20 Best Tumbler Making Kit (2022 Updated)

I followed the advice of other users as far as adding a small amount of lemi shine, it helps. It’s been trial and error as far as amount of steel pins to brass ratio and how long to tumble. Ive found that an hour and a half gets them spotless inside and out and primer pockets as well.

Be warned, the cases will be clean but have a bit of scuffed (I guess tumbled) look to them. I use distilled water and RCBS ultrasonic and tumbler case cleaner and small amount of lemi shine (probably 1/2 to 3/4 of a two liter bottle cap).

Haven’t tried it without steel pins. Make sure the lid is TIGHT! Something I learned to do: Even though I’m cleaning with distilled water, I rinse with tap water. If you clean say 100 or more pieces at a time, you WILL have water spots because on the last pieces you dry.

You can’t dry them fast enough, so now instead of dumping the whole batch in the included strainer, I grab one handful at a time to rinse. No more water spots. One other piece of advice in regard to mixing calibers, don’t mix sizes that fit inside of each other, they have a knack for finding each other and the smaller one wont be cleaned.

Like I said, trial and error, but no hesitation in recommending as far as function and quality.

I have only used this a couple of times since I received it a couple of months ago. I am surprised at how clean range brass gets during the process. Even dark brown and corroded looking brass tends to come out new looking.

If decapped, the primer pockets come out clean as well! Wet cleaning is really the way to go even if the brass needs rinsing and drying afterward. Much improvement over dry media in my experience.

I ordered this tumbler with a little hesitation due to some low reviews on other sites. I found the negative reviews unwarranted. After using this tumbler for 6 months to clean THOUSANDS of rounds of range brass in many calibers I have had NO problems with it.

I used a Dillon Vibratory Case Cleaner for 25 years and wish I had purchased the Lyman Cyclone Case Tumbler long ago. It works better than advertised. I even re-cleaned brass that was processed through the Dillon unit to remove the annoying cleaner residue it leaves behind.

The separator for the stainless steel media works great, but I would highly recommend purchasing the magnetic pick up tool. It is well worth the minor cost. First I rinse range brass with a garden hose to remove debris and then throw it into the Lyman tumbler for the initial cleaning.

I then sort the brass. Smaller calibers will stick into larger calibers so a little shaking is necessary. After sorting I give them another shot through the tumbler and they come out shiny as new, ready for resale.

I rinse my brass in the kitchen sink with the vegetable sprayer. Just be sure to insert a drain strainer if you do this to catch any stray cleaning pins that may wander off. I de-cap primers of brass I plan to reload and give a final run to clean primer pockets.

I have never had to use a primer pocket cleaning tool nor had any issues with cleaning pins lodging in primer pockets so far. I found the easiest way to dry brass is in an old toaster oven. Be sure not to use too high a temperature or cook them too long as this will discolor the brass.

I use distilled water for the final cleaning to prevent water spots. This may not be necessary for you if your tap water is not too hard. Dawn dish washing detergent works fine and it seems to cut primer pocket carbon deposits.

Midsouth Shooters has by far the best price and I would highly recommend purchasing this wonderful tool.

It is a great starter kit. Only down fall with the kit is it has just enough polishing grit for one complete cycle. So I would suggest purchasing more (course through fine) if you want to do more than a handful of rocks and wait till you replenish your grit.

Waiting now patiently the week or two for the out come. Would recommend.

Don’t have a month, don’t buy it. I bought it for my son and everyday my gf unplugs it. It makes quite some noise, but I don’t mind it. My son can’t wait and tells me to check it everyday. 🙂 it works and is a great product but if you don’t have the time, or you have someone in the family who likes peace and quiet, this isn’t for you.

Idk about anyone else but I’m stubborn to see the end result. It will make my sons month, that I know.

The grands really like it. Comes with everything you need to get started. Only problem is it is extremely loud. Make sure you set it up in the garage.

