swiper
having dreams about rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 64
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Post by swiper on Sept 21, 2014 21:07:03 GMT -5
First time with the Lot-O. After approximately 48 hours with 220 grit I cleaned my first batch and noticed several rocks have chips. Not sure if this is caused by different hardness of rocks (all my rocks are beach rocks so they are a mixed bag), new ceramic media (mix of large and small) or something else. I had very good movement and the rocks were covered with a thick consistency when I checked on them several different times. Any ideas? I'm going to have to put most of these back in the tumble.
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Post by connrock on Sept 22, 2014 9:32:44 GMT -5
I can't really tell anything from the photo but if your trying to do rocks with a different hardness you're just asking for trouble. Also,some types of rocks are naturally flawed throughout which causes the surface to look as though it was chipped by other rocks impacting them. Although the Lot-O is very aggressive it is also very gentle and it would be odd for a rock to actually be chipped by another rock if the hardness were the same. Hard and soft is a big no-no. connrock
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on Sept 22, 2014 11:12:07 GMT -5
You also may be under filling the barrel.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Sept 22, 2014 16:08:00 GMT -5
Those don't look like chips to me. They may be soft spots in the stone. When I tumble granite, which is made of several different minerals, it looks really good after rough grind in my rotary tumbler. After 220 in the Lot-O, it usually still looks pretty good, but in 500, I start to see the softer minerals wearing away faster than the harder minerals. If that's what's happening, it's called "undercutting". Remember that 220 grit will break down to half that size approximately every 24 hours (or is it 12?) in the Lot-O. So after the first day your 220 becomes 440 and by the end of 48 hours, it's about 880 grit.
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