bushmanbilly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2008
Posts: 4,719
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Post by bushmanbilly on Oct 16, 2009 18:42:52 GMT -5
Scott, this the way I vibe tumble (10 lb thumblers) Pre grind rocks 3 days in 220 5 teaspoons, recharge with 2 teaspoons after 12 hours Total clean out after 24 hours I don't recharge on the last day 2 days in 500 same as above 1 day in 1000 AO pre polish no recharge (5 teaspoons) 3 days of CO polish (5 teaspoons recharge with 2) Borax for 4 hours
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bushmanbilly
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2008
Posts: 4,719
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Post by bushmanbilly on Oct 16, 2009 18:45:10 GMT -5
One more thing, use graded grit. May cost a little more but it is worth it.
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Post by roswelljero on Oct 16, 2009 23:32:45 GMT -5
Way cool idea! I'll be checking back for updates. Later, jeri
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Oct 18, 2009 1:53:29 GMT -5
They went in the polish tonight. Had a little shine but pretty much matte after the 600 grit.
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Oct 21, 2009 18:17:38 GMT -5
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drjo
fully equipped rock polisher
Honduran Opal & DIY Nut
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,581
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Post by drjo on Oct 22, 2009 6:20:20 GMT -5
Hooray ! It works!!!
Thanks for taking the time to share with us, I think I see more of these in the future.
Great Job,
Dr Joe
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joemojave
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 133
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Post by joemojave on Oct 22, 2009 18:31:38 GMT -5
For people planning to try this themselfs (I know I am ), here are the specs for an 'industrial' thumblers 3lb vibe: Most importantly, about a 90 watt 3k rmp motor should be right. I am thinking about making the cap from plexiglass and suspending the entire thing by bungee cords from the cap. That would be much simpler to make than this design.
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Oct 22, 2009 22:28:36 GMT -5
I thought a similar thing after I built it. My design is compact but it took me almost 3hrs to do the bending and brazing. I have thought about making another with the plunger handle cut off flush so you can screw a L shaped bracket with a single loop on top to it for a mount. Something like this Holy crap springs are hard to draw on a computer!!
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joemojave
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 133
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Post by joemojave on Oct 23, 2009 0:25:13 GMT -5
Normaly I would make a sketchup model to illustate my ideas for something like this. Unfortunately, I dont have 3 hours to spare for making that plunger shape, so I will just have to make due with my limited descriptive writing skills. Here goes. I think that the easiest harness other than the bungee cord idea would be to cut two "Doughnuts" from a thick peice of sheetmetal ( .175" or .200" ). The center holes would be about .200" smaller than the largest OD of the plunger. These doughnuts would also have about 8 holes around their perimeter so that they could be bolted togethor into a plunger sandwich. Then I would make a truncated cone, like the body of a normal vibe tumbler, that the rings would be attached to via springs, trampoline style. The motor could be mounted on the cut of end of the stick or it could go on the lid (You still have the problem of seeing how well the rocks are moving if the motor is on top, though).
If I were making one of these for myself, I would still just go with the bungee cord design, though, because I have a lot of 1/2" plexiglass sitting around to use as the top and it could be completely water tight using a plastic top. You may or may not need a check valve to let some water vapor out, but once it hit 100% humidity inside the plunger, water would stop evaporating so it would not explode, unless you let the water boil (yikes!). This might reduce the amount of maintance needed to keep the slurry right.
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Oct 23, 2009 11:00:43 GMT -5
You don't need much for a lid. On mine I can just take the lid off and look, no splashing. I don't actually use the hose clamp the picture showed anymore.
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joemojave
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 133
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Post by joemojave on Oct 23, 2009 15:11:51 GMT -5
Yes, but imagine if the lid was airtight, you would never need to add water except when changing grit.
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Oct 23, 2009 16:48:02 GMT -5
It was about 2 deg C in the garage so evaporation wasn't much of a problem. I was really worried about it freezing.
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Post by connrock on Dec 25, 2009 15:21:11 GMT -5
I know I'm late on this but I don't come to this section of the board much. I think you're headed in the right direction but there's a few things I may be able to help you with. The vibration needed to get the rocks rotating fast and yet not having them destroy themselves is a tuffy. I managed to get hold of one of the original Lot-O-Tumblers ever built and the action was terrible. It had 1 motor with a counter weight just like yours. I then looked at the new one I had and it has 1 motor with a double shaft with 2 adjustable counter weights! Using the only model the rocks were rotating to only one side of the barrel as opposed to the even action of the new one. Having your motor mounted on the side is not a good idea as the "action' will follow that direction and only turn the rocks slowly. If the motor were mounted on the bottom center of your frame I'm sure it will make the action MUCH better. The RPM's of the motor are also too slow. You need a motor with RPM's of 3000 or a tad more. If you can imagine a slow motor/counter weight going sort of a clumpity clump and the faster one going Bzzzzzzzzzzzz?? The thing is to generate that Bzzzzzzzzz to the barrel as evenly as possible so it (the barrel) doesn't counter react that Bzzzzzz and throw everything out of whack again back to a clunkity clunk! (For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction???) I don't know if I helped you or confused you? GREAT idea in any case and I REALLY enjoy 'working" with you!! connrock
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drjo
fully equipped rock polisher
Honduran Opal & DIY Nut
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,581
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Post by drjo on Aug 10, 2010 9:40:39 GMT -5
Hey sasrock is that load done yet?
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Aug 13, 2010 2:04:48 GMT -5
The first batch was out a long time ago. I posted a pic in tumbling photos, guess I should have put a pic here too. Correcting that now It polished things up nice but didn't really round them off enough for my liking so it actually has not ran since that first batch. Oh well it was fun to build.
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