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Post by grandpapatrick on Aug 27, 2017 19:36:34 GMT -5
Hi Everyone! Simple question. I understand that you are supposed to tumble grit one until the rock is pretty much the size and shape you want and that you tumble grit 4 until it has a nice shinny finish but how long do you tumble grits 2 and 3? If I just tumble each for a week should that do it?
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Post by coloradocliff on Aug 27, 2017 20:12:15 GMT -5
If its in a rotary a week should do each stage after the initial coarse grind. Make sure you inspect each rock after washing coming out of coarse to make sure its ready to graduate to the next, smaller grit size. A cracked or flawed rock will break and scratch the rest of the load badly so you have to go back to coarse grind. Make sure any voids are free of coarse grit so it don't get loose later and scratch your rocks during the week of so in next finer grit size, Can you take pictures for us so we can be sure and admire your rocks?. Good luck Patrick,
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Post by aDave on Aug 27, 2017 21:21:22 GMT -5
Hi Everyone! Simple question. I understand that you are supposed to tumble grit one until the rock is pretty much the size and shape you want and that you tumble grit 4 until it has a nice shinny finish but how long do you tumble grits 2 and 3? If I just tumble each for a week should that do it? What I do is my personal preference, and it has served me well. I am using a rotary tumbler for all stages. Like you noted, I do the coarse stage until the rocks are shaped the way I want, or I don't see a benefit in going further. Next step is run for one week (120/220). Next step after that is run for two weeks without a cleanout. I've been using 500 Sic, but I'll be transitioning to AO down the road to see what happens. After that, I polish with AO for at least two weeks. My most recent batch, which I haven't photographed yet, was run for three weeks in polish. I use plastic pellets in all stages after coarse. Here is a link to one of my most recent batches, just to give you an idea of the results. This finished after about 2.5 weeks in polish. Last batch.Good luck. Dave
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Aug 28, 2017 6:15:27 GMT -5
Barrel size/speed and slurry has a big impact on time. Small barrels running slow are going to take longer.
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Post by grandpapatrick on Aug 28, 2017 9:14:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the info! When you use the pellets do you also add enough water to cover the rocks and put in a tablespoon of pellets?
I don't speak "Tumbling" yet, so grit numbers, "500 Sic" "AO" don't translate. I need to read the part of the forum that has terms. I'm still trying to work through the tutorials. What a newbie. My 62 year old brain does not absorb new information very quickly.
The Nat. Geo. Grit I have has no numbers on them. The poor quality of information that came with the Nat. Geo. tumbler is turning out to be incredibly disappointing. This is my first batch so I don't have any finished yet, but I will show them if I can figure out how to post them here. I am still on the Grit 1 stage- Second Week
I am such a slow newbie. And there is so much to learn.
Thanks again!
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Post by grandpapatrick on Aug 28, 2017 9:36:59 GMT -5
<img style="max-width: 100%;" alt="" src=''><img style="max-width: 100%;" alt="" src=''><img style="max-width: 100%;" alt="" src=''>
I tried to insert an image and all I got was a small box with an X. _ I figured out how to put a picture in by using attachments but it is too small to read the text.
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Post by grandpapatrick on Aug 28, 2017 9:39:32 GMT -5
Oh, it got bigger! I used "Insert Image" but I did not see the image until I hit "Create Post" Anyway, yeah! One stumbling step at at a time!
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Post by aDave on Aug 28, 2017 16:00:42 GMT -5
Thanks for the info! When you use the pellets do you also add enough water to cover the rocks and put in a tablespoon of pellets?
I don't speak "Tumbling" yet, so grit numbers, "500 Sic" "AO" don't translate. I need to read the part of the forum that has terms. I'm still trying to work through the tutorials. What a newbie. My 62 year old brain does not absorb new information very quickly.
The Nat. Geo. Grit I have has no numbers on them. The poor quality of information that came with the Nat. Geo. tumbler is turning out to be incredibly disappointing. This is my first batch so I don't have any finished yet, but I will show them if I can figure out how to post them here. I am still on the Grit 1 stage- Second Week
I am such a slow newbie. And there is so much to learn.
Thanks again!
