Thumbler's A-R12, question about barrel

I have a Thumler's MP-1 and A-R2 and they go through lids way too fast.  Sometimes in just a couple months.  I have had a couple blow-outs through a hole that wore away in the center so now I monitor them closely.  The replacements are $6.

I had some left over plexiglass and cut out circles with a jigsaw and epoxied them to the inner side of the lid.  They have worked well and last more than twice as long as a new lid.  Your A-R12 has a larger lid of course, but this may work for you.

I had tried the plexiglass on my lids and found it held grit when opened up for clean outs. Switched to tire patches and it only takes a quick rinse to clean.

I had a blowout on an A-R6. I haven't had the new lid long enough to determine its life.
You can get aluminum discs on amazon in different diameters - I may check that out!

I run just Thumlers machines. My oldest is a Model T (3 Lb) that I still use the original barrel (new lid). it has been running for 21 years now and still going strong. My AR-12 is around 15 years old and runs nothing but course grit (occasionally it would run a batch of medium, but maybe like 4 times in 15 years)I use plexiglass to repair the lids (I have 2 lids so when one is being repaired I can use the other one). I repair the lids about every 5 years. I am still on the original barrel. I do give my barrels a good scrubbing every time I recharge them. The 12 lb barrels has only had a break for about 6 months while I was waiting on a replacement motor (I upgraded to the motor for the Model B as my motor locked up, I was able to repair the locked up motor and no use it as a replacement on my modified Model T). I love this machine as I can move the idler roller and run 2x 3Lb barrels when needed (have only done this 1 or 2 times for a couple weeks). I oil the motors and shaft bushings every 3 months, and do a deep cleaning of them about once a year (Clean them with compressed air and de-oil the shifts with WD-40). The machine is a work horse and I usually run about 14 lbs of rock in it. Between the AR12 and the Model B I keep 3 AR-2 and a Model T running all the time in finer grits (as well as a mini sonic 4 lb barrel).

Not really helpful to this specific problem, but this is a good reason to go with the Rebel 17 or the Thumlers Model B. In either case, for basically the exact same price you get the same size tumble, but with a metal lid with a rubber gasket. The gasket will fail faster than the lid on the A-R12, but you can get a new gasket for about $10 shipped, or better yet purchase a sheet of rubber and cut one yourself for about $4-5 per gasket, and that is with slightly thicker rubber so it will last longer.

As a further aside, The Rebel is better of these two, I have both and everything about its design is superior.

If these type of things didn't happen with this tumbler it would be really good one. Kind of disappointing. We have to find a permanent solution to the lid problem.

I would like to thank the group for the tire patch suggestion. It made several of my Thumler lids fully usable again. I put the patches on using typical tire patch glue and have run them several times with no problems. On a few I did both inside and outside, but the ones on the inside seem sufficient.