Brass Tumbler

[lts70]

I picked this tumbler up used. It did not have a belt so I got one from harbor freight but it was a bit to loose. By shimming out the motor from the frame of the tumbler I got it dialed in.

At first I thought the motor was bad because I had to give it a push start to get it going. But I found that the little red button seems to be for start up and gets it the juice it needs to get started. The cooling fan had two blades snapped off, one all of the way and one half way. The two broken blades were adjacent so I took my dremmel and got rid of the nubs balancing things out...hopefully to blades are enough.

The barrels are 7.75" in diameter and seem to take just under 3 second to make one rotation.

Do you guys think this will be a good one to tumble my brass? How long would you let it run for a batch? I plan on getting some crushed walnut from Harbor freight, should I get course or fine?

On the motor it reads:

Robbins & Myers Inc. Springfield Ohio

Volts: 115
Amps: 3.8
CYC: 60
RMP: 1800
Time RT: Cont
OC: 70
Type: SKL
HP: 1/12
PH: 1
FR: N336

[youngda9]

rock tumbler? that will work fine...get some corncob media.

[Doby45]

Better yet if it is water tight, get you some SS media and have brass that looks like it is virgin..

[lts70]

It is water tight, what is SS media?

It had some walnut media already in one of the drums, I have some cases running in it now but it looks more like a sand blast finish than shiny. If I squirted some metal polish in it that I have for my rims would that help?

[leadman]

Walnut will give you that finish. Corncob with some car polish will give a bright shiny finish.
I use Turtle Wax liquid rubbing compound and car polish mixed together. About 1 part rubbing compound to 3 or 4 parts car wax. More rubbing compound for really dirty brass, like old range pick up.

Stainless steel media is little rods put in a liquid solution and tumbled in a water-tight unit. I'm sure if you Google it you will come up with something on it. Media is a little expensive but you don't have to replace it.

[John J]

just a tip...run your fingers around the rim to break the seal...makes it easyer to remove the top.....so you dont pull the stud out of the lid...and the rollers the drum rotate on will pick up some of the rubber from the drum...keep the rollers clean

John J

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Change the size of the pulley on the motor and you can speed it up if you need to.

[lts70]

Thanks for the tips.

Should I speed it up?

I like the idea of the SS media. Anyone using it in this type of tumbler?

[63 Shiloh]

Stainless Steel media is just awesome in a tumbler like yours. I have a Thumblers Tumbler and use it for SS wet media for mt BP brass, works very well.

You will not get the gleam from your brass in a tumbler like you do in a vibration cleaner like the Lyman 1200.

If you tumbler is waterproof, it should have a rubber interior and a rubber seal on the lid, held down with 6 or so wingnuts; wet media is the way to go mate.

I have even used it for cleaning up rusty drill bits, lathe and milling tooling. Just line the interior with steel wool pads, throw in a few stainless steel scourers and add some old walnut media soaked in CLP or carby cleaner. Run it for 12 hours and the tools come out like new.

They are a very versitile piece of kit, very handy to have in the reloading room.


Mike

[Wayne Smith]

And if you get some carborandum media you can tumble rocks, too! Gotta run it for a couple of days for that, though.

[lts70]

I am looking into getting some of the SS media. Does anyone know how many pounds I would need for this tumbler? Any where specific you are getting it? I have been looking at some on ebay.

[Recluse]

The barrels are 7.75" in diameter and seem to take just under 3 second to make one rotation.

Do you guys think this will be a good one to tumble my brass?


One revolution every three seconds is pretty slow. Could take a while to get a good cleaning/polishing.

:coffee:

[bumpo628]

I am looking into getting some of the SS media. Does anyone know how many pounds I would need for this tumbler? Any where specific you are getting it? I have been looking at some on ebay.

Here you go:
http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com

$56 for five pounds shipped.

[Nueces]

Another source for the SS media is Buffalo Arms:

https://www.buffaloarms.com/stainless_steel_media_it-164066.aspx?CAT=3889

$35 for 5 pounds, plus shipping.

Mark

[bumpo628]

Another source for the SS media is Buffalo Arms:

https://www.buffaloarms.com/stainless_steel_media_it-164066.aspx?CAT=3889

$35 for 5 pounds, plus shipping.

Mark


Shipping is $11 - making it $46 delivered.
That is a pretty good deal.

[montana_charlie]

I picked this tumbler up used. It did not have a belt so I got one from harbor freight but it was a bit to loose. By shimming out the motor from the frame of the tumbler I got it dialed in.
What you have there is a Lortone QT-66 which has the two half-sized barrels.
The QT-12 has a single deep barrel which fits in the same frame.

The same Lortone belt is used for both models, and it has 'teeth' on the underside which (should) fit into matching grooves on the pulleys. Because of the teeth, the belt doesn't need to be bar tight ... so it doesn't wear out the shaft bearings in the motor very fast.

I use a QT-12, myself ...

CM

[Jailer]

Judging by the looks of that drum and the diameter measurement, you're going to need about 10lbs of stainless media.

BUT, if it takes a bit to get the drum turning I'm not so sure how that motor would do with a full load of brass, media and water.

If you want to go wet with this setup it might take a new motor too. It would be a nice setup if you did though.