Larger size bags are a better deal. Great to get all 4 with the plastic beads in one package! Works great in any tumbler.

Exactly as decribed. Recommened by professionals for good reason. Packaging is very good and arrived sooner then expected.

It’s a good value in the amount of product for the price. Also got it soon.. I would recommend them for tumbling grit .

The tumblers are beautiful. Colors are vibrant. I love that they come with a lid, straw, care card, and a giftable box too! My only complaint is the shipping was slower than I expected. Others had raved about the speedy delivery, but I found my order took many days to fill.

Still, I will order again. Can’t beat the price!.

I’ve used this mold since it arrived. I read the previous reviews about it ripping or tearing and it unfortunately came true in my case also. I have many molds and take care of them, however, after the 5th pour 3 of the molds ripped the top of the mold and left some rubber on my finished product.

I still use this mold as it does still work but if it rips anymore I will have to throw the entire thing away. I still gave it a 4 star because it is a nice mold, just structurally unsound.

I just got this today but I’m going to give it a try tonight when I’m working on my tumblers. I can hardly wait. Such a neat little set. Wish all molds came with a little setup like this one. You can’t go wrong with this folks.

You will love it!.

Great Item and very easy to use. Makes perfect use of extra resign that is left over from tumblers and an extra surprise to orders. I love the stickers also, but looks super cute even without them and can even use a string thru the hole to add as a Christmas tree ornament.

That’s right, I’ve been using this set for almost 20 years. I’ve had the glue to a couple of the springs come out and a wire on a connector break. Fixed both of those and its still going strong. A piece of equipment that can be used so often and last almost two decades is a testament to how well it was made.

The media separator is great, but I believe they make one now that is enclosed in order to reduce the amount of dust that gets in the air when turning. I wouldn’t be without one of these ever!.

Getting a complete kit is an easy way to start. Together with the good reviews this one has, it was easy to choose it. It seems a lot more substantial than it looks, and other reviewers have mentioned that lasts well.

I find it pretty quiet considering it’s tossing rocks together. Up to now, I’m very happy with this. Oh, mine didn’t have an Australian plug. I needed an adaptor.

This is awesome! It takes awhile for the rocks to go through the process (usually about 5-8 days per grit and there are 4 different grits). We are on the last grit for polishing. The stones already look amazing and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

We used all of the rocks that came with the kit as well as some stones from the beach. The next batch will be all beach rocks so it will be interesting to see how they turn out. Because of the rubber tub, the noise the tumbler makes is pretty quiet.

We keep it in the basement of our home and sometimes I forget that it’s there because it is so quiet.

This is a Fantastic Rock Tumbler! I bought it for my 12 year old son, and he absolutely loves it. It comes with rough stones, grit, and everything you need. It took about 3. 5 weeks to do the complete cycle of polishing, and the stones were so cool when they were polished.

You really do see them go from rough rock to polished gemstones. Since it has a rubber barrel it was really quiet compared to the old rock tumblers that used to be on the market. I loved the educational content that was included as well.

AND, National Geographic even sells rock tumbler refill kits you can buy (we purchased a gemstone one and a jasper one). Highly recommend, this is a great gift!.

Our 10yr old loves this. It did surprise her how long it will take to polish rocks, you do need to leave it on for days at a time if you can, which requires leaving it somewhere like the garage where the noise wont bother everyone! Shes enjoyed making the jewelry that came with the kit.

I bought the rock tumbler for my 12 year old son who is a keen collector of stones. It is useful and it makes stones and pebbles smooth and shiny. However, the process of smoothing and shining stones is rather long.

I don’t recommend it if you want quick results.

We had to find a place for it in our house, it is loud but we found a spot for it and my granddaughter uses it every time she comes over. The instructions are clear and very easy to follow. I used one in my 9th grade science class and I remember it was neat to see how the rocks are transformed.

