julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 30, 2009 17:40:26 GMT -5
Click on the photo and you'll see a short video clip. I built this little dandy after I spent some time in a working opal mine in Lightning ridge. This works well for separating nobbies from kaolinite clay, but it's not so slick for general rock tumbling.
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 30, 2009 17:21:20 GMT -5
I got a really nice milkshake (excess water foam) going on this batch!!! I was able to greatly reduce the water content, after I invented the plywood doors to seal the rim up.
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 30, 2009 17:18:35 GMT -5
Ok This is another video with the plywood "rim" removed. Click on the photo, and it will take you to the link. It takes a little bit for the video to start running. Too big a file I guess...
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 30, 2009 17:07:04 GMT -5
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 30, 2009 17:05:56 GMT -5
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 30, 2009 15:34:49 GMT -5
Hey, can I post a short video on here of my big rock tumbler madness? I also have a cool video of the day we cut up a 410lb block of jade on my 18" slab saw. That was a hotbed of innovations, including Welding grate/visquene for a portable splash shield, and how to push a big rock thru your slab saw using a Handyman Jack and a come-along winch....
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 30, 2009 15:27:23 GMT -5
Hi Randy, I so appreciate your thread here on vibe tumbling.
I guess this is a general question to the Raytech TV-10 users: has anyone had success using the raytech dry polish bowls on their TV-10 ultravibes? These dry polish bowls are 10" diameter but lighter construction, and were sorta designed to work on a TV-5 type base unit. I like the dry-bowls idea as a polish bowl, because they are way less costly, and they dont seem to have the drain tap.
Nancy at Raytech, says that using the wrong bowl will void the warranty, but heck, this thing has been sitting in my garage for years...
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 30, 2009 13:24:30 GMT -5
Howdy all! I cleaned out the vibe today, washed and sorted all the media stones, and removed all sharpies, and stuff that needs more grind. I washed the partly broke down grit, and returned it with a bit of fresh 60-90. The preforms went in at a rate of 5parts smooth fillerstone- to- 1 part 280g preforms. I'll check the preforms every day, and remove them as they seem ready for stage 2 sanding, replacing them with more preforms. Meanwhile, I want to order up an extra ultravibe bowl or two. This one will have to remain a first grind bowl, I dont like the drain spout in the bottom of it anyway. that just seems like a bad idea from the get-go. I have the drain filled with caulking, but that doesn't prevent a bit of the coarse grit from working in down there. LOL
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 29, 2009 22:15:24 GMT -5
Again Thanks for the good input! Hi there Rick! On the subject of girdles, I wasn't overly clear. I just meant that cabs, being somewhat thinner at the "girdle" edges, might loose a lot of material out there, before you got the dome tops and flat bottoms sanded smooth. I am mainly concerned about loosing that good flat bottom for the stone seat..
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 28, 2009 10:15:33 GMT -5
Thanks folks for the input, thus far! Im grinding a batch of mix sized filler so far, and and some practice end-cuts and little slab corners. When those get fairly rounded, I will add some preform cabs, and see how things progress. I started with 60-90 yesterday, and it should take a few days? for that to break down to a finer grit slurry. Is it possible to get all the way to prepolish with a continuous run of the 60-90 as the grit breaks down? Ive been reading postings about doing the finish work in a rotary, for the most part. does anybody work with a series of bowls for each phase and finish out with a vibratory system?
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 27, 2009 15:35:41 GMT -5
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 27, 2009 13:34:31 GMT -5
Hello everbody! I just joined this group this morning, and I am loving all the good input and topic threads.
I want to use my tumble-vibe to polish cab preforms that I generally rough out to 280grit, while babysitting my slab saws. Ive already learned a lot from reading the vibratory tumbling section. I am in the market for a new 10" bowl or two, for my ray-tech tumble-vibe.
Here's my questions:
1. Is this a bad idea, in general? I would be doing nice but not super-valuable cabs, of a variety of agate, jasper, and jasp-agates, all of similar hardness. These cabs would be for use in wire-wrap applications for the most part, I would suppose.
2. There is usually the remnants of a few 120g scratches left on the preforms, even tho I am generally pretty satisfied with the dome geometry and general shape of the cabs. should I start out with 400-600g anyway, or something a little coarser?
3. Ive heard that some folks have super glued cabs back to back to preserve girdle integrity, and prevent undue grinding away of the general shape of the cab. Is this a must-do?
4. Is 1/4" to 1/2" beach agate suitable as a filler for this job? Or should I try to use just the cabs and grit, and work on the proper water content to promote good motion?
5. Any hot tips on where to find additional 10" bowls?
Thanks Everybody! Thomas Clark julie-tom on ebay
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julietom
having dreams about rocks
Member since October 2009
Posts: 57
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Post by julietom on Oct 27, 2009 13:14:39 GMT -5
Hello everbody! I just joined this group this morning, and I am loving all the good input and topic threads. Julie & I have a home-based business, which for the most part involves rockhounding and shopping for good rough here in california, and in Oregon. We have a nice big workshop, with 4 big saws, and a slew of other lapidary equip. Mostly I slab up rough, and sell slabs and faced-off cobbles on Ebay and Dragonsaye Lapidary auction sites. Julie-Tom is our vendor name on both sites. Here is an ebay link: stores.shop.ebay.com/julie-tom__W0QQ_armrsZ1Here is one for Dragonsaye: www.dragonsayeauctions.com/Julie-Thomas-Designs,name,100093,user_id,shop I joined RTH, to begin the process of improving my rock tumbling skills, which to date have been fairly non-impressive. I want to use my tumble-vibe to polish cab preforms that I generally rough out to 280grit, while babysitting my slab saws. Ive already learned a lot from reading the vibratory tumbling section. I am in the market for a new 10" bowl or two, for my ray-tech tumble-vibe. I have one of those 65T barrels from DP which I run on a home-made copy of Diamond Pacific's large commercial tumbler. I decided I needed some walnut shells to help cushion this rough fast acting tumbler, I was beating my rocks to death, or lugging down the machine if i tried to fill the barrel with small beach agates as a filler. (this pushed the barrel weight to around 120 lbs if I remember correctly.) I also have a home-made tumbler made with a 46" x 20" Tire off the front wheels of a large cement mixer truck. The driver shafts for this tumbler are a pair of 30" printer platens, tandem driven by a 1/2hp motor, which ends up turning the Tire at 6rpm-11rpm. I use #10 grit silicon carbide and it really smoothes out a rough rock in a hurry. I have plywood doors on the sides of the tire, to help keep my slurry and the filler rock from flying out during tumbling. This tumbler is inside a sound-proof room triple-walled inside of my back shed. I have the sound muted to the equivalent of a clothes dryer running inside a closed room next door. (about a 50dbm reduction.) for the smaller tumblers, I built a 3ft cube out of Sound-board that drops down over the tumbler. This cube is pully mounted to the ceiling of the garage, so I can quickly get it out of the way during tumbler servicing. It is wonderful to find you folks. OK, Im back off to look at more rockhound finds and photos in that section of the website. Best Regards, Thomas Clark
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