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Post by fernwood on Jun 21, 2019 6:19:56 GMT -5
I usually re-use all stages of slurry as a starter in rotary.
Recently finished some harder (7.5) rocks that had small, triangle ceramic media, that had been through final polish at least 12 times. They had a high gloss finish. Had remained the same size for the past 12 tumbles.
When I did clean out noticed that the ceramics had lost about 20% of size. There were black/grey particles that floated to the surface of the clean out pail. I added a little water to the pail in hopes of allowing the polish to settle to the bottom and pouring off the top layer of water/particles. Might try putting a paper towel on surface to trap/remove some particles.
Should I not re-use this polish slurry, due to possible contamination?
In addition to the ceramic, I had polish stage tumbling pellets and polished, 1/2 pea sized gravel as media.
Never had polished ceramic media shrink so much before in polish stage.
Thanks.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Jun 21, 2019 10:22:13 GMT -5
AO polish? If so it's not too expensive. Why risk it.
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Post by pauls on Jun 21, 2019 16:36:13 GMT -5
Yes you can reuse. If your ceramic media are breaking down I wouldn't though. The particles are possibly finely ground tumbler barrel.
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Post by HankRocks on Jun 21, 2019 17:44:26 GMT -5
I have been re-using AO polish from tumbling for a while now. About every 3rd load I do add another tablespoon to the polish cycle in the UV-18. If nothing else it's probably providing a decent slurry for the polishing. I am also careful and use soap runs between any SiC runs and any AO runs. My guess is that I have used a bit over a two pounds in the last 3 years.
On that subject I am in the process of changing polishes and machines as I just came into a lifetime stash of Tin Oxide and a Diamond Pacific MT-14SV vib tumbler. Will probably start using the saved AO polish as slurry for my 80AO and my 500 AO runs. The Tin Oxide does seem to polish faster in the Vib Lap than the AO.
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dtinch
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2019
Posts: 1
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Post by dtinch on Jun 29, 2019 9:58:20 GMT -5
I also reuse my polish slurry. It has worked pretty well.. Only thing is in stage I use the plastic beads as the medium instead if ceramic.
The beads are a pain to use because they are messy and stick to everything..
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