She brings in stones from her camping trips with dad and is really excited to see them come out looking so different then when they were put in. Just so you know it needs to run a long time (sometimes days).

It doesn’t have a problem running for long periods, just let it complete its cycle, you’ll be surprised by what comes out, plus I did open it to check, restarted it and it started to leak. I then cleaned it and haven’t had any problems since.

Great project to do with your little ones. Highly recommend.

First, the main point: this is a great rock tumbler, I had excellent results with my first batch of rocks and am on my second batch which also looks good. It is much quieter than other tumblers I have had, and is worth every penny that I paid.

Now the two tiny issues. 1. From time to time during operation the wheels will squeek. It took me a surprisinglt long time to get this to stop, and it still comes back once in a while. 2. Opening and closing involves bending the thick rubber tumbling chamber around the cover plate.

This is sometimes a bit if trouble to do, but moreover it means a puff of air might come out. Wear safety goggles just in case. To sum up, the issues are minor and the tumbler works great.

I bought one of these years ago. It not only tumbles rocks well but now I even use it to polish brass cases too. Just change the media and you can polish anything that will fit inside it. You can use it with either wet or dry media.

i use the tumbler to polish shot ammo brass, it does a excellent job. had one before, bought in 1976, motor just went out,polished over 150,000 rds. had to buy another. a very excellent product.

I got this for my five year old who was getting overly curious about everything in my home lab. What I do is open a page to a new circuit. Ask him to follow the schematics and leave him be for a few mins, come check and intervene if he needs.

After 30 mins if he hasn’t made progress, I start to participate on a second set I have, and he watches me read the schematic and follow directions. Explain why things go in certain orientations and ways, along the way.

Once he thinks he is finished, I inspect it for shorts, if I find one I explain why and what woukd hapoen and its dangers. Ine I approve that it wont short or burn anything out, I put batteries in irregardless if it will work or not.

Then I help him diagnose why it is not working. Then we move on what would be interesting to add or change, even an excersise on how to make the same circuits with less components and complexity. Its really a valuable tool when you are an electronics Eng, trying to share his passuon with a child.

Parents: it is imperative you have some well grounded understanding of electricity and simple circuits, please read the first few pages in detail and work though the begginer excersise to save your self some time and frustration.

Do not, I repeat do not give an child a battery module with batteries in it, a child can and probably will create a short situation and maybe get burned. My son already went though this. I explained to him what happened and changed the protocol to be: I supply batteries after I inspect for shorts.

Lots of cakue if you are a oatient and willing participant, I suggest you buy two. This kit also pairs well with the 200 series, and the Arduino kit. You can eventually move up to creating modules on one kit that connect to modules in another kit, that are all controlled by the elenco Ardiono kit.

It is tempting to cheap out on the Arduino kit and Jimmy rig your own, don’t its not worth the effort. The Elenco kit is well built and ready to interface with all thw other kits. An inmportant note: After building a circuit, it is just as important to work with your child on disassembly and repackaging the components back in the tray box.

That way you teach the importance of organization and storage. The box the kit comes in is great and durable, I suggest reinforcing it with clear boxing tape or laminating it. Add some velcro to the tabs and you are good to go with a permanent storage solution.

The important thing is to remember learning is better when it is fun.

Instructions not fun to read, even for an adult. Wish it just had more different simple connections, like 10 different songs, or lights, or propellers. Less capacitors and resisters and higher level electrician stuff.

I don’t expect to get a certification out of this kit! Maybe I should have just gotten the beginner one.

This thing is CRAZY loud! It ran for 2 minutes and stopped. I smelled burning rubber. I started it again and it ran another few minutes and stopped. I took out 1 rock and it ran for about 5 minutes before I unplugged it (it says you can fill it 1/2 – 2/3 full, but I had it filled about 1/4).

Your supposed to run this thing 12-26 days. There’s just no way! Under 10 minutes was too long. It’s not even the rock sound that’s unbareable, it’s the sound of the machine. Seriously, if you know someone that you hate and they have a kid they can’t say no to, buy them this.