AO=aluminum oxide. Sic=silicon carbide. NG probably doesn't list grit sizes specifically, so it can continue to sell it's product to folks who bought their tumbler and don't know where to find info about grits. If I were a betting man, I'd think that your grit sizes are somewhere around these sizes: #1 is 60/90 Sic #2 is 120/220 Sic #3 is 500 Sic or AO #4 is 1:14,000 (1 micron) AO polish Armed with those numbers, you can go to any rock tumbling website/supplier and shop pricing. If you find you need plastic pellets to cushion your loads (fractures, bruises, chips on rocks), you'll be using more than just a tablespoon. Add some rocks to your barrel, and then pour in pellets to fill the spaces. Add more rocks and add pellets again. You kind of are working in a layering fashion. When you're done, fill water to the bottom of the top layer of rocks. Some of the pellets will float, but you'll still be able to gauge the water level. ETA: Almost forgot...You typically don't use pellets in the first step. Don't use the pellets in one grit stage and move them along to another. Always use the same pellets in their own respective stage. Good luck. Dave
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Post by Pat on Aug 28, 2017 16:33:53 GMT -5
Speaking of grits ---- daughter and I were driving from South Carolina back home to California. Stopped in Tennessee for lunch.
Grits were served with everything. We asked waitress what was a grit. She laughed and explained that she didn't know. She was from Michigan!
Customers in our vicinity were all grinning, and kindly explained about grits. A native waitress appeared with a little dish of grits to check out, and added to the explanation.
Moral of this story: if you want to know about grits, ask a native! 😀
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Post by aDave on Aug 28, 2017 16:44:08 GMT -5
Speaking of grits ---- daughter and I were driving from South Carolina back home to California. Stopped in Tennessee for lunch. Grits were served with everything. We asked waitress what was a grit. She laughed and explained that she didn't know. She was from Michigan! Customers in our vicinity were all grinning, and kindly explained about grits. A native waitress appeared with a little dish of grits to check out, and added to the explanation. Moral of this story: if you want to know about grits, ask a native! 😀 Funny story, Pat . As I was typing my reply above, all I could think about was the scene in "My Cousin Vinny" where grits was the topic. ETA: Dave
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Post by Garage Rocker on Aug 28, 2017 19:16:08 GMT -5
I had some awesome grits this weekend with chorizo, cheese and chilis. Don't have to explain to a southerner what grits are, Pat. You're asking the right questions, grandpapatrick. You'll pick up all the terminology as you go. Patience in stage one is my best advice.
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Post by aDave on Aug 28, 2017 20:23:28 GMT -5
I had some awesome grits this weekend with chorizo, cheese and chilis. Don't have to explain to a southerner what grits are, Pat . You're asking the right questions, grandpapatrick . You'll pick up all the terminology as you go. Patience in stage one is my best advice. Randy, that sounds delicious. I like grits in its most basic form. The flavor you describe would be outstanding. grandpapatrick, I'll echo the sentiment of Garage Rocker. jamesp also touched on it. Smaller barrels take a much longer time for shaping due to (IMHO) the lack of weight inside the barrel to grind against the grit and do the shaping. You will ultimately be the decider as to what you want your rocks to look like, but a couple of weeks in a small barrel such as yours will probably produce minimal shaping results and eliminating all flaws in the rocks. Many of us here tumble rocks in the first stage for weeks, if not months. You'll just have to decide how flawless you want your rocks to look, as the subsequent stages really don't remove too much material. As a side note, when I first started tumbling with my son some 15 years ago, I followed the directions in the tumbler. One week for all stages. I got decent results. Granted my tumbler was a bit bigger than yours, but I was happy. I'd say start with a baseline of what you do in all stages and adjust from there. Without establishing the baseline, you'll be doing alot of chasing. Just know this...first stage is probably the most important step. Get the rocks to your liking and go from there. Best of luck. Dave
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Post by Pat on Aug 28, 2017 20:29:41 GMT -5
itumble4u. Your recipe sounds wonderful. I wonder if grits are sold out here in California. Will check.
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Post by gmitch067 on Aug 28, 2017 21:22:27 GMT -5
Word of warning Patrick... DO NOT throw used grit/slurry down the sink (or other bathroom) drain!!!
