Which Tumbler

[Yankee]

Hi all,
Next item on my reloading shopping list is a tumbler. We only have a few options here in Australia and my choice is basically between the Lyman Turbo 1200 and the basic RCBS unit. They are exactly the same price although the Lyman comes with 2lb of media. Does anybody have a reason as to why I should choose one over the other?

 

[jack404]

G'day Yankee

try calling embel lapidary or thompson lapidary both in adelaide

they have great tumblers and as for medium i have fund 3/4" dia brass

it dont spark its hard enough to break stuff down and its cheap and lasts forever

i've noticed shooting accessories are way more expencive than lapidary but most are made in the same place

cheers

jack

 

[Yankee]

Thanks for the tip Jack but I'm actually looking for a vibratory cleaner rather than a true 'tumbler'.

 

[kanook]

i use chushed walnut shell as media with a little bit of dillon brass polish added.

 

[xsquidgator]

Probably any kind of tumbling or vibratory tumbler would be fine and would do what you want. I have a small Lyman one and a larger Frankford Arsenal one and they're both fine. Bigger is better so that you can do more brass in one load.

I suggest mixing some crushed walnut (for cleaning dirt off of the brass) and some corncob media (for polishing) together and use that. Put a used drier fabric softener sheet, cut into one inch strips, in with the brass being tumbled. Those sheets will soak up a lot of the dirt and dust that would otherwise build up on your tumbling media.

 

[otblue]

Of the two you mention, buy the Lyman. Mine recently died after more than a decade of constant use, so I think I got good value from it. It was a bit noiser though than my RCBS which just died today after less than 20 hours use. The RCBS is made in China, my old Lyman was US made though I don't know about the current models.

I have just spent half an hour on line (calling international) trying to progress through the RCBS customer service queue before I gave up.

I also have the Cabelas/Berrys tumbler which is US made and beats them both. Only problem is it's only 110V and you'll need as stepdown transformer. Well priced even with shipping charges.

 

[ranger335v]

I have a 20 year old Lyman 1200, the original actually. Doubt there is any descernable difference between any of them.

The oil in my motor's brass sleeve bearings did dry up and lock the shaft about eight years ago. If I had gotten to it before the windings melted I could have put a few drops of good gun oil on the bearings and it would have been fine for a lot longer. Until it needed oiling again anyway.

But, with the motor shot, I took it out and carried it to an electrical supply house. Looked in the section that had replacement motors for bath room and cook stove exhausts. Found one with the same size shaft and matching mounting holes for about $8. Took it home, reassembled it and it's been running fine. (Just to let you and others know that a tumber isn't instant trash even if the motor dies.)

 

[remingtondude58]

If you can't find exactly what you want, here is some discussion on building your own http://www.migunowners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=44421

 

[Winston_Smith]

I just bought a Lyman Turbo 1200 w/autoflo. The autoflo feature is pretty useless but the tumbler is of good quality. I have cleaned 20 gallons of brass so far by operating ~18 hours/day. FWIW, it does say "Made in the USA" on it. I am not sure if they mean the tumbler or the sticker. With corn cob, it is very quiet.

The model without the auto-flo is only $1 cheaper so it still might be worth it. I do think the standard model comes with a perforated lid.

 

[Yankee]

Thanks for the opinions guys. Is anybody able to confirm once and for all that the Lyman 1200 is still made in the US?. If it is I will go with the Lyman but if both are Chinese, I'll go with the RCBS because I like to support companies with exceptional customer service.

 

[otblue]

Don't bet on the "exceptional" RCBS customer service working for you. First of all you can't even get through to RCBS at the moment. I tried again this morning and was in a queue of 21. After 25 minutes on hold I was still only at 11. I'm ringing international from Australia and basically used up a phone card on hold. And that was after getting an engaged signal 4 or 5 times before they even answered. My previous experience with RCBS customer service has been mixed. Sometimes they are really great, no questions asked, just fix it. Other times they want you to sent in the product so they can check it to see you haven't screwed up. Uneconomical and inconvenient from the US but complete waste of time and money from any other country. I have a lot and I mean a lot of RCBS stuff but they are no longer my "go to" manufacturer as I think their quality is slipping since they took some of their manufacturing steps offshore. Probably why their service lines are always so busy.
Lyman has or used to have an industrial division in the USA manufacturing high capacity vibratory polishers, so they have a lot of experience in this field. probably still made in the USA but would like this confirmed myself.