Thumler's Tumbler Ultra-Vibe 18 Review

A review of a piece of reloading equipment that I've had for a long time, a Thumler's Tumbler brand "Ultra-Vibe 18" cartridge case cleaner/polisher. A very durable piece of equipment for cleaning and polishing cartridge cases, brass and ammunition.
www.thumlerstum...

[@shaundoodles]

I was running, and still have in working order, a TT AR2 two barrel rotary tumbler. Thing is 30+ years old and I got it as a hand me down. The only thing I've had to replace is a really worn out belt. TT makes solid products that are made to last.

[@FirearmTutorials]

Thanks for sharing. I'm going to buy one of these as my RCBS one just quit after a little over a year.

[@Dot50Cal]

I just wanted to post about this machine. I won one at a gun auction and to be honest, I'm not very mechanically inclined. It's something I'm working on. I found that the shaft was seized up pretty good, so I took the motor apart and ended up oiling it up. That got it to run without issue, however it was extremely loud. Insanely loud, nothing like in this video. Eventually, I got sick of it and I did a complete tear down. I found that one of the four mounting screws that come out of the motor and screw in under the padded mat that the bowl sits on was broken, causing the motor to move wildly and slam the metal spacer into the top of the rim, making the insane sound. I ended up purchasing a D203 motor by Fasco, which matched the specs on this one after much searching, but was dismayed when I found that it didn't have proper plug ends, had no counter weight, the shaft was thinner by a few mm (so I couldn't safely mount the old counterweight). I ended up calling Tru Square Metal Products and they had a motor with the plug (the new one, with the on off switch on it) and everything setup properly including a new counter weight for around 80 bucks (10 more than I paid for the generic one). I installed the new motor today and was delighted to find that the sound was cut down by at least 80%. I can run the tumbler in the same room without any issue now. The only sound it makes is the brass and media tumbling around. It's a great machine and so well put together, I just had to compliment them on making such a great tumbler.

[@314299]

Yours much have been stored in a damp location, too bad you had such issues with it but sounds like you are getting it sorted out.

[@strawdog3571]

Thanks for the thorough review. a look at the motor convinced me I need one.

[@1LRLRG]

Got the same machine, love it. Only problem is plastic and static, I end up with shells flying all over the place. Mine is about that old at least I think, forgotten when I bought it. Love your videos.

[@cliffwhitford4575]

Just picked one up. Thanks for the helpful info.

[@314299]

I'm sure you will get lots of good service out of it.

[@Johnny-jr2lq]

Ha I have that same tumbler your is in much better shape then mine. But none the less it works great I picked mine up in a bulk purchase of reloading equipment. When you said it was 180 to 200 bucks I about spit my coffee out. I’ll be darned I’ll have to take it apart and put a fresh coat of pain on it and a new strip of yellow tape. Upon further inspection I noticed my unit is the 18 model it’s definitely a older model because the motor doesn’t look like anything on the internet. It’s definitely the heavy duty model because the motor is black and doesn’t have a fan. The base also doesn’t have the rubber feet or provisions for the feet. I simply cannot believe this little guy is a 400 dollar unit I guess the more i look at it the I understand why it is definitely a beefy unit. I’m actually really happy to have it I always treated it with respect other then dust on it. But now I know it’s a Commercial unit cool thanks for doing this video

[@314299]

Yep, these are rugged and durable machines. There certainly cheaper units but of course they are made in China. Thanks for your comment.

[@pmgodfrey]

I received one of these from my uncle when he gave me nearly all of his tools last year. I just bought some media for it.

[@314299]

You got a good machine.

[@314299]

No, mine's not for sale. How much were they asking for the one on CGN?

[@Phoenix_Enterprises]

I own a uv-45 industrial that has suffered from 20+ years of ceramic media and 4oz silver buckles...these are beast tumblers and virtually no maintanance. after 20+ years of almost continous use with no oiling of the bearings...*(apply oil) will last almost forever.

[@314299]

Mine's still going strong.

[@314299]

This model is still produced, so I expect it's still made fairly similar to the old ones.

[@314299]

Wow, that's something else!

[@314299]

I'm not sure just how much in pounds put I fill mine slightly more than 1/2 way up.

[@314299]

That's enough for a used one, but probably worth considering the durability.

[@314299]

If you drop an old dryer sheet into the tumbler while it's running it seems to cure the static.

[@MagsZ4U]

I have done a video on this machine as well. And the new ones do have a on/off switch on the cord. It's a little wheel that turns it on and off

[@santatigerclaus]

that inline switch is available aftermarket

[@odellpatrick6]

Thumlers been in business since 1951

[@CROSSFIRE_TACTICS_SOFIA]

Great video. Thank you.

[@SomeGuyInSandy]

Sold! Thanks!

[@314299]

I use the heck out of this Tumbler and it just keeps on working.

[@314299]

Thanks.

[@314299]

It wure has a nice beefy motor compared to many other brands.

[@cliffwhitford4575]

What is the average run time for 4-500 9mm brass casings?

[@314299]

I would let it run for two hours and then see what they look like.

[@314299]

They would have top change a heck of a lot to get as bad as ours.

[@Christhathasswag]

*impressed with quality. my unit came 🔎🔍 **allabout.wiki/Lyman** with a pound or so of what looks like stainless steel shot and more importantly a spare o-ring for the access hatch and a toothed-belt for the motor-drum drive. Nice touch.the drum and base are both larger than I expected and heavy.the materials and build quality seem good to very good.it's been running on the slowest speed for the last couple of hours with2 pounds or so of my steel parts to be deburred,4 pounds or so of 1" ceramic stars andwater with a little bit of dawn soapfilled to 1/2 the drum volume.I weighed the drum half filled with the previous mentioned items and it came out a little under 9 **pounds.like**: I like the way the drum hatch gets locked.the robustness of the build and motor.con: no instructions that I can see on how to work the base dials/controls, but I got it running by just turning the knobs.grin.not sure if the timer is on or what the 1/0 switch does (it's not on/off to the motor), timer use maybe ??I'll have another look in the box for the instructions or maybe on line .... this is not a big enough of an issue to take rating stars off my initial 5 star rating.update 10.1.2017: ran it 24hrs/day for 4 days straight with 4 different batches of parts and it worked without issues. My a36 steel parts came out as expected with a nice even finish.BTW not mentioned but as I state in the previous line, I've been running it without a 'timer' limit. I suspect the '1/0' switch when switched to '0' disables the timer ... however I got it to work this way, it's the way I wanted, so I can run it overnight without a 3hr reset of the timer.*

[@314299]

I take it your tumbler is one of the rotary ones and not vibratory one like in the video?

[@ugotit33x]

Good vid

[@TheNisgaa]

They don't make... ANYTHING like they used too. Thanks for the vid.