to cool the motor. No problems since.


DL

 

[Smythe77]

Agree about the Thumbler's Tumbler Model B as being quite. Still in using one since late 70s I was never pleased after four hrs of tumbling.

Picked up a Lyman Turbo Thumbler & put the old media into this one. Now 1.5 hrs later on I have really shiny brass. Man what a change PLUS I can see now as it is progressing through the plexiglass cover or stop the unit from running & lift out a few to be sure. Do not do that latter after four runnings of the above have proven to me it was perfect.

Amazed as to why I waited so long & showing a rock tumber with its full sheet rubber gasket,then a metal plate on top & finally seven wing nuts & flat washer points to this as being ideal rock polishing but not as good for brass which is done so much sooner by ones aimed for polishing spent brass.

 

[PGBsuperior]

My tumbler is a cement mixer, and yes, I did have to have it repaired. I got it at the local Ace Hardware, it's one of those made in China deals, but it was pretty darn cheap. Not long after I had the blades and inside ArmaCoated (tm) the motor quit on me.

So I took it down to the local electric motor repairman, who determined that it was a bad capacitor that went out, and it's been working like a charm ever since.

It holds 40 lbs. of media, and I can easily polish a thousand cases in there, which I frequently need to do.

a.