Introduction
A Rotary Lortone 3A Rock Tumbler similar to the one I own
A tumbler is a great tool for any jewelry to own. It doesn’t matter if your making high-end pieces that sell for thousands dollars or cheaper mass produced pieces that sell for twenty bucks. A tumbler is a tool that will save you lots of time on polishing and work hardening your pieces.
After using my Rotary Lortone 3A Rock Tumbler for about a year and half I have learned it well. In general I think it s a great tool for the price I paid and has saved me countless hours. There are some cons but overall I would recommend this tumbler to anyone into metalworking.
The Set Up
The tumbler has two parts to it. The first part is a black barrel for storing the pieces and the shot for tumbling. The second part is the motor, which is square and teal color. The motor area has a square cut out of it that the barrel fits into. When the motor is run the barrel spins in this area at a regular pace.
The barrel has three parts to it. The first part is the actually canister. The second part is an inner lid with the rubber seal around its edge, there is also a large screw that sticks out of the inner lid. The third part is a metal cap that goes over the inner lid and has a whole in it for the screw to go through. The metal cap fits snuggly with the canister.
Then there is a washer that slides under the fourth part, which is a little thumb screw with a grove in it so it can rest in a cradle in order to rotate. Remember the side with the grove on the thumb screw needs to be on top in order to fit into the tumbler to spin easily.
The tumbler is rated to 3 pounds. That means the motor can only handle 3 pounds in order operate correctly. So the total weight of the barrel, including the weight of the barrel, needs to be 3 pounds or under. If your way under three pounds you can place the tumbler at an angle to improve results. If you go over 3 pounds there is the possibility you could burn out the motor, which would destroy your tumbler.
Pros
My Tumbler Set Up on My Kitchen Counter
The big pros of this tumbler are the size, sound, price and ease of use. The 3 lb Lortone tumbler is a small size. I store mine under my sink and it is easy to remove because it is small. For people with a small work area this is ideal.
When running the Lortone tumbler it is pretty quiet. I have heard other tumblers and it sounds like a giant rattling echoing in the room. The Lortone tumbler just makes a soft swirling sound and I find it easy to fall asleep to. The sound of the tumbler is no where as load as a dishwasher.
Price is a big factor in the pro of the 3 lb Lortone 3A tumbler. Most other tumbler of the same size are at least $50 to $100 more then the 3 lb Lortone tumbler. That is a lot more money for something that work perfectly fine without the extra features of having an on and off switch.
Other then assembling the barrel the Lortone 3A tumbler is very easy to use. Just place the barrel into the area it is meant for and plug it in. The motor will keep working until you unplug it. No switches or dials to play with.
Cons
There are several cons to the Lortone 3A tumbler including assembling of the barrel, hard to detect leaks and can’t replace individual parts. The barrel can be a bit tricky to assemble and requires looking over the instructions. Compared to other tumblers I have used the Lortone 3A is a bit complicated. Also if it has not been used for a while and the barrel has dried out it might require some serious elbow grease in order to open the barrel up to load it.
Because the barrel sits in an enclosed cube like area it would be hard to see leaks happening early on. This is because you can’t see what is happening underneath the barrel, which is where you would see the collection of water if the barrel was leaking. At the same time the complexity of the closing of the barrel might help prevent leaks in general.
The last issue I have with this tumbler is you can’t replace individual parts easily. Yes you can buy a new barrel but lets say I wanted to replace the inner lid only. I can’t do that easily. You can find third party groups selling replacement parts but they do not come from Lortone. With other tumblers it is possible just to replace parts as needed and not have to buy a whole new barrel.
Conclusion
I cleaned these earrings in my tumbler before I set the stones
Overall I have really liked using this tumbler. It is easy to use and easy to set up. After getting used to the barrel assembly I am fine with it. For someone with limited space and budget this is an ideal tumbler. Lortone has been around for a long time and this tumbler itself has been for sale for over 15 years. This tells me it is a quality product and well tested. Remember to shop around and look for deals because some website always has a good deal for a Lortone 3A.
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