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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 16, 2018 11:51:32 GMT -5
Ceramics will work well. A mixture of sizes work best. Gravel works well in better vibes. If power is limited, ceramics are lighter weight. I have never heard of not using ceramics with silicon carbide. They won't embed with silicon carbide. A more expensive but harder material is porcelain polishing pins, used mostly for metal finishing applications. Have to be white, non-abrasive.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 7, 2018 14:49:58 GMT -5
Auto parts or automotive paint stores will have wet/dry sand paper to pretty fine (like 2000 or finer). Sanding sponges don't say what grit but since they are for drywall I would guess something like 60-100 and 220. The sander strips for drywall are 60 I think. Whatever you use, use it WET. You don't want to breath rock dust. I have not seen your rocks but would bet they are not worth your life.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 6, 2018 11:37:12 GMT -5
As new equipment prices increase, guess which direction used prices go? I stumble on amazing deals at yard sales sometimes. Have to have a seller without a clue though.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 6, 2018 11:33:18 GMT -5
Yes, 3/4 full and 3 tbs. grit.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 5, 2018 18:48:41 GMT -5
The barrels get warm and the motors generate heat. In an enclosed room you might have motor issues.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 5, 2018 18:45:38 GMT -5
I learned using a $5 book but that was a long time ago. I used the book's instructions and had good results. I talked to many people that were tumbling successfully. Each one had some variation they used with good results. I tried the things that sounded reasonable and soon had my own variation. If you love reading books and can afford it it would likely give you a good start. Or, read the basic instructions on the home page here for free. The same book I used was still $5 when I sold books. I always told people to follow the directions until they had several successful batches. Then try other tips to see what worked best for them. I never tried anybody's method without some degree of success. It is not rocket science. You are only speeding up what rivers take hundreds of years to accomplish. Some variations work faster, some use less grit.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 5, 2018 12:07:50 GMT -5
Neosint wheels were a Reentel product (manufacturer of CabKing). They bought Inland last year so dropped Neosint line and sellin the Inland sintered (Neosit was a Chinese made less expensive copy of Inland).
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 5, 2018 12:02:50 GMT -5
You could open a PayPal account if you have a bank account. A lot of sites take PayPal.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 5, 2018 12:01:20 GMT -5
If he is cash only, websites won't be an option. Except for information.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 4, 2018 18:09:36 GMT -5
If no lapidary suppliers, try metal finishing suppliers or blasting media, etc. Shipping would be painful to Canada from Kingsley North or Rock Shed.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 4, 2018 11:55:20 GMT -5
Was she asking about dry media or tumblers for dry media? The original Vibra Dry was a dry media you needed to add polish to. DP uses I'm guessing diamond powder and some kind of magic oil as the grit ranges are from 600 through 100,000 and stones feel oily after.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 4, 2018 11:50:58 GMT -5
Terminology is confusing because the tumbler manufacturers often call the fine grit (step 3) "pre polish". Most tumbler users say coarse, medium, fine grit. Polish last. Burnishing before polish and after. If a hard to polish stone a pre polish run in a fine alumina (1000 or finer) or powdered tripoli helps before polish. The grit kits with tumblers are usually a teaser. The coarse grit will never be enough. You need to run 7-10 days in coarse (maybe sufficient if your tumbler is high speed). Then after washing and inspecting the rocks you may need to either repeat or separate the rocks ready to move on from the ones that need more. Add more rock to keep level around 3/4 full. When you have enough rock for step 2 run for 7-10 days. Wash well before fine grit. You can adjust duration based on your tumbler speed. I an tell you from talking to customers for many years the biggest problem is letting barrel level reduce during process. Picture the rocks rolling in the drum with barrel 3/4 full. If load reduces in coarse and medium to half full by the time you get to polish the stones roll to top and then drop hitting the stones below. You end up with hazy, battered rocks. Another cause of bad polish is not running previous steps long enough. You should be seeing some kind of satin sheen after the fine grit if the rocks will polish. If you try to polish scratched rocks you will just make the scratches show more. A good polish for barrel tumblers is aluminum oxide in the 3-4 micron range. I second the recommendation for the Rock Shed.
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 3, 2018 12:08:04 GMT -5
It is called Vibra Dry and I used it a lot in the past. Works very well. A neighboring dealer at a show told me about it. She cabbed and set cabs in silver. All kinds of stones and everything had the wet look finish, She cabbed and sanded on her cab machine to 400 grit. Then 24 hours in Mini Sonic vibe for each step of Vibra Dry from 600 through 50,000 or 25,000 (can't remember). If the jewelry didn't sell before the sterling tarnished she put the finished pieces back in 25000 for several hours to polish the tarnish away. I used the 5000 for final polish on cabs but saw no difference with 50,000 (maybe with loupe I would). My wife made nice beaded jewelry with sterling findings. We ran the finished pieces to remove tarnish and the beads always looked nicer afterwards. It is a weird mixture of something a little like wild bird feed and the little pieces get caught in chain links etc. Removed tarnish but left any antiquing. It is reusable so cost effective if you use it enough. Need to clean hopper between steps. Some people buy designated hoppers.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 30, 2018 10:51:24 GMT -5
I have heard of several sphere launches with high speed HP unit so be careful.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 29, 2018 17:37:28 GMT -5
Diamond Pacific is recommending 80, 220 Galaxy then backing up to 140 Nova and then on through the normal 280, 600, 1200, 3000 sequence. Something about micro fractures caused by using the hard wheels but my fuzzy brain didn't store the details.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 29, 2018 17:31:17 GMT -5
In tile blades the continuous rim would be most common.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 29, 2018 17:27:54 GMT -5
If a HP sphere machine he does use cups that look like core drills but guessing he has them made for hard rock. He started out cutting and selling spheres at club shows in Texas. He always bragged on his high speed sphere machine. He started selling the cups at the shows and later machines and now of course the HP copies and Lortone knock offs.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 29, 2018 11:54:04 GMT -5
By the way, this club super grinder on the only 10" Poly I ever saw was so noisy they mounted it on a pedestal and had to use it outside the shop in the area where they had their slab saws.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 29, 2018 11:50:36 GMT -5
I sold a lot of 7" tile blades (I mean several boxes of 50 each) that came off Home Depot return saws. A lot of people used computer discs between as spacers for these continuous rim blades. Our old club in Yucaipa built a 10" super grinder using 10" economy tile blades for sphere preforming. I visited 3 years later and blades still appeared in good shape and not noticeably worn after 3 years of abusive club workshop use. I would stack as many as will fit on shaft. Nobody (except rock carvers) ever say " I wish my grinding wheel was not so wide". Don't worry about weight difference. The drum is pretty heavy too.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 27, 2018 11:31:27 GMT -5
Vibra Dry is a Diamond Pacific product. I use Tide detergent for burnishig but did find soft stone polish dulled with burnishing. The Vibra Dry works very well and is a reusable product so cost decreases with use.
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