ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165
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Post by ivan on Mar 8, 2014 3:19:25 GMT -5
Not sure if I posted this on the right topic forum but would like to know if anybody has tried sanding & polishing your cabochons, preforms using the Tumbler? The results I have seen are pretty encouraging. Not sure exactly what all would be involve but it would be interesting hearing from somebody here that has attempted this method? Thank you very much! IV
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2014 6:24:44 GMT -5
You can tumble them.it just tends to soften the lines a bit.you must use lots of filler though.ive done them in my lotto.
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Post by 150FromFundy on Mar 8, 2014 6:49:13 GMT -5
My recent cabs were finished on diamond disks/pads up to the #600. They were then finished in my UV-10 with 500F, 1000F and polish. I fill the bowl to the near top of nosecone with ceramic media and then throw in 10 to 20 cabs.
If there is any variation in hardness of your cabs (soft spots), this process will kill your cab. The softer material will wear away faster than the hard. But, if you material is of uniform hardness, it works well, most of the time. It also takes care of the backs.
Darryl.
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Post by Peruano on Mar 8, 2014 8:33:16 GMT -5
The backs of your cabs are as pretty as the front. One strategy advanced in our lapidary class is that of doing all your shaping and doming on the wheels and then letting the vibratory tumbler do the polishing to save time I'm not into production but thats an efficient system timewise. And yes you have to have filler to keep your slabs from sticking together back to back. Tom
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ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165
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Post by ivan on Mar 8, 2014 14:55:01 GMT -5
My recent cabs were finished on diamond disks/pads up to the #600. They were then finished in my UV-10 with 500F, 1000F and polish. I fill the bowl to the near top of nosecone with ceramic media and then throw in 10 to 20 cabs. If there is any variation in hardness of your cabs (soft spots), this process will kill your cab. The softer material will wear away faster than the hard. But, if you material is of uniform hardness, it works well, most of the time. It also takes care of the backs. Darryl. Daryl - Again I presume you are using your UV-10 vibratory wet in the 500F and 1000F stages? Is your polishing process (wet)? What are you using for polish, if any? Is that also done wet? If you cabs are calibrated going in will this effect the dimensions any When finished? Does it make any difference on what ceramic media you use? Enough questions for you for now. Nice to know that the method works for you and does a great job on the back.
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ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165
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Post by ivan on Mar 8, 2014 14:57:34 GMT -5
You can tumble them.it just tends to soften the lines a bit.you must use lots of filler though.ive done them in my lotto. Thank you for your note! I assume your lotto is a vibratory version? IV
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ivan
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 165
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Post by ivan on Mar 8, 2014 15:05:25 GMT -5
The backs of your cabs are as pretty as the front. One strategy advanced in our lapidary class is that of doing all your shaping and doming on the wheels and then letting the vibratory tumbler do the polishing to save time I'm not into production but thats an efficient system timewise. And yes you have to have filler to keep your slabs from sticking together back to back. Tom Tom - It's interesting to note that the backs come out that well. Would like to get set up to do the shaping, doming and possibly sanding the contours of the cabs on the wheels. Have some large slabs that I may experiment with. I've asked this before - but are you or the class using a wet method. There is a vibra-dry compound but haven't had a little time to work with it. Thanks for taking the time to post. IV
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daisyd681
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2011
Posts: 104
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Post by daisyd681 on Mar 8, 2014 18:16:03 GMT -5
+1 on the hardness point. I cut out several small cabs from one agate slice. They all got misshapen in different ways. I got them back to pretty close to the same shape with a cabbing machine today. I would not recommend doing pairs that need to be the same in the tumbler. I did these in the vibe. They still aren't exactly the same. I'm hoping that once they are either side of a head (they are for earrings) you won't be able to tell unless you look really close...
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Post by Peruano on Mar 9, 2014 8:16:38 GMT -5
Ivan, Yes all preform operations are wet as well. Trim saws use a water coolant, and all grinding on arbors is with water to cool and control dust. Since you are stopping the cabbing process not far past the 100 to 280 stage, most of the polishing phase is in the vibratory tumbler. Things changing shape in the vibratory process would be due to being of different thicknesses or having fractures that would allow minor breakages, or just subtle differences, but I have not had that be a major problem with my freeforms. Good luck. Tom
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