hoganflagle
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2007
Posts: 62
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Post by hoganflagle on Apr 17, 2007 18:24:21 GMT -5
Hi everyone;
I'm looking at beginning a hobby of tumbling the pretty pretties my wife and I pick up on our occasional trips to western NC, for our own decorative use. I perused the forum on vendors and have a rough idea what dealers may be helpful. I am looking at a Lortone 3A as my first purchase by my guesstimate of work load of rocks/minerals. I am debating how many extra drums to get as I read somewhere that it is recommended to use only one drum per grit. I was looking at Thumler as a second choice, but the Lortone seems more heavily carried and advertised. Noise/mess is not an issue as the rotary tumbler would be on the garage floor out of hearing range. Recommendations other than what I am currently targeting?
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RockyBlue
fully equipped rock polisher
Go U.K.
Member since June 2006
Posts: 1,719
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Post by RockyBlue on Apr 17, 2007 18:44:13 GMT -5
I have a Lorton 33b with extra barrels so that i can use 4 step method,i am well satisfied with it, I got mine from The Rock Shed................Rocky
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yogibear
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2006
Posts: 100
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Post by yogibear on Apr 17, 2007 18:57:40 GMT -5
Go with the 33B. You can use the same barrell for prepolish and polish. You would only need to get one more barrell. With the 2 tumbler 33B you can get finished tumble in 1/2 the time once you get started.
yogibear
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Post by krazydiamond on Apr 17, 2007 19:24:22 GMT -5
i have 5 Lortone 3A units, 2-3 go coarse until i get a medium batch ready, meanwhile whatever is in prepolish and polish tumbles on.
if i had the spare cash, i'd get a few more 3A units to run coarse grind.
welcome, Hogan!
KD
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lastl98
spending too much on rocks
Member since February 2007
Posts: 410
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Post by lastl98 on Apr 17, 2007 19:42:29 GMT -5
You are definitely on the right track by choosing Lortone's & Thumler's! Stay clear of the Chicago Electrics unless you like to replace belts & have constant problems. However since you are new & aren't totally sure if you'll continue to do this hobby a Chicago Electric blows away the "toy type" tumbler such as the Smithsonian Electric Tumbler or other toy types. I guess the Chicago Electric would be a cheaper yet much better choice if you don't want to invest a lot in the beginning. There's still grit to buy, rocks, plastic pellets, different polishes, etc..etc. LOL where does the madness stop! You are correct in that you will want an extra barrel for your "Final Polish" last batch but you shouldn't really need seperate barrels for each step of grit as long as you're careful to clean it out between stages. This forum has been a huge help & you'll make friends very quickly here! Welcome! Last ps. this hobby is a very slippery slope you'll soon be looking at the vibratory tumbler too! LOL!
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Apr 18, 2007 9:08:03 GMT -5
The more barrels the faster the load gets done (ok not really- but the more stuff you can have to occupy your time between stages!) I like the Thumler- I have 3 of them and have had very few problems (most of my problems are with lids that wear out, or lid seals that stretch or break- but no motor problems yet- and the one has been running for 3½ years now!).
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chassroc
Cave Dweller
Rocks are abundant when you have rocktumblinghobby pals
Member since January 2005
Posts: 3,586
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Post by chassroc on Apr 18, 2007 11:27:32 GMT -5
Is cost a gating factor?
If so, I would go with the minimum number of barrels. I would put more money into the tumbler, even if you think you only have enough rocks to do a single barrels worth at a time. This sport is addictive and grows on you...Of course part of the fun is buying new equipment on a whim or making twice as many trips to collect rough.
You will scrub each barrel between stages; you must clean the rocks well between stages anyway. The risk of cross stage grit contamination exists but is not a major problem(you might feel differently when a batch does not shine as well as you would like).
csroc
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jrtrio
has rocks in the head
With10 tumblers tumbling the sound is so delicious!Send me more of those little red fellas, please?
