So I heard a whopper yesterday....

[JonProphet]

Or so I think. A friend told me that another one of our friends never leaves his tumbler running w/o supervision. Shuts it off whenever he's not going to be in the room for a long period of time. He's afraid it may catch fire.

Fan fiction or truth?

 

[billybob44]

Fiction for ME...

Your friend of a friend of a friend may do this, but most do not. Heck, I have been known to leave my Dillon on ALL NIGHT long many of times...Bill.

 

[gregkl]

Most anything that plugs in could catch fire. But how often does it happen? The truly conservative(maybe paranoid?) will unplug most things when they leave the room. Others will let anything run unintended.

I am somewhat careful and I unplug my heater when I leave the room for the night but I will let my tumbler run. I have it plugged into a GFI outlet, so hopefully if there is an electrical malfunction, the outlet will trip and all is good.

I have an old heater in my office at work. The other day I walked in and just as I sat at my desk, the thing kicked on and sparks started flying our of the plug at the wall outlet and caught the cord on fire! I quickly grabbed the cord and yanked it out. Had I not been there, I am not sure what would have happened. So he is not totally crazy in his thinking.

 

[bstewrat3]

I leave mine all night every night full of christmas bells in my basement next to my sons room trying to run him off. Hasn't worked yet and hasn't caught fire.

 

[gregkl]

I leave mine all night every night full of christmas bells in my basement next to my sons room trying to run him off. Hasn't worked yet and hasn't caught fire.

 

[JonProphet]

I let my tumbler run for 96 hours straight... still going.... Its a Lyman btw. Twin tumbler or something.... Damn thing is a work horse.

Btw, he's my friend, but my other friend told me he said that. I was like... umm... that's f'n wacky!

-JD-

 

[O'Shark]

If it is a Midway USA tumbler from the mid 90s, he has a legitimate concern. They had a recall on certain ones due to reports of them catching fire. I have a Midway tumbler and it has a cooling fan for the motor.

RECALL: Midway Tumbler model No. 1292 - AR15.COM

 

[DRob]

Catch fire?

I was worried about my tumbler catching fire until I stopped using kitchen match heads for media! Oh, maybe he was thinking about electricity! He should invent a hand-crank tumbler.

Does your several-times-removed source unplug and turn off everything else in his house at night? I suggest he walk through his house with all the lights off. If he has a TV, a PC, and cable service he will see little lights glowing all over the place.

 

[gregkl]

I let my tumbler run for 96 hours straight... still going.... Its a Lyman btw. Twin tumbler or something.... Damn thing is a work horse.

Btw, he's my friend, but my other friend told me he said that. I was like... umm... that's f'n wacky!

-JD-

Similar to mine. I have a Turbo 2200. But I get my brass clean and shiny in 3 hours. 96 hours? Are you polishing brass or something else? You must have some pretty brass after that much time.

 

[Leo]

I ran two tumblers pretty much 24/7 for a year. I never had any worries, of course they are later production. I had the early Midway unit and only set it on tile floors, but after the fire warning I kept a pretty good eye on it. Some investigations of fires on the early (non thermo protected) models was due to people setting them on carpet and foam rubber to make them quieter.

 

[JonProphet]

Similar to mine. I have a Turbo 2200. But I get my brass clean and shiny in 3 hours. 96 hours? Are you polishing brass or something else? You must have some pretty brass after that much time.

You guys are cracking me up!

You must think I'm kidding about my friend... seriously.... its not me....

96 hours, yeah, it was several hundred cases of .223 and then 700+ cases of 9mm. Ran them for 8 to 12 hours... each....

Hey my media was almost at the end of its life span..... trying to get the last bit out of it and yes.... my 9mm and .223 were VERY shiny. I like shiny things....