They will hate you too. My daughter plugged her ears and asked me to shut it off.

Have had this Tumbler for nine years. It finally quit on me. The plastic bowl began to crack after only a few months of use but I repaired the cracks with epoxy and kep using it. The springs that hold the bowl are only hot glued in their sockets and came loose after a few months so I had to manually reseat them all the time.

The center screw that secures the lid is just a bare threaded rod that will scratch the cases unless you cover it,as I did with duct tape or something else. The motor became intermittent after 3 years but I was able to clean and overhaul it and keep it going.

So it got the job done even with all it’s flaws. but I only paid $35. 00 for it. At the current price which is nearly double what I paid, I would definitely consider a different brand, assuming they have not improved their quality along with the increased price.

If you are a high volume reloader this definitely not the best choice. if you only need to clean a few hundred cases a year it might be ok.

Like mine very much. I put rice, corn cob media, a gulp of turtle wax polish, and a few chunks of bounce sheets all together. The rice and bounce sheets draw in any black carbons and the polish and cob media polish the brass nice for long term till I need it.

I have used the same ingredients for 3 years now and haven’t changed it yet. I always sonicate my brass first with my homemade Lemi-Shine recipe for a few cycles. Then I let them dry and tumble for 30 min and bag them for long term storage and there shiny for years.

I never run my tumbler longer than 3 hours, this ensures the longevity of my tumbler. Some people run tumblers for 12-24 hours straight and wonder why they burn out…so don’t do that…give your brass a soak in an online solution first to help break out the carbon residues then tumble.

I had been looking for a case tumbler for my brass. I’m new at reloading & not sure just what I needed. Academy Sports had the Frankford Arsenal EZ Case Tumbler at a great price. I got some treated corn cob media to try when the tumbler came.

I tried it for the first time last week & I could not believe how great the brass turned out. About 2 1/2 hours in the tumbler with the corn cob media the brass looked better than when it was new. The Frankford Arsenal EZ Case Tumbler had the brass clean inside & out, even the primer hole was clean.

If your looking for a case tumbler at a very good price ,check out the Frankford Arsenal EZ Case Tumbler at Academy. com. The price is great & I don’t think you can beat the price at Academy Sports & Outdoors.

This unit came today. A cursory inspection of the Lyman vs. my old “blue” one, which has done a good job over the 10 years I’ve owned it before it died, shows the following: 1. The old “blue” one will hold more cases per load.

2. The old “blue” one had a switch on the power cord. 3. The old “blue” one had a solid, clear plastic lid. 4. the old “blue” one was louder when running. This type of case cleaner, no matter the brand, works essentially the same way, and a lot of them share the same guts.

None will last forever, and there is really no maintenance that can be done, other than cleaning. Having said that, here is what I did with the Lyman to make it a little more user-friendly for me. I saved the clear plastic lid of the “blue” one, which fit perfectly on the Lyman, cut off the power cord with the switch, saved the wing nut, and threw the rest in the trash.

I’m going down to the local hardware store and buy a 3-prong socket and install it on the end of the salvaged power cord of the “blue” tumbler. This will allow me to switch the Lyman off on my bench instead of reaching down under and pulling the plug to turn it off.

The wing nut off the “blue” unit will be used to back up the rubber nut of the Lyman, which some users have been critical of. I fully expect to get another 10 years of use out of the Lyman, and as we speak it is out on my bench cleaning up a load of 5.

56 brass.

I just bought one! Decided to add this to the two Frankford Arsenal ones I have. The Frankford pair will be relegated to powder coating bullets and this one will be put to use for case polishing. This one was bought February of 2017 and was built on Halloween 2016.

It does have a on off switch built into the base now for those that were saying you had to plug it in and unplug it to stop it! It only comes with a pretty flimsy sifter lid so is no good for powder coating without modification or walnut with rouge in it etc.

