Expected life of Lyman Turbo Tumbler?

[Wayne Smith]

My Turbo tumbler refused to work yesterday when I plugged it in. Other things work in the plug, so that's not it, as I first assumed. The cord is without visual flaw and the interior connections appear sealed. I've had it about 5 years and expected much more life from it than this.

I did notice that there appears to be oil on the underside of the motor case, not a good sign. I'm not sure I have wrenches small enough to remove the top four nuts, which appears to be the next step in disassembly. I'm no electrician, but was raised on a farm, if that's any use this many years later.

Any ideas? Have any of you taken one of these apart?

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Wayne,

Do you have a volt meter? If not, go buy yourself one. It doesn't have to be expensive or calibrated for this type of work.

Next, measure the AC voltage with the switch turned on at the motor. If it's 120 volts or something close, then your motor is likely bad. You can buy a new motor at an industrial supply outfit for around 10-15 dollars last I knew.

If the voltage is not around 120 volts, then your switch is likely at fault. The oil may or may not have much to do with the motor, unless a sealed lubricated bearing has lost a seal and burned up.

I hope this helps,

Dave

[Phil]

The inline switch on mine will foul up sometimes, I just switch it on and off until it starts. I've probably had it about five years so maybe yours has the same problem. I'd check the current going to the motor with the switch on, maybe your switch has failed completely.

Cheers,

Phil

[Johnch]

I picked up a motor from the local Graingers last year to replace a Lyman 1200
That I have had for 20 ?? years

If the oil is from the bearings , the motor is shot , replace

I have never had a switch problem , but those cheap rocker switchs can easly be replaced for a $1 or $2

If you have a amp meter you can see if the motor is drawing

Just be careful , if not used to playing with 110 , don't need you to get a poke

Good luck and have fun

Johnch

[mooman76]

My Lyman 1200 went out after just 3 years. It was made to not come apart so I ended up destroying it taking it apart. I ended up getting a Frankford Arsenal one and like it better. It is quieter and the bowl is deeper so I get less meadia coming out. The bowl off the Lyman fit it also so I have an extra!

[John F.]

Something I have found that makes tumbler use more convenient, and also helps extend their life, is to plug it into a household light-timer which is then plugged into the wall socket. This is the type timer that is used to create the appearance of someone being at home by turning lamps on/off on a schedule. I used to go off and forget I'd left the tumbler running, sometimes for hours. Now, I just set it to run for as long as experience shows the brass will need for cleaning. 1/2 hour, 1 hour, 2 hours, etc. I can go do whatever, and the tumbler will click off automatically.

Hope this helps,
John

[Edward429451]

My Lyman 3200 died once, loose wire connection inside, easily fixed. Then a couple years later the motor bearings got so full of media dust that it died again.

I took it to Graingers and thet couldn't ID it, so the motor now rides on my truck to hopefully be ID'd for replacement somewhere.

Johnch, do you still have info on your replacement that you got from grainger's? If I can get em on the right page, maybe I can put mine back into service. thx.

[Edward429451]

Wayne, the first time my 3200 died all the connections looked sealed also. The loose connection was a butt connection where the crimp had come loose and coud not be visually spotted without opening the case. A wire nut fixed it. Access the bottom cover with a dremel & cut off the tabs of the grate.

[Johnch]

I took both the motor and the base in , sat them on the counter and said I need to replace this motor .
It needs to fit in here .

A sales man , took 1 look at it and said you need this one .......
He was a shooter , because he ask me what I loaded

I just looked at the motor and can't find a number exposed .
Probely up inside , but I don't feel like tearing it apart right now .
I have a batch of 45/70's to do

Sorry I am bad with names and numbers , I would forget my name if everyone would not remind me .
I can't even remember my cell phone # , I never call it

I guess I have a bad case of CRS :confused:

Johnch

[monadnock#5]

I used to work in an electric motor repair shop. There are two shops locally in a city of about twenty thousand people, so you shouldn't have much trouble finding a repair house. If you can remove the motor without damaging the unit, take it in and have them check it out. They'll check it for ground, short, circuit and bearings. If there's a problem with any of those things, junk it, and order a new one. It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes, and testing won't cost much since the motor is already out of the housing. As long as the motor nameplate is intact (and on a "cheap" 1ph motor that info is probably stamped into the steel housing) and you have the old motor there for taking dimensions, they will have no trouble locating a new unit.

