Help me buy a vibratory tumbler

[cdhbrad]

I have the Lyman Turbo 1200, been using it for 5 years now and it is still going strong. Purchased from Cabela's on sale for $55. I use Walnut Shells and have the same gallon jug that I bought when I purchased the tumbler..

I use the same Lyman tumbler and it works great. My wife brought home some empty "Swiffer" pad boxes from work that are rectangular with a clear top....I have one for every caliber I reload. When the box is full, time to tumble to tumble that caliber and it fills the Lyman to capacity.

 

[jepp2]

I've got 3 Lyman 1200's, and a Lyman 2200. I rarely ever use the 2200 because the "turnover" is very poor. The 1200's have excellent turnover and do a better job cleaning and polishing your brass. In a 1200 about 200 223 cases is the max. At 2/3 of brass capacity they are much quieter. Two of my 1200's have the slotted lids, and I don't find that to be an issue. But that could be due to the media and additives I use. I use plain 20/40 sieve size corn cob, and a variety of auto polishes. And when they start getting that dirty dust accumulating inside them, it is time to change the media. And yes, I do use torn up paper towels to collect the dirt.

 

[Papa Charlie]

This is the ice chest that I put my Lyman in. I also put a piece of foam in the bottom to prevent transfer of the vibration. With the lid down, you can barely hear it running.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-60...75035&wl11=online&wl12=23735487&wl13=&veh=sem

 

[Delfuego]

My Berry's has been good!

 

[TheOtherZilla]

I bought the Thumlers vib tumbler years and years ago. I see now they are rather spendy. But Ebay has a ton of cheap ones that'll git er dun. I see no advantage over the expensive ones and the cheap ones.. They all do the same thing..

As for seperatin brass from media, I bought a cheap media sifter pan at Cabelas and a cheap plastic bucket at Wally world.

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/brass-tumbler

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Media-Sifter-Pan/731768.uts

 

[retired]

this is not quite correct.
vib tumblers rely on the volume of brass in the machine to move/rotate the brass.if you get a large machine and put in a small amount of brass it will take a long time to clean and polish.
again from personal experience 12 yrs in the brass biz.

Get the biggest you can because you can always tumble a handful in a big tumbler but you can't tumble tons of brass in a small tumbler.

This one is a good compromise and it separates the media from the brass...

https://www.brownells.com/reloading...num-auto-flo-tumblers-prod42928.aspx?psize=96

It claims it can do 315 pieces of 30'06 brass... so you'll for sure be able to do 350 pieces.

I also noticed brass cleans faster when there isn't a lot of media.

 

[retired]

i have a better idea....use the cooler as a cooler and buy a better tumbler!

This is the ice chest that I put my Lyman in. I also put a piece of foam in the bottom to prevent transfer of the vibration. With the lid down, you can barely hear it running.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-60...75035&wl11=online&wl12=23735487&wl13=&veh=sem

 

[Stud Duck]

For those of you using the Lyman 1200 series, are you using the standard 1200, 1200 Pro, 1200 Turbo or 1200 Auto-Flo?

 

[retired]

the 2200 is large...you need to fill it up to work, plain and simple they rely on volume to turn over/rotate polish. no volume poor performance.

I've got 3 Lyman 1200's, and a Lyman 2200. I rarely ever use the 2200 because the "turnover" is very poor. The 1200's have excellent turnover and do a better job cleaning and polishing your brass. In a 1200 about 200 223 cases is the max. At 2/3 of brass capacity they are much quieter. Two of my 1200's have the slotted lids, and I don't find that to be an issue. But that could be due to the media and additives I use. I use plain 20/40 sieve size corn cob, and a variety of auto polishes. And when they start getting that dirty dust accumulating inside them, it is time to change the media. And yes, I do use torn up paper towels to collect the dirt.

 

[cdhbrad]

For those of you using the Lyman 1200 series, are you using the standard 1200, 1200 Pro, 1200 Turbo or 1200 Auto-Flo?

Mine is the 1200 Auto-Flo version from about 5 years ago. The "drain plug" makes it easy to remove all the tumbling media when cleaning is completed.

 

[jepp2]

For those of you using the Lyman 1200 series, are you using the standard 1200, 1200 Pro, 1200 Turbo or 1200 Auto-Flo?

Turbo Pro 1200's. I had converted one to auto flow several years ago and ran it that way for a while. Decided I preferred the standard bowl, so I converted it back. But I could see where some would like the auto flow feature.

I had my 2200 loaded up at capacity and it still didn't turn over decently. I also tried different quantities of media as that also makes a difference on turnover rate.

 

[spife7980]

For those of you using the Lyman 1200 series, are you using the standard 1200, 1200 Pro, 1200 Turbo or 1200 Auto-Flo?

This but I bought the solid lid for like 9 bucks shipped. Works just fine.

 

[pirate ammo]

turbo 1200 its in the warehouse don't hear nothing,can't hear anyway,,,get my stuff wholesale ,works great for me.

 

[AckleymanII]

Thumler Ultra Vibe 10 is so quiet you can put it in the living room and watch TV with it on. Also have the Harbor freight 16 lb model, that has regular noise.

 

[MN50Shooter]

This but I bought the solid lid for like 9 bucks shipped. Works just fine.

I have 2 of these and didn't like the dust coming from the slotted lid. I put a shower cap over the lids and it solved the dust problem. I use them to knock off the crud before decapping my brass. After decapping/resizing, I then wet tumble in the Thumlers Tumbler.

 

[Webster]

From my other thread, I have been convinced to purchase a vibratory tumbler to start-off with, so......which one of the following tumblers would you recommend? Keep in mind, I won't be cleaning a high volume of brass and quality is of utmost importance. That being said, price does not equal quality.

Dillon CV750
https://www.dillonprecision.com/dillon-s-cv-750-vibratory-case-cleaner_8_8_23659.html

Thumler Ultra Vibe 10
https://www.brownells.com/reloading...-ultra-vibe-vibratory-tumblers-prod54712.aspx
Berrys Tumbler
https://www.brownells.com/reloading...rs-accessories/berry-s-tumbler-prod36851.aspx

I have a Harbor Freight ultra-sonic cleaner. About $40. About 1 quart capacity. You can only set the timer for 480 seconds max. Sonic cleaners are rated in Watts output. A trick I learned to test the effectiveness is to take a piece of aluminum foil about 1 or 2 sq inches and sonicate it for about 15 minutes. If the transducer is putting good power into the water cavitation will eat a large number of holes in the aluminum. Actually just about transducer should do this. It's a good test to see if the transducer is damaged or disbonded from the bottom of the tank. Never run the sonic cleaner without water in it. The transducer will over heat burn out or disbond from the tank.

I think I am going to quit cleaning my cases. It's cosmetic. Seems like a good idea to keep soot inside the necks.

 

[mousegunner]

My Lyman has been good for 20 years, thousands of cases. I bought a foam sheet at Hobby Lobby, used the lid to cut out a circle and use that to stop the dust, less than $2.00.

Shower cap good idea too but my wife would be wondering why her hair gets dusty!

 

[chromatica]

+1 for Harbor Freight

https://www.harborfreight.com/5-lb-metal-vibrator-tumbler-67617.html

 

[mr45man]

Check Lymans warranty requirements.
That's all I ma going to say about that.

Dillon is made to last and have a no B'S warranty.
I have the big one, for large size cases .

 

[sbhooper]

I have used my Lyman for over 30 years. It has been flawless.