The Lyman instructions with it does show a part number for a solid lid but there is no listing for it on their website. I have a message into customer service to see if they will send one of if I can purchase one.

Will update once I know? As far as performance goes I know they are a top notch tumbler as I have seen the brass they produce by ones owned by friends. It does the same job as the Frankford, just maybe a little faster die to the bowl shape.

The bowl is no where as heavy duty as the Frankfort tumblers I own. 4 stars rather than 5 due to the lid, it should have both styles.

I bought this to replace my original almost 15 year old 1200. The motor had gone out. I was amazed all parts were still compatable. However, new 1200 was drastically cheaper in quality. The bowl and lid were now flimsy plastic junk.

Fortunately, I was able to strip it down to the motor and re-use the older quality parts.

My 3rd buy, each one different and for different reasons. I love that exterior is just a little rough so it never slips through your hand, the amount of time it holds ice is amazing, I just keep adding fresh water to it throughout my day!.

I love these cups. They keep hot things hot and cold things cold. Had a miner problem with one and they quickly fixed the issue.

Beautiful colors…love the metal straw…keeps drinks cold for an entire day

I was so excited to try this rock tumbler out because I have been collecting rocks over the past few months and wanted to see them all cleaned up and polished. However, I was extremely disappointed that after the second phase of tumbling, the rubber gasket that helps seal the lid to the canister seemed to be stretched and would not properly fit in the lid.

No matter what I tried, which included making absolutely sure no grit was in the lid grooves or on the lip of the canister, I could not get the seal to work and water kept flying everywhere when I tried to start the tumbler.

I was unable to see the rocks through the whole tumbling process. Just in case this was a fluke or just a random bad gasket, here are my thoughts otherwise: The rocks that come with the kit are really beautiful.

I loved seeing how they went from blocky pieces of rock to rounded, colorful stones. The colors I had were blue, green, and yellow and they were very vibrant! Listen when the instructions tell you to find a place out of the way to put the tumbler because it can be very loud.

Especially if you have timid cats that might refuse to go by the machine to get to the litter box! Stick the tumbler in a closet if you can. Just know that this experiment requires lots of patience- all together the whole tumbling process could take a month, with very little hands-on time in there.

When emptying between phases it would be best if you could go outside to dump and clean the canister and rocks because you don’t want any of the grit going down your drains. I feel like it’s a shame to have to rate the tumbler so poorly, but it is a problem if there is a malfunction and the whole experiment cannot be finished.

I hope everyone else has good luck with it and are able to get beautifully polished stones out of it.

My daughter is a little under three, so this is still a bit “big” for her still. But, I’ve always loved rocks and fossils, and recently I’ve discovered she shares this love. I was wanting to find something to make it a little more fun for her, and expand it a bit from my typical fossil hunts.

and I thought a rock tumbler would be the perfect way to do that! One thing that’s not great (for her or me, hahaha) is the time it takes to do the entire process–each step can last multiple days, depending on the hardness of the rocks.

BUT, it’s a really neat tool to help with developing sorting skills, as while a batch is tumbling, and we begin to find more rocks, we can sort the ones we have and prepare the next group. For older kids, I think this would be a great tool for teaching patience and delayed gratification/the time required for desired results.

And, here I am, as an adult, having an absolute blast. So, with proper adult assistance and supervision, this is really great for just about any age (as long as they’re to the age where they don’t try to eat the stones, haha.

) It’s a really effective machine, especially for a beginning/recreational level. You can’t do a whole lot at once, but the other side of that is that it’s more quiet than larger ones (we have an enclosed porch area we run it in).

It’s made really well, includes fun literature/poster, and I really love that it has the findings to turn polished stones into jewelry and keychains. By that token, I think it really appeals to a variety of kids’ interests and can be a great family activity!.

