Squeaking Thumler's Tumbler!

[ScottRiqui]

I received my tumbler and stainless-steel pins from STM earlier this week. Everything works great, except I was getting some horrendous squeaking from the tumbler. It would persist for the first few minutes of the cycle, then go away. I had heard it on some Youtube videos as well, and the person posting the videos had chalked it up to getting some water on the outside of the barrel where it contacts the rollers.

Well, I finally read *all* of the tumbler directions, not just the directions card from STM. Turns out, the squeaking was because I had neglected to lubricate the rubber bushings that the driven and idler shafts ride in.

Now that the bushings are properly lubed, there's no more noise, the motor runs cooler, and the ends of the shafts are no longer too hot to touch. And the brass comes out looking incredible!

 

[velillen]

Yup mine squeaked terribly when I first got it. Greased the rods like you mentioned and the squeaking is gone.

 

[ScottRiqui]

It was funny - I totally bought into the "water on the rollers" theory, because the first batch didn't squeak at all. Subsequent batches squeaked at the beginning, but as I wiped off the barrel for a few minutes, the squeaking subsided, so I just thought I'd gotten the water off.

Turns out, what was happening was this:

On the first batch, the bushings hadn't yet melted to the rods, so no squeaking at the start. Once the rods got hot enough to melt the rubber, they were hot enough to keep it melted, so no squeaking during the cycle.

But on subsequent batches, the bushings/rods had time to cool, so they were stuck together. When I started the tumbler, that's when I got the squeaking. While I was drying off the barrel, the bushings and rods were heating up again, liquifying the rubber. THAT'S what actually stopped the squeaking, not my drying the barrel.

 

[reynolds357]

Just get a Lyman tumbler. Both of mine make so much plagued racket that you would never be able to hear the squeak even if they were squeaking. They sound like a blooming tornado invaded my basement.