Fixed my Frankford Arsenal vibratory tumbler motor

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Dewey 68

Dewey 68

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My Frankford Aresenal tumbler recently died, which gave me an excuse to buy a wet tumbler. The motor would just hum unless you turned it upside down to get it started, even after cleaning it out and lubricating it. Doing some research I found where other people had found the cause of this issue being that the vibration causes the bearings to get out of round which allows the inside part of the motor to contact the outside and stick instead of spinning. I was all set to buy a bathroom fan motor to replace it so I opened it up today to take the motor out again. As I took it apart the inner portion of the motor came out and that's when I saw the problem: the bearings were fine, but the side of the housing that holds the bearing that was closest to the weight had metal fatigue and had stretched, allowing the bearing to move laterally. (Circled in red.) I took a piece of 38 Special brass and using my Dremel and a thin cut off wheel I split the brass down the side, and then cut some 1/4" strips off the case. I hammered those flat, and cut them again so I had some smaller strips. I put the bearing back in the housing, and using needle nose pliers and a hammer I used the strips as shims to take the play out of the assembly. Reassembled the motor, put it all back together and it starts right up and runs great now. . Motor assembly.JPG motor housing.jpg out of round.jpg brass shims.jpg
 
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I had to rebuild mine last year... what you are missing is the rubber cup the bearing sets in. Mine had completely deteriorated on one side and was binding it up; I just swapped the rubber insert from the other end (which was fine) and reassembled it. Your's looks like a later model (mine is actually a Midway pre-Frankford tumbler...) and maybe they redesigned it. I'll have to make a mental note on how you fixed yours... for when my tumbler locks up again, eventually.
 
Charlie98 said:
what you are missing is the rubber cup the bearing sets in
Click to expand...
I'm almost certain these bearings didn't have any rubber around them. I actually took the unit apart again to take pictures hoping that it would be clear what I had done to hopefully help someone out in the future and had to push the bearing out of the good side with a nutdriver and a hammer as I didn't want to mess with the side I had shimmed. There wasn't any rubber on the good side. On the bad side the bearing fell out when I took it all apart. I did a Google search with the markings on the motor. It's a cheap Chinese motor. You might be able to find the motor through Alibaba or similar. The tumbler is from 2009 so its seen some use as sometimes I'd start it before I'd go to bed and shut it off the next morning.
 
Mine is from 1990 or so... as I said, they certainly updated it at some point. I don't have pictures of it (or I can't find them...) but on my motor (basically the same motor construction) there were rubber 'cups' the bearings sat in, probably as an isolator. Indeed, the design had it's problems, so it's no surprise they new and improved it.

As an aside, my tumbler actually was the subject of a recall... they had issues with the motor catching fire. o_O
 
After I bought a self draining bowl for my Lee tumbler, so what to do with the extra bowl and lid.
Build another tumbler of course, as I already had a box fan motor.
That DIY worked better than the Lee and that self draining bowl was crap.
Wound some solder around the offset weight on the Lee, bingo way better.
Pic, I covered it with duct tape though :uhoh::
WeightS.jpg
I think just about everyone has messed with a crapped out tumbler at some point.
:thumbup:
 
I went through two tumblers and then bought one from Midway on sale and that stupid thing refuses to die. It's been grinding them out for 10 years now. The funny thing is they are probably all made by same Chinese factory. But sometimes you get lucky and get one where everything fits and the wiring and motor windings are solid. Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances. A quality heavy duty tumbler is expensive.
 
1KPerDay said:
I'm envious of people who know how to work with electricity. All I know about electricity is it calms me. ;)
Click to expand...
These are induction motors with no brushes so there really isn't any electricity to mess with. I guess if you got a new one you may have to cut off a plug and attach a few wires together, but really simple motors.
 
Dewey 68 said:
These are induction motors with no brushes so there really isn't any electricity to mess with. I guess if you got a new one you may have to cut off a plug and attach a few wires together, but really simple motors.
Click to expand...
You don't understand. I really am stupid where electrical machines are concerned. Nothing you said means anything to me. The sparky thing goes in the holes in the wall; that's about the extent of my expertise. :D
 
1KPerDay said:
You don't understand. I really am stupid where electrical machines are concerned. Nothing you said means anything to me. The sparky thing goes in the holes in the wall; that's about the extent of my expertise. :D
Click to expand...

I hold a Texas Appliance Installers License... sort of a Junior Electrician License... so I can replace pool appliances (pumps, heaters, etc...) but I can't drop new lines or upgrade appliances. Even though I passed the fairly difficult test, and I can wire appliances with the best of them... I still don't understand electrical theory. My dad was an electrician for 35 years... but it's all still a mystery to me... but, one thing he impressed to me... you very rarely get a second chance with electricity! Sort of like careless reloading...
 
If you want to learn something about electricity some of the Junior colleges offer night course. I took a night course as a prep to taking the journeyman code test.
I was not a requirement where I worked. It was like a 10-12 week course. I passed the test on the first try. Where I hear that 40+% fail it the first time. I had worked around it for years/decades and had been working along a guy that was responsible for out 2 sub stations. Nothing gets you attention more when your hair starts standing up when you enter and start getting near the higher voltages 134kv. I had routine work that required me to enter it on a regular basis. My every day work had me around 277v or higher all the time.

I was responsible for our group safety training. We had a guy that we brought in every 2 yrs for this. This was one for the best training one could have on how to be safe around electricity. He had actual test chambers setup so you could see first hand on how electricity behaved around/in water (pools).

There may even be some on line courses you could take from home at your leisure.
 
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