Just bought a used Thumler's tumbler Model B

diopter

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
82   0   0
Location
Montreal
Tired of the my RCBS Sidewinder drum leaking. Last couple of times I had to put everything into a freezer bag to help keep my floor dryer.
Any tips on the Model B I should know about?
 
Tired of the my RCBS Sidewinder drum leaking. Last couple of times I had to put everything into a freezer bag to help keep my floor dryer.
Any tips on the Model B I should know about?

Go nut.

If you belt breaks and you can't find a replacement, PM me, I might have a few spare.
 
You might find that the gasket wants to stick to the lid. A bit of wax prevents that. I bought better quality wing nuts too. Easier on the fingers.
 
The tiny capacity got old, real fast, cleaning 9mm with the pins, so I've stopped using pins. Now I can clean about 600 cases at a time.
 
Tired of the my RCBS Sidewinder drum leaking. Last couple of times I had to put everything into a freezer bag to help keep my floor dryer.
Any tips on the Model B I should know about?

Use hot water, and the longer you tumble the more case mouth peening you will have. I trim and debur every time I wet tumble to cleanup the peening.

I also have a vibratory tumbler and just bought a sonic cleaner that is less work than a wet tumbler and it does not peen the brass.

My STM Model B does a fantastic job of cleaning cases, but it will peen the case mouths if tumbled to long.

zwAWwUI.jpg
 
Last edited:
I saw the model B working at the ex-owner home. So motor is good. Said he'll toss in the media. Fine, more stainless steel pins I thought. After a long day away from home I finally get to open up the drum. RED media, corncob!!

I took some time and tried to get as much of the media residue off the gasket as possible. Dumped the corncob into a plastic coffee can for possible future use in my vibtatory cleaners (Lyman Turbo 1200 and an inherited not too efficient PAST model). Tried to clean the hexagonal internal drum gasket and 1/3 filled it with water and soap for a drum cleaning cycle.

Needless to say it leaked more than the RCBS Sidewinder.
Will have to inspect carefully to see what needs to be replace.
Flat lid gasket for sure. Drum gasket replacement looks necessary. Metal lid has a slightly curled corner, but should be ok.
In short, imbedded dry media residue has ruined the water tightness of the gaskets.

Pictures:
https://ibb.co/album/b1301F
 
Anyone carries parts in Canada?
Old Thumlers's email no good and Rocktumblers.com don't ship to outside of U.S.! You'd think they were selling Plutonium!
 
I use room temperature water, as hot water seams to cause it to leak a bit. Also, I replaced the
pressed steel wing nuts with stainless steel ones. The liner is really the only 'heavy duty' part
of the assembly. Everything else looks like it was made in someone's back yard work shop out
of tin cans. It also has no form of tension adjustment for the drive belt and no on-off switch. All in all,
though, it's been working well for a couple of years now.

Two tablespoons dish detergent and 1/4 tsp. Lemi-Shine will give good results. Dawn anti- bacterial
detergent won't produce shiney brass (we shouldn't be using Procter & Gamble/Gillette products
anyway). Sunlight will make the brass brighter than new, new, new!.
 
Anyone carries parts in Canada?
Old Thumlers's email no good and Rocktumblers.com don't ship to outside of U.S.! You'd think they were selling Plutonium!

I also bought a used thumler (a model A), and the belt snapped the first time I used it. I never found a way to get spare parts. Ended up buying parts on ebay, from a US seller.

You might be able to get a piece of rubber or silicone the right size and cut it yourself to replace the gasket. Not sure about the rest, I can't see your pictures from work.
 
I bought mine from a guy in Calgary.

The non drum parts are listed on a page (( Tru-Square Metal Products, 640 1st St SW, Auburn, WA 98001, USA ) ( PO Box 585 Auburn, WA 98071 )( http://www.thumlerstumbler.com/ )

I use dis soap and concentrated lemon juice and de-prime before tumbling.

I change the tumbler water until the water is clear and I hold the cartridges upside down in the water and shake them, this gets rid of the pins in the cases.
 
There's still some hope.
Used some very old plastic patio furniture spray cleaner (Kleeno Resin cleaner) with some green scotch brite med duty kitchen scouring pads and major improvement in appearance.
Starting to feel like rubber again.
Will test for leaks after completely cleaned.


NfxhN1RPX4hqyBqf7
 
Last edited:
One thing to check is under the rubber insert in the drum as I have read that it can rust when doing wet tumbling. Some guys suggest taking out the rubber insert and paint the inside of the drum and then put the rubber insert back in.
 
There's still some hope.
Used some very old plastic patio furniture spray cleaner (Kleeno Resin cleaner) with some green scotch brite med duty kitchen scouring pads and major improvement in appearance.
Starting to feel like rubber again.
Will test for leaks after completely cleaned.
Did you try just running pins and water through it? It might leak but just put a towel down to catch it.
 
After last night's cleaning it seemed ok. Just ran it for 10 minutes with 20oz. water and ss pins, no leaks so far. will leave it on it's side as it is in video and see if there is a slow leak when I get back.

 
Last edited:
After a 4 hour cleaning run.


Think I'm going to dump the red media. Don't want to have to go through that cleaning again for my vibratory machines.
Anyone wants it let me know by Oct 1st or out the door it goes.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom