kaartje
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2020
Posts: 24
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Post by kaartje on Oct 23, 2020 17:18:12 GMT -5
The first stage in a rotery tumble, i check the rocks after a week. Most of the times it needs an other week of tumbling before it is ready to go to the next stage. Do you guys change the grit after 1 week or do you just let it turn whitout changing.
Liefs Kaartje
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inbtb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2016
Posts: 351
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Post by inbtb on Oct 23, 2020 18:25:57 GMT -5
Add more coarse grit and let it run another week. Keep repeating until you are happy with the results. Could stay in the coarse grind for several weeks. Have fun.
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bdport67
off to a rocking start
Are you licking that?!
Member since September 2020
Posts: 18
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Post by bdport67 on Oct 23, 2020 18:26:36 GMT -5
My first stage I check, like you, after a week. Ill do a complete clean out and batch check to judge the progress to determine how long they may need to run. After that, Ill do weekly checks but not a complete clean out....if they need longer still Ill just add a small scoop and close it back up. (Ill stick my finger in and see how much larger grit I feel)
Sometimes I end up using more grit than I probably need but works for me.
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 24, 2020 9:09:57 GMT -5
I thought a few more people would have chimed in on this one. I'm curious too as to how many people do a clean out after the first week and restart with fresh clean material, or just add more grit to the existing slurry and continue. I think it comes down to experience and knowing your material. Harder stones (agates) which are known to take weeks, I would think just open it up, add fresh grit and run another week. Other softer material I would expect would need to be evaluated to see if another week of coarse is necessary. I like the idea of just adding fresh grit to the existing slurry...
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,690
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Post by Fossilman on Oct 24, 2020 10:14:30 GMT -5
I just recharge it with a bit more grit.... Water if needed..
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kaartje
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2020
Posts: 24
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Post by kaartje on Oct 24, 2020 15:36:55 GMT -5
Thank you for the answers! I will ad the grit until i am to curieus ( pff how do you write this word ? 🤔🤔 difficult for a Dutch haha)
Until i am curieus to see the rocks fully rinsed with water.
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kaartje
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2020
Posts: 24
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Post by kaartje on Oct 24, 2020 15:42:31 GMT -5
I thought a few more people would have chimed in on this one. I'm curious too as to how many people do a clean out after the first week and restart with fresh clean material, or just add more grit to the existing slurry and continue. I think it comes down to experience and knowing your material. Harder stones (agates) which are known to take weeks, I would think just open it up, add fresh grit and run another week. Other softer material I would expect would need to be evaluated to see if another week of coarse is necessary. I like the idea of just adding fresh grit to the existing slurry... So it was not a totaly weird quastion from a newby? 😉😘
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 24, 2020 15:47:41 GMT -5
Thank you for the answers! I will ad the grit until i am to curieus ( pff how do you write this word ? 🤔🤔 difficult for a Dutch haha) Until i am curieus to see the rocks fully rinsed with water. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but I think it helps rockhounds! I thought a few more people would have chimed in on this one. I'm curious too as to how many people do a clean out after the first week and restart with fresh clean material, or just add more grit to the existing slurry and continue. I think it comes down to experience and knowing your material. Harder stones (agates) which are known to take weeks, I would think just open it up, add fresh grit and run another week. Other softer material I would expect would need to be evaluated to see if another week of coarse is necessary. I like the idea of just adding fresh grit to the existing slurry... So it was not a totaly weird quastion from a newby? 😉😘 I think it was a great question! (I posted that the harder material could take weeks...and should have wrote that some can take MONTHS!)
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kaartje
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2020
Posts: 24
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Post by kaartje on Oct 24, 2020 16:04:17 GMT -5
Thank you for the answers! I will ad the grit until i am to curieus ( pff how do you write this word ? 🤔🤔 difficult for a Dutch haha) Until i am curieus to see the rocks fully rinsed with water. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but I think it helps rockhounds! So it was not a totaly weird quastion from a newby? 😉😘 I think it was a great question!  (I posted that the harder material could take weeks...and should have wrote that some can take MONTHS!) Yeah!! It made my weekend great haha🥳🥳 Months..i know my first mistake was to tumble a week because the script said so 😇
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,426
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Post by Wooferhound on Oct 25, 2020 0:14:34 GMT -5
Recharge or Double Dose the grit
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haleco
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2020
Posts: 5
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Post by haleco on Oct 25, 2020 1:32:12 GMT -5
Using a Harbor Fright 3lb*2 rotary tumbler. I think it is better to develop a thought process rather than a single routine. Routines ultimately end up becoming wasteful compared to continuous process improvement. These are observations on how to learn to tumble rather than instructions to jump straight to optimal results.
When learning and impatient, you will waste a bunch of grit and time if you do complete washouts all the time for stage one. When experienced, you will still be wasting time, material, or both if you do not develop a method to conserve and maximize both.
The best way I have found is to use a spray bottle to check each stone over the barrel for early checks. This saves grit and slurry. Just a quick few spritzes to see what is ready for stage two. Anything ready, rinse into barrel and set aside for full cleaning. Anything not ready gets set in a pile to go back in.
Slowly decant extra water saving slurry and grit. At the end, feel around for grit. If you have none left, you can either run more grit next time to do more work in the same time, or check sooner with the same amount of grit. Both ways will result in greater efficiency.
Overall this can save a whole lot of time. For example, when running really convoluted chalcedony, it takes longer to use up grit, so a tbs per pound is ok for a week. This is because there are nooks and crannies for the grit to hide in where it is ineffective and takes longer to make its way between hard surfaces.
Larger beach and river rocks that are already well rounded that I am trying to bring out specific cracks on will use up that grit in about a third less time because there is much more constant contact between larger stones. I like adding more grit personally and maintaining my time tables.
This will give you a chance to really understand the effect of what you are doing and make better fine adjustments. Getting good at stage one is the biggest time and material saver by far. This is good stuff to figure out on smaller barrels because it will take too long to check everything on longer ones. The lessons transfer though. If you have no grit left, you still need less Grit or more time to be more efficient. If you have grit left at clean out, you are either not rolling long enough, or using too much grit.
No matter what, saving slurry and grit only saves time and material in the long run. Figure put the most efficient way to conserve both.
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kaartje
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2020
Posts: 24
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Post by kaartje on Oct 25, 2020 2:55:25 GMT -5
Recharge or Double Dose the grit
Great answers in your link, rinse completely and add the saved dry slik and grit and add new grit, i will also try!
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kaartje
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2020
Posts: 24
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Post by kaartje on Oct 25, 2020 3:07:35 GMT -5
Using a Harbor Fright 3lb*2 rotary tumbler. I think it is better to develop a thought process rather than a single routine. Routines ultimately end up becoming wasteful compared to continuous process improvement. These are observations on how to learn to tumble rather than instructions to jump straight to optimal results. When learning and impatient, you will waste a bunch of grit and time if you do complete washouts all the time for stage one. When experienced, you will still be wasting time, material, or both if you do not develop a method to conserve and maximize both. The best way I have found is to use a spray bottle to check each stone over the barrel for early checks. This saves grit and slurry. Just a quick few spritzes to see what is ready for stage two. Anything ready, rinse into barrel and set aside for full cleaning. Anything not ready gets set in a pile to go back in. Slowly decant extra water saving slurry and grit. At the end, feel around for grit. If you have none left, you can either run more grit next time to do more work in the same time, or check sooner with the same amount of grit. Both ways will result in greater efficiency. Overall this can save a whole lot of time. For example, when running really convoluted chalcedony, it takes longer to use up grit, so a tbs per pound is ok for a week. This is because there are nooks and crannies for the grit to hide in where it is ineffective and takes longer to make its way between hard surfaces. Larger beach and river rocks that are already well rounded that I am trying to bring out specific cracks on will use up that grit in about a third less time because there is much more constant contact between larger stones. I like adding more grit personally and maintaining my time tables. This will give you a chance to really understand the effect of what you are doing and make better fine adjustments. Getting good at stage one is the biggest time and material saver by far. This is good stuff to figure out on smaller barrels because it will take too long to check everything on longer ones. The lessons transfer though. If you have no grit left, you still need less Grit or more time to be more efficient. If you have grit left at clean out, you are either not rolling long enough, or using too much grit. No matter what, saving slurry and grit only saves time and material in the long run. Figure put the most efficient way to conserve both. Thank you for your complete answer! I agree that we must look voor the most efficient way and look what the rocks need and than act, instead of follow a routine. As a newby we have this questions because the whole proces is not very clear to understand for me. But i am learning every day! Have a great weekend 😘
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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 Oct 25, 2020 8:32:57 GMT -5
Here is a great book about rock tumbling that new tumblers will find very useful. It covers all the basics. rocktumbler.com/book.shtml
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,277
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Post by RWA3006 on Oct 25, 2020 11:07:20 GMT -5
I thought a few more people would have chimed in on this one. I'm curious too as to how many people do a clean out after the first week and restart with fresh clean material, or just add more grit to the existing slurry and continue. I think it comes down to experience and knowing your material. Harder stones (agates) which are known to take weeks, I would think just open it up, add fresh grit and run another week. Other softer material I would expect would need to be evaluated to see if another week of coarse is necessary. I like the idea of just adding fresh grit to the existing slurry... So it was not a totaly weird quastion from a newby? 😉😘 It's a good question. I simply add more grit and/or water during all the coarse grinding phases. I also pay attention to ensure the consistency of the slurry is good.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,426
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Post by Wooferhound on Oct 25, 2020 11:41:38 GMT -5
My method is probably a little different than most people . . . When I open the barrel after a week in Stage 1 Course, I want to see super thick pudding slurry with the rocks hugging each other and need to scrape out the barrel for Cleanout. That way I know that the grit has done as much as it can do in a week. To get this super thick slurry at cleanout, I start with a 3/4 full barrel of rocks with plenty of grit and a Small amount of water filled to halfway up the rocks, or even less.
Love to see that Pudding . . .
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inbtb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2016
Posts: 351
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Post by inbtb on Oct 25, 2020 12:22:08 GMT -5
Looks about right, maybe a little thick.
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chapslv
having dreams about rocks
Member since June 2020
Posts: 56
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Post by chapslv on Oct 25, 2020 12:36:55 GMT -5
Great question. Lots of good answers and the picture of the "pudding" is very helpful. When I open a barrel and find the pudding with no course grit, I will recharge by adding more grit and a little bit of water. Several days to a week later it will be back to the pudding and I will do a clean out and sort the rocks by which are ready to move on to the next grit and which need more time. So I usually let mine run for several weeks before a total clean out, the exception being softer stones where I don't want to grind them down too much.
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irlcjrohr
starting to spend too much on rocks
If it does not melt, polish it.
Member since April 2020
Posts: 123
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Post by irlcjrohr on Oct 25, 2020 15:00:11 GMT -5
For softer rocks like Obsidian I do a full cleanout of the rotary tumbler after 10 days. Save off the rocks ready for the vib tumbler and start again with the "Redo's" plus fresh rough. For harder rocks I do a sample check after 7 days and recharge only once. After 14 days I do a full cleanout, then start again with the "Redo's" plus fresh rough.
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kaartje
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2020
Posts: 24
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Post by kaartje on Oct 25, 2020 17:06:31 GMT -5
Thank you all!
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