This purchase made a perfect gift for busy little minds. Wouldn’t recommend it for children younger than 8, and parental assistance is definitely a must or you’ll have a mess on your hands. It does take an obnoxiously long time to complete the process but that’s no fault of the product, just science.

Also, be careful of unplugging the system when loading. You also have to stand the container upright or else it will leak, however when it’s running there are absolutely no leaks, again not the fault of the product, just science! It’s a little loud so we plugged it in the garage, but if you have a basement or spare room away from sleeping areas you probably won’t notice it! There is enough grit to do 1 complete cycle, so if you plan on doing more buy extra grit packages.

All in all, very neat toy to teach kids about science.

Spin it pro upgrade arm 1st spin it was not sturdy to hold cup without cup falling off had it in cupboard saw this and added to original spin it. Now it holds cups great.

Cup holder is a awesome tool to use when your working with the cup spinner.

A much needed upgrade for the spin it. Cups no longer fall off!

This rock tumbler initially looked really cool. It comes with the tumbling machine, the grits for the various phases of tumbling, and a good size bag of rocks to be tumbled. However, the set up and use was difficult and didn’t work as the instructions said it would.

The inner o-ring used to seal the lid popped out every time the lid was opened between phases. It was impossible to replace, and we ended up just shoving the pieces together and hoping it would stay.

The second problem was regarding the tumbler. The instructions said to put half the bag of rocks in, but the tumbler wouldn’t spin for more than a couple of seconds at a time with that weight. We ended up only being able to do 4 small rocks at a time, which was maybe a fifth or sixth of the bag.

meaning we will need to buy many more extra packs of the grits if we want to tumble all the rocks. The upside is that the instructions are few and simple, and the rocks do get tumbled and polished into pretty gemstones.

The whole process takes 3-4 weeks, so it requires patience and a separate room to keep the tumbler in since it’s a little noisy and tumbles 24 hours a day. The initial use was very frustrating, but now that we know the work arounds we will continue using it for the other rocks.

Overall, this product did not work as described but did produce the end product as described.

We were so excited to get the rock tumbler. We’ve wanted one for ages. All of my kids are rock collectors and it is just amazing to have the opportunity to tumble and polish all our wonderful finds. The tumbler is compact and is not obnoxiously loud.

The kids squealed over the new rocks that came with it and they liked the opportunity to get a few different tumbling mediums to see what they like best. They were not impressed with the jewelry settings that came with the package but quickly found their own settings.

Overall we are impressed, happy, and looking forward to polishing up all our beach and river finds.

Brought this to replace a decades-old Model 400 that would not start a’shakin’ unless it was turned upside down, cursed and rotated violently. The new one vibrates willingly and well, is much quieter and cleans much faster.

I won’t outlive this one but it is good to know it will be passed on to another hand loader. Some wise soul will develop replacement motors for less than the cost of an entire new machine and make money and earn adulation among the masses.

These vibratory cleaners are the cat’s pajamas!.

Had mine for about 5 years now and went to plug it in today with no luck. It was getting extra rattily there towards the end and not in a good way. I took it apart to see what needed to be done, inspection of the motor indicates that there is a lot of slop in the bearings, which is expected since there is a weight put off balance on the shaft the cooling fan is attached.

It would be great if cabelas or someone just made a drop in replacement motor since these are wearable parts and the rest is still usable. I would recommend this product if the replacement parts were available.

I purchased this tumbler early fall when my old one gave up the ghost. I bought the exact same model because the “old” one was over 6 years old and had done more case cleaning and ran for extended periods when I forgot I had it on than I care to admit.

The motor finally wore out. The rest of the unit looks brand new. The Cabela’s 400 case tumbler is an excellent value for those doing moderate amounts of brass per load. It is very efficient and will brighten up your brass in less than an hour in most cases.

I highly recommend the kit. The medium lasts for ever and there is enough in the bag to do two to three refills. The polisher liquid is a simple add in and does the job.