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Old April 15, 2013, 08:13 PM   #1
Airman Basic
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Join Date: April 12, 2013
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Thumler leakage

My Model B tumbler is dripping water. Just received my shipment of stainless pins media, added the soap and water, cranked up the tumbler, came back a few hours later and water on the floor. Anybody else run into this? Always used dry media before, and while I was impressed with the shiny brass, the wetness is a problem. Any secrets I'm not aware of?
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Old April 15, 2013, 08:56 PM   #2
ScottRiqui
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Sounds like a part might be missing. The metal barrel has a rubber liner, then there's a flat rubber piece with six holes in it, then the metal lid with six holes in it. The flat rubber gasket goes between the rubber liner and the metal lid.

You shouldn't have to tighten the six wingnuts very much - snug is fine.
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Old April 16, 2013, 03:55 AM   #3
Airman Basic
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Got all the parts. Think they may be like me, getting old. Had it for 20 something years. Maybe the gasket's dried out. Time to tinker.
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Old April 16, 2013, 06:54 AM   #4
Gdawgs
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I'm no help, but I ordered one a couple weeks ago. Can't wait for it to arrive so I can try it out.
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Old April 17, 2013, 11:09 PM   #5
medalguy
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You can order a new rubber drum liner and lid seal from Thumler. I had to replace them on a 20+ year old tumbler. The old drum liner should just pull out and then slide in the new one.
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Old April 19, 2013, 11:52 AM   #6
DennRN
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Try a repair before wasting more money!

Hi, I have a brand new Thumbler with no issues, HOWEVER, if I did notice leaking I wouldn't wait around for a replacement in the mail and have to pay a premium for it.

I worked as an engineer prior to my current field so trouble shooting cheap and effective fixes are what I used to be paid for.

Here is what I would do. (All materials can be bought at your local hardware shop home depot, lowes, ace.)

Make sure you have cleaned away any dry media that could cause poor fitting between the liner and gasket, (sorry had to say it). Solution is obvious for this cause.

1.) Pull the inner liner and look for cracks, pay close attention to the area around the threaded bolts, this is the most likely area where you will find wear. Spray on rubber sealer from the paint section of a hardware store will fix this problem get both inner and outer portions covered.

2.) Fill the liner with water up to the brim on a cookie sheet or pan (use the spray nozzle in your sink), wipe it down and inspect it every few minutes to check for seepage. Same solution as problem one.

3.) Inspect the circular gasket for cracks. If this is the issue, buy a sheet of gasket material, place the cylinder thread side down on top of it, (careful not to bork the threads give the top side a few handsome raps with a rubber mallet and use hand held hole punch to pop some new holes where the marks are from the bolts. Place the gasket material with the threads through your new holes and cut the gasket down to fit.

4.) Guaranteed fix. Pull the liner, spray a good even coat of spray paint (I used truck bed liner) on the inside of the metal tumbling cylinder to fight corrosion, mix up a stick of plumbers epoxy and seal up all the holes top and bottom where the hexagonal tube meets the hubs. Before it sets, put the liner back in and press firmly against all holes to seal it up. Clean away excess that has been extruded to the outside. Optionally using this in conjunction with solutions 1, 3, or both, will make it better than it ever was to begin with.

Hope this helps!

Last edited by DennRN; April 19, 2013 at 12:33 PM.
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Old April 19, 2013, 03:39 PM   #7
Airman Basic
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Very comprehensive. I did order a new gasket. It was cheap and needed some new rollers, anyway. If no joy, I'll try your ideas. Thanks
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Old April 19, 2013, 11:07 PM   #8
codefour
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Mine started leaking after three years of continous use. I just replaced the lid gasket and reused the hex drum gasket. I think it was five bucks or something. The original lid gasket was so distorted from being tightened over the numerous uses, it just gave up the ghost.
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