Member since February 2006
Posts: 535
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Post by jrtrio on Apr 18, 2007 14:25:40 GMT -5
A response to a few statements here. There is no such thing as a "toy" tumbler. It takes just as much work to take a stone from rough to "glassy" as it does with any other tumbler. That's why there are so many of them stuck up in a closet somewhere because the parents thought they were toys and the kid could take care of it till the kid comes crying to mom and dad asking for help and the parent finds out that it does take a fair amount of work. Yes there are cheaply made tumblers such as the Chicago Electric. But, if you are not sure if you are going to continue once you find out how much work is involved in tumbling with ANY unit, it's best to go INEXPENSIVE. The "toy" tumblers are a good starting point since they include everything you need to run a load from start to finish since you won't have to run any stage beyond what's recommended since the stones aren't that hard to begin with. And this way you'll learn why you want to have a drum for each stage. Cleaning the drum and rocks between each stage gets old. But, it really draws you into the hobby quickly and when you are done you'll have stones that are a beautiful as any stone you'll tumble in the larger units. There are people here that like the smaller drums because there is a smaller chance of a ruined batch from a broken stone. One person told me they like the red units because they don't have to look through so many stones after each stage. You must do this to take out any stone that is broken or cracked which will soon brake and might ruin the next stage. I myself started with the little red unit just like you to find out if in fact I would want to continue with the hobby. And now that it's almost 8 years later I have 3 different sizes and styles of tumblers. I have 9 of the little red units that tumble a half pound of rock and about 20 drums all dedicated to the different stages. And during the summer when the temperature is usually steady I will normally have all 9 machines running! Their main problem is the barrel will expand or contract with the temperature and leak. So, make sure you have your workspace covered. Actually that's a good tip no matter what tumbler you use. I also have the 3A (3 lb) Thumler tumbler with 4 barrels each dedicated and I also have 2 intermediate tumblers that tumble a pound each which I use mainly to tumble the first stage in because they seem to take less time than the others to knock off the rough edges. So, you'll see that you'll get many different opinions about tumblers, grit, rocks etc etc etc etc. Wait till you see a response to my addition! But, the real point is this: if you don't know if you will really get into tumbling or not then keep the cost down and get a small tumbler with one barrel. If you have tons of dough from your retirement, settlement, alimony, IRS check, or that pesky blackmail set up you have, then by all means get one of the nicer tumblers like the 33A or the 3A and at least 3 more barrels so you'll only have to really clean the rocks between stages..(you should still clean the barrels between stages to keep them in good shape..you just don't have to be as anal as you do with the stones!) And read as many of the postings here in the forums as you can. Especially the Lapidary tips and those here in the General board. You'll find many questions here that should have been posted elsewhere and the answers to those will take you to many wonderful places here at the RTH web site. You'll also find out that there are no one nicer than the people here. I've met more people who truly care about people. Several come to mind and you'll know who they are just by reading the posts. Cher is one that has helped me through a couple of tough times, rockkitten, agatechaser, inflight22, Connrock (and Homer), and all the rest that were so kind to me when I needed answers to some of lifes questions. And especially to those of you that contributed to my collection of 9 of those "toy" tumblers. I actully received about 13 of them but as hard as I work them they do wear out and need fixing now and again. I've been tumbling for close to 8 years now and I thank God every day that I found this site and the people who inhabit it. There are no one nicer in the the world. Good luck in your endeaver and if you ever find any of those little red "toys", just send them to me. I'll give them a nice home with lots of rocks to chew. And like a lot of others here I have a Workforce tile saw, and a Dremel tool along with it's "Work Station" (drill press). Boy oh boy, where does the money go?!
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jrtrio
has rocks in the head
With10 tumblers tumbling the sound is so delicious!Send me more of those little red fellas, please?
Member since February 2006
Posts: 535
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Post by jrtrio on Apr 18, 2007 14:36:12 GMT -5
Oh yeah, if I forgot someone that I needed to thank in that last post, please forgive my forgetfulness. It's the meds. But I did want to thank Rockkitten the most since she was so generous in giving me that huge jig set to use with the Workforce. As soon as I heal from my shoulder surgery I've got 6 rocks already glued up and ready to cut! Also to keep some of you up to date I'm having an Arthroscopy Friday and just found out that I'm a Type 2 diabetic. What next?! Anyone else out there Type 2 that has hints and tips that makes things easier, drop me a line would you? jrtrio1@bellsouth.net. Thanks. my first batch which got me started! 6 of my tumblers before I added 3 more reds and 2 of the one pounders. All in all I have 13 tumblers.
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spikeict
fully equipped rock polisher
Alba gu bra! In Promptu
Member since November 2006
Posts: 1,413
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Post by spikeict on Apr 18, 2007 16:18:39 GMT -5
I have two Chicago Electric dual tumblers, one has been running every day, every hour for the past eight months. No problem with them at all except for the belts that come with them, belts are pretty cheap on ebay, I have not had a single one of those break. If you have a Harbor freight in your area you can buy one there.
I have no trouble saying the CE's work well.
Spike
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hoganflagle
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2007
Posts: 62
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Post by hoganflagle on Apr 18, 2007 17:32:49 GMT -5
Thanks to all the replies and education. I see I have a lot of ground to cover but it looks like a lot of helping hands here in the forum. I actually picked up a single drum CE from Harbor Freight about a year ago when it was on sale and put in on a shelf in the garage to sit until a few days ago. I got it for some ridiculously low price (under $20) from what I remember. I even started a 1st run 3 days ago on some rocks that struck my fancy when sluicing at the Cherokee mine in Franklin last year as a sort of Mad scientist experiment but had mentally written off the CE due to some less than glowing comments about belt problems etc. From what I read now, I should not discount using the CE and it might work out for at least a rough tumble cycle machine. Thanks to all for the input. JRTRIO: 9 machines running at the same time, wow, I bet you get Christmas cards from the utility company.
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