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Post by HankRocks on Jan 2, 2017 16:06:56 GMT -5
(tired of my Vib Lap questions yet? It's a lot higher maintenance than the Tumblers I am using)
Pulling the rocks off the Polish stage they seem to be coming out slightly high-center. That's my theory as the high polish is mostly confined to the interior area; 70 to 80% polished, 10-20% around the edges seem to be dull. I understand about proper weighting and that some can be off center and leaning, making for an un-even grinding and polishing. It's not the case here as the rocks are balanced and weighted as needed. One piece of petrified wood is almost a block about 4 inches tall with weight equally distributed and it has the edges coming out dull.
I did run several rounds in the 80 grit, pulling those out as they erased the pencil marks.
1) maybe I let the slurry in the 80 build up too much and maybe that ground the edges more.
2) maybe I did not stay in the 220 stage long enough, about 4 hours.
It's even happened on the round geodes, high polish in center, dull edges.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
H
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Post by orrum on Jan 3, 2017 7:44:04 GMT -5
Waiting....
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,182
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Post by jamesp on Jan 3, 2017 8:09:20 GMT -5
Only 4 hours in 220 ? Seems too short. This is in a rotary or vibe ?
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Post by HankRocks on Jan 3, 2017 8:50:42 GMT -5
Will add more time to the 220 stage, another 4 hours. Also going to clean out the Pan more often, only one re-charge. Slurry in the Pan may not be a good thing. The slurry also adds to the accumulation on the rocks, less slurry, less accumulation, easier cleanup.
It's a Vibrating Lap.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,182
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Post by jamesp on Jan 3, 2017 9:24:18 GMT -5
Ah, vibrating lap. My bad.
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Post by roy on Jan 3, 2017 11:15:14 GMT -5
its because the slab is not flat take a black marker and make marks all over the surface when these marks are all gone then you know its flat if this is a agate or some thing hard @ 220 this will take a few days
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Post by captbob on Jan 3, 2017 11:30:06 GMT -5
What are you using for your polishing pad? How long are you running polish?
Regarding grinding - I agree with longer run times. Never had a problem with slurry in the pan. Is your grinding pan smooth or grooved?
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Post by HankRocks on Jan 3, 2017 12:38:06 GMT -5
A piece of indoor/door carpeting. Going to replace it with a piece of Carpet Runner, I think Lowes has it on a Roll per foot.
30 to 40 hours on Polish. I was using Micro-Alumnia. When I put the new Pad in I am going to switched to Raybrite A to see if that helps.
The pan is smooth. I have wondered if having a grooved pan would help the Process. I do have 2 spare non-polish pans, wonder how easy it is to get one of them grooved?
H
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unclesoska
freely admits to licking rocks
All those jade boulders tossed in search of gold!
Member since February 2011
Posts: 934
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Post by unclesoska on Jan 3, 2017 13:09:54 GMT -5
You could also take a straight-edge and lay it in your pan and check around it for high and low spots.
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Post by roy on Jan 4, 2017 12:09:11 GMT -5
again its not flatt these two took a week to finish these two 3 weeks the key is to get them flat first !on the carpet if you go to the auto section at walmart you can buy a roll of replacment carpet for 8 dollars its black works best for me
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Post by HankRocks on Jan 15, 2017 12:01:03 GMT -5
Just curious what polish you folks are using in the Vibrating Flat Lap? I am trying Raybrite. It's taking a while but they are polishing. Almost 40 hours and still not where I want it. I did extend the 220 and the 600 runs to 10-11 hours each.
I will go to Walmart a buy a roll of the replacement carpet and give it a try.
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