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Post by broseph82 on Feb 10, 2016 10:21:57 GMT -5
Yep, got one of those with the handle cut off (was using it to screen bird poop out of the rain gauge). I was a bit concerned with it marking the rocks. How big is your strainer? done know, its a biggun
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 10, 2016 20:33:34 GMT -5
Ok, started stage 3.
Rinsed/washed the rocks and barrel good. Returned rocks to barrel, filled with water, and emptied.
Returned barrel to tumbler and started it up. Added one level tablespoon of Dreft and 1/2 teaspoon of 500AO.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 10, 2016 21:00:09 GMT -5
Looks good, Ed. You should see a pretty good shine on those in two days. I know you're not supposed to dry them off right yet, but when you change grit in a couple days break the rules and dry a couple off. It's a fun little treat for all your patience so far.
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Thunder69
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Post by Thunder69 on Feb 11, 2016 21:44:10 GMT -5
Good deal Ed...Lotto looks like it is kicking right along..John
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 11, 2016 22:00:26 GMT -5
Thank sfor the encouragement. What I've been surprised during this stage (500) was that it produced a substantial slurry. I was thinking that it wouldn't be much to the slurry but I was wrong...it's a nice slurry going. The action seems to have slowed down a bit...I a few squirts of water a few minutes apart but really couldn't tell a different in the action. Basically the same thing happened during the 220 stage....I just couldn't regain the action speed like it was to start with. Is it natural for the action to slow down on the second day (more slurry present)? It's still moving pretty good but not as fast as it was in the video. ??
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 11, 2016 22:20:12 GMT -5
Sounds ok to me. I'd only worry if it really slows down.
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 12, 2016 7:39:17 GMT -5
Thanks Rob, I just wasn't sure if the action was supposed to stay at the racehorse speed that it started with. I won't sweat it...
Today I'll do a clean out and move on to 1000 grit. The thing here is that that after I leave work this evening I won't be back again until Monday...unless I make a special trip in (which is possible). But, in the event that I don't make a trip into town...that means the Lot-O will be running the 1000 AO from early Friday night until Monday morning. Will the 1000 grit maintain a reasonable "wetness" until Monday? I'll be running a tablespoon of Dreft along with the grit.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 12, 2016 12:11:44 GMT -5
The finer the grit, the less you have to watch it. Think of the dust produced from sanding a wooden board. If you use coarse paper, you'll produce more dust than with a fine grit paper. You'll produce less rock dust with 1000 grit which will thicken the slurry less. That being said, I still check on my tumbler at least once a day. I just don't usually have to add water in the later stages.
I didn't realize that your tumbler was at work. Why don't you have it at home? Trying to save a buck on electricity? I've thought about running a tumbler at school so I could show some interested students how tumbling works. I never figured out where to put it so that students could see it running, but wouldn't have to listen to it running.
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 12, 2016 14:10:33 GMT -5
Yep, got it up and vibing. I was surprised to see the 500 stage slowed to a slow crawl this morning. I wasn't expecting that. Thankfully it was still moving. I've sprayed it several times since then and it's rolling along now...not as fast as when I first started this stage but much, much faster than they were moving this morning. Later this afternoon I'll wash them and start stage 4, 1000 grit. I'm really at the shop here at work than I am at home and I've got somewhere where the noise really doesn't matter. The city versus rural electricity works out about the same...there is a tax advantage at the shop, though. Yeah, it would be hard to have a tumbler going while in an environment that requires a degree of quietness most of the time. I do have the Thumler Model T running at the house...that's where all this rock hunting/tumbling/etc started and I figure it will give me something to tinker with there...I'll probably end up bringing it to work, though.
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 12, 2016 21:50:27 GMT -5
I started stage 4, 1000 grit, this afternoon. Added a couple of drops of Dawn dish washing detergent to the barrel and let it run for about 30 minutes. Then emptied the barrel and rinsed the rocks good. Man, between the Dreft and a few drops of Dawn it sure creates a lot of suds when you start rinsing! Anyhow, rinsed them good, put them in the barrel again and let them tumble with another table spoon of Dreft and a drop or two of Dawn....emptied, rinsed well, and reloaded the rocks and media. I was a little confused with the washing. Should I have filled the barrel completely up with water (along with the Dreft or Dawn?). I ran them through this wash cycle just dripping wet, as if I was going to tumble a grit stage. Anyhow, after washing and rinsing I filled the barrel with water, emptied the water and added a half a teaspoon of 1000 grit and a tablespoon of Dreft. I left it with good action. I hope to check them in the morning and again tomorrow night. I'm trying to figure a system out to keep rinse bowls, storage container, measuring spoons, etc., separated. Hopefully I won't have any contamination. I'm not a very orderly person....<sigh>
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 12, 2016 22:23:31 GMT -5
I wash with maybe an ounce of two of water. I start the tumbler with wet rocks and then pour in water slowly until I see the action show slightly.
