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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 10, 2019 14:07:25 GMT -5
I'm asking for a friend. She is in Lithuania and can't get all the stuff we can. She wants to polish well water polished beach stones. Can she skip the rough rotary stage and just use the vibe? I'm thinking yes, but you guys would know better.
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Post by aDave on Sept 10, 2019 14:21:16 GMT -5
The biggest benefit to a rotary coarse stage is shaping. In her case she sounds as if she is already there, so that's not too much of a problem to solve. However, the next benefit of the coarse stage is the removal of any imperfections such as pits and crevasses. As long as there's the understanding that she might not end up with "perfect" rocks without a coarse run, then she's good to go.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Sept 11, 2019 9:34:24 GMT -5
I have tinkered around with vibe only tumbles. Have even done some quartz crystals and rough agate/jaspers. So I know it can be done. The "rougher" pieces got 2 or more 220 runs.
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Post by rmf on Sept 11, 2019 13:00:39 GMT -5
YES!
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Sept 11, 2019 20:39:55 GMT -5
Not really an answer but I'm trying this right now. My UV10 vibe was doing nothing awaiting enough rotary rough for a run so I thought I'd try a vibe run of what you see in the photo (not the ones I'm tumbling but the same stuff). I don't know what it is but there's lots of it around here and I have a favorite person who's favorite color is green so that's incentive enough to give it a go (again).In past I had no success getting a shine on them either when I was all rotary or in any of the more recent vibe runs. Anyways I went on a 2 hr rock hounding trip at the local river and got enough for a run. I'm only doing 3 days of pre polish and 3 days of polish (no 220 stage as I'm STILL (agrrrhh!) awaiting an extra bowl that's on back order). The UV10 is pretty much full (60/40 ish ratio aquarium pea gravel quartz to rocks) and in the polish stage I'm using extra borax (6 tablespoons vs my usual 2 ) in an attempt to thicken the slurry and make the vibe less aggressive. So bottom line I'm tumbling only the stuff you see in the photo in a hopefully less aggressive vibe so we'll see what happens. In my previous unsuccessful attempts I threw them in with everything else which is not a good idea from what I'm reading...the similar hardness thing. Tonight is the final polish day so all will be revealed...good or bad. I have no expectations and I'm probably doing too may things differently at the same time to learn anything but you never know. One thing I already found in my stage 3 clean out was one rock that really stood out shine wise from the rest... I'm guessing it's a jasper but whatever it is I gotta find more of it IMG_4604111 by Glen Braaten, on Flickr
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 11, 2019 22:35:26 GMT -5
Not really an answer but I'm trying this right now. My UV10 vibe was doing nothing awaiting enough rotary rough for a run so I thought I'd try a vibe run of what you see in the photo (not the ones I'm tumbling but the same stuff). I don't know what it is but there's lots of it around here and I have a favorite person who's favorite color is green so that's incentive enough to give it a go (again).In past I had no success getting a shine on them either when I was all rotary or in any of the more recent vibe runs. Anyways I went on a 2 hr rock hounding trip at the local river and got enough for a run. I'm only doing 3 days of pre polish and 3 days of polish (no 220 stage as I'm STILL (agrrrhh!) awaiting an extra bowl that's on back order). The UV10 is pretty much full (60/40 ish ratio aquarium pea gravel quartz to rocks) and in the polish stage I'm using extra borax (6 tablespoons vs my usual 2 ) in an attempt to thicken the slurry and make the vibe less aggressive. So bottom line I'm tumbling only the stuff you see in the photo in a hopefully less aggressive vibe so we'll see what happens. In my previous unsuccessful attempts I threw them in with everything else which is not a good idea from what I'm reading...the similar hardness thing. Tonight is the final polish day so all will be revealed...good or bad. I have no expectations and I'm probably doing too may things differently at the same time to learn anything but you never know. One thing I already found in my stage 3 clean out was one rock that really stood out shine wise from the rest... I'm guessing it's a jasper but whatever it is I gotta find more of it IMG_4604111 by Glen Braaten, on Flickr I'm very interested to see your results.
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minniek
having dreams about rocks
Member since January 2019
Posts: 74
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Post by minniek on Sept 12, 2019 12:17:15 GMT -5
I only have a vibratory tumbler, and I do all my runs in just it. I have done the same rock in 220 2 or even 3 times of it NEEDED it (most only get 1 run), but they all have come out shiny!
I did post a few pics of my first few runs in the photos thread.
So, to answer you, yes, you can absolutely use only a vibe tumbler!
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Post by TheRock on Sept 12, 2019 16:16:05 GMT -5
As Rough as some of my Crazy Lace Is and Lake Michigan Rough MaryJane and I have Picked up I would say yes. They would be ready for the 220 stage as most everyone has stated even two cycles through the 220 would not hurt except for Granite which everyone has trouble with without getting too far off topic Granite needs to rotary tumble a long time to remove a Chemical Rhine that has coated the surface of the stone down an 1/8 of an inch I have found two months to archive in that stage even if they are round and smooth it needs the Rhine removed. So I would say yes, She may want to use 180 grit first 220 second and If I were to use a Vibe I would recommend a Thumler Ultra Vibe Just because the action is not a finicky as The LOT"O". The LOT"O" gets all Gummed Up and the action comes to a screeching Halt after 3 days The UV Can Easily go a week as long as it has water for proper action.
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 12, 2019 16:22:10 GMT -5
Well everyone, she did an about face and bought a lortone 33b (I think- the double barrel one).
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Sept 14, 2019 18:09:05 GMT -5
It took me a couple days to decide if this was even worth posting as the results were pretty boring but not unexpected as only about half of them even got to a barely noticeable dull luster which is consistent with previous rotary and vibe attempts so that's the end of these guys for me. The good news is the 3 in the second photo look good considering they went direct from the river to pre polish and polish in the vibe so I'm 100% convinced you can skip the rough stage if you use the right rocks with the caveats aDave and others have already said. When I get my second vibe bowl (if ever, it's been 8+ months on back order) it will be dedicated to the 120/220 stage and I'll be doing more trial runs with different stuff. Cutting out any rotary rough time is worth the experimenting for me... IMG_4605 by Glen Braaten, on Flickr IMG_4606 by Glen Braaten, on Flickr
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