tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 15, 2017 18:05:33 GMT -5
I hear you Ziggy. That is why we are amateur photographers. We try to capture every experience so that we can "go back" often. Looking at my red jasper takes me there too. Taker care of yourselves. The right opportunity will come along.
Dale
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 13, 2017 22:18:01 GMT -5
Beautiful cab!!
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 13, 2017 19:32:17 GMT -5
Agates never fail to make me smile. Thanks for sharing your photos!
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 13, 2017 18:17:27 GMT -5
Zebra jasper! Yahoo. Thanks. I agree that the bottom of the canyon is the way to see Bryce. And probably the top is the way to see Zion. We did a little descending and ascending at each park, but the altitude, our 60-ishness, and only a day at each park limited us a bit. Hubby had visions of Angel's landing at Zion but that went by the wayside once we saw the vastness of the park, and what that climb would entail. I did go part way down into Bryce, and it was magical. Looking up at the Hoodoo's was enchanting. Our next trip will be longer to allow us more time to take the whole hike at a pace that won't kill us. It's not the going down, it's the coming back up that is tough. We have to schedule a redo of Grand Canyon as well, since the day we allotted to go to the north rim was a total washout, with dense fog to top it off. But we are quite sure that there really was a big canyon out there somewhere....
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 13, 2017 13:05:30 GMT -5
Thanks everybody for your kind comments and guidance on how to get the photo to show up. I did cut all of the cabs myself from slabs or, in the case of the two on the upper left, from rocks I collected. Those two are my sentimental favorites.
The red jasper came from "almost Agate Hill" in Utah, on our way to Bryce back in September. Our rental car wasn't up to the whole 2.5 miles on a dirt path so we just stopped a mile short, and collected about 20 lbs on the side of the road before turning back. While there, we scared and laughed ourselves silly over the giant hoof marks we saw passing through, figuring we were about to be trampled to death by elks or brahma bulls, or maybe Bigfoot. Never let a city slicker venture off the pavement! The memories that stone evokes are cherished ones. (and Utah is breathtaking if you have never been there.)
The stone next to it is agatized coral that I collected on the causeway to Honeymoon island near Clearwater. Or it could have been Ballast point in Tampa. They all got mixed into the same bucket. But again, nice memories attached. A few people had asked what I was looking for, so I explained and showed them some examples, then continued along in the "stoop" position. A few minutes later, there was a small parade of people searching and bringing their finds to me for identification. Fun day!
Does anyone know what the black and white striped stone is in the bottom row?
Rich, what do you mean "nice scenic"? Is that the name of one the stones?
Thanks again, all.
Dale
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 12, 2017 22:01:04 GMT -5
Thanks, Rich. I would like to figure out how people get their photos to show up in the past rather than just a link. Hopefully someone who knows will chime in.
Dale
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 12, 2017 21:29:25 GMT -5
flic.kr/p/QASBys
Trying to post a photo of my first tumble. Hopefully this works.
I am delighted with the results and learned a lot through the kind guidance of forum members. Thank you all.
Dale
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 12, 2017 21:21:25 GMT -5
That explains a lot. I have a flickr account. Will do as you recommended, Thanks, Rob!
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 12, 2017 21:00:48 GMT -5
Can you provide steps for how you did it? I am not having any success.
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 12, 2017 20:53:09 GMT -5
OK, I have reduced the stinking photo down to about 40KB and it still claims my file is too large. What am I doing wrong?
Can anyone tell me what I need to do to fix?
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 10, 2017 21:08:43 GMT -5
Just a quick update to let you all know that I am finally seeing some pretty good shine after settling down and waiting for the tumbler to do its job. It's not a wet shine, but a decent shine on the agate and jasper. Not so much on the rose quartz, and the mahogany obsidian and a few other rocks, but at least some are doing quite well. I am especially pleased that two of the shiny cabs were not purchased rocks. One is from an agatized coral piece that I picked up on the causeway to Honeymoon Island in Clearwater, and the other, a piece of Jasper that we picked up in Utah trying to find our way to Agate Hill on our way to Bryce. Rental car refused to let us get all the way there, but the fun we had picking up rocks on the side of the dirt path, while scaring ourselves silly that an Elk herd was probably going to stampede us to death at any moment, makes me cherish that red rock with the baby blue speckles. It's not just pretty, it's one of my most treasured souvenirs.
Thanks, everybody for your advice and encouragement. Do I wait for wet shine out of the pre-polish, or do I move on to the final polish for that to happen?
Dale
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 8, 2017 18:22:13 GMT -5
Yeah, Ken, I figured I had read everything there was to read and was fully prepared. Nope! Butt kicked.....
Thanks,
Dale
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 8, 2017 16:56:04 GMT -5
Thanks, everybody, for your words of encouragement and pointers. I did decide to step away from the tumbler with hands raised for a while, and just let it do its thing. I think I may have used too much 500 grit as I keep having to spritz pretty often. I think the climbing may also be happening because the batch is too sticky. So that is a lesson learned for the next batch. I sprayed quite a bit of water, and the climbing has slowed down, and no puddle in the bottom.
My first tumble kept slowing way down for two reasons, first, I had too much water, and also it was loaded just barely up to the blue line. Adding more media, pulling out rocks that weren't keeping up, and dialing in my water to grit ratio really helped keep a good roll going. Now I just need that shine to show up. I'll take a deep breath and let it keep on tumbling for another full day or maybe two.