I noticed your photo had your very nice setup surrounding a convenient sink. Grit might be small, but is heavy. It will sink into the bends and flats of the piping and accumulate like plaque in an artery. Eventually you will have to call in a plummer to unclog the drain ($$$). Liquid Plummer drain clog remover will not touch it. Do the initial wash outside with a garden hose... If that is a problem, buy a 5-gallon bucket or two, and hold the rocks in a strainer over this to do the wash (it might get heavy when full, so bring it outside for disposal frequently).
The grit/slurry also seems to be bad for the plants. Many tumblers use Borax in the different stages which plants are not fond of the stuff. The rocks themselves have their own chemical makeup that makes mud and adds to the plant misery.
BTW... "AO" is our jargon for "Aluminum Oxide; "TO" stands for "Tin Oxide" (also known as Stanus Oxide); "CeO" is "Cerium Oxide"; and "CrO" is "Chrom Oxide" (AKA Cromium Oxide). Your Tumbler Step-1 through 4 grit packs... each one corresponds (roughly) to the grit sizes the members have been talking about - 80-grit (or 60-90), 220-grit (or 120-220), 500/600-grit, and finally the polish packet. What is missing in the Nat Geo packets is the much finer 1000-grit that is commonly used after the 500-grit and the polish. Common tumbling grit is usually "SiC" (for "Silicon Carbide"), and "AlC" (for "Aluminum Carbide").
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Post by aDave on Aug 29, 2017 0:07:40 GMT -5
Word of warning Patrick... DO NOT throw used grit/slurry down the sink (or other bathroom) drain!!! I noticed your photo had your very nice setup surrounding a convenient sink. Grit might be small, but is heavy. It will sink into the bends and flats of the piping and accumulate like plaque in an artery. Eventually you will have to call in a plummer to unclog the drain ($$$). Liquid Plummer drain clog remover will not touch it. Do the initial wash outside with a garden hose... If that is a problem, buy a 5-gallon bucket or two, and hold the rocks in a strainer over this to do the wash (it might get heavy when full, so bring it outside for disposal frequently). The grit/slurry also seems to be bad for the plants. Many tumblers use Borax in the different stages which plants are not fond of the stuff. The rocks themselves have their own chemical makeup that makes mud and adds to the plant misery. BTW... "AO" is our jargon for "Aluminum Oxide; "TO" stands for "Tin Oxide" (also known as Stanus Oxide); "CeO" is "Cerium Oxide"; and "CrO" is "Chrom Oxide" (AKA Cromium Oxide). Your Tumbler Step-1 through 4 grit packs... each one corresponds (roughly) to the grit sizes the members have been talking about - 80-grit (or 60-90), 220-grit (or 120-220), 500/600-grit, and finally the polish packet. What is missing in the Nat Geo packets is the much finer 1000-grit that is commonly used after the 500-grit and the polish. Common tumbling grit is usually "SiC" (for "Silicon Carbide"), and "AlC" (for "Aluminum Carbide"). grandpapatrick, while there is much detail above, there's no need to get lost in it. When I got back into the hobby, I literally suffered from "paralysis from analysis." At the end of the day, the (basic) steps are really quite simple. The drain issue is a good reminder, but it seems you have that covered. Don't worry about all of the different types of grit you might encounter. Sic and AO will do you quite nicely as I noted above. There are other polishes for more specific applications, but if you're doing routine hard stuff, an AO polish will do fine. Don't worry about a pre-polish (an additional step between your 3 and 4). FWIW, I don't use it, and I've had acceptable results. Some people choose to use it as an additional step, but its use is not mandatory. Dump your barrel cleanouts where you see fit. If you're not adding Borax to your work, then there's no issue. Borax is somewhat a herbicide, but if you don't add it to your tumbles, there's no issue. Better yet, don't even ask about Borax right now. I've never added Borax to a stage. It usually runs by itself to clean rocks when I am done with a stage. Stick to the basics and then ask questions when you're done. Dave
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Post by grandpapatrick on Aug 29, 2017 14:06:10 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for the great information! The reason why I have the two large bowls is to avoid dumping down the sink. You see I have fibromyalgia an it is very painful to bend or kneel down. So what I do is I use the strainer to drain most of the slurry into a plastic tumbler. Then with both of the bowls half full of water I dump the rocks and remaining slurry into the first bowl. I also have short term memory loss. Have I told you that before.
