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107 of 109 found the following review helpful:
 Reliable TumblerJun 18, 2008
By M. L. Eyre
I've collected rocks (mineral specimens) since my Dad took me out to a road cut in the late 60s. We've used a number of tumblers through the years and even tried a vibratory tumbler. The Lortone 3A tumble stands with the best that we've tried. The container is easy to open and fill. The tumbler is quiet and very reliable. I've had to baby sit some other designs that look somewhat similar to this on (overheating, slipping belt, breaking belt); however, the Lortone runs without a problem quietly doing its job. The end product - a batch of polished stones is as good as any I've expected in the 40 or so years I've been tossing rocks into a tumbler.
106 of 110 found the following review helpful:
 loved it for 6 months while it worked ....Sep 16, 2008
By Kate Creates
"katecreates"
I've had my Lortone 3A tumbler for about six months and have loved it, or loved its results, anyway. I design "artisan jewelry" and use it about once or twice a week for about an hour at a time to clean and polish small items like earrings, bracelets, necklaces.
I am writing this review because I am now shopping for another tumbler because my Lortone's motor is shot already, and is just chugging along slooooooowly and I'm just hoping to get the last piece cleaned before it dies completely.
IMPORTANT EDIT: well, I called Lortone and they were soooooooooooo helpful!!!!!!!! I love these people and their product. turns out it was the "belt." they immediately sent me three new belts and walked me through the replacement. but my belts were wearing out at the rate of one every two or three months. so they told me that I was probably filling my tumbler with too much water, making it too heavy and stressing out the belts. bottom line: if you're making jewelry with any regularity, get a larger model. this one only handles three lbs., so with the shot and the water and a decent sized silver necklace, the belts won't last long. if you're just going to tumble earrings, this size is okay.
27 of 28 found the following review helpful:
Has worked perfectly for the past 4 years!May 20, 2009
By macaroni & glitter
"what are you gonna make today?"
I bought my tumbler well over four years ago and it's performed exceptionally well. Of course, I'm not tumbling rocks, but rather fine silver and Precious Metal Clay. I use the stainless steel shot as the tumbling medium.
To give you a better idea of how well this tumbler works, in addition to using myself I have taken and used it in many jewelry classes (well over 100) and it has traveled all over the country. I haven't had a single problem with my tumbler.
15 of 15 found the following review helpful:
A must have for jewelry makers!Aug 06, 2009
By H. BLOCK
"blockhead12"
This is definitely a great product. I make a lot of handmade jewelry (mostly sterling silver) and this made the polishing process no work at all. It is a very quiet machine. Easy to use and hardly any setup. Before I bought the Lortone 3A, I made the mistake by trying to save money and purchased a similar tumbler from Harbor Freight. HUGE mistake! It ended up ruining over $100 of handmade jewelry-(something I could have avoided if I would have read a couple of reviews of that particular tumbler. I guess the rubber they use in their tumbler's doesn't hold up like the Lortone's does.) The machine itself is smaller than what I thought it would be, which makes it nice for storage purposes. The only negative I see from the Lortone 3A is that there is no power switch, only a plug-which isn't a big enough negative to take away a star.
44 of 53 found the following review helpful:
 Not built like they used to beFeb 21, 2009
By Gift Card Customer
"Steve"
I had one of these when I was younger, and it was truly a fine product. Unfortunately, like so many other manufactured goods these days, Lortone has cut a few too many corners to save money.
The first time I used it, the barrel would not roll correctly unless I placed some manner of "shim" under the motor side of the tumbler. Though I was mildly annoyed, I decided to live with this defect since I already had the barrel filled with grit and stones, and my daughter was anxious to use her new gift. Unfortunately, during the first few days of use the tumbler began to throw the belt at random intervals, necessitating my taking it apart to place the belt back on the pulleys. I noticed that when I took it apart, the metal used for the frame and cover are both extremely thin and low grade (approximately .024", for reference, that's about ½ as thick as a music CD). This flimsy metal was then formed into a frame by some extremely low tolerance process resulting in noticeable misalignments between the motor and drive spindle causing the belt to jump. I remedied this fault by hand bending the metal frame to move the motor into alignment. This worked for a while, but the top cover could not be put back on as it forced the unit back out of alignment. Without a top cover, the unit became an obvious hazard to any curious child's hair, fingers, etc.
Positive that I had voided all warranties at this point, I made several reinforcing modifications to this unit, placed it on a high shelf so my children wouldn't lose digits, and enjoyed three full tumbling iterations before the cheap bushings wore out . Vibrations have also taken their toll on the rollers, resulting in the barrel randomly stopping, causing the entire unit to heat up and smell like burning rubber. I'm on my fourth set of rocks right now, nursing the loudly squeaking bushings with oil and making additional bends in the soda-can quality frame, determined to get my money's worth out of this abomination of manufacturing.
If you're looking for a rock tumbler, get anything but a Lortone. It couldn't be any worse.
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