llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Sept 29, 2004 12:47:52 GMT -5
Only kidding! ;D Hope ya'll didn't break your fingers clicking on this thread really fast!
I have joined Cookie in biting nails line and I want a BIG batch of them to bite!
I just took a batch of pet. wood out of polish and it doesn't even look like it's been polished. In fact, it looked better when I took it out of the Tripoli pre-polish! I used Alum Oxide polish and that is the LAST time I will ever use that junk. It has never put a polish on anything I used it on. I'm so mad this time because my vibe bit the dust, so I can't take them back to prepolish and polish in just a few days like I have done before. Gonna take a week in 1000 and another week in some good polish! GRRRRRRR! Can this crap be used as a pre-polish? I hate to waste it, but I'm sure not gonna use it as a polish anymore!
Okay, rant over! Thanks for listening!
llana
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Post by rockyraccoon on Sept 29, 2004 13:20:05 GMT -5
lol i did click that right away!
kim
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bschultz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2004
Posts: 234
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Post by bschultz on Sept 29, 2004 13:21:03 GMT -5
Don't feel like the Lone Ranger Llana. The barrel on my AR1 was getting old and brittle so I decided to replace it with a newer one. I found a deal on ebay that had an old model 1 that had a good barrel and motor. All it needed was a new belt. So I won it for $14 plus $15 shipping. When it arrived the chassis was all bent and the lady refunded me the shipping. When I ran my cubes in the new barrel in pre polish for some reason they ate a hole in the lid and spilled it guts all over the work bench. I didn't notice for a few days so everything dryed out and I was tumbling my cubes in dry sandy mix. My cubes that I have been babying for about a month were all fractured and pitted. The only good news was that I ran them in borax for 24 hrs and the finish is about back to where it was but of course the fractures are all still there. Bummer.
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Post by hermatite on Sept 29, 2004 13:33:26 GMT -5
That's so weird...I've only ever used alum oxide...that's the stuff that comes with the grit package from the rockshed, right? I've never ordered anything else. I've always been happy with my shine, save the first time around on the sodalite and the green aventurines. But on this last batch it seemed to work great. I wonder if I'm doing something differently? or if, in fact, it's not alum oxide I have.
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Sept 29, 2004 13:44:42 GMT -5
Herm, maybe you need to give me lessons on using Alum Oxide. This is the polish I ordered when I first got my tumbler, and although I have read a number of places where it is recommended for agates and other stones, I haven't had a bit of luck with it. I thought it didn't work on the other batches because they were a mixed batch. But this load was all pet. wood.
Kim, I knew the fingers would be clicking on that thread! LOL! Me bad!
Bob, that is the pits about your tumbler and cubes. I just hate it when I look forward to getting a load out and it doesn't turn out like I want it to. Patience is one thing, but having to go back and redo just sucks! The AR1 is a Thumblers, isn't it? I don't know a thing about them being a Lortone person myself. Somebody here on the forum had the same problem with a hole being worn in the lid of a Thumblers. Can't remember who it was though. There is a thread on it somewhere with pics and suggested ways to repair it.
llana
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Post by hermatite on Sept 29, 2004 14:18:30 GMT -5
Now you all are going to know better than me, but I have a homemade tumbler. It tumbles just fine but I have no idea at what revolution speed. Would this make a difference in the polish? Maybe slow works better? maybe fast? llana, I've only ever done mixed batches ...like the mixed bunches you get from rockshed. So I've never done pet wood as a batch. I've done glass...that turned out okay. So...hmmm...I'd love to swap notes if that meant you didn't have to send batches back through...that's really a drag.
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Post by krazydiamond on Sept 29, 2004 14:30:55 GMT -5
yup, i nearly broke a finger getting to this thread, you are SO bad, llana!
i've used Alum Ox on harder rocks with good results, but have experimented with other polishes, especially for the softer stuff. the pet wood i had took little or no shine with the Alum Ox, but i was convinced it was because the pwood was "clinker" stuff. some of the jaspers didn't do well with the Alum Ox either, some improved with the Titanium Diox. but not all.
i think it was Sandsman that had his lid blow out, he posted a pic i think. i don't know much about Thumlers stuff.
hope everyones day improves, otherwise i'm gonna start selling nails.
