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Post by fernwood on Aug 18, 2019 11:27:37 GMT -5
Had an open 3 lb. rotary barrel. Had 10 bags of other rocks staged to go in barrels. Decided to do this. Experimenting with how to speed up the 80 SIC stage for pitted agates and other hard rocks with crystal areas. Want to minimize cracks in crystal areas of the agates. My hands are not working right today and could not use dremel to grind the rocks. I have a mix of 60% rocks and 40% pre-polished 5/8" triangle ceramic media and pre-polished micro pea gravel. There were some stage one plastic tumbling pellets in the mix. Added 2 TBS of grit and about 6 TBS of thick 80 slurry. Barrel was a little over 3/4 full. Will check in a couple of hours to see if everything is combined and there is more room in barrel for more slurry. Goal is to not add much water, but will add some. Wish me luck on this. Here are the rocks in the barrel.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 18, 2019 14:21:37 GMT -5
Perfect. Checked barrel and found this. Exactly what I wanted. Added another tablespoon of this slurry and a tablespoon of water. Will cehck again in about 5-7 days.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 19, 2019 8:39:51 GMT -5
Just checked and all looks well. No grit build up attached to barrel. Some rocks are already showing signs of shaping.
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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
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Post by gatorflash1 on Aug 20, 2019 6:33:38 GMT -5
Looks good. Have you ever used the #35 grit for shaping? I've been using #60 but think I'll switch to #30-35 for badly pitted rough just to see if it works and I don't have to toss stuff into the scrap pile. I'm not in the mood to spend months trying to shape lousy rough.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 20, 2019 6:44:55 GMT -5
No I have not used it. 60 SIC is the coarsest I have used.
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auntkay
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2019
Posts: 3
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Post by auntkay on Aug 26, 2019 9:14:12 GMT -5
So, I'm new to this. Are you saying you've saved used slurry that you've poured off of other batches? Wouldn't the grit particles be all broken down, and less effective?
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oldschoolrocker
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,540
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Post by oldschoolrocker on Aug 26, 2019 11:15:54 GMT -5
So, I'm new to this. Are you saying you've saved used slurry that you've poured off of other batches? Wouldn't the grit particles be all broken down, and less effective? It's used as a slurry thickener in addition to fresh grit. Helps to keep the new grit particles cling to the surface of rocks better, providing more efficient grinding action and also some cushioning of rocks banging into each other.
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Aug 28, 2019 13:44:36 GMT -5
How's this project going? *curious*
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Post by fernwood on Aug 29, 2019 3:12:59 GMT -5
Checked yesterday. They had been rollin' for 10 days. The grit had not broken down. There was minimal shaping. No more than was on the 19th. I disposed of the slurry. Added new 80 grit with a little used slurry. This grit is different than what I used before. More water this time. Will check in a week and see how it looks. Here is a representative sample of what I found.
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Dec 27, 2019 18:05:07 GMT -5
Checked yesterday. They had been rollin' for 10 days. The grit had not broken down. There was minimal shaping. No more than was on the 19th. I disposed of the slurry. Added new 80 grit with a little used slurry. This grit is different than what I used before. More water this time. Will check in a week and see how it looks. Here is a representative sample of what I found. these look similar to Jugglerguy's 3 day polished pudding stone where he did all his tumbling in a vibratory tumbler, they have clearly been polished but not shaped much
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