Old Midway vibrator motor????

[abunaitoo]

One of my old Midway vibrator's motor died.
Any idea where I might get another????
Would it be worth fixing, or better to just buy another one????

[jcwit]

Buy another one, there comes a time when an item is just worn out, applies to tumblers. autos, tv's ect, ect.

[Bloodman14]

I tried to order a motor for my Frankford Arsenal vibratory cleaner; Midway said I would have to ship them the tumbler so that they could install a new motor, charge me $60.00 an hour for labor, and then pay to ship it back. I am quite familiar with basic electrical work, but due to liability problems, they would not ship me the motor to install myself. Buy another, PIF the parts if you can.

[462]

An electronics or appliance parts store should carry small electric motors.

[imashooter2]

I looked pretty hard for a motor whose cost would justify a repair. What I found was you can buy a new tumbler for about the same price as a replacement motor. Sometimes, less than the cost of a motor.

[Sonnypie]

You could upgrade to a stainless steel media tumbler and never look back.
That was my choice when my Lyman 3200 decided it was getting tired.
I still have my smaller Midway vibratory if/when I want it.
But sometimes it is just time to advance and upgrade your operation. :wink:

[tomme boy]

Check the leads on the motor. They fall apart. If they did, crimp them and it should be good. It is very common for them to do this.

[Moonman]

Some modern things are just throw away and replace if it turns out that connections are not the problem.

[docone31]

Midway has replaced two of them for me, and I finally resorted to repairing them myself.
It is usually the white one. It vibrates off the clip.
Remove the bottom plate, then chase the three wires. There will be a black one, a white one, and a green one.
It has always been the white one on mine.
Simple fix.
Strip, and clip.

[bwgdog]

Tried to replace a Midway-Bearing went out-Bought new motor from Grainger-made in china-only brand they had-lasted four hours-no more ccc. Purchased a VibraShine-QUIET.

[wv109323]

I just replaced the motor on my 25 year old Thumler Ultra-Vibe 18. The motor was $55 and shipping was $16( I got ripped on the shipping). The replacement motor came from Thumlers as it is a special motor built just for Thumlers.
The rest of the vibrator was in good enough condition to justify the motor replacement. That tumbler is like $230 to purchase new.
The problem with the motor was the bearings/rotor. The motor shaft is mounted vertical and over 25 years of use enough end play(wear) developed in the motor shaft bushings that the motor was hard to turn(especially after setting a while). The motor did not have enough starting torque to over come the worn bushings.
Back in business.
I bought a Cabelas unit for $45 and it would be a throw away if the motor failed.

[abunaitoo]

Your not going to believe this.
I emailed Midway.
They told me to send it back to them. They will replace it with a Frankford Arsenal tumbler at no charge.
Seems the old Midway tumblers had a lifetime warrenty.
I didn't know that.
I told them I bought this one over 15 years ago. Invoice is long gone.
"Not a problem"
I just need to send a copy of the email. They have let the warrenty departmnet know it's coming.
Is that great customer service or what!!!!!
I'll pack it up, send it out, and let ya'll know what happends.

[DLCTEX]

That's good to know as mine is a Midway and is at least 18 years old.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

That type of reply is about what I got when I contacted Midway to see about buying a new motor.

They said send it back. I did and they sent me a new one.

Sometimes it is worth paying Midway's over the top shipping charges.

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[mongo]

Your not going to believe this.
I emailed Midway.
They told me to send it back to them. They will replace it with a Frankford Arsenal tumbler at no charge.
Seems the old Midway tumblers had a lifetime warrenty.
I didn't know that.
I told them I bought this one over 15 years ago. Invoice is long gone.
"Not a problem"
I just need to send a copy of the email. They have let the warrenty departmnet know it's coming.
Is that great customer service or what!!!!!
I'll pack it up, send it out, and let ya'll know what happends.

Yep, They replaced mine for free also. Changed the cord that was shorter and fixed with tape in 4 places. Is about 28 years old. Motor sticks and changes speed after 4 years of service. Gunna send it back again,LOL Midway and Ruger are tops in my eyes.

