krissykitty
starting to shine!
Member since May 2021
Posts: 25
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Post by krissykitty on Dec 15, 2021 12:31:26 GMT -5
Hello again guys! As usual, I'm back to ask for some more help lol
This is an issue that I thought I had figured out, but clearly I have not. For reference, I am using the double barrel Lot-O.
The first batch of rocks I did in my Lot-O honestly turned out great! However, multiple batches since then have not turned out nearly as good... I believe I had narrowed it down to something going poorly in step 2 (120/220 grit). I was thinking that I had been putting too much water in this step, and that it was hindering the rolling action, causing small pits in the rocks. It honestly wasn't really noticeable at this stage, so I would move them on to step 3, which I use ingawh 's technique for. I've always been happy with the polish itself, but the pits have been the main issue.
Yesterday I put a new batch in the Lot-O, and it seems as though I didn't put enough water. The weather has been all over the place, and it does seem to affect things (ie our tap water comes out cold, and I'm sure that the humidity is affected as well). I did try to empty as much water as I could from the Lot-O before starting it, but the rocks were still wet. I occasionally checked them and added a few sprays of water to them when needed.
However, today, I took a piece out to check to see if it was having any issues still. You can see in this video that its quite rough (noticeable where the light hits the slightly wet bits). The rocks in this batch are now noticeably less smooth than when I put them in 120/220. I would think that this would be from the slurry becoming a bit too dry, but this has been a consistent issue, no matter how I've done the slurry.
So, another consistent issue that I have regularly been noticing, was the movement speed of this tumbler. I regularly check back on Michigan Rocks's video here to make sure that I am doing the steps correctly, and I notice that his Lot-O seems to roll the rocks MUCH faster than mine. Even if I take out rocks and have it less full, it never really runs as well as his does (maybe rarely). As I have the double barrel Lot-O, I typically run a load of ceramic media in the other side, with a bit of water. This has worked fine in the past, and whenever I check the ceramic media side, it is rolling fast similar to the speed of movement in that video. However, today I checked it and well, I really have never seen it running this slow.
It does also seem as though both sides want to move towards the left as well, instead of rolling forward like they should be. I'm unsure that it is as loud and/or vibrating as much as it used to. I do have the Lot-O properly mounted, as per the instructions state to do. I did have the tumbler off for quite some time, and it may have gotten a bit dusty as well. I took a air compression canister to the motor and cleaned it out, but that unfortunately seems to have done nothing. Again, this has been an issue most of the time that I've had this tumbler (a few months now I believe), but it seems to have gotten noticeably worse recently.
Does anyone have any ideas of what I could do to fix this?? I'm honestly lost and a bit bummed out by it ahaha, I really want to be able to get this thing to work properly for me like the first batch.. dang beginner's luck lol.
Thanks so much for reading through, let me know if I can explain anything better or in more detail! Also please let me know if the links don't work properly. Hope you all are doin' well <3
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jimmie
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2021
Posts: 233
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Post by jimmie on Dec 15, 2021 14:09:29 GMT -5
Not sure what’s going on with yours. But a little insight to what I did might help. My lot-o never went as fast as Michigan rocks, until I messed with the dowel. After busting the glue loose and adjusting, while running. It works a whole lot better. As to the dust and dirt, if that was the case mine wouldn’t be working. Check your counter balances too, they could be off. It does take some use to dial it in, when you do , it’s heaven.
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catskillrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,270
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Post by catskillrocks on Dec 15, 2021 14:11:35 GMT -5
Hi krissykitty , sorry that you're having trouble with your Lot-O. One of the first things I would check is to make sure that the weights on the white fan from the motor are both located in exactly the same spot. The other things I would check would be to see if there are any cracks in the weld of the frame; is the dowel like piece on the bottom still glued in place; are the metal spring strips broken, still in place. Hope I explained this OK and hope it helps.
