Mayday! Blue Tumbler Down!

[rock-steady]

My 20 year old Midway #1292 tumbler is not well. In the 20 years I've had it, it has performed flawlessly, sometimes running 6 to 8 hours at a time. Saturday, I put 25 9mm brass and 100 30/30 brass in with some corn cob media and turned it on. The familiar rumble suddenly stopped after a few minutes. I thought maybe I had it overloaded and it got hot. So I took out 50 of the 30/30 brass and turned it on again..it fired right up and ran exactly 5 minutes and went off again. I let it cool for about 20 minutes and turned it on again; this time it ran exactly 3 minutes and then shut off.

My question is, can this be easily fixed or should I just retire it and get a new tumbler? Any ideas?

[BrentD]

Happened to me too. You might want to save the bowl if you buy another. I did. But eventually, I just bought a Lortone rock tumbler and steel pin polishing media and haven't looked back ever since.

[Bill in Oregon]

I think I still have my blue Midway tumbler stashed somewhere, but it sees zero use since I bought the steel pins and a Thumler rotary, like Brent. A little more work for a much better result.

[Shasta]

I have four of the Midway tumblers. One started randomly shutting down when the thin wire that attaches the power cord to the body of the motor became loose in the connector. I repaired it several times and finally the wire broke off at the motor and there was not enough left exposed to re-connect it. I replaced the vibratory motor with one I found at a garage sale.

Another tumbler has a faulty on-off switch in the power cord. I have to be careful to get the switch wheel positioned just right for it to run continuously. I plan on replacing the switch.

Both of my problems were power cord related, so you may want to start your investigation there.


SHASTA

[TedH]

I have the same tumbler that I got from Midway in 1996. I'd hate to guess how many hours it has on it, but if and when it goes down, if it's anything other than the switch or cord, I'll replace it and hope the next one serves me as well.

[rock-steady]

10-4. THANKS FOR THE HELP.

[Richardx]

Please contact Midway about it, they may make good on a replacement.

My 1292 broke after 20plus years, I called about replacement parts, Midway told me to pack up the old one and send it to them, when they got it they would send me a new one.

Midway USA takes pride in their customer service!

I bought a SAA screwdriver from them that was made by another manufacturer, the tip broke, I mentioned to a couple of my buddies, found out theirs were broken also. I called Midway told them I understood that they only sold the drivers but I thought they should know about it. The rep said he would send me a replacement, I thanked him and told him about my buddies, he asked for their phone numbers and called to get their shipping info, and sent replacements to them also.

Buy Midway!

(I am not affiliated with Midway, just bought a lot of goodies from them over the years)

[Chuck 100 yd]

I have burned out two of them. The last one was still under the warranty period but it had so many hours on it I just S-canned it. It had served me well.
The newest Midway one I have has a different shaped bowl and does not tumble as aggressively as the old ones.(I have two,one old style and one new style still running) It works but not as fast as the early ones.
I may build a rotary this winter and try the SS pins.

[Ysabel Kid]

My experience is like Ted's. I've had mine for almost 25 years, and have run countless thousands of brass through it. I have often overloaded it and it just keeps running. Had a problem with the on/off cord switch about a decade ago, so found the sweet spot where it stayed on, and just wrapped it with electricians tape. Just plug it in when I need it to turn on, and unplug it when I want it off. Used to only run it 3 hours max, but over the last few years, after recommendations from this forum, I run it for 8 or so hours - even overnight. Never a problem.

Good luck with yours! Like others said, if you do replace it, keep the bowl and use it with the next one.

[Stan in SC]

This is co-incidental. My model 1292 tumbler gave up the ghost yesterday when a bearing in the motor disintegrated. I have sent Midway an email asking where I might acquire a replacement motor.
A bit of research on my part indicated that the 1292 was in a recall some years back.
At any rate I have already ordered a new one from Midway.

Stan in SC

[cnjarvis]

I have burned out two of them. The last one was still under the warranty period but it had so many hours on it I just S-canned it. It had served me well.
The newest Midway one I have has a different shaped bowl and does not tumble as aggressively as the old ones.(I have two,one old style and one new style still running) It works but not as fast as the early ones.
I may build a rotary this winter and try the SS pins.

FWIW: Harbor Freight sells tumbler bowls that are nearly identical to the old style bowls on Midway's tumblers and they come with a bowlful of media for around $20.