peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Nov 7, 2011 10:29:22 GMT -5
I'm not even going to bother with any more vibes. They are all too noisy by my standards, it's the nature of their aggressive action. So...I am about ready to step up from my Harbor Freight rotary. I like how it's nice and quiet but we're starting to see some of those belt slippage issues now that we've run it for months on end. I'm wondering if there is any rotary that is considered to be as quiet or more quiet, but is more durable.
I have a LOT of material, and I might also like to step up from the 3 pound barrel size but again I'm very concerned about noise issues. Seems like bigger would be noisier and we just can't have a lot of noise in this location. Our next door neighbor has an extremely nervous, barky dog, and we want to keep the peace.
Seems like we've discussed this before but reached no conclusion or I forgot the conclusion...
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 7, 2011 11:54:45 GMT -5
Any brand with rubber barrels or rubber lined barrels will be fairly quiet. I've used Thumler's with 3 lb barrels and Highland Park 40 lb. (metal drum with liner) and funky old inclined tumblers with rubber barrels and think they were all about the same. They all remind me of the sound at a rocky beach when the tide moves rocks around. If the neighbors don't hear the HF tumbler you should be OK.
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Post by paulshiroma on Nov 7, 2011 15:27:02 GMT -5
I keep my Thumler's tumblers in the garage. You can't hear them from the outside unless you come right up to my garage door and they're actually quieter than my washer and dryer. I was also playing with using one of those cheap styrofoam picnic coolers and simply covering the tumblers with them. They did help but since you can't hear them from the outside, I dropped the idea.
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Nov 7, 2011 16:54:18 GMT -5
I am thinking of this 15 pound Thumbler hexagon rotary...with a second barrel looks like it would be an under $300 investment or so I hope. Still a bit much to spend if it turns out too noisy.
John, the sound you describe is like the HF sound, so it sounds like the 3 lb Thumbler would be for sure OK for me. Paul, what size are your Thumblers? Would anyone else like to weigh in?
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Post by jakesrocks on Nov 7, 2011 17:08:19 GMT -5
I have the 15 lb Thumlers. It sits in the breezeway between the house and garage. My recliner sits right by the breezeway door, and I can't hear the tumbler running. If it's going to sit on a wooden floor you will get some noise. But that can all but be silenced by putting a piece of scrap carpet between the tumbler and floor. Use the carpet with the backing side facing up. Don
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Nov 7, 2011 20:05:23 GMT -5
Ok, I can do that. Scrap carpet. I still have plenty of that leftover from a tropical storm re-build...
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 7, 2011 21:56:11 GMT -5
Carpet under is good, the cooler over is bad idea unless you are running in really cold climate. The motor needs air cooling.
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Post by susand24224 on Nov 7, 2011 22:33:06 GMT -5
I have a variety of sizes of both Thumlers and Lortones--and one Chicago Electric, which is the noisiest of the lot. In fairness, a neighbor bought it at a yard sale for $.25 and gave it to me. Perhaps in its earlier years (or months) it was quieter.
There really isn't much difference in the noise as size goes up except when I am tumbling larger stones in the larger barrels the initial "clunks" are a bit more decisive.
Susan
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Post by paulshiroma on Nov 7, 2011 23:01:18 GMT -5
They're all three pounders, for standardization's sake. I use an AR1 and AR2 (http://www.therockshed.com/tumbler2.html). Had I thought through this, I would have bought a pair of AR2's but, at the time, didn't know what was out there and started with an AR1 from Edmunds Scientific. The AR2 came later from The Rock Shed. Then I bought a bunch of extra barrels and lids ... and like other hobby's ... yah! hey! presto! Lots of additional stuff magically appears!
Mine sit on some old blankets. Otherwise, that's about it for noise attenuation.
Thoughtful of your neighbor to grab that Chicago Electric for you, Susan.
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Nov 8, 2011 12:51:47 GMT -5
I like the three pounder size, don't get me wrong, amazing how many small "jewelry" size stones could be tumbled in a three pounder but I'm thinking bigger because I'm more into decor and specimen items. I also like metaphysical items that seem generous in the hand...My birds eat all my old blankets, will stick with the scrap carpet to calm down the noise.
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Post by rocklicker on Nov 10, 2011 20:36:44 GMT -5
I have experienced many types of tumbers and the quietest ones are the ones made out of the thickest sheet metal. It pains me to say this, but I have found CE tumblers to be very quiet (at first). However once the motor starts to go bad and you have to keep messing with them they get noisy. The next quietest tumbler is a Thumblers. I have an AR6 that I modified to work with a Lortone 3lb barrel that is wicked quiet. Rotaries are quiet but this thing is ridiculously quiet. I imagine in Thumbler barrels are made with the same thich rubber as Lortones, then they would be normally quiet. Lortone has the quietest barrels and Thumblers are built with heavy gauge metal, a great combo. Also to consider is a used Lortone back when they were made with thicker metal. I run one of those and it is also really quiet.
As far as sound dampening, I used to put down a square of soft foam (like egg crate foam soft) and a heavy paver stone one top. The tumbler then goes on that. The tumbler should sit on rubber feet also. The mass of the paving block seems to quiet it down and it cuts down on the fire hazard being on a paver. Steve
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Nov 12, 2011 10:41:19 GMT -5
We did the 50 pound block plus two-three inches of egg crate foam when we had the Lot O Tumbler. Unfortunately, the neighbors could still hear it, although I don't remember it causing me or the birds right here at home any bother. Some people consider the Lot O to be quiet, yet it was too noisy for our location, so this is probably why I have such a tough job here.
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blessed
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2010
Posts: 329
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Post by blessed on Nov 12, 2011 19:58:09 GMT -5
If your neighbors can hear your Lot O, your neighbors live too close. I use foam rubber carpet padding with 18" X 18" floor tiles under my rotary tumblers. I wish you the best. James I Have no right to talk about where people live. SORRY!
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
|
Post by peachfront on Nov 13, 2011 10:09:52 GMT -5
Yeah, they live too close, but it's in the greater New Orleans area and if you have ever visited here, you understand that the lots are tiny. It is not really a problem that is unusual to city living. My house/neighborhood would actually be considered good value for the money but there are compromises...
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Minnesota Daniel
freely admits to licking rocks
A COUPLE LAKERS
Member since August 2011
Posts: 891
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Nov 13, 2011 17:21:05 GMT -5
For some strange reason, my tumbler seemed to be a lot quieter when I lived next to the Interstate. Sounds like you aren't enjoying that good fortune.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Nov 14, 2011 10:16:23 GMT -5
Lortones are fairly quite when they choose to run. I'd think any rotaries with rubber barrels would not be too noisy. All my vibes are fairly noisy and the mini sonic sounds like a chopper landing.....Mel
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
|
Post by peachfront on Nov 14, 2011 11:55:40 GMT -5
Tee hee. Right now our Harbor Freight is "choosing" to run but when it starts getting cranky, I don't wanna replace it with another possibly-finicky so I already ruled out the Lortones on the basis of other people's reported issues. ;D
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