I guess I was a little over confident when I started out, and now a little overanxious. Ten deep breaths and I'm settled and ready to relax and take it as it comes.
Thanks again!
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 8, 2017 10:07:31 GMT -5
Hi all,
I have to admit, I am getting a little frustrated with tumbling. Maybe I am just too impatient, but it seems I am getting nowhere. All told, I have plenty of time in 220 grit and about 36 hours into my restart of 500 pre polish. I have serious grit coating on my cabs and ceramic filler, ( mostly small ceramic from Rock Shed.) no standing water, and good tumbling movement. (by adding more pre tumbled media to fill the bowl fuller) But the stones don't seem to be looking much different than when I started. And I am now getting ceramic pallets climbing the barrel and trying to escape when I open the lid to check on them. It's getting to be quite a mess. Also, overnight, slurry started caking and drying around the rim.
Is that normal? Too much media? Too much grit? Too little water? It's all fine.. just chill and wait another day or two? Does shine happen suddenly at the end or should I be seeing hints of it as the process goes? So far, nothing.
I could use a little reassurance and some pointers. So far I seem to be doing a lot of monitoring but not seeing any progress. Also having trouble with flat sides sticking to each other even with high ratio of ceramic. Perhaps I am monitoring too much and too anxious for results.
Thanks for any help.
Dale
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 2, 2017 11:25:46 GMT -5
Thanks for the additional info, Ken and all. It's quite clear that I need to spend more time in each grit. I just cleaned out and restarted in 220. Ceramic is smooth now, but I also realized that I had thrown in some very rough agatized coral with my formed cabs, that probably didn't help. They smoothed a lot along with the rest of the batch, but there were still a lot of sharp angled pieces that I have discarded now for the restart.
The other problem is that I have the bowl filled just barely to the blue line. I was expecting the MB to be a much smaller bowl, and struggled to come up with enough volume with confidence in similar hardness. I need to place an urgent order for more filler, pronto!
Will report progress later this week.
Thanks again,
Dale
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 2, 2017 10:46:11 GMT -5
Thanks, Rob. It is probably the best way to go.
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 2, 2017 9:58:36 GMT -5
Hmmmm.... I was not aware that the ceramic pellets needed to be pre-run. That wasn't in any instructions. I guess they are broken in now, eh? I have the Ultra vibe but also used the 'wet rocks only' process that you describe for your Lot-O and it seems to have worked well for both 120-220 and 500 as far as coating the rocks nicely. I do give it a spritz every few hours but not to the level of leaving any liquid in the bottom. And the rocks remain coated after a few seconds. Does that sound right?
I just checked them again today and there doesn't seem to be much improvement. Still very shiny when wet but dull when dried. Should I leave them to run in the existing 500 or rinse and add fresh?
Chuck, I tried to test for hardness on some of the unknown rocks, and I think I have everything between 6-8. Jasper, agate, rose quartz, agatized coral, some serpentine, (I think) and a few unknowns that seemed to pass the scratch test. All appear to have a similar level of appearance and I only took out two that didn't seem to be keeping up with the rest.
Based on the blazing speed of the Lot-O perhaps I should be planning several extra days for the Ultra. Patience is not my strong suit. And I was also trying to beat the clock for results before my extended Christmas vacation ends tomorrow.... I think I set myself up to fail, huh?
The good news is that I have at least gotten comfortable with the running of the tumbler, and achieved rock coverage with the grit. I feel good about that. I think I just need to slow down and let the different levels work until they are done working.
Thanks to both of you for the guidance.
Dale
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 2, 2017 9:06:51 GMT -5
I am using the AO500 that comes in the vibe kit from Rock Shed.
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 1, 2017 15:51:46 GMT -5
Thanks for your response, Chuck. I guess, like many newbs, I need to relax and wait for the process to work. Guess I'll get the flat lap cranked up for a distraction....
I'll try to post results if I get something I am happy with. By the way, Santa got me an extra bowl for polish only.
Thanks again,
Dale
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tropidale
starting to shine!
Member since October 2016
Posts: 46
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Post by tropidale on Jan 1, 2017 13:35:57 GMT -5
Happy New Year everyone, I just got a new vibe for Christmas for the purpose of shining up my cabs more quickly and better than I can do myself. Had only one aborted attempt to get the right action and slurry formed in the first stage so I consider that success. I only did one day in 120-220 since the cabs I put in were mostly shaped and smoothed. Rinsing after 120-220 appears to have gone well. I did the 15 minutes with borax and a little dish soap. Seems to have done its job. I have had the cabs (with ceramic filler) in 500 for almost 24 hours and decided to fish out a few to see how they look. Wet they looked gorgeous and most felt super smooth. But dried off, they are not at all shiny, very dull. (although still very smooth and nicely shaped, no cracks or undercuts) Under magnification I don't see anything obvious like scratches, but then, I have a novice eye. Is dull normal for 500 grit, or should they be pretty shiny before going to polish? I'll leave them in 500 for another day, but would love some advice on how they should look before they go to polish.
Also, should I rinse and add fresh 500 or just keep going with the same?
Sorry to ask what has probably been answered a gazillion times, but so many different instructions have started jumbling together and it is a bit confusing.
Thanks,
Dale
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