Ken

[lead slinger]

Just had my RCBS tumble die after 15 years of service. RCBS said send it back, will be repaired free of charge. I now only buy RCBS.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive had two lymans give up the ghost after a couple years. My dillons have been going strong for about 10 years. The last lyman that died was replaced by a cheap frankford arsenol unit and its been going strong longer then either of the lymans lasted.

[Wayne Smith]

It was the 1200, glued together, no in line switch, generally an el cheapo unit. Couldn'[t get the motor out without destroying the unit, the springs are glued top and bottom. Anyway, ordered an 800 which gets much better reviews.

[versifier]

Working lifespan? For me, close to infinity. I don't clean brass, never have found the need to in 35 years of reloading. My cases are never so dirty that they will not work through or cause any damage to my dies. Pretty to me is a small group, and how polished my brass is doesn't affect that one little bit. Too, I am not a man that puts much faith in appearance, only in performance.
(No, I am not immune to the sight of a pretty woman, in fact, I fear I have fallen in love with CMan's avatar, alas...:mrgreen: )
The car gets washed every time it rains, but under the hood, everything is in order and working as perfectly as my mechanic can get it.
I clean guns before storage, and if they are getting a lot of use, but I am not fanatical about it as long as they continue to shoot well.
I am bald as an egg, but I wear a hat, not a rug. :)
Maybe if I lived in a more arid region, the cases would pick up enough dirt that it would cause function issues in dies and actions, but, by and large, I think brass cleaning is done pretty much for vanity.
Then add to that the two big negatives about it:
1) It disguises wear on the cases to the point that they often have to fail before problems are realized.
2) It is the single biggest source of particulate lead in the air of the shop. Unlike what gets on our hands from handling lead, alloys, and boolits and is easily washed away, we breathe it and it goes directly into our systems. This is not a good thing, and I will not expose my family, myself, and our pets to it. No tumbling, no lead in the air. For me, it's a no brainer, but I respect the right of others to make up their own minds about it.

[ron brooks]

Ahh, but if you shot autoloaders, especially pistols, it's a whole lot easier to find the brass if it is nice and shiney.

Ron

[montana_charlie]

I don't clean brass....
versifier, your comments remind me of my own...the ones I always used to justify my reasons for NOT owning a chronograph.
They were well thought out, full of undeniable logic, and refined (over forty years) to the point where nobody could trip me up.

Primarily, my contention was that a target, paper or meat, couldn't tell how fast a bullet was moving...and as long as my groups were tight I didn't need the information either. That worked fine for smokeless stuff, my marksmanship was quite consistent, and seemed like it should do Ok when I got into BPCR.
The only difference with the BPCR is that rainbow trajectory...which demands a higher order of consistency if the range gets much beyond 200 yards.

Then one day, I read about a number called the Extreme Spread...and learned it should be a one-digit number if your loads were truly consistent.
Now, I have bought a lot of thing-a-ma-jigs over the years that were designed to improve consistency. But, nobody sells an ES gauge. You have to feed a chronograph a bunch of numbers, and it will spit one out for you.
I finally got convinced, and now have an ES spitter-outter.

Another new trick this old dog has learned is 'annealing cases'.
I never saw the need when I was shooting jacketed slugs and neck sizing only. My first look at sooty cases (inside and out) after firing BP convinced me that I had finally come to the point where I must start cleaning cases, and annealing would keep the soot off of the outsides.
So, I torched a pile of new brass, and carefully watched the shiny yellow change to blue. They now seal the chamber well, and (because of logic like yours, and the fact that it can be used for other things) I elected to use an ultrasonic cleaner to scour the crud from the insides.

So, kinda like you, I have been shooting 'brown-but-clean' cases.
I shot 'em so much...I think they might be ready for another annealing.
Lately, I've been looking at that brown patina, and trying to visualize how it should look when the temperature gets up to the point that would cause yellow to change to blue. I wasn't able to decide if I should watch for a purple or a green...