Sorry I had to take a break I was hurting so much. Where was I... Oh yeah, Then I take out each rock and wash it off and put it in the second bowl of clean water. Then I take out the clean rocks and put them on a towel and go sit in my recliner and look at each one and decide if it is done with grit one and put it in a glass jar marked "done with grit one stones" And so on. Finally I pour all the water in one bowl and dump it outside. I have a back yard with no plants so I don't have to worry about hurting
plants. There is just "Pink Coral" crushed granite in the back yard. I also have short term memory loss. Have I told you that before.
I never dump any grit into the sink. I just have no other place to work. I'm pretty much housebound. The garage is too hot and there is no workbench.
Anyway, why do you use pellets instead of fine grit? Did I miss it? I also have short term memory loss. Have I told you that before? Anyway...
I opened a PhotoBucket and put the picture in but I didn't update my account so the picture went away.
My avatar looks just like me. A slow witted old man. Actually I can be fast witted. Anyone for a game of chess? Sorry, off topic again.
I will go copy and paste all the great information into a word document so that I do not lose it, or at least know where to find it. And then back to the tutorials. Since I can only spend a couple of minutes on the computer at a time before the pain sneaks up on me again, it's taking a long time to get through the tutorials. I also have short term memory loss. Have I told you that before.
Oh, I just found out that if you click on my little picture it gets big! (I'm easily thrilled.)
Thanks again!
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Post by aDave on Aug 29, 2017 15:10:43 GMT -5
Anyway, why do you use pellets instead of fine grit? Did I miss it? I also have short term memory loss. Have I told you that before? Anyway... Pellets are not used in place of any grit. They are used for cushioning of the rocks and/or to make up volume in the barrel when needed. They also help to carry grit, or so I've been told. For you, I wouldn't worry about using them yet. Establish a baseline routine first and adjust from there. See what happens with your first couple of batches. Good luck. Dave
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lookatthat
Cave Dweller
Whatever there is to be found.
Member since May 2017
Posts: 1,360
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Post by lookatthat on Aug 29, 2017 15:51:36 GMT -5
One thing you'll want to do is keep the barrel about 70% full of "stuff". So if you're taking something out because those rocks are ready, you should add something in as filler. You can use more rocks, ceramic tumbling media, glass beads, or plastic pellets. The pellets are a pain and aren't usually used in the coarse grit.
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mikeinsjc
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2010
Posts: 324
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Post by mikeinsjc on Aug 31, 2017 13:20:54 GMT -5
Try this. Fill your barrel all the way to the top with rough. Using 60/90, run it for three weeks- don't check it, recharge, etc. Just turn it on and forget it. Clean everything, then run one week using 600 grit. I use a 1/2" mesh screen at each grit change, and keep all the small pieces that get screened out. For the 40lb barrels I use a couple cups of these smalls per load to cushion and carry the grit. My advice is to forget plastic pellets- they are a pain. You don't need ceramics either.
I run four 40lb Lortones and nine 12lb barrels. After the 600 I go to a big Viking vibratory unit for 800 grit and polish. I use 1-2 cups of the smalls per load.
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zekester55
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2017
Posts: 111
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Post by zekester55 on Sept 6, 2017 5:07:08 GMT -5
Try this. Fill your barrel all the way to the top with rough. Using 60/90, run it for three weeks- don't check it, recharge, etc. Just turn it on and forget it. Clean everything, then run one week using 600 grit. I use a 1/2" mesh screen at each grit change, and keep all the small pieces that get screened out. For the 40lb barrels I use a couple cups of these smalls per load to cushion and carry the grit. My advice is to forget plastic pellets- they are a pain. You don't need ceramics either. I run four 40lb Lortones and nine 12lb barrels. After the 600 I go to a big Viking vibratory unit for 800 grit and polish. I use 1-2 cups of the smalls per load. interesting. How much grit for a three or sox pound barrel? Water as well?
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