Rotary tumblers for BP brass: Thumler's or other?

[Little Dalton]

Sometime soon, I need to invest in a rotary tumbler and either SS or ceramic media for cleaning BP-fouled brass. Been looking at the Thumler's Model B, and the Lyman Cyclone package. The Thumler's Model B retails for $199+ it looks like, and media and sorting stuff would be extra. The Lyman Cyclone comes with 5lbs. of SS pins, plus all necessary sorting equipment, all for $175. At probably $75 to $100+ less all-in with media and everything, the Lyman is quite a bit more doable for me. That said, I'll spend the extra money on the Thumler's if it is absolutely worth it.

Is the Thumler's Model B the right one to be looking at?

Anyone have the Lyman Cyclone? how does it do for BP brass?

Are there any other makes/models I should look at?

[Major 2]

Thumler's Tumbler are made in Oregon I believe and are steel .... heavy duty as designed for ROCKS...
They are very good but $$$...da bomb "if" you do 15 LBS at time ?

Lyman' s and the similar , RCBS ,  Hornady  , and Frankford Arsenal are made in Asia in plastic... they are OK
and have user friendly screw off lids , some what better & easier for brass turning.  

> But they all, wreak  a $200 bill all to heck...  



Something to look into, Harbor Freight has clone of Thumler's Duel Canister $158.60 Tumbler (see photo )
with coupon HF's is $35 BUCKS ! and for $5 more get the warrantee , free replacement if need be !


 

[Little Dalton]

Thabks Major! That is an AWESOME tip on the HF tumbler- I may just have to try one at that price! 'Course I would have to pick up some media...

[Major 2]

I smoked the motor on my Thumler's Duel Canister Tumbler a few years back ( they decided I over loaded it " I had not " ) so they wanted $75 + shipping to replace it ....I passed,  I chose to have it rebuilt locally....
I happened on the HF unit while waiting, now use both...

BTW HF also has a Sonic cleaner , exactly the same unit Lyman & Hornady put there Decals on.  
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Lyman-reg-Turbo-Sonic-TS-Sonic-Cleaner/1168206.uts?productVariantId=2891636&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=BingPLA&WT.z_mc_id1=03155675&rid=20&msclkid=0549b185433818e89b91ebca1e70dc6f&gclid=CKHxlInYwNgCFV6tgQodcn8ORA&gclsrc=ds

[Cliff Fendley]

I have a thumblers and then added a little dual drum harbor freight one. Since getting it I have wound up using the harbor freight one more because when I return from a match shooting two different sizes of brass I can separate them in each drum.

I use the stainless pins from STM in both. I bought the five pounds originally for the thumbler and had a two pound replacement pin pack that I wound up splitting between the two drums of the Harbor Freight tumbler.

If just getting started with a rotary tumbler I would buy the Harbor Freight tumbler and a two pound replacement pin pack from STM. A little dish soap and some lemishine is all you need.


https://shop.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_11481.jpg

[August]

I have an RCBS Sidewinder, which was the first rotary tumbler I acquired.  It works O.K. but is messy and not particularly quiet.  Some years later, acquired a Thumblers Tumbler.  The Thumblers FAR surpasses the RCBS in many respects.  It is very quiet.  Because the drum is fully enclosed (sealed) during operation, it is absolute clean.  And, all the parts on it can be replaced either from Thumblers or the local hardware store.  It looks outdated and rudimentary, but, of course, sometimes the old ways are best.

Do not spend your money twice -- like I did.  Get a Thumblers and be done with it.  The results are amazing.  New brass every time you run it.

[Yeso Bill]

40 years ago I was told that SS pins in a rotary tumbler would in time destroy the brass.  Today I see that it is quite the rage so I would guess not.       

I like clean BP brass.  I clean my pockets with a couple of 1/2 twists with a primer pocket uniforming tool upon depriming.  Then it goes to the kitchen sink and the brass gets a quick inside scrub with a cleaning brush tipped with steel wool.  Then it goes into the Hornady Sonic Cleaner for 30 minutes.  Rinse and dry with a hair dryer or natural air dry, depending on how busy I am or how bad I need it.

Then it goes into a standard vibrator tumbler using fine ZILLA Lizard Mix for media. 

The small Hornady Sonic Cleaner is one of the best gizmos I have ever purchased.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/586045/hornady-lock-n-load-sonic-cleaner-2l-ultrasonic-case-cleaner-110-volt

I'm not a SASS shooter so I don't have large amounts to do but I do try and shoot daily and make an effort to clean up what I shoot nightly.  There is 25 head in the tumbler now.