KD
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Post by cookie3rocks on Sept 29, 2004 18:19:44 GMT -5
Llana, the pet wood you sent me came out with the first wet candy shine I've ever achieved and I use cerium oxide exclusively. I also had jasper in that batch and it was so shiney it looked like a chocolate bar. Try the cerium. I haven't allways been pleased (didn't do well on green aventutrine or sodalite) but for pet wood, it worked remarkably well. I clicked fast cause I thought something terrible must have happened for you to post that, I was worried. BAD GIRL!
cookie
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Sept 29, 2004 19:10:21 GMT -5
I clicked fast cause I thought something terrible must have happened for you to post that, I was worried. Something terrible DID happen, Cookie! After 4 or 5 weeks of anticipation, my rocks came out looking duller than they did before! Now, that's terrible!! I am sorry you were worried though. It never occured to me that someone might think I was hurt, had croaked or something. I don't have any cerium oxide yet. Meant to get some last time BE and I were at the rock shop, but didn't take a list and, of course, I forgot something. That something being the cerium oxide! I did order some last night when I ordered new belts. I mostly use either the generic polish I got at the rock shop, which does a great job, or the polish I got with the vibe which also does a great job. Don't know what possessed me to use Alum Oxide this time! Guess since is was not a mixed batch and the pet wood is the same hardness as agates, I thought it would do a good job. llana
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Post by connrock on Sept 29, 2004 20:36:46 GMT -5
Llana,, Too bad about your pet wood!! I may be able to help with your vibe unit if you will tell me what's wrong with it.Or describe what the part(s) look like that are broken. A name and model will help as well. Tom k Ps: e mail me if you want
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Sept 29, 2004 21:37:16 GMT -5
Tom, it's a Raytech TV5. There are four screws that hold the motor to the top of the base. Then the top when the bowl goes is attached to the base by 4 springs that are glued. The only way to get to the motor is the area between the top and the base. I stretched the springs as far as I could and there just wasn't enouh room to get my hand in there. So, I cut the springs and removed the top. There was nothing wrong with it except that dang screw that broke. I have found springs to replace those I cut, now I just have to dig out the glue, find a screw long eough to replace the one that broke, glue in the new springs and I'll be back up and viberating.
The folks that make these things apparently don't care to give one the option of either buying a new one or repairing the old one. I really wasn't going to buy a new one, but I miss having my vibe so I ordered a new base. But, I will find a screw that fits and I will repair this thing! Probably won't get it done as promptly as I would have had I not ordered a new base, but I WILL fix it if it hairlips the devil!
Whoever heard of building something, anything, where the entire motor is completely encased with no way to get to it except destroying another part of the whatever! Dumb, dumb, dumb. Or maybe smart, smart, smart because people will just buy a new one!!
llana
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Post by Cher on Sept 29, 2004 23:05:36 GMT -5
I'm sorry about your tumbler and rocks Llana, hope you get things fixed up soon. I'm with Cookie and you're a bad girl! I thought something had happened to you!! [glow=red,2,300] ~ Cher ~[/glow] pages.prodigy.net/bestsmileys1/signs/RockOn.gif [/img]
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deepsouth
fully equipped rock polisher
He who rocks last rocks best
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,256
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Post by deepsouth on Sept 29, 2004 23:35:20 GMT -5
And I broke ALL my fingernails each one of them trying to get to the button first. Dang , I am too late after all.
Good luck with that vibe repair job .
Jack
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Post by puppie96 on Sept 30, 2004 2:30:51 GMT -5
Llana, apparently there are more than one grade of aluminum oxide polish. Rock Shed Shawn explained it to me once and says theirs is good. You might want to look at their site, maybe they say something about it.
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Sept 30, 2004 7:49:36 GMT -5
puppies, I wondered about that. Or thought maybe I got a contaminated batch or something. I ordered a grit kit for Pearsons when I got my first tumbler and maybe the stuff they sell is not high grade.
llana
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Post by connrock on Sept 30, 2004 20:13:55 GMT -5
Glad you got everything under control Llana Just thought i'd offer,,,,, Tom K
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Post by stoner on Sept 30, 2004 23:48:38 GMT -5
Hey llana. In regards to your question of who would build such a machine, when I worked in the copier/officemachine repair business, we had a saying. "The bitterness of poor design remains long after the sweetness of cheapness is gone!" And that pretty much sums it all up.
Ed
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Post by rockyraccoon on Oct 1, 2004 1:28:32 GMT -5
wow bob i'm sorry about your cubes. ron would you get a drink for bob? he really deserves a beer after that blow. are you going to try to do some more cubes bob?
kim
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Emerald
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 417
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Post by Emerald on Oct 1, 2004 6:57:45 GMT -5
I ran out of 60/90 and thought I'd substitute 80 grit from Kingsley North (It came with the vib tumbler I got last week). The 80 grit has done NOTHING in my rotary tumbler for at least 3 days. I threw in some 120/200 and am finally seeing some change in the rough. I'm not sure what's doing the work, the 80 grit or the 120/200? Not all grits are created equal...that's for sure!
Just ordered more 60/90 from the Rock Shed. Whatever they sell seems to work well for me. ;D
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Oct 1, 2004 19:10:03 GMT -5
Tom, I thought I had thanked you for your offer of assistance on my tumbler, but I didn't! Me BAD! Thanks a bunch for your offer, I do appreciate it, even if I am a little late saying it!
Got the new base today, so I am back in biz on the vibe tumbler.
Stoner, I have been thinking about writing Raytech and telling them what a stupid design this tumbler has! Probably won't pay any attention or make a change, but at least I will have given them my 2 cents.
llana
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