My old Lyman Twin tumbler finally died tonight. Motor (240 volt model) just hums and the casing was very warm. Thought I might as well have a look at the motor to see if I can replace or fix it but I can't get the casing parts to separate. Looks like the springs in the bottom half of the assembly were hot glued to the top half when the tumbler was made. Any suggestions on how to get the halves apart. Are the motors replaceable or fixable. Thanks.

The motor can be rewound if it's toasted, but getting apart a hot-welded case may be a problem. I suggest buying a new tumbler and setting the old one up on a shelf to watch over things in your reloading room...

If you search for 'Tumblers' here you will find some intel about the motors. They are apparently pretty available and inexpensive.

As a possible shot at getting your motor 'loose' from the tumbler, how about a heat gun to soften up the hot melt, but possibly not melt your tumbler bowl.

In the several tumblers I am familiar with, there are bolt/screw heads in the bottom of the tumbler bowl--I'm assuming from your discussion that isn't the case with yours.......

Good luck--remember, if you mess it up, Tumblers are pretty cheap and available everywhere.

Your problem is a common one with all tumblers. Sure, you can buy a new one and avoid the hassel of trying to fix it but I prefer to "cheat" the system and repair anything I can to save a buck.

When the oil in the motor bearings drys a little, it causes drag. The extra drag causes heat and more heat further drys the oil. Eventually the motor can't turn.

At first it just "hums" and gets hotter. Eventually it burns out a winding wire and that's the end of it!

Those little motors are too cheap to bother trying to get them rewound and I doubt any electric motor place would bother with one of them.

Lyman glues the bottom cover in, they didn't plan on us repairing them but it's fairly simple. You can work the bottom plate free with a knife and chisel used as a pry bar but it's a pill to do. Once off, you can remove those "hot glue" nuts and dissassemble the thing.

Once you get to the motor, you should first try flushing the bearings with a light oil and see if it will still run. WD-40 is good enough to penetrate and get the shaft loose enough to run again if it's good. IF it is, flood out the WD-40, or whatever (WD40 is a lousy long term lube), and oil it with a good grade of light oil. I use Automatic Transmission Fluid as a light gun and precision machine oil, it works great on guns, fishing reels and tumbler motors!

If your motor has actually burned out and has to be replaced you can get one from most any electrical supply house, or maybe even Lowe's, since it's a common type motor used in bath and kitchen exhaust fans. A new one should cost you maybe tem bucks or so. Take your old one along when you go to buy a new motor to make sure the mounting holes and motor shaft will work with your tumbler.

Once you replace the motor you need to improve the air flow AND make it easier to reoil the new motor too. I drilled a series of 1/2" holes, spaced about an inch apart, an inch above the lower perimeter of the base. I left the bottom plate off to further improve cooling.

I also put an "ON-OFF" toggle switch on the base. Mine runs much cooler now and it's easier to control the power than having to unplug it. (OK, I have two, one I replaced the motor on and another that I got to save/oil before it burned out.)

Thanks Jim, I've fixed it following your directions. The base came off quite easily after I drilled a small pilot hole to get a small pry bar into. It was just spot glued in a couple of places. Peeled the hot glue off the wires and removed the motor, cleaned the accumulated media dust off and flooded it with CRC 2.26 (electrical stuff). Drilled the extra air vents and put it back together. Seems to be running as good as new.Time will tell how it holds up. I have other tumblers (Cabelas and RCBS) but I have multiple bowls for the Lyman which is why it was worth trying to repair.

Those crummy little motors cost about $2 to make in China. They have sleeve bearings that eventually wear out. The bearings can sometimes be replaced if you are careful. Many of the motors are built to standard frame sizes and can be purchased from an industrial supplier.

Well its vibrating away happily in the garage moly coating some bullets for a couple of hours so that should be a good test. The motor on my machine which is very old and provided stellar service until now was actually a continuous duty USA built one. I agree with regret that lots of stuff is now Chinese including my new RCBS tumbler.

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I've fixed it following your directions.

Great!

Figgered you could, especially since you said the motor was still humming. One that is burned out won't hum!