So, I bought a tumbler last week.
Because it's the rotary type, it can be used with ceramic media and water - which prevents that dust.
CM

[Four Fingers of Death]

I bought a cheap Lyman, must be at least 10 years ago, real plain, no switches (there's one on the power point). Still going like a Swis watch. After saying that, I have probably put the mockers on myself and it will cark it. We have 240volts here, maybe they retro-fit a yankee motor instead of the original chinee one. It came without a plug, just the bare ended wire.

[Wayne Smith]

Aaah, Versifier, and Montana, if you shoot BP then the ceramic media and a little water is extremely useful! I've found that with some cast loads I'm getting excessive streaking down the side of the brass, and it's new brass. H414 and the 8x56R just don't match well. Not enough pressure to expand the neck completely is my guess. Very slow bullets, too. If I hadn't shot the infared light source on my chonorgraph I'd be able to tell you exactly how slow!

[anachronism]

My 1200 is over 20 years old, and still on it's original motor. I did have to repair a broken wire once. Mine was glued together, but I still managed to get the job done after some serious brainstorming.

[versifier]

Montana Charlie,
That's a very good point about the rotary tumbler and the dust it does not produce. Most tumblers are vibratory, however, and not healthy to have around.
Annealing "brown cases" has never been a problem for me, the color line is still plainly visable as they reach the right temperature.
I'm also a big believer in chronographs, for many of the same reasons. ES & SD are very important for consistant accuracy, especially when the distances are variable, as they are in most hunting situations. Not into BPCR, but I am into long distance shooting for varmints and targets, and trajectory is still trajectory - you have to know the velocity to figure bullet drop at differing distances. The game you are hunting doesn't know the difference in a few hundred fps, but you sure have to know both it and the difference in POI if you want to kill cleanly.

[Edward429451]

I do HVAC service so checked out my own motor, which has bad bearings only. Either you have better counter people at your Graingers, or I have the odd motor out of the 3200. The motor repair shop quoted me more than a new tumbler to rebuild this motor.

[Lloyd Smale]

tried email and pm. Can you pm me?

[mike in co]

Then add to that the two big negatives about it:
1) It disguises wear on the cases to the point that they often have to fail before problems are realized.
2) It is the single biggest source of particulate lead in the air of the shop. Unlike what gets on our hands from handling lead, alloys, and boolits and is easily washed away, we breathe it and it goes directly into our systems. This is not a good thing, and I will not expose my family, myself, and our pets to it. No tumbling, no lead in the air. For me, it's a no brainer, but I respect the right of others to make up their own minds about it.

well just goes to show ya............

always two side to a story.....

1)...clean cases are EASIER to see wear...sorry but explain to me how clean "disguises" issues ???...dirty case hide flaws and cracks.

2) my FOUR case cleaners( three small midways and 1 large) all have lids on them when in use. if you can show me a lab study that documents lead dust from case cleaning i'll be more than happy to listen, but i do not feel it is a problem. personally i believe this is a urban legend which started from facts. primers produce lead in the air, in the enclosed area of an indoor shooting range with constant firing, this may be a problem. i dont have dust collecting in the area of my cleaners...so ...show me some documentation.

( you're still not a joe, we just differ in out opinions, and that is fine)

[John 242]

I've heard that a vibrating case cleaner puts lead in the air, but I don't know whether it's true or not.
What I do is I plug my tumbler into an extension cord and set it outside of my garage, sometimes with the door closed, in order to keep the dust from floating around inside. When I dump out the cases, I try to do so outside.
Some guys put wet paper towel and other things to absorb the dust, and I may start doing so myself.

I usually leave my Lyman running for hours at a time. It's about two years old, and so far no problems, although you guys are starting to get me worried. Next time I'll either go cheep with the Frankford model, or go green with RCBS. Hopefully 'next time' wont be anytime soon.