So... to wrap things up..... OH SHINNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


-JD-

 

[6mm Shoot]

You have a better chance of your computer starting a fire more than your tumbler. Your computer gets much hotter than your tumbler. If something goes wrong with either you can get a fire. The same can be said of most things electrical including a lamp. No electrical appliance should be left running with out supervision. I am not saying that someone needs to stay up and watch your refrigerator but you need to turn things off that don't need to be on.

Check out computer started fires on the net. Then checkout tumbler started fires on the net. You will only find fires started by computers. Also you will find a lot of fires have been started by space heaters. Refrigerators have started none in this cetury, that I can find.

I don't leave my tumbler on over night. I don't leave my computer on if I am not in the room. You do what ever you feel good with.

 

[Slapstick]

I don't worry about mine, have them plugged into a a decent fault protected power strip and make sure to clean all the junk that accumulates in the base and around the motor so they stay cool, (most important thing you can do) and place them on the concrete garage floor for good air flow.

I've run them for days cleaning multiple batches of brass without a problem. One of mine is about a 20 year old Thumblers Tumbler and I picked up a 2nd Graf & Sons so I could keep one with walnut and the other with corn cob. Not a hint of a problem. I will admit I do turn them off when I leave the house for any extended periods of time.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

What kind of tumbler does he have?

May be a legit concern, may not.

Close Call: Tumbler Catches on Fire in Reloading Room « Daily Bulletin

Tumbler warning - The Firing Line Forums

 

[BAZOOKa]

Mine is running right now unattended full of 200 rounds of loaded ammo. Should I be worried, because I am not.

 

[gds]

I have two Lyman Pro Magnums that I run all night , unload before work then load them back up and run them all day . NEVER HAD A PROBLEM .

 

[rvb]

I run mine in the garage, or even outside if weather is decent. That's a lot of lead dust made by those things. Who runs them inside?? you have to open the lid sometimes... not to mention the process of sifting out the media. nasty. I digress...

All motors CAN catch fire.

I picked up a timer. I run brass 2-4 hrs depending on how dirty the media is. Timer keeps it from wasting electricity, putting unnecessary hrs on the motor, and gets rid of the noise (garage is under the bed room), and [if concerned about it], reduces fire risk.

timer is a couple bucks at local HW store.

-rvb

 

[gregkl]

I run mine in the garage, or even outside if weather is decent. That's a lot of lead dust made by those things. Who runs them inside?? I digress...

I picked up a timer. I run brass 2-4 hrs depending on how dirty the media is. Timer keeps it from wasting electricity, putting unnecessary hrs on the motor, and gets rid of the noise (garage is under the bed room), and [if concerned about it], reduces fire risk.

timer is a couple bucks at local HW store.

-rvb

Good idea on the timer. I would have run some brass last night but didn't want to leave it run all night and I was two hours from bedtime. I could have stuck it on a 4 hour timer and went to bed and had clean brass this morning!

 

[rvb]

Good idea on the timer. I would have run some brass last night but didn't want to leave it run all night and I was two hours from bedtime. I could have stuck it on a 4 hour timer and went to bed and had clean brass this morning!

And I can run it at more unusual times... eg before I go to bed I can put dirty brass in, and then set the timer to start a couple hrs before I get home from work the next day, so I have clean brass to process in the evening...

-rvb

 

[tacdriver]

If it is a Midway USA tumbler from the mid 90s, he has a legitimate concern. They had a recall on certain ones due to reports of them catching fire. I have a Midway tumbler and it has a cooling fan for the motor.

RECALL: Midway Tumbler model No. 1292 - AR15.COM

O'Shark, it's kind of funny but have to say thanks for the heads up!!

I'm sitting here reading the OP and then I come across your posted comments and it dawns on me,

...My one tumbler is from Midway....I brought it back in the mid 90's...I do get concerned because from time to time it runs a bit warm after 10 or so hours non-stop.

Anyway I went out to the garage and low and behold I have a "Midway Tumbler model No. 1292"

...and I thought it always got warm 'cause I run the snot out of it

Anyway thanks for the enlightenment, I'll have to keep an eye on her now