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Thinking of buying one of these and wondered what the views/experiences of the forum members are of these machines.
I’m not interested in manufacturing one but people’s views on the ones already available ie Thumbler, Lyman cyclone, Frankford Arsenals one
Cheers

Evening,

I've got a thumbler ( from JD reloading) and over the last 3/4 years it's done its job exceedingly well.
Produces shinny brass with minimal effort, at a reasonable price ( in my humble opinion, getting brassed off with TLA's )

Best
The greek

Keithkilvo1 wrote:Thinking of buying one of these and wondered what the views/experiences of the forum members are of these machines.
I’m not interested in manufacturing one but people’s views on the ones already available ie Thumbler, Lyman cyclone, Frankford Arsenals one

I've been wet tumbling for about five years. The results are excellent, and I find the process only marginally more hassle than vibratory tumbling. My tumbler only handles a hundred cases though, so working through a thousand takes longer overall.

I have a Thumler, and I do not recommend it. It is designed for a dry process and is not suitable for wet work. The inside of the drum is unfinished, and after the very first time I used mine rust was evident through the seams to the surface of the the exterior paint. I didn't get a satisfactory outcome from the supplier or the manufacturer. If you do get a Thumler, be sure to prep and spray the inside with a suitable paint before you get water anywhere near it.

If I was buying again I would defininately go for a FART. The FART has a much higher capacity and a plastic drum, so no rust problems. I have a large poly hexagonal drum waiting for the day my Thumler disintegrates into flakes, which I'll pair with a treadmill-derived base to solve my capacity and rust problems.

I’ve just switched to wet tumbling. the results are far more pleasing if you like shiny brass.

Also much better at cleaning primer pockets on my .44 and .357 cases.

Just brought a Lyman. Check my link below there’s a little video in there somewhere.

Keithkilvo1 wrote:Thinking of buying one of these and wondered what the views/experiences of the forum members are of these machines.
I’m not interested in manufacturing one but people’s views on the ones already available ie Thumbler, Lyman cyclone, Frankford Arsenals one
Cheers

If you want to read an un-biased report http://www.targetshooter.co.uk/?s=Tumbler

rox wrote:

Keithkilvo1 wrote:Thinking of buying one of these and wondered what the views/experiences of the forum members are of these machines.
I’m not interested in manufacturing one but people’s views on the ones already available ie Thumbler, Lyman cyclone, Frankford Arsenals one

I've been wet tumbling for about five years. The results are excellent, and I find the process only marginally more hassle than vibratory tumbling. My tumbler only handles a hundred cases though, so working through a thousand takes longer overall.

I have a Thumler, and I do not recommend it. It is designed for a dry process and is not suitable for wet work. The inside of the drum is unfinished, and after the very first time I used mine rust was evident through the seams to the surface of the the exterior paint. I didn't get a satisfactory outcome from the supplier or the manufacturer. If you do get a Thumler, be sure to prep and spray the inside with a suitable paint before you get water anywhere near it.

If I was buying again I would definitely go for a FART. The FART has a much higher capacity and a plastic drum, so no rust problems. I have a large poly hexagonal drum waiting for the day my Thumler disintegrates into flakes, which I'll pair with a treadmill-derived base to solve my capacity and rust problems.

I have been using a Thumler wet tumbler (with ceramic for my black powder cases, steel pins are a faff on too far for me, still prefer dry tumbling my smokeless cases) for over 20 years with no issues, the water shouldn't get anywhere near the inside of the metal drum as the rubber internal liner makes a physical seal with the metal drum so the water cannot get between them.

If it is designed for dry tumbling only then you have bought the wrong model for the application.

I used a Thumbler type for a while and it was fine however unbolting the top to see if your brass was clean was a PITA so I moved to a LEM. The basic LEM is undoubtedly more expensive however you can see what is happening and grab a handful of brass to inspect whilst it is running. It is also easier to empty and flush the cases with clean water if needed.

I use one of the chinese type ones. no regrets. I just wouldn't leave it plugged in when not using it. then got a dehydrater to dry the brass out

dromia wrote:If it is designed for dry tumbling only then you have bought the wrong model for the application.

I wish I'd known that at the time. Which model should have been included in a wet tumbling brass cleaning kit?

I have the Thumler Model B. It is designed for rock tumbling, which is a dry process. It was sold as a wet process brass cleaner by shooting suppliers, bundled with STM media. The manufacturers weren't willing to honour the warranty when the tumbler had been used for a wet process.

dromia wrote:the water shouldn't get anywhere near the inside of the metal drum as the rubber internal liner makes a physical seal with the metal drum so the water cannot get between them

The liner does not make a perfect water-tight seal. In the words of the manufacturer, it is a "removable rubber liner for quieter use".
As others have found, the unfinished interior of the drum needs painting to prevent rust. Unless you know that and do it before the first use it is too late.


This is the rust I saw after the very first use:






...and after 6 months; flakes of rust on the base, and the seam is opening over half of its length:

Ovenpaa wrote:I used a Thumbler type for a while and it was fine however unbolting the top to see if your brass was clean was a PITA so I moved to a LEM. The basic LEM is undoubtedly more expensive however you can see what is happening and grab a handful of brass to inspect whilst it is running. It is also easier to empty and flush the cases with clean water if needed.

And it is still running very nicely thanks Dave. Some may see it as a faff but to be honest its a brilliant way to clean cases well. What I did find was that the sea clean was not quite doing the job, but a squirt of hairy lipped squid sorted that nicely.

Rox, I think someone was pulling a fast one chap because I would expect the rubber liner to be in it for wet or dry. It still makes a bit of a racket with the liner fitted, I just place it on some old foam rubber and a towel and happy days.

To empty I just dump the lot into a plastic bowl and fish the cases out, rinse, strain and flick any water out. Roll them 10 at a time on a towel and air dry.