Replacement motor for Midway tumbler

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Charlie98

Charlie98

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After 25+ years I finally killed my Midway 1292 vibratory tumbler... :(

Anyone ever fool around with replacing a motor on one of these? Yes, I know I can buy a new one for $50, but if I can remotor this one for cheap... well, that's more money left for powder and boolits!
 
It runs about 1/4 speed. The motor was hot as the gates of Hades, too. Shaft turns freely.

After reading through some of the other threads (thanks, Tilos...) I have a Granger about a mile away from my distributor... I might see if I can get a replacement for cheap.
 
If the motor still spins but it doesn't vibrate, the eccentric is no longer gripping the motor shaft. If you can re-attach it, it's a simple fix. If the motor won't turn, the unit is trash. I can point you to any number of motors to replace what you've got for about $10. But, they are not "bolt-in" replacements and you would have to fabricate a mounting. Also, you would have to pay shipping and handling from a company that normally sells to industrial accounts, so by the time you paid the charges applicable to a one-off sale to a personal account, you might as well replace the unit.

My suggestion would be to look for a Frankford Arsenal vibratory tumbler. You can get one from Amazon for about $40. You may be able to find an even lower price elsewhere.
 
With some ingenuity, you can find a bathroom exhaust fan motor (used or surplus). Most vibratory tumblers use these motors with just a counter weight on them.
 
The motors used in those are "shaded pole motors". The Midway tumblers used mostly motors made by or labeled as Jakel. Any shaded pole motor which fits (same dimensions as what you have) should work fine. A Google of shaded pole motors should bring up dozens of hits.

Ron
 
Burnt my FA tumbler last year. It lasted nine years. It would turn, but just barely and had no power at all. I had already taken off the sheetmetal base and tightened up the counterweight several times over it's lifetime. I looked online for parts a little. $40-50 for a new one is cheap in comparison to the money and time it takes to make something fit. Bought a new one - No regrets. Tumblers die, just like any household appliance. 'Tis life.
 
Charlie98 said:
After 25+ years I finally killed my Midway 1292 vibratory tumbler... :(

Anyone ever fool around with replacing a motor on one of these? Yes, I know I can buy a new one for $50, but if I can remotor this one for cheap... well, that's more money left for powder and boolits!
Click to expand...

If you are seriously into it, I would pull the motor. Look at the spec label. You will find brand, shaft size, RPM, amps and ohms. With that you should be able to search using those specs on Ebay, and come up with your motor. I have replaced several motors, cooling fans, etc by doing just that. The price is usually pretty good, too.
 
I do want to point out a few details about these c frame motors, they are not all the same construction. A vibratory motor must have ball bearings, self aligning sintered bronze bushings that most of the general purpose vent fan motors have won't last any time at all. Also many of the cheap fan duty motors have the winding forms slipped loosely over the laminations which will wear through quickly, the windings can also short if not wound tight and varnish coated to stabilze the wire.
 
My HF tumbler has lasted 8 years and over 70k cases. The motor "went bad" because it would no longer start spinning on it's own. I took the base screen off and "jump started" it by pressing the shaft down against the motor as I switched the motor on and it starts spinning. Once it starts, it will keep running for the normal 3 hours I have it programmed for with a lamp timer. It's been doing that for the past 3 years since. Go figure.
 
FWIW... if you can't fix it.. do keep the bowl and lid... I bought a replacement Lyman.. and the bowl was so bad at moving the crushed walnut, that I swapped the old Midway 1292 bowl on to the Lyman base.

The Midway 1292 bowl, IMHO, is worth its weight in gold... well, at least in saved time and cleaner brass.
 
hdwhit said:
My suggestion would be to look for a Frankford Arsenal vibratory tumbler. You can get one from Amazon for about $40.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I did and I agree with this advice. Actually I'm getting another, run two at a time, for the cost it's in my opinion better than my brand XXXX tumbler that cost almost $100
 
Lots of times, it’s just the bushing on the counterweight side that need to be replaced.
 
bfoosh006 said:
FWIW... if you can't fix it.. do keep the bowl and lid... I bought a replacement Lyman.. and the bowl was so bad at moving the crushed walnut, that I swapped the old Midway 1292 bowl on to the Lyman base.

The Midway 1292 bowl, IMHO, is worth its weight in gold... well, at least in saved time and cleaner brass.
Click to expand...

The 1292 has always done a good job, that's for sure. I would be interesting to know how many pieces of brass have passed through it in 25 years. I actually have 2 bowls... when I sent it back for the motor recall in the early '90's, to reduce shipping size I took the bowl off. When it came back it had a new bowl on it. Oddly enough, both of the bowls have holes worn through them from use over the years, I just patched one up with silicone.

When I have time this weekend I'm going to pull it apart... who knows, it might be easier to fix than I think...
 
When I have time this weekend I'm going to pull it apart... who knows, it might be easier to fix than I think...
Click to expand...

In post #5 you said it still runs just slow, my money is on a bushing being worn and allowing the armature to make contact, thus slowing its rotation.
 
To continue the thought I made in post #16.

My brand XXXX tumbler lasted <2 years (of very hard service) then died. I contacted brand XXXX and they instructed me to ship the tumbler to them with a check and sales receipt for $14.00 which I did. UPS and the $14.00 was something like $22.00 total but I got a brand new tumbler. Now 2 years later my 2nd brand XXXX tumbler is suffering the same fate. I could ship it to brand XXXX HQ with a check for $14.00 and a note saying "fix it" but that's $22.00 and two years from now I will be doing this again.

On the other hand the $39.00 FA unit with free shipping at Amazon is as mentioned better and certainly quieter for half the price so that is how I dealt with the problem. Genus? Prolly not that level. If anyone would like a brand XXXX tumbler that doesn't work let me know they can have it but they will have to fiddle around with it and buy an aftermarket motor and then what do they have?
 
jmorris said:
In post #5 you said it still runs just slow, my money is on a bushing being worn and allowing the armature to make contact, thus slowing its rotation.
Click to expand...

And the more I think about it, you might be right.

Leading up to this failure was a hole in the bottom of the bowl... letting the super-fine walnut media dust out to coat the motor, the stand, the garage floor... etc.
 
Follow up!

I decided to just pull the darned thing apart. If it's dead, it's dead, and it's no big loss. If it isn't, maybe I can shadetree it back together.

As it turned out, both of the roller bearings rest in a rubber isolation cup in the frame, the top cup had worn through and must have bound the shaft up somehow. I swapped the cups... the top cup was fine, and the bottom bearing has a thrust washer underneath it, anyway... and put it all back together.

...45ACP brass is tumbling as we speak!!!
 
Charlie98 said:
Leading up to this failure was a hole in the bottom of the bowl... letting the super-fine walnut media dust out to coat the motor, the stand, the garage floor... etc.
Click to expand...
Not to mention inhaling lead dust accumulated in confined space of garage.

I prefer to dry tumble range brass outside and even if I tumble in the garage, I make sure the lid is on tight. And I always remove media from brass outside with fresh air/breeze.

My personal experience with blood lead level increase came mostly from inhaled lead dust from spent cases - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ealth-information.307170/page-10#post-9616073

Be safe.

Charlie98 said:
I decided to just pull the darned thing apart ... the top cup had worn through ... I swapped the cups and ... 45ACP brass is tumbling as we speak!!!
Click to expand...
Great to hear!

But I would plug the hole in the bottom of bowl. ;)
 
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