Thumler Lapidary Rock Tumbler Tool

The media could not be loaded. UPDATE 8/19/23:After emailing the company about the noise, they gave me a phone call and helped me troubleshoot the issue. I was able to resolve the sound issue and it is much quieter now - about on par with the noise that my other tumblers make. Excellent service!ORIGINAL REVIEW:I have other tumblers and the noise that this one makes is MUCH louder than the others combined. I keep it in the garage and it can easily be heard inside the home. Also, the barrel seems sturdy, but the tumbler base is made from sheet metal that seems relatively flimsy. I have serious concerns about its overall longevity. At time of this review, this unit is rolling its fourth load and it has been getting louder with every load, so I know it isn't just some imbalance caused by a particular set of rocks being tumbled.

I was torn in between buying a cheap tumbler or this nice one. My motto is buy nice or buy twice, so I broke down and bought this thunder model b and I’m sure glad I did. It is built like a tank! It is a fun machine that just works and works. The rocks come out looking awesome! I’m sure with the proper maintenance and care I will have this tumbler for the rest of my days. If you are even debating buying this, just get it! You will love it!

I have wanted a real rock tumbler for years- Not the 'toys' made for kids.For my first batch, I tumbled a mix of miscellaneous cabbing stones (purchased at a rock show and all of the same hardness as the agate) and some fire agate.The results were spectacular, especially the fire agate! I never dreamed I could achieve polishing results like this!I read some reviews that complained this tumbler was noisy- I have it in my laundry room and I find it rather soothing and not noisy at all.Needless to say, as soon as I finished my first batch, I had my second batch ready to go and can't wait to see how those stones come out.This tumbler has added a new -and beautiful!- dimension to my life-long passion of rock collecting: I love it and wish I had bought it years ago.

So far so good, well designed and built. The belt is a clear plastic material so we will see how long it last but over all I like this unit. Did buy a whisper fan as the motor does get hot. This really helped to keep it cooler.The unit is also very quiet, expected more noise but the rubber inner liner does the trick.There is a great video to watch on maintenance up on tube, worth the time watching.

Its perfect! First batch "including a giant rock" is halfway through and all is well. This thing will serve us for years.

I bought this because it was supposed to be better quality. It doesn’t have bearings. Despite oiling per online instructions it wears out quickly. Buy the Rebel 17 instead. Same barrel but it has real bearings.

I’ve had problems with popular 3 lb tumblers, I have two of them. This bad boy holds more than both of them, doesn’t eat it’s belts or burn out it’s motor. It costs more but if your doing a lot of tumbling, it’s worth the price.

This sturdy tumbler has been in service since the day received. We've had other smaller capacity tumblers but wanted to be able to tumble larger pieces from our 25 years of rockhounding. We watched YouTube for instruction and reviews and have followed through on each step with good results. Very pleased.