Lortone going out of business; also HF tumbler discontinued

[iamchris]

Mar 17, 2024 18:35:56 GMT -5 OregonBorn said:

Yeah, MK/Barranca-Diamond is gone and now Lortone is gone. Joining Scott-Murray and Framton, and many others. There is some descent Chinese lap stuff out there, but you have to wade through a lot of crap to get there. I bought a HF double roller tumbler made in china, but it is pure crap. No loss HF not selling them any more. The barrels were the only thing worth anything on that unit. It is by far the worst of all the tumblers I have had, custom, Scott-Murray, Loretone, DP, etc.

I don't get the hate for Harbor Freight. How bad can they really be? Tumblers are very simple machines. If the motor dies, replace it with a Lortone one for $25. You'd still be under half the price of a Lortone 33B.

I know that's not possible anymore but it's not like Lortones were ever anything special. You'd have to spend over $300 to get anything that didn't have plastic bushings.

While I hate that there's less competition in the market, I'm glad HP is in the game now. They seem to be the first ones to be willing to move past 50 year old design for the entry level market.

[noche]

The new Harbor Freight tumbler has been released. Much the same but with brass roller sleeves. I have several of these both new and old. You need to make sure the rollers are parallel. Some have beeen off more the 1/4 inch. The pulley wheels are not aligned well. If the mother runs hot and loud it’s a pulley problem. Shift the motor side pulley until the noise drops.
These are an ok tumbler. I have had a couple for 3 years. Tumbling 24/7 and no trouble.

[southernlakehuronguy]

"Much the same but with brass roller sleeves"... Well that is fantastic. Did they do something with the barrel guides? Every manufacturer has something unique about their rotary tumblers that kind of makes it overwhelming in the decision of which tumbler to buy. H.P has a D.C. adjustable motor, stainless steel chassis and quality barrel guides, but uses plastic bushings. I got into rock tumbling after running across Michigan Rocks on you tube. I was so intrigued by the tumbling process, I did a lot of research on the available tumblers. I found there was a lot of issues with the plastic bushings, or should I say a lack of maintenance/lubrication , you read of the problem all too often on the forums. Having a Harbor freight in town, I went and purchased one of the Chicago Electric tumblers. I only made sure it ran when I got it home, set it aside and ordered bronze bushings and did a little modification to install them. Man are they nice and smooth. They have been running smoothly for almost 2 years now, but I do wipe the shafts clean and apply a drop of 3 in 1 oil every week on barrel clean out day. As simple as it seems, one feature I do appreciate of the Harbor freight tumbler, it has an on/off switch.

[hypodactylus]

In theory, I have always been put off by the idea of plastic bushings. My Lortones have them and my Highland Park has them.

However, in practice, they have never been a problem for me. I oil them around once a month and clean them rarely. I have been tumbling for years and have yet to have an issue with plastic bearings.

I don't know enough about materials to make an educated response on why a manufacturer should or should not use plastic bearings.

[waterboysh]

It seems like maybe Covington Engineering is buying them. The contact us page on the Lortone website has their contact info on it now and an anecdotal post from someone on Reddit says Ameritool support (who is also owned by Covington Engineering) told them that Ameritool has purchased Lortone.

[waterboysh]

I emailed Covington Support this morning and here is the reply I got

Thank you for reaching out. We are still in the process of transferring ownership. Since it hasn't become finalized, I haven't yet put anything on my site. I hope to have things finalized by the end of June but that isn't a firm deadline at this time. We do have limited supplies on hand to be able to support customers but do not yet have machines in production. We hope to be manufacturing Lortone tumblers by late July. We will be starting with the smaller models and then working our way up through the sizes as production allows.

[hypodactylus]

Nice. I wish they'd take this opportunity to make some improvements, but I doubt that would happen anytime soon.

I'd really like to know why they manufacture the barrel circumference nice and thick, but make the base (and lid gasket) so thin.

[OregonBorn]

Cool beans. Covington will continue making the Lortone line of tumblers and supply parts for them. So we will not have deal with maintaining an obsolete product line in our tumbler inventories. I currently have 4 working Lortone tumblers; 1 x QT12, 1 x 45c, and 2 x 3A, + one 3A in need of a motor. And one old Scott-Murray 15# tumbler that kicks azz. Also 3 x Mini-Sonic vibes.

[OregonBorn]

Mar 17, 2024 22:32:42 GMT -5 iamchris said:

Mar 17, 2024 18:35:56 GMT -5 OregonBorn said:

Yeah, MK/Barranca-Diamond is gone and now Lortone is gone. Joining Scott-Murray and Framton, and many others. There is some descent Chinese lap stuff out there, but you have to wade through a lot of crap to get there. I bought a HF double roller tumbler made in china, but it is pure crap. No loss HF not selling them any more. The barrels were the only thing worth anything on that unit. It is by far the worst of all the tumblers I have had, custom, Scott-Murray, Loretone, DP, etc.

I don't get the hate for Harbor Freight. How bad can they really be? Tumblers are very simple machines. If the motor dies, replace it with a Lortone one for $25. You'd still be under half the price of a Lortone 33B.

I know that's not possible anymore but it's not like Lortones were ever anything special. You'd have to spend over $300 to get anything that didn't have plastic bushings.

While I hate that there's less competition in the market, I'm glad HP is in the game now. They seem to be the first ones to be willing to move past 50 year old design for the entry level market.

I would like to know where you can get a Lortone 3A/45C motor for $25. Seriously. I need one. Most places are out of stock and they are far more than $25. They were $36 + SH at Lortone (OOS). $35 + SH at Rockshed (also OOS). Kingsley $35 +SH (OOS). As for HF tumblers being crap? Mine lasted all of a few days. The rollers are not straight and the cheap plastic fan on the motor broke off. The only good thing about it is the on/off switch and it has a nice power cord. Oh, and the 2 barrels that came with it, which is the real reason I bought it.  I run those barrels on 2 x 20 year old+ Lortone 3A tumblers.

[jamesp]

build your own.

www.surpluscenter.com/Bearings/Cast-Iron-Pillow-Block-Bearings/



Also bought the pulleys(sheaves) from Surplus Center. They usually carry steel shafts too:

www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/albums/72157712119685153/with/49188793746

[waterboysh]

jamesp How much power does that motor pull?

[waterboysh]

jamesp How much power does that motor pull?

[jamesp]

Jul 5, 2024 11:06:39 GMT -5 waterboysh said:

jamesp How much power does that motor pull?

1/4 hp. It is from an old style clothes dryer(never put an ammeter on it).

The wood base makes it real easy to mount the mechanicals. Especially the motor adjustment holes for getting tension on the drive belt. It rolls two 30 pound barrels without heating in 90F+ summers. I too dislike bushings, invest in those pillar block ball bearings.

[paulywood]

That sucks. I purchased a Harbour Freight Chicago Electric dual 3lb barrels a few weeks ago and even sprung for 2 yr warranty! Wondering if it craps out if I would at least get a store credit?

[mirkee]

HF has a new and improved model for the same price.  My understanding is that they'll replace the old ones with new ones.

[broseph82]

Jun 13, 2024 9:59:52 GMT -5 waterboysh said:

It seems like maybe Covington Engineering is buying them. The contact us page on the Lortone website has their contact info on it now and an anecdotal post from someone on Reddit says Ameritool support (who is also owned by Covington Engineering) told them that Ameritool has purchased Lortone.

Ugh great. Let’s take Lortone and put some sheet metal on it like the cheaply made (but a little costly) slab saws they have.