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 13, 2016 8:14:50 GMT -5
Thanks Rob. I started with wet rocks and gave it a shot or two from the sprayer. Seemed to work pretty good. When I get through the 1000 grit stage and prepare for the polish any "extra" washing precautions?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 13, 2016 9:43:14 GMT -5
Sometimes I run them through two washes. Sometimes one. I don't think Chuck washes at all. If you don't have any grit trapping holes, the grit should be pretty well broken down after a couple days to not cause too much damage.
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 14, 2016 17:09:57 GMT -5
I stopped by Saturday morning and the load had slowed to a slow crawl which kind of surprised me. I wasn't expecting it to be that slow. I sprayed it with several shots of water and it started moving along again. I stopped again early last night and it again had slowed down a bit...and I added water. What I'm seeing isn't what I'm hearing others talk about in the finer grade of grits. Seems they are building up a bit of a slurry. I haven't check today, but will be going over in a few minutes. This is day two of the 1000 grit stage and will be moving to Polish tomorrow (Monday).
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 14, 2016 17:26:21 GMT -5
Have you checked a rock to see if they're getting shiny yet? That's the important thing. I've found polish doesn't improve the shine much more than the 1000 grit does.
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 14, 2016 18:20:04 GMT -5
Rob, I haven't checked for shine yet. I figure being my first batch I'd run it all the way through and be either pleasantly surprised or mildly disappointed when they come out of the polish. I just got back from the shop and they had once again slowed down a good bit...still moving, though! I added some water and a few times and they picked back up speed pretty good. Tomorrow is supposed to be the start of the polish stage...I may just have to dry a couple of them off and see if I'm doing them any good.
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 16, 2016 8:08:52 GMT -5
Wow!!! A rather interesting move to polish yesterday! Seems about the time I was getting ready to do the clean-out a storm started brewing. I put the rocks in a wash cycle...couple of tablespoons of Dreft and extra water...I figured I'd leave it for an hour or two. Well, when I started back to it it had started raining....then the tornado sirens started going off...and continued sounding intermittently for an hour or two it seemed. After watching some very high winds, lots of lightning, and heavy rain it slacked off to a steady downpour. The problem is that I do my rock/barrel washing outside. So here I am downtown on main street during a steady rain *and after* some strong storms had passed over and I'm playing at a water faucet pouring sudsy water out of a plastic pan and refilling it. Folks riding by probably thought I was a bit touched...well, some of them probably already thought that. Anyhow, I finally got the rocks washed, put them back in the barrel, and added 1/2 teaspoon of AO polish and a tablespoon of Dreft. This was probably about 6:30pm last night. Normally I've been doing grit changes around 3pm and going two days between. Since this stage was started so late in the day I may just go to the 3rd day so I can take them out during the daytime...probably around 3pm. broseph82 , Jugglerguy ... I did do a quick dry on a couple of the rocks....they're shiny!!!!!!!! This was a very small load of rocks. They are rocks out of the granddaughters initial load in the Model T tumbler, less some culls. Lots more ceramic media than rocks (which won't be the case in the next load). There was a couple of these rocks that I probably should have culled from the polish stage, but with as few rocks as there is I figured I'd leave them in...the blemishes I think will not hide any grit from previous stages but may show polish residue after polishing...the spots are more like small rough spots and only a couple of them. We'll see. With more rocks in the next load I will be more ruthless in culling.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 16, 2016 12:31:56 GMT -5
They should be very shiny at that stage, so it looks like you didn't screw anything up too bad. Almost there now. I think we're all expecting lots of pictures.
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Feb 16, 2016 14:58:15 GMT -5
I'll try not to disappoint. Of course, with as few rocks as are in this load it can't be too many pictures. Let's see...right, left, front, back, top and bottom times ever how many rocks there are...that oughta satisfy captbob.
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Post by captbob on Feb 16, 2016 15:14:36 GMT -5
Only if there is a Hardee's cup somewhere in the line-up!
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