Dillon Tumbler

[e15cap]

My Dillon Tumbler died on me, $110 to fix it and not even 3 years old. Sorry, 1 year warranty on electrics. Who makes a better machine?
Best, Roger

[pmeisel]

My Lyman 1200 was purchased about the time George Bush was elected president... Jeb's daddy, not his brother....

[mike in co]

My Dillon Tumbler died on me, $110 to fix it and not even 3 years old. Sorry, 1 year warranty on electrics. Who makes a better machine?
Best, Roger

well i have been telling eveyone in every tumbler thread...put a one hour timer on it. use corn, not walnut, and nufinish car polish.

you just found out what happens when you do not use a timer.

now the good news...the new motors from dillon are BETTER than the originals( and yes one year is about normal on electrical stuff),


i do a lot of brass.....burned up my first dillon in 4 months.....got smart put it on a timer....
( ps dont get carried away by how old a tumbler is, find out how much it gets used...big difference)


mike in co

[GBertolet]

My Dillon CV500 motor died last month, for the second time in 3 years. The first time it was $30 post paid for repair. Now they wanted $104.95 for a replacement motor. The salesman stated they discovered that the motors they used were not up to the job, and upgraded to the same motor as their big tumbler. Part of that $104.95 is for a new mount to take the different motor. $104.95 + $20 to ship it to Dillon = $124.95. A new CV750, which is the upgraded CV500 with the new motor is $139.95, plus shipping. Getting the old one fixed, at least by them, is not a good deal. I had read on a website that Dillon still had some old style motors, and would sell them directly to you for a DIY job. I asked Dillon, and they said they have no more left. I have been trying to locate a replacement motor on my own. The original motor is an A.O. Smith, shaded pole, subfractional motor with 1/4" shaft. So far no luck. Dillon said they were a special motor, made especially for them. Maybe Grainger has something that will match up? In the meanwhile I bought a Lyman Turbo 1200 for $42 from Natchez, along with some other goodies. About 1/3 the cost and works just as good. And Lyman sells replacement motor/bases as a stocked item.

[Lloyd Smale]

Im a big dillon fan and have there big tumbler. I havent had trouble with it but ill go this way. I also have a lyman and the lyman is a much better tumbler for agitation speed and cleans brass about twice as fast. No fan of lyman because of there terrible customer service but in the case of electronics dillion isnt much better.

[1hole]

"My Dillon CV500 motor died last month, for the second time in 3 years."

Well, you are seeing the weak link in the tumblers of any brand, the motors and, sometimes, the power cord wires will break from the viberation.

No tumbler brand makes their own motors. They all buy them from other makers at the best possible price. That means, cheep. What happens to most tumber motors that burn out is the oil drys and binds the shaft so it can't turn and that's preventable.

The biggest uses of those small AC motors is in bath and kitchen range hood exhaust fans, not tumblers. Some motor production runs are quite good and some are not, what any of us get on our tumbler is a matter of luck, not brand. If we get a good one it will last a long time, if not.....? Most electrical supply stores carry direct replacement fan motors for not much $ and they sure aren't difficult to replace by a casually competant do-it-yourselfer.

Bottom line, get the least costly tumbler you can find and keep the sales receipt for warrantee replacement. If a wire breaks, fix it. Oil the cheap bronze bearings once a year with few drops of a light non-gumming oil (I use Automatic Transmission Fluid). If the motor stops but hums it's probably okay, turn it off before melt down and oil the stuck bearings.

Lowest priced tumblers I know of are from Harbor Freight Tools (especially when on sale, as they frequently are, and with a 20% off coupon), Berry's and Cabela's.

[mike in co]

bronze bushing do not last long in a loaded enviroment. the weight on the end of the shaft does casue a load and wear.

dillons new motor is a ball bearing motor, i do believe.....the new one is smooth and quiet.


if you go looking for a motor..get a ball bearing, not a bushing.

[jcwit]

Went thru 3 Harbor Freight tumblers in as many weeks, all had bronze bearings. Finally asked for my money back and bought a Berry/Cabelas tumbler, end of problem.

Been running my Cabelas tumbler for years now, not sure what kind of bearing's they have but its like a Duracell Bunney, just keeps on running.

Mike is right, get a ball bearing motor for a replacement.

[PepperBuddha]

My Dillon and my Lyman are both over 10 years old....

[Hardcast416taylor]

My first large Dillion tumbler lasted about 3 yr. before the motor went. They replaced the motor for free then. The tumbler has now been running over 10 yr. with the new motor. I also have a Midway tumbler that has been going for 5 yr.Robert

[cajun shooter]

I think the best tumbler to buy today is the Thumblers Tumblers. I purchased my first Model B in the 70's and used it until the 1990's when the motor finally gave out. Sold it to a friend that is still using it today. I purchased the UV-18 in 1990 and I'm still using it. I purchased another model B in 08 and it will out live me. Buffalo Arms has the best price that I could find on the model B's which are the rotary type drum with the rubber insert for wet ceramic tumbling. Buy the High Speed 110 model.

