Lyman Pro Magnum Tumbler running out of steam.

[BigAlofPa.]

My Lyman is no longer moving the media fast like it used to. Any tricks to fixing it? I had it a little over a year. I noticed it gets kinda hot too while running.

[nhyrum]

If it's got a belt, replace it. I've found on my harbor freight tumbler that about every year to year and a half, the belt needs to be replaced, and I notice an improvement in speed. When I notice it not going fast enough, or not cleaning as well, I replace it, not when the belt fails.

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[358429]

Is the motor getting hot? Does the power cable get warm too? A man here was tumbling brass, came home after eating dinner, found the fire department at his address, lost his home after it burned to the ground.

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[smithnframe]

If it's got a belt, replace it. I've found on my harbor freight tumbler that about every year to year and a half, the belt needs to be replaced, and I notice a coffee improvement in speed. When I notice it not going fast enough, or not cleaning as well, I replace it, not when the belt fails.

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Coffee improvement in speed?

[Sasquatch-1]

Check this thread.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?113699-Repair-Lyman-2500-Tumbler

[Lloyd Smale]

pro mag has no belt its not a rotation tumbler its a vibrator. pull the bottle plate off and it should have a small weight on the motor shaft that causes imbalance which cause the vibration. ive had them fall off or a piece break off of them.

[jaguarxk120]

Chances are a drop or two of oil on the motor bearings will improve
operation greatly.

[farmbif]

like said before its just a little motor that powers it. if it has an open face pole motor, they dont seem to last as long as open drip proof, or whatever the correct motor names are. the vibration wreaks havoc on these things. and instructions probably dont tell you that they need a 1/2 a drop of machine oil every so often. for what the reloading companies charge for their best tumblers your better off spending the $$ on a thumbler brand.
but if your handy you can get replacement motor and make it fit if you can't get exact replacement. sources for motors abound on the internet if your search engine will let you find what you need.

[BigAlofPa.]

The chord did not get hot. I'll take it apart and see where to put some oil on it.

[Hossfly]

My Lyman vibrator, motor would run a while then acted funny. Like would slow down and maybe stop altogether.
It being over 30 YO.

Took apart and had small ball bearings that were shot on lower end. Pulled and took to bearing store, had in stock, .75 each. Bought 4, installed 1 set and keep other set just in case.

Notice the weight is attached, fell off, reattached with zip ties doubled. Been running now for about 2 years no problems.

My former job, we balanced fans and pumps. Lazer aligned shafts, including cooling tower fans and drives. This just seemed very bad idea to purposely run a motor this out of balance and expect it to have any longevity. But is ran off and on for 30 years.

I now use that one dedicated to powder coating. Another Lyman for cleaning cases. Probably never need that extra set of bearings, Evan if I could find them.

[BigAlofPa.]

I blew out the dust over at my neighbors garage. One of his buddies stopped in. He works on electric motors. He had a oiler with a flexible hose. He worked it in through the bottom of the tumbler. And oiled it. It's working better now. Still not a 100% but much better. And it's quiet too again. I'll use it for when i preclean brass.

[zarrinvz24]

I've got a 2500 that is about 15-20 years old and I've never oiled it. Anyone have a picture of where to oil these things at?

[1hole]

I blew out the dust over at my neighbors garage. One of his buddies stopped in. He works on electric motors. He had a oiler with a flexible hose. He worked it in through the bottom of the tumbler. And oiled it. It's working better now. Still not a 100% but much better. And it's quiet too again. I'll use it for when i preclean brass.

The motor shaft has bearings at each end, oiling both ends requires partial disassembly. No drawing of the oiling will be needed, just put a few drops of oil on the exposed motor shaft where it passes through the bearings.

All oils will eventually evaporate, many will leave a gooey mess that can eventually stall the motor. If the motor can't spin freely the windings will heat up and fry themselves, sometimes causing fires, so proper oiling is important. And it matters what oil you use.

The best and slowest drying, non-gumming oil I've found is common auto ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid). A long lasting quart from Walmart isn't hard to find and not very costly; it's a fine gun and reel oil too.

Do NOT use WD-40 to lube tumbler motors (or fishing reels or guns); it's good stuff but long term lube is NOT what WD-40 is made for. It evaporates quickly and leaves as nice a varnish as anyone will ever need but varnish is a very bad lube for small moving parts!

[jetinteriorguy]

A good quality sewing machine oil works best. It’s literally made for this type of application.

[1hole]

A good quality sewing machine oil works best. It’s literally made for this type of application.

The original "sewing machine oil" for any fine machines, including clocks and watches, was first derived from sperm whales; the supply was obviously quite limited and the oil itself was expensive.

I'm not writing a history on when, how and why synthetic Automatic Transmission Fluid came into being but making an oil that would be a cheaper "sewing machine oil" was part of it.

[salpal48]

There is a quick Fix for Broken Reloading Tumblers. But a Lortone and Never buy another.

[1hole]

Lortone's rotary rock tumblers may be great but I'll never know.

My 50 year old Lyman 1200 viberator has cleaned a lot of cases. It didn't cost a lot when they were new but it IS on it's third motor now. The second two motors were freeby's taken from tossed bath exhaust fan fixtures.

Tumblers are very simple devices and not very difficult to fix. I rather enjoy fixing broken but still useful stuff anyway; guess that's part of why I've been reloading for so long. :)

[smithnframe]

I use whale oil on mine!