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ingawh
starting to spend too much on rocks
The rock wants to shine, I just help it get there
Member since February 2011
Posts: 194
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Post by ingawh on Dec 15, 2021 18:44:11 GMT -5
I second the advice of in the posts above - check that your weights are correctly aligned, and then adjust the dowel, if needed. (I'm afraid I wasn't able to see your videos - not sure if the platform has issues at the moment - so I couldn't glean any other possible clues from visuals.) Best wishes
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krissykitty
starting to shine!
Member since May 2021
Posts: 25
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Post by krissykitty on Dec 16, 2021 14:02:37 GMT -5
Lastly, I did find this post where Rob shows the measurement of the dowel placement on his Lot-o. Granted, I believe he has the single Lot-o, so there may be some differences, but my dowel is at 3 inches instead of 3.5 like his. Do you think moving mine back to 3.5 inches would help to get a similar speed to his (as well as fixing the weights of course)? jimmie Was your dowel ever unparalleled to the base (diagonal), or was it simply not in the best spot, perhaps similar to how mine is?
As for the videos not working, ingawh, it may have been the platform - I had a friend check and it worked for them. Were you able to view the pictures but not the videos?
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Brian on Dec 16, 2021 15:15:36 GMT -5
My single barrel Lot-O struggled with 120/220 SiC using the common recipes. Anytime I use 2 tablespoons of grit, it bogs down regardless of the amount of water. Now I only use 1 tablespoon of 120/220 and things seem to keep moving much better. I typically run it for 24 hours and then repeat the same stage with new grit. That seems to work for my Lot-O. I have yet to adjust the dowel because I was trying to dial in the grit first. Mine is also very sensitive to having too many larger rocks. A few are okay, but there seems to be a point where one more really slows down the movement. If it is already up and running, I try pulling one or two of the larger stones and see if that changes things. If it does, I just add a few more ceramics to make up for the removed rocks. I’d also recommended looking up Rockindad’s post on adjusting his Lot-O. When I have a chance, I’m going to play around with the dowel and see if I can get mine to move the rocks faster. One last thing. My weights had a tendency to move around when I first got it. I used a marker to mark a line on top of each fan so I can quickly check it each time I turn it on. I marked the top of the fan so that when the weight settles on the bottom I can easily see if the lines are still aligned. It has worked well.
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brybry
Cave Dweller
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Member since October 2021
Posts: 1,199
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Post by brybry on Dec 16, 2021 16:17:19 GMT -5
Lastly, I did find this post where Rob shows the measurement of the dowel placement on his Lot-o. Granted, I believe he has the single Lot-o, so there may be some differences, but my dowel is at 3 inches instead of 3.5 like his. Do you think moving mine back to 3.5 inches would help to get a similar speed to his (as well as fixing the weights of course)? jimmie Was your dowel ever unparalleled to the base (diagonal), or was it simply not in the best spot, perhaps similar to how mine is?
As for the videos not working, ingawh, it may have been the platform - I had a friend check and it worked for them. Were you able to view the pictures but not the videos?
As a fiddly kind of guy, I highly recommend trying one thing at a time. Adjust the weights and try a run before you move the dowel. Doing/moving too many things at one time can easily make it worse and can be more difficult to get back right.
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catskillrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,270
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Post by catskillrocks on Dec 16, 2021 16:19:19 GMT -5
krissykitty , to change/align the weights, the white fans can be rotated by hand quite easily. With one weight known, rotate the other so that it lines up with the known one.
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ingawh
starting to spend too much on rocks
The rock wants to shine, I just help it get there
Member since February 2011
Posts: 194
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Post by ingawh on Dec 16, 2021 21:21:20 GMT -5
krissykitty , to change/align the weights, the white fans can be rotated by hand quite easily. With one weight known, rotate the other so that it lines up with the known one. Agreed, but I will also note that the first time I tried this, it actually was a little difficult to force a fan to rotate so as to align - enough that I worried I was going to break it. But it finally did move, and didn't break. You just have to "man-handle" it a bit.
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