[bobthenailer]

maybe i missed something ? but i did not know dillon made a case tumbler ! i know that they have a case vibrator as i have one . on the subject of CASE THUMBLERS i have 2 loriton lapidary {rock} tumblers the 1st ive had since the late 60s , i clean my brass after each use . in all that time ive only replaced the drive belt once . at this time i ony shoot around 750 rounds per month but years past when i shot in compition i shot about 2000 per month . thats a pile of brass to be cleaned. the 2ed one i bought at a local gun shop used for $25.00 what a bargian about 2 years ago! and its the larger size. and as a bounus both can be used with liquids.
i personaly use BB gun bbs and joy dish washing detergent added to water to clean my casings . you would be amazed how dirty the water is after tubmling ! and to think all that dirt ect goes into the corncob/walnut media. if i have to have the as new luster i use the dillon vibrater and corn cob , but the lortins do a pretty good job by itself. almost forgot there made to run for hours as ther actually made for rock polishing

[mike in co]

maybe i missed something ? but i did not know dillon made a case tumbler ! i know that they have a case vibrator as i have one . on the subject of CASE THUMBLERS i have 2 loriton lapidary {rock} tumblers the 1st ive had since the late 60s , i clean my brass after each use . in all that time ive only replaced the drive belt once . at this time i ony shoot around 750 rounds per month but years past when i shot in compition i shot about 2000 per month . thats a pile of brass to be cleaned. the 2ed one i bought at a local gun shop used for $25.00 what a bargian about 2 years ago! and its the larger size. and as a bounus both can be used with liquids.
i personaly use BB gun bbs and joy dish washing detergent added to water to clean my casings . you would be amazed how dirty the water is after tubmling ! and to think all that dirt ect goes into the corncob/walnut media. if i have to have the as new luster i use the dillon vibrater and corn cob , but the lortins do a pretty good job by itself. almost forgot there made to run for hours as ther actually made for rock polishing

bob most people still refer to most brass cleaning machines as "tumblers" from the original rock machines used to clean brass. most machines on the market today are indeed vibrators.
the dillons are vibrators as you know. rcbs has the only gun biz rotary and its about $300...you can see why the vibrators get used...cheap and quick.
there are others out there...but typically nowhere near the cost of a 9mm 600 count vib machine.
i have 2 large dillons, one thunbles medium no model number/paint peeled, and rcbs sidewinder, a midway small and large.......
the sidwinder is used to coat bullets, not polish brass.

mike in co

[casterofboolits]

I burned up three Lyman tumblers and then bought a large Dillon tumbler. It lasted ten years. A harbor freight tumbler lasted three weeks.

I then purchased a Frankford Arsenal tumbler from Midway and it has been going strong for the last six months.

[David2011]

GBertolet's story sounds just like my experience. Fortunately, I had purchased one of the last of their old CV500 motors and it was still under warranty when it started getting really noisy as the lower bearing was starting to fail. Dillon treated me very fairly and upgraded me to the new motor in my CV500 for a fair price due to the credit on the replacement motor failure. The motor for the CV750 that they installed is huge by comparison to the old fan motor. It's power is apparent immediately. It doesn't "spool up." It starts at full RPM, RIGHT NOW. It's as quiet as the original.

I got two Intermatic timers at a reasonable price off of fleabay. I mounted them in metal surface mount electrical boxes. For the polisher I used a 14 gauge extension cord to provide the cords and male/female plugs. For the lead furnace I mounted it in a 2 gang surface mount box and put the time and outlets in the box and screwed it to the wall. No worries about the polisher or the furnace running all night now.

David

[richbug]

bronze bushing do not last long in a loaded enviroment. the weight on the end of the shaft does casue a load and wear.

dillons new motor is a ball bearing motor, i do believe.....the new one is smooth and quiet.


if you go looking for a motor..get a ball bearing, not a bushing.


The old Dillon CV500 motor is ball bearing also. I replaced the bearings in mine once already. I have enough bearings here to do it 9 more times. If you hear the motor rattling turn it off and figure out what the problem is before the armature chews into the fields.

[frankenfab]

I have had 4 of the Frankford Arsenal small vibratory tumblers for 6 years with no problems. Tumbled alo of brass, anywhere from 30 mins. to 3 days.

+1 on the corn cob only and car polish. I use the paper towel trick, too.

I have always wanted one of the bigger, better tumblers, maybe even one of the small industrial ones intended for use with the ceramic media. Made a 50BMG one from a Harbor Freight cement mixer and had the drum Rhino-lined. The start capacitor is out on the motor, but it can be push-started. The rotary tumblers are so much slower.

[GBertolet]

The motor failure on my Dillon CV500 tumbler was not in the bearings, but in the windings/comutator. The motor spun freely when it was off. The motor did not want to start, but if you tilted the tumbler over and spun the weight by hand, it would start, but would not run at full power, and you could smell it getting hot. Occasionally when the motor was turned on, it would not spin at all, it was like it was magneticly locked in place. But unplug it, and the motor was free again.

[LAH]

I don't remember when I wrote this but likely 2002/3. I have no clue to the hours this things has run since then. I use rice to clean brass & corn cob to polish. Believe me it's a great piece of machinery. This is probably now a Frankford Arsenal unless they've completely changed. Enjoy the read, won't take 5 minutes unless you read like me...............Creeker

http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=17

[azcruiser]

I always figured if Dillon can't make a person happy well then they need to fill a tub with warm water cut their wrist because cause if those boy can't make you happy nobody can and life must suck

[MtGun44]

My Lyman 1200 is at least 20 yrs old, never missed a beat.

Bill

[Dale53]

I have had my Dillon large vibratory tumbler since they were introduced. I have done a lot of tumbling over the years but not at commercial levels. When it goes, it'll be another Dillon. They take up a lot of space in the shop but they will tumble over 1000 .45's at a time. That is important to me (I do batch processing). It's probably overkill for me now that I am no longer competing but I am used to it and don't want to downgrade.

Dale53

[Crash_Corrigan]

I have a Lyman 1200 that is 17 years old and still going strong. I stepped on the lid once and I got a new one from Lyman for a few bucks. I use a time and run it only for an hour at a time and then let it cool down some and then run it again.

Corn cob and nu finish wax and I am a happy camper.

[LAH]

I use a time and run it only for an hour at a time and then let it cool down some and then run it again.

I also use a large Lyman which makes a lot of heat. I use a cooling fan with mine.........Creeker