Burnt myself on Harbor Freight Vibratory Tumbler

[rsrocket1]

I bought my HF vib tumbler in 2007. After 6 years of at least two loads a week (typically 10,000 cases per year), the lid broke. No replacements available so I bought a new bowl assembly. That spun around when the motor was turned on so I took the thing apart.

1. I drilled a hole at the bottom of the bowl to fasten it to the base to prevent it from spinning. I used 2 nuts to lock it in place
2. I replaced the center shaft with a threaded rod (10-24 I believe). Fastened it to the bottom with 2 nuts.
3. Replaced the wing nut with a hand knob. Since it was a common SAE thread size, they were easy to find.
4. Used 2 nuts locked together on the shaft as the base to a fender washer to hold the lid down and spread the load so it won't break in the future.

Worked great for the next 4 years (close to 100,000 cases cleaned so far). Early this year, the motor started getting tough to start. I had to swing the tumbler around to get it to run, but once it started, it worked fine until I stopped it 3 hours later (lamp timer). It finally refused to start after a few months so I bought another one when their 25% off sale came up. I removed the screen on the bottom and tried starting the motor rotating by using a drill without a bit and it started up again!

Several months of tumbling this way and the original is still running.

 

[Reno380]

If you can, lube the bearings/bushings with a light oil and look for any excess friction between parts...

I looked at the parts list and diagram and see no bearing(s) or any place to apply oil. This setup has a motor with a offset vibration bar that causes the motor to shake (Vibrate) which shakes everything else; Vibrates. Seems as if though the center rod is to small, so if we increase the size to 1/4 thread, and maybe use 2 large fender washers at the point of contact to the plate from the motor, then use rubber gasket and metal fender washer at base of bowl with neoprene bolt (anti vibration nut), use a sleeve still like original but increase size of washer on top of sleeve,then rubber washer, fender washer and maybe use neoprene wingnut on lid. IDK if this would improve or fix it, but from others posted in doing similar, it seems to do so. Hopefully someone comes out with a permanent fix and makes a video or posts it on a webpage with pictures.

-=Reno=-

 

[mdi]

Unless the bearings/bushings on the motor are sealed (which on inexpensive, mfg in China, motors is rare), you can drop some lube on them. Small electrical motors are available on ebay fairly cheap.

Yep the design of "vibrating" tumblers (actually wobblers) is a designed in failure. An off balance motor armature/main shaft is really hard on bearings (and yes, I know some folks have used their wobbler for years and they still work fine. but the design is counter intuitive). The cheaper, lower quality wobblers, like the Harbor Freight tumbler, usually die sooner than the tumblers made with quality parts and materials...

But some things aren't really spending a lot of time/effort on. I'd just buy a Lyman...

 

[goldpelican]

FIXED!

Placed a brass nut about 1/2" thick (from the plumbing box) under the wingnut which allowed it to screw down onto fresh thread - it no longer overheats! The heat was being generated by the loose wingnut vibrating on the threaded stem. Will have to be extra diligent about ensuring it's screwed on damned tight from now on.

 

[Reno380]

FIXED!

Placed a brass nut about 1/2" thick (from the plumbing box) under the wingnut which allowed it to screw down onto fresh thread - it no longer overheats! The heat was being generated by the loose wingnut vibrating on the threaded stem. Will have to be extra diligent about ensuring it's screwed on damned tight from now on.

Can you please post a picture?

Reno

 

[goldpelican]

See attached. Been running an hour now - no heat.

 

[TheDomFather]

Thinking of the getting the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler - has excellent reviews and high capacity, and comes with the SS media. See it around for $160 or so.

I have it and it's fantastic. I don't even use a vibratory anymore. Decap your brass with a Lee universal decapping die, put the brass and steel pins in the tumbler, use a tbsp of dawn which has a degreaser in it and a tbsp of Lemishine and they come out bright and shiny. Dry them thoroughly

 

[RugerOldArmy]

I initially went through several tumblers.

I switched to http://www.thumlerstumbler.com/vibratory.html

No problems. No regrets. They're well built.

 

[morcey2]

And so begins the most popular debated topic in reloading (Besides the Lee FCD)

To wet tumble or dry??

Time to make Popcorn.

I've tried popcorn. It doesn't do much at all. I tried it dry-unpopped, dry-popped, wet-unpopped, and wet-popped. It wet-popped was the worst. It took me forever to pick the mush out of the cases. At least they weren't bottleneck.



Matt

 

[nettlle]

I had trouble with tumblers and went with a Thumler's UV10 a couple of years ago. It's been well worth the little bit extra I paid for it.

 

[Nature Boy]

I've tried popcorn. It doesn't do much at all. I tried it dry-unpopped, dry-popped, wet-unpopped, and wet-popped. It wet-popped was the worst. It took me forever to pick the mush out of the cases. At least they weren't bottleneck.



Matt

Use butter next time

 

[Reno380]

See attached. Been running an hour now - no heat.

Thank you for the picture, I'm going to lowes to pick up some brass nuts to add to my tumbler.

reno

 

[goldpelican]

Brass just happened to be what I had on hand, but I thought it was appropriate

 

[Reno380]

Seems like it would be the wisest choice, brass is a soft metal and will absorb the heat faster than steel.

-=Reno=-

 

[mdi]

FIXED!

Placed a brass nut about 1/2" thick (from the plumbing box) under the wingnut which allowed it to screw down onto fresh thread - it no longer overheats! The heat was being generated by the loose wingnut vibrating on the threaded stem. Will have to be extra diligent about ensuring it's screwed on damned tight from now on.

Cool! I'da never thunk that would have been the reason...

 

[scythefwd]

I've been running a HF 8 lb tumbler since I started reloading back in 05ish.. I've ran it for over 8 hours (tend to run over night).. and never had that issue.. interesting issue to have for sure