Tumbler Problems

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Historian

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Oct 6, 2007
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Dallas, Texas
Well, my two year old Frankford crapped out last night. It just quit running. I replaced the switch hoping for an easy fix. No joy. Disassembled it and could find nothing obviously wrong with the motor. Anybody have suggestions or should I just bite the bullet (so to speak) and buy a good one?

Historian
 
The probable cause is one of the electrical leads to the motor coming loose. Check underneath and see if both connections are tight.

A tumbler takes a lot of vibration, so this is the first place to look when they suddenly stop running.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Thanks Bushmaster. I found that out the hard way when I was changing out the switch last night. Ordinailry I'm pretty careful around electricity. But that old momentary lapse (which seems to be coming more frequently as I get older)...well you can guess.

Can anyone give me a suggestion about a good tumbler that will handle a couple of hundred .223s or 300 .40 S&Ws?

Thanks,

Historian
 
I have a Hornady tumbler that I use for hours and hours. I have had it running almost solid for a full week when I was polishing up nearly 2200 .308 cases.
 
The top of the line tumbler is the Thumler's UV-18. I have two of them and one has been working for over 20 years. I bought the second one used about 8 years ago.

I also have a Berry's tumbler and it's worked well, too. It's about 1/3 the price of the Thumler's.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Agree with ReloaderFred. I have two of these. Older one has run for years and still going strong. New one crapped out after about a year - loose wire - fixed and still running the last few years. Good luck.
 
My first frankford died and i bought another locally to finish what I was working on. Took the dead one apart and found a loose wire. Fixed it and now I have 2. :) Maybe you will get lucky and it can be repaired.
 
My Frankford Arsenal tumbler conked out after a half dozen loads or so also. Took it apart, found the motor stuck. Turned it by hand a couple times to free the shaft and re-assembled it, has been working fine since. Mine was a cheapo, guess you get what you pay for.
 
If you are a do it yourself type, build one. I used a piece of 10" diameter PVC pipe with plexiglass ends. I put 4 triangle shaped oak bars full length which I screwed with flat heads screws counter sunk into the PVC. I used bearing made for lawn mower front wheels, in a wood box. The PVC drum is placed on 2 - 5/8" shaft across the box. One of the shaft is the drive which I placed a 8" A sized pulley, I attached it to a small electric motor.

Jimmy K
 
My RCBS also died after just a few hours work. Checked it and nothing obvious like a loose wire and motor not siezed. Looks like new, no smell, no burn, just dead. Spoke to RCBS and they are sending me a new motor. Their explanation was this just happens occasionally.

My old Lyman lasted 20 years of heavy use and my Cabelas (Berrys) is working well but the plastic bowl scratches easily.

A friend used to use Dillon for club reloading and he said even their top model rarely lasted more than a year of almost continuous use. Ended up making his own rotary tumbler.
 
So it stopped, fix it yourself. Easier than reloading is, so why not? Nothing to doing it and it will save you a good chunk of change.

If the motor hums but won't turn, the bearings are gummed and stuck (there are no brushes). Disassemble the bottom covers so you can put a few drops of a good, light oil on each of the shaft end at the bronze bearings. DO NOT USE WD-40; it will work fine at first but will quickly dry out and gum even worse than before. I use Automatic Transmission Fluid as both an excellant gun oil and for lubing small jobs such as this one. The motor should then spin fine.

If it's not humming, the motor or wiring is defective and that's a tad more difficult to fix. If you don't have a volt meter you need it anyway so get one. A small, cheap Chinese made voltmeter sells for as little as $4-6 or so from Walmart, etc.

Disassemble the base of the tumbler so you can read across the wiring with the cord plugged IN and switched ON. Put one probe tip on any bare white wire (common) and one on the black (hot) wire where it connects to the motor. You should see a voltage about 110AC.

If there is no voltage, the switch is probably bad, replace it. If there is voltage, the motor is bad, replace that.

Those small motors are common items, used mostly for bath and kitchen vent fans. Most electical supply houses, including many Lowes/H'Dpot stores, will have them for about $8. Remove your's and take it with you to find a replacement motor that has the same shaft size and mounting hole placement. And approximately the same wattage too, but that's not critical. IF you find one with ball bearings that would be better but those can be hard to find, and a bit more expensive too.




Good luck!
 
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When my first Frankford died, I contacted them and they said, send it back and we'll replace it free of charge. Since it was at least five yers old, I did so gladly.

The replacement has been working perfectly for the last year and a half. And I have been working it harder than the original. :)
 
Historian,
Never pass up an opportunity to buy more stuff.

When you get your new one going and get caught up I'm reasonably sure a 'town' the size of Dallas has an alternator shop of some kind.:D You can probably get the motor repaired for change and then you'll have two.
I burned up a Warn winch once and got it completely rebuilt for $20 and it would have cost $500 to replace. HTH.

ST
 
Thanks for all the suggetions, but I solved it the easy way and just fixed the motor. Broken wire and an easy fix when I got to looking at it. Runs like a champ.

Historian
 
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