Post by Garage Rocker on Mar 13, 2018 18:59:21 GMT -5
OMG beautiful work!
Can you tell us newbies your process and about how long the process took to achieve these stellar results?
Thanks
Thanks, Mike. I've gone back and looked at your posts to see where you are in the process before handing out any tips. Interesting story. Looks like you took about a 6 year break from the forum. Don't know if you were tumbling at any time during that period. There is a lot of discussion about whether or not to get a Lot O, which would help to know. Granted, I didn't look at every post, so I may have missed some pertinent information.
It looks like you have, or had, a 15 lb. rotary tumbler? That is helpful, it's an efficient size. I use a Lortone QT12, a QT66 and a 33B. So, a 12 lb, two 6 lb, and two 3lb barrels. The two larger sizes get the lion's share of my worthy material. They just tumble more efficiently. The two 3lb barrels are usually reserved for softer materials, specialty tumbles, smaller flats and, lately, obsidian/glass. I do cleanouts on a somewhat predictable schedule, but the 'ear test' also plays a role. The 12 and 6lb barrels usually get cleaned out at 4 or 5 day intervals. The 3lb barrels normally run for 7-10 days before cleanout. There just isn't the action necessary to break down grit in the smaller diameter barrels. This may be the time to mention that I add a clay cat litter thickener to all my barrels, along with the grit and water. I have found through experience that the thickener speeds up the grit breakdown time. I saw in some of your posts from 2011 that you were getting watery slurry after 7 days. It is much easier to get that milkshake slurry that does a lot of grinding with the slurry accelerant. Again, my experience. Litter additive amount? In your 15lb rotary barrel, I would be using about (I don't measure anything precisely) 1.5 cups of 46/70 and a cup, to a cup and a half, of clay based cat litter. Water to just below level of rocks. That will grind the heck out of the rocks and give you a quick cleanout turnaround.
As far as time involved for first stage, it is totally dependent on the rock. Some go quicker, others take longer. I have tumbled Botswana agate for 2-3 months. I think the longest may have been some Polka Dot agate that rolled for about 6-7 months. But, I don't pre-grind much and I don't take stones out to grind after they have been put in the barrel. You can speed things up by grinding flaws, if you want to shorten that timeframe. At cleanout, I pull the rocks that are ready to move to stage two. That is an objective benchmark. I have a high standard. I would like to see good shape, no defects, and no bruising. Sometimes, you have to cut your losses and move them along, even with flaws. That is where discretion comes in. Is it ever going to be perfect? Does it have character with flaws? Can you clean out the flaws it has? You get my drift.
After stage one, I need to give no further instruction than...Lot O. I can't speak to any other vibe tumbler, but the Lot O couldn't make it easier to finish off any number of rock types to a mirror polish. If you are finishing by another method, let me know and I will point you in the right direction. If you ended up buying a Lot O, this is all you will need:
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/76542/lot-recipe-card?page=1
Long winded, yes, but you asked for the 'process'. Let me know if I can help in any other way.
Randy