Joe, if you look at the motor you will see the armature shaft is supported at the top and bottom frame of the open motor by a small bronze bushing at each end. With the tumbler unplugged, clean all the dirt, dust, and crud out of the motor that you can. Compressed air works great for this, or that air-in-a-can stuff they sell for computer keyboards. Once it's clean, apply a couple drops of 3-in-one type oil, gun oil, motor oil, whatever you've got that is like that, to the junction between the bushing and the shaft, while turning the motor shaft (by the fan usually)by hand (to work the oil into the bushing). I had a Midway 1292 that seized up and it was because of dust buildup from running the tumbler when the lid nut had vibrated loose. I flushed the motor out with electric motor spray, then blew it out with air, and relubed it. Has been running fine since then.
Recently my 1292 went down due to dogs pulling it off the table by the cord, and breaking the bowl. While looking for parts (which I found thanks to a THR'er!) I bought a Berry's tumbler used on eBay to replace it, now I run two tumblers.
There's quite a bit of difference between the two models, more than you might think.
The Midway (which is Frankford Arsenal, Harbor Freight, Hornady I think, probably a few more) tends to have a faster vibration, but moves the brass and media less. It seems more to vibrate the brass inside a large quantity of media and use that vibration as a scrubbing action while slowly moving the brass in the media. It cleans really grungy brass better than the Berry's because the vibration is more powerful. The Midway tumbler also seems to hold more media than the Berry's does but cleans the same amount of brass.
The 1292 style tumbler have a more spherically-shaped bowl that you can fit more media inside before it starts to spill out. The center of the bowl is shaped to agitate the brass. The 1292 style uses a wing nut to tighten the bowl lid, and I've stripped out a few of them so far just from use. At least they are cheap to buy at the hardware store.
The Berry's tumbler seems to me to be built better. There is a screen on the bottom to keep your fingers out of the fan if you are in the habit of dumping it while it is still running. The Berry's also uses a heavier, grounded 3-prong plug line cord and a better inline switch. The Berry's tumbler also has a nice big plastic knob to secure the lid instead of a wing nut. The Berry's tumbler looks bigger than the Midway, and is in fact physically quite a bit bigger. However it holds the same amount of brass, and about 2/3 the amount of media as the Midway 1292. The bowl is more "bowl" shaped, like a cereal bowl, and if you put in as much media as you think it needs and start it, it may overflow the sides due to the shape. The Berry's also tends to violently toss the brass around in the tumbler, relying more on agitation of the brass than vibration of the brass in the media to clean.
The Berry's tumbler is quieter than the 1292. I would say the Berry's is a low pitched thrumming noise like an aquarium pump, whereas the 1292 is more of a buzzy rattle.
I would say that if your brass is clean brass that is only dirty from being fired, the Berry's tumbler will do a better job of cleaning quickly.
If your brass is picked out of the mud and gravel or tarnished then the 1292 type of tumbler is better at cleaning it.
Berry's does offer a lifetime warranty on plastic parts.
Most of the 1292 style tumblers do not have much of a warranty.
I started using my 1292 with walnut and NuFinish and my Berry's with corncob to finish polishing. In a pinch I can use both to knock out the brass quickly.
