Lortone3A Single Barrel Rock Tumbler

High quality.

trying to decide what rock tumbler to buy can be a bit tricky. This is a great entry model and Lortone quality is top shelf. The one thing to consider is how much rock tumbling you are gonna be doing. Each stage takes about a week, so to go thru all the stages to get to the polished rocks takes roughly a month. If you are trying to get a lot done, you might want to consider the twin barrel model as you can have 1 barrel loaded with one stage and the other with a different stage. Either unit is designed to run for long periods of time and the only maintenance is to place a drop of oil on the roller bar where it goes into the bushings. I do this like once every month or two. The unit is very quiet and the rocks tumbling makes more noise than the motor. Make sure to order the different types of media this needs to do its job. Media is basically the different types of grit it uses at the different stages. I would also recommend ordering a couple different sized sifters to use during the clean and rinse in between media change outs.

If you want to smooth and shine pretty rocks, this is your machine. It is easy to use, comes with instructions. It does not have an on/off switch-plug in to operate. It will handle 3 pounds of small rocks. My tumbler ran continuously for a month with no problems.Cons: can be noisy while rocks are tumbling. Put it in your garage or laundry room, unless the sound of geology puts you to sleep. The manual says to lubricate with oil, but fails to specify what kind: olive? Motor?? Essential??? I recommend machine oil or lubricant. The outside gets hot, keep away from children and curious kitties. Does not come with any tumbling grit or polish, you will have to order that separate. Finally, it's a bit difficult scrubbing leftover fine polish off of it as the barrel is solid rubber. Still a great buy for your lapidary.

Packaging was fine. No issues. Opened it up with the tumble kit I bought, picked the rocks (all agate found on So California beach) followed the instructions and photo of the first batch. I don't think the photos do the rocks justice. They came out beautiful. Did 7 days for each grit and 10 days for the final polish. Second batch is in. The tumbler has been on 7/24 for over 6 weeks. No belt problems and no leaks. Electric motors runs hot as expected. So I put a fan next to it and it stays cool. May not need it but makes me feel better. It's in the garage and it's not noisy. Now I want a bigger one!

Not a lot to say about this product except that it does exactly as described. 3 lb barrel tumbler and quite a simple unit with only the power plug as the on/off. no other switches. Comes with a small manual and an extra belt. I started using this: tumbling my first batch of stones about 4 days ago and so far no breakdown whatsoever. The unit is exceptionally quiet which I like but the motor area runs hot as advertised and expected. No leaks at all.As of now - 5 days after purchase I would buy again, the only thing I would change it that I wish I would have bought the 2 barrel Lortone. That will be my next purchase if all goes well :)

Bought Feb. 2024. May not last a full year. Hopefully issues is with the belt. Ordered new belt. Hard to believe, for the price, that an extra belt not included

Overall a great little tumbler, for a hobbyist or someone that uses it once in a while! I see I need a much bigger one to do my projects. No leakage or problems of any kind so far. My only concern was, the motor does tend to get a little warm after about 8 hours. I did check on it during the night several times, just don't want to burn down the house! I tumbled my broken glass bottles and jars just 24 hours and I have to say I'm very pleased how the edges were rounded off with no sharp edges. So with that, I moved onto grit #2 and will check it in 24 hours. Maybe in a couple weeks or so, I will tumble some rough gemstones. About the noise, I consider it background noise, not that bad! But you wouldn't want it in your bedroom while sleeping. Follow the directions and don't overfill your barrel and everything will be ok! If your planning a very large project or you see it's an ongoing thing, I'd get a much bigger tumbler. Follow the directions and don't overfill your barrel and everything will be ok!

I'm quite new to tumbling stones, so I've thought about an affordable device, but, at the same time, of good quality. That's really hard, because almost always we think that cheap might mean low quality. After a couple of weeks of searching the web I learned enough about the tumbling devices to know that (for me at least) the Lortone 3A was the right choice. And I wasn't wrong. It works great and till now I've got no complains. The rpm is a bit slower than designed because in my country we have 50Hz current, but I let it roll one day more on each step, so the stones came out fine. Nice hobby and great machine!