[Four Fingers of Death]

[QUOTE=versifier;132969]Montana Charlie,
That's a very good point about the rotary tumbler and the dust it does not produce. Most tumblers are vibratory, however, and not healthy to have around.
QUOTE]


I keep the lid on and with the Lyman there is some seriously bad looking dust on the centre raised portion near the threaded rod which holds the lid on. I usually wipe this off with a tissue and discard it. I was going to start using my new hand held vacuum cleaner to get rid of it. It now occurs to me this might be the cleaning polishing agent?

[mike in co]

[QUOTE=versifier;132969]Montana Charlie,
That's a very good point about the rotary tumbler and the dust it does not produce. Most tumblers are vibratory, however, and not healthy to have around.
QUOTE]


I keep the lid on and with the Lyman there is some seriously bad looking dust on the centre raised portion near the threaded rod which holds the lid on. I usually wipe this off with a tissue and discard it. I was going to start using my new hand held vacuum cleaner to get rid of it. It now occurs to me this might be the cleaning polishing agent?

Mick,
me thinks the vacuum has more of a chance of putting dust in the air than the case cleaner does......it breathes high velocity air thru very large pores of the "bag".......

[montana_charlie]

I didn't mean to say that rotary tumblers don't produce dust. Given the same media in both types, I expect the amount of dust will be about the same.

My point was...
Rotary tumblers are often used with 'wet media' that would probably slosh out of a vibrator. That moisture keeps the dust locked into the media...not floating around to be inhaled.

Disposal of both types should be done carefully, just in case it is hazardous.
CM

[Edward429451]

Sorry Lloyd, been nursing a sore shoulder lately and haven't been checking in as much. I got your PM but never did find an E mail, may have accidently deleted it as junk mail..

Edward429451@msn.com

[Newtire]

My Turbo tumbler refused to work yesterday when I plugged it in. Other things work in the plug, so that's not it, as I first assumed. The cord is without visual flaw and the interior connections appear sealed. I've had it about 5 years and expected much more life from it than this.

I did notice that there appears to be oil on the underside of the motor case, not a good sign. I'm not sure I have wrenches small enough to remove the top four nuts, which appears to be the next step in disassembly. I'm no electrician, but was raised on a farm, if that's any use this many years later.

Any ideas? Have any of you taken one of these apart?

The bearing housing broke on mine (cracked) so I wrapped a hose clamp around it and used it for another year before the bearing finally took a dump. Luckily, I found another unit in the thrift store and mounted the Midway bowl onto it. it was a smaller motor but works fine. Mine was a Midway and lasted about 10 years. Where can I get a replacement motor is the question I have? I also lucked out and got a free RCBS one from a guy who was moving along with some other stuff I bought. Anyhow. Midway is a good one as far as I'm concerned.

[seagiant]

Hi,
I like to tell this true story every time a discussion on case cleaners comes up. About 1990 I bought a Dillon case cleaner and used it for 10 years or so and then one day the bottom of the motor fell out. So I called Dillon and the man told me to send it back. I said I would but I would have to find a box to put it in the original was long gone and he said ,"ones on the way"! and sent me an empty box UPS!!! A week later I had a brand new Dillon cleaner and it's still going strong and I know I'll never have to buy another one,ever! Thanks!

[Smitty]

Many yrs ago I use to tell members to find a good bank canvas money bag, put the brass inside & tie the top then into the automatic washer. Hey it worked GREAT for me.

Now I am a bachelor so never thought of a wife. Seems one chap followed my tip ONLY the wife found the bag of brass & all 'ell broke loose. Still I knew it worked well for me. LOL

[Frank46]

I bought the big dillon tumbler over ten years ago. I would hate to try and count the brass that it has cleaned. Just recently tumbled, 2500 lake city '06 match cases, 2000 lake city 69 cases, and 1500 7.62nato cases. And she is still going strong. I recently bought the little dillion to do my cast boolet brass as I rarely work in lost over 100 cases. And the dillion rapid polish does wonders. It even took off the staining on the 7.62nato cases caused by the disintegrating metal belts. The rapid polish doesn't darken the media as when flitz is used. But iffen you want real bright shiney cases flitz's the way to go. Frank