[462]

Good news, indeed, as my Midway 1292 is 16-years-old.

[fryboy]

mine died .... after many faithful hours of service , the lyman base will fit but it's $55 last time i looked , graingers is the same way , the small cheap motor needs adapters as it has a smaller shaft ... the cost of the exact sized motor is more than many of the cheaper tumblers , since i use my bowls for moly the new frankford arsenal one doesnt have the same type of set up ( the bowl is held on by 3 nuts instead of the center nut holding it ) if midway would fix it is one thing but i dont want their new one ( and it kinda paid for it's self anyways ) so i got a lyman 2500 and i use my 1292 bowls on it for small loads and moly

here's the closest one i found but the shaft is smaller

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DAYTON-CFrame-Motor-4M080

this one has a larger shaft but you have to supply your own studs and the ones now may not fit )

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DAYTON-CFrame-Motor-5M065

[evan price]

My Midway 1292 motor finally fizzled and I wound up using a Broan bath fan motor kit to repower it from Lowes or Home Depot (about $14 iirc). The Broan motor is made by AO Smith and is smaller and the shaft diameter is smaller. It does not provide as much vibration as the original- due to smaller motor and less power, no doubt- but I keep corn cob only in this tumbler now and use it for final polishing of resized rifle cases to remove lube, or to put a sparkle on special brass in small loads.

The fly-weight from the Midway motor worked fine once I used a strip of aluminum pop can to build up the diameter of the shaft so that it would clamp on tightly. I mounted it to the far end of the shaft, just above the plastic fan.

The Midway plastic fan was too large of inside diameter to fit on the Broan shaft so I just used the fan with the splined hole that came with the Broan kit. It just clears the inside of the tumbler base and moves more air. The Midway motor mounts with four studs- two large, two small; the Broan motor only uses two studs and they are the smaller two.

The Broan motor has a pigtail wire with a standard two-prong 110-volt AC plug..I cut it off and used small wire nuts to make the connection to the Midway cord.

http://www.amazon.com/Broan-BP27-50CFM-Motor-Wheel/dp/B0009SS0WI/ref=pd_sim_hi1

Not a perfect solution, but it lets me use something I otherwise would not be able to use. Great for cleaning resized rifle brass, because I trim, chamfer and taper the case mouths and they don't get all dinged up since it is gentler.

I tumbled 5000 32 auto brass in it. Put in about 4#, let it run overnight. Rinse, repeat. Slow going but it worked while I did 223 brass in my bigger Berry's tumblers.

[abunaitoo]

I was just about to send my tumbler in to Midway.
Put the motor back in it and noticed a loose wire.
Fixed it and now it works.
Saved me the postage back to Midway.

[rodsvet]

I bought 2 new ball bearing supported, American made motors from Sky Craft Surplus for $25.00 + $14.00 shipping. {for both}. $39.00 to my door. They were not exact replacements, but easily adapted. They are so powerful that I can polish to a mirror shine old range brass in 30 minutes. This old Midway tumbler is now a freakin monster. I did have to make a round spacer the same diameter as the tumblers base out of scrap plywood do to the length of the new motor. The part # is SK1490. They sell lots of different size motors. Good luck, Rod

[mtgrs737]

The small cheap open frame motors will die sooner or later, I have a Lyman that is on it's 5th motor. I have an Olsens (now RCBS) that is on it's third motor, the last time I bought motors it was from RCBS, they were $14 and change each and have been running great. If you get a new motor from RCBS have them include a new fan as the Chinese motors have metric sized shafts and they are a few thousandths smaller so the American inch fans will not fit tight enough on the shaft. I order them at least two at a time to moderate shipping, and I have five tumblers to keep in service.


There are many products on the market that use the same motor that can be robbed if you look around, I have robbed small fans of their motors with success. If possible look for a motor with bearings as opposed to bushings as they will last longer.