Since having returned the cheap Harbor Freight/Chicago Electric rock tumbler for a refund, I have been looking for a replacement. So I have been searching the web, and watching ebay. I had been looking at Lortone’s and Thumler’s both of which seem to be good quality from what I can tell.
I had been watching an ebay auction for an older vintage looking rock tumbler. It looks to be one of the commercial grade ones. I had searched for more info on this particular model, but couldn’t find anything. I know that newer similar models sell for hundreds of dollars.
I set up a snipe bid, and won the auction for about $75 plus $25 shipping.
I am not sure, but I think it is about a 12 pound or 15 pound tumbler. I emailed Lortone and includedsome pictures of it. They didn’t give me much information about it other than to say they thought it was from the late 60’s or early 70’s.
The tumbler came quickly. The motor was slow to start but seemed to go okay once it got going. I put a drop of oil in each side to lube the bearings. It helped a little. I decided to go further. I disassembled the the tumbler. I sprayed wd-40 into the oil holes of the motor to clean out the old gunk. I ran it a bit, dried it a bit, and then oiled it with 3-1 oil. I did the same thing with the roller shafts. I cleaned it up and put it back together. There is still a slight hesitation at start up, but the motor starts much quicker now.
Hi, I also bought a rock tumbler from harbor freight but I modified it slightly by installing a
special drive belt that I bought from a rubber company. This belt is made out of nitrile rubber and it is transparent in color and will NEVER break,crack,stretch,or wear out! I bought a few of them because they were cheap.Also, I removed the drive motor from the unit and I took it apart and replaced the metal end-play washers with some nylon washers on the motor shaft
(both ends) greased them and put it all back to-
gether. I have to say that this “cheap” tumbler
is now the most quiet,and
rugged rock tumbler that I
have ever seen and It sur-
passes any rock tumbler
out there!!! You can do
the same with yours! You
will be happy that you
modified it!!! If you like,I could do the mods
for you for $15 plus ship-
ping. Let me know if you
are interested.
Comment by Nick Galardi — January 4, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
We got rid of the Harbor Freight tumbler after one of the cheap plastic belt pulleys disitigrated. That thing was junk. It cost $40 including the 2 year extended warranty. For $80 I got a quality Lortone dual barrel tumbler of similar design. But it has metal belt pulleys and is much better made. We have had no issues with it, and have not had to modify it at all. The Harbor Freight tumbler was junk.
Comment by Rob — January 5, 2009 @ 7:49 am
Great post. i’ve been trying to get an old tumbler I bought working but to no avail yet. I these might be just what I need.
Comment by Rock Polisher — February 26, 2009 @ 8:10 am
I just got this old rock tumbler from my grandfather, It’s called a Galaxie made by Moccasin MGF Corp.
I can’t find any info on it I think it’s from the 50s or 60s, takes a minute to get going, LOL
Comment by Mark — July 11, 2009 @ 12:04 am
Nice on the old rock tumbler! Not familiar with the brand either. I did a search, but didn’t find anything. If it’s slow to start, the motor might lubed. 3in1 makes some electric motor oil. I found it at Home Depot. You might need to clean the old gunked up stuff out of the motor with some WD-40 like I did. But make sure you lube it up afterwards.
Comment by Rob — July 11, 2009 @ 10:25 am
Thanks,
Yeah I’ve searched everywhere no luck finding any thing about it, Strange…
Comment by Mark — July 12, 2009 @ 1:34 am