braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
|
Post by braat on Mar 13, 2019 13:38:30 GMT -5
My first UV10 vibe batch and I'm more than pleased with the results so far! The video was taken this morning and is day 1 of the polish stage . I think I'm doing things right based on what I see but I'm posting the video so all you UV10/vibe experts can confirm the action is OK?? I used Drummond Island Rocks recipe because it was simple (no between stage burnishing) plus Chuck's results speak for themselves. I adjusted grit and borax ingredients to what I thought was right for my UV10 (vs Chucks's Loto). When I was all rotary I didn't do stage 2 (220) as I didn't see it made a difference so for comparison's sake I did the same with this batch. Also for comparison reasons I tumbled my usual local finds. During the 3 day prepolish stage I pulled rocks to see how they were doing and was blown away at how quickly they were progressing and the shine at the end of the 3 day prepolish was as good as if not better than final polish in previous rotary batches! So now I'm trying to keep expectations down for final vibe polish results in 3 days...
|
|
|
Post by Rockindad on Mar 13, 2019 17:00:57 GMT -5
We've only had ours about a month but are having a blast with it (emoji added by my son). Have been very happy with the results so far. Al
|
|
gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
|
Post by gatorflash1 on Mar 17, 2019 7:53:08 GMT -5
I'm curious to know how skipping stage 2, the finish grind, impacts the polishing stages Please let us know how this turns out. What grit size are you using in stage 1?
|
|
|
Post by grumpybill on Mar 17, 2019 12:09:47 GMT -5
I'm curious to know how skipping stage 2, the finish grind, impacts the polishing stages Please let us know how this turns out. What grit size are you using in stage 1? I think it would depend on how much the course grit has been broken down by the time you move the stones on. I usually let the 1st stage run until I can no longer feel any grit in the mud. By that point, it's probably broken down smaller than 220. But...I still run a 220 stage before moving to 500.
|
|
braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
|
Post by braat on Mar 17, 2019 12:48:06 GMT -5
First vibe batch is done and I learned a lot...the whole vibe process was relatively painless as I kinda knew what to expect totally due to the collective wisdom here on RTH. So thank you all for that! All local finds...the black, red and browns came out really nice as well as the granites (with the usual undercuttting). But some of the lighter colored jasper stuff wasn't as good as in previous rotary batches...shine is good on the faces but the edges are beat up pretty good so I'm not sure if they came out of stage 1 that way or if the vibe is more aggressive on thinner edges? There was a handfull (not in the picture) that turned out flat/dull/micropitted but I'm not too worried about those as my "what not to tumble list" expands Also I used 50/50 aquarium pea gravel and the pea gravel was new/not previouly tumbled so maybe after a couple more batches things may get better shine wise?. I went through the pea gravel afterwards and removed a bunch of cracked/pitted/not smooth ones so maybe that will help results for the next batch as well assuming I use the one bowl again for both prepolish and polish ( still awaiting second bowl to arrive)
|
|
braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
|
Post by braat on Mar 17, 2019 13:01:52 GMT -5
I'm curious to know how skipping stage 2, the finish grind, impacts the polishing stages Please let us know how this turns out. What grit size are you using in stage 1? I think it would depend on how much the course grit has been broken down by the time you move the stones on. I usually let the 1st stage run until I can no longer feel any grit in the mud. By that point, it's probably broken down smaller than 220. But...I still run a 220 stage before moving to 500. I think grumpybill's got it... I'm pretty fussy about shape and feel before they're done stage one so they're in there a long time and I only put 2 tablespoons (weekly) of coarse grit in my 12 lb Thumler rotary...so maybe they're getting the 220 treatment before they leave stage 1?? Don't know if that makes any sense but it's seeming to work so I'm going with it gatorflash1 - I don't know what the grit size is...it just says "coarse" on the box...I get all my grit in 5 lb boxes from Thumler ( through my local dealer). I've emailed Thumler twice asking what their grit mesh sizes are but didn't get an answer so I gave up...but it works OK so I'll continue to use it...
