Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,426
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Post by Wooferhound on Jan 12, 2021 16:30:47 GMT -5
I finally took some pictures of my best tumbling rocks of the last 4 years. Most are from around here in North Alabama. There's also some rocks from the Traveling Rock Box a few years ago. Some from China purchased at Family Dollar store. And a few from anywhere else I've been.
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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 Jan 11, 2021 13:14:34 GMT -5
This time of year always makes me wish we could do our own mega-contest but the WTC kind of dominates the entire year as rotary tumbling goes. I have always respected the WTC and don't want our members to have to chose loyalties ... thoughts? Opinions?
If we did a contest, it would be reasonable to start it in July and award it in June .
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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 Jan 11, 2021 12:06:49 GMT -5
What a fun time that must've been...and remembering certain rocks you'd probably forgotten about! You mentioned a "stepping stone" project...I'm curious. Can you (would you) elaborate on that? The bowls with the Good Rocks are hypnotizing me. I'll post pictures of them soon.
My rocks sorted into colors are shades of White, Brown, Grey and Black with a few colors, so I'm a little limited to these Earthy tones but I can make it work. Thinking about making stepping stones with Space themes: a Solar System, Comet or Planets. My girlfriends Son has recently