I hope to have my own wet tumbler built soon.

[watkibe]

I had this tumbler. It needed a push start, and I always kept a small fan blowing cooling air on it. I had to replace a motor, and find belts...The good part was that the lid was watertight, so eventually I cleaned all my brass in hot water, white vinegar, lemon juice and Dawn dish detergent. It was much faster and much better than just soaking the brass in the same solution.

[cajun shooter]

I feel that when you add brass and media plus water ,your tumbler is going to be way too slow to give you the results you are looking for. This was posted by another member and I agree. I use a Thumblers model B with the heavy duty motor and it turns one revolution in about a 1/3 of a second( guess not timed) You may think about using the larger drum and maybe another motor and belt.

[mdi]

I had one similar in appearance to yours. Didn't hold much, usually around 100 .44 Mag cases, but I thumled tens of thousands of cases with that tumbler. Easiest to get started tumbling is with crushed walnut shells. You don't have to monkey with adding junk to yer media and it works fine all by it's lonesome. I got an even semi-gloss finish on my brass; not mirror bright, but more than serviceable! Get some lizzard litter and try it before you modify/"fix" anything. BTW; back when, you could always tell a reloader at the range by his brass. It wasn't bright, shiny, virgin looking, but usually dull, well worked appearance! I reloaded for several years before I got a tumbler...

[bobthenailer]

i have 2 lortones rock tumblers ! my first a QT-6 & a QT-12 , ive had the first one for 30 years and picked up a used one a few years ago . the only thing ive every replaced was the drive belt . lortone is still in busness ! i would get any parts from them when needed.
Ive been useing BB gun BBs & Joy dishwashing detergent , and if you have some tarnished cases add some lemon juce . Ive been useing this mixture for 30 years with excellent results . for the added protection for long storage tumblel them in corn cob with some polish to protect them.

[montana_charlie]

I it turns one revolution in about a 1/3 of a second( guess not timed).
If correct. that would work out to three turns in one second ... or a 15 pound barrel turning at 180 rpm. Ulikely ...

A Lortone QT-12 turns it's 12 pound capacity barrel at 30 rpm.
This was determined by timing with a stopwatch, and noting the period required for ten full turns ... which was 20 seconds.

At 30 rpm, the QT-12 with liquid cleaner and ceramic media needs two to three hours to make dirty brass like new. I imagine steel media would work in about the same time period.
Disregarding the weight rating of the 12-pound barrel, it has a volume capacity of about 18 cups.
I use about three cups of media (4 pounds) and 1.25 cups of liquid per load, and limit the batch to not more than 40 .45/90 cases.

More media should cover more cases, but I get good results with these ratios.
If using steel media (and I have thought about it) I would start with three cups ... whatever weight that turns out to be.

CM

[bobthenailer]

With bb gun BBs & joy dish washing liquid it only takes 1 hour of tumbeling to get the job done !
you will be amazed as how dirty the water is when dumping out the water from the barrel !

[Chicken Thief]

Made my own.
A 12V viper motor and a 7.5" long 8" diam PVC coupling and 2 endmuffs.
Here is some pics:
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/R0010551.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/R0010552.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/R0010553.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/R0010554.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Skydning/R0010555.jpg

[mold maker]

If ya offset the mounts on the ends by about an inch in opposite directions, it will double the tumbling action. That causes the contents to fall back and forth from end to end and around the drum, at the same time.

[cajun shooter]

Here we go again MC. I'm sorry that you find it so important to say that my guess is wrong but so be it. Maybe if you could find me a radar gun I could get an exact time so that we all could sleep better at night knowing which is the fastest tumbler sold. Why Heck we could even start a annual tumbler race and hold it in some huge indoor stadium as the turnout would be over whelming. I have first rights to ticket sales but will throw a few dollars your way. Take Care PS I am going to see if I can find any after market speed parts for mine. You know like exhaust, high rise intake, and maybe even a blower. MC, Do you think the blower would put me into a different class? I thought I would ask you as you might have some knowledge in this area.

[montana_charlie]

Here we go again MC. I'm sorry that you find it so important to say that my guess is wrong but so be it.
Trust me, CS, it's fine with me if you have the fastest tumbler in fifty states.
According to your estimate, it's six times faster than mine.

My point in commenting was this ...

You said you have Thumler's Model B.
You went on to say that you have the heavy duty model which turns at a higher speed.
You then estimated the speed at three turns per second.

For anybody reading along who is comparing specs on rotary tumblers with an eye toward purchasing, he might find it helpful to have a 'timed' number to use for comparison with others that he will consider. So, I provided one.

If his research shows him that all tumblers run in a fairly narrow rpm range ... except for the (claimed) 180 rpm of the Thumler heavy duty ... he may decide that Thumler is not suitable for his purposes.
It would be unfortunate for him to eliminate that high quality unit from consideration because of inaccurate information.
So, I mentioned that the speed claim was 'unlikely'.
That should (at least) encourage him to look elsewhere for the specification.

If you have a second hand on your watch, you can easily prove me full of hot air. I recommend that you do so.
Otherwise, when you make a claim that I see as unlikely, I will continue to say so ... if it seems worth mentioning at all.

CM