Billy 

[Ranch 13]

 I use the tumbler with ceramic for large batches of cases, and the Hornady ultrasonic for small batches.
The trick to getting the best out of the tumbler is to pre rinse the cases, then don't use much more than a couple of cups of media.
The ultrasonic works well pre rinsing, and then using warm water along with the Hornady solution. If you start out with good shiny brass, it will stay nice and bright using the ultrasonic.
I do know a bpcr shooter that got one of the Lyman Cyclone and did not like it at all

[Wallace Foster]

I made my tumbler a few years ago because I had a new washing machine motor out in my shop and some steel, all I needed was the container, pillow block bearings and SS pins and some time.
If I ever have to redo it I will not make it with the motor on the bottom but at the time I did it to save space when not using it.

[Little Dalton]

Thanks for all the input, guys! I'm all eyes and ears! I've toyed with the idea of making my own tumbler- pretty confident I could make a nice one, but right now time is money for me, and I know it would cost me more to build than buy. I'm now leaning hard towards the Frankford Arsenal Platinum series tumbler (or FART -FA Rotary Tumbler, as I've seen it called  ) over the Lyman, or the Thumler B. Just not quite ready to bite this bullet yet- which gives me a little more time to consider the options. That FART sure gets good reviews.

One of the main reasons I want the tumbler is to speed cleanup. I simply would rather spend the time it would take cleaning them with a brush on something else. Doesn't bother me, but the reloading process already takes enough time for me, I want to speed it up everywhere I can. I enjoy every part of the process, but time is precious right now.

[Baltimore Ed]

Wallace, I like your tumbler. Why would you move the motor? Looks like it would work fine where it's at. What is your drum made of?

[Wallace Foster]

The drum is 8 inch abs (I can run a lot of brass in it LOL) and I have some small abs pipe sections glued inside to agitate the brass and pins. It works OK but I think I need to give my media a good cleaning, the last few time I ran it my brass is not as shiny as I would like but it's still clean. I may also need to run it longer also to clean the black powder residue off my brass.

[Baltimore Ed]

A retired bud of mine got into recycling brass from an indoor range where he lives and repurposed an old cement mixer to tumble his range brass and pins. I don't know what he did to clean it up first, probably just had it blasted. He says it works great.

[LongWalker]

Sandblasting is the usual way to clean up a cement mixer for cleaning brass.  Best way is to have a buddy do it rather than paying a professional: you can swap jobs with your buddy, but professionals want cash.  Too much cash sometimes.  Worst case, your buddy will hold it over your head until he is stuck in a ditch some night in sub-zero weather, and want you to help him get the truck out of the ditch before his wife hears about it.  (Maybe that is just my friends though.)  Another option can be to buy a demo model or watch for sales at Harbor Freight. 

The tumbler made by the eminent Mr. Foster looks like a dandy!  The only reason I can see to move the motor is if you might want to use liquid cleaners at some point.  By having the motor above the drum, the motor will be protected from any leakage. 

The small-scale commercial loaders I've worked for have used cement mixers.  When I dabbled in the same business, I used a Thumblers, and then went to a couple of the early Midway vibrating tumblers.  It all works, depends on how much brass you have and how much of a hurry you are in.

[Bunk]

In thrashing about in my years accumulation of stuff I have on hand an RCBS rotary (seldom used) tumbler, an ancient Thumlers tumbler and a Dillon vibratory case cleaner.

The RCBS rotary is a good unit, but has a big foot print and mine has now worn to the point that it slips if it contains 120 cases which is just one match. I seldom use it but it works for a backup, the motor runs fine, and did many batches of 100 or so 7.62 NATO cases with no problems. I suspect some nonskid tape on the driving wheel would solve the problem. It was a second-hand acquisition and when I got it was well used and I used it through 4 years of high power rifle shooting at least two matches a month and practice..

The Thumlers works well with ceramic media to really polish brass stained from black powder. I also use it occasionally with stainless pins, but they are such a PITA to control and pick up mostly it gets used with the ceramic media. Using water does an excellent job of cleaning the BP residue from inside the case nore so that dry media.

The big Dillon is most used with corn cob and Dillon polish it is fast and good even with stained BP cases.
Which one is the best being a hard question to answer. If you don't mind the fussiness of wet media the Thumlers or the HF copy is the way to go. For a dry media machine, the Dillon has a small foot print and will clean a big batch of brass. Because of the drive mechanism of the RCBS I would put it last.

I guess this is a non-answer to the question and somewhat depends on the space available in your loading area.
Good Luck
Bunk