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Mar 19, 2019 6:55:07 GMT -5
Those look good to me. Glad you took the experts advice. Great shine on them.
|
|
braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
|
Post by braat on Mar 19, 2019 17:16:08 GMT -5
Those look good to me. Glad you took the experts advice. Great shine on them. Thanks! Second batch is under way, some new ( same old) local finds plus I'm redoing some of my earlier rotary batches that weren't too great... so I'm looking forward to seeing how those turn out...
|
|
victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,974
|
Post by victor1941 on Mar 19, 2019 18:21:22 GMT -5
That"s a really nice group and the polish is excellent. This was a great start and you are sure to have many more successful tumbles with good material.
|
|
braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
|
Post by braat on Mar 19, 2019 18:43:08 GMT -5
That"s a really nice group and the polish is excellent. This was a great start and you are sure to have many more successful tumbles with good material. Thanks! I've got some tiger eye and mookaite rough tumbling right now and to me that qualifies as good material... looking forward to how they turn out.
|
|
illusionist
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2017
Posts: 137
|
Post by illusionist on Mar 20, 2019 8:37:06 GMT -5
Great shine! Nice batch!
|
|
|
Post by hummingbirdstones on Mar 20, 2019 8:48:14 GMT -5
Great job on those! I would say it was a success.
|
|
braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
|
Post by braat on Mar 20, 2019 11:24:33 GMT -5
|
|
braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
|
Post by braat on Mar 20, 2019 11:25:23 GMT -5
Great job on those! I would say it was a success. Thanks!
|
|
NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
|
Post by NevadaBill on Mar 20, 2019 11:27:44 GMT -5
These look real nice, and I especially like the part about how they were all self collected. It seems like every part of the world has some nice rocks in it.
These are well shaped too. I can tell you have a good deal of experience there. Thanks for including the video.
The big Thumbler unit looks like it can take larger rocks as well. How noisy would you say it is in comparison to your rotary units there?
|
|
braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
|
Post by braat on Mar 20, 2019 16:51:56 GMT -5
These look real nice, and I especially like the part about how they were all self collected. It seems like every part of the world has some nice rocks in it. These are well shaped too. I can tell you have a good deal of experience there. Thanks for including the video. The big Thumbler unit looks like it can take larger rocks as well. How noisy would you say it is in comparison to your rotary units there? Thanks... i really enjoy rock hounding ( near as much as the tumbling) and now that the snow is disappearing I can get at it again and maybe find some new and interesting stuff. As for the vibe noise it is way more than the 3 rotaries combined... with my hearing aids on I can hear it anywhere in the house pretty much and with no aids it's quiet city so I have options to deal with the noise
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Mar 20, 2019 17:15:18 GMT -5
THAT is a shiny group of rocks. Job well done, I'd say.
|
|
braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
|
Post by braat on Mar 20, 2019 19:56:48 GMT -5
THAT is a shiny group of rocks. Job well done, I'd say. Thanks!
|
|
NevadaBill
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,332
|
Post by NevadaBill on Mar 21, 2019 12:47:43 GMT -5
Thanks for mentioning that the Vibe is louder than all the Rotary tumblers put together. So is mine.
I wonder if they make a quiet Vibe tumbler. I guess I should start researching. Something about 5-6 pounds would be fine.
Right now I am doing a side by side comparison between a 6 lb. Rotary and the Vibe to see which produces better rocks. Currently my Rotary is producing better rocks, but at twice the time (days). But the Vibe requires more than 5x the attention.
If I can't get my Vibe to do better in the next few months it is going bye bye, and I'll either replace it with a larger Rotary or another Vibe.
|
|
braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
|
Post by braat on Mar 21, 2019 14:38:58 GMT -5
Thanks for mentioning that the Vibe is louder than all the Rotary tumblers put together. So is mine. I wonder if they make a quiet Vibe tumbler. I guess I should start researching. Something about 5-6 pounds would be fine. Right now I am doing a side by side comparison between a 6 lb. Rotary and the Vibe to see which produces better rocks. Currently my Rotary is producing better rocks, but at twice the time (days). But the Vibe requires more than 5x the attention. If I can't get my Vibe to do better in the next few months it is going bye bye, and I'll either replace it with a larger Rotary or another Vibe. Just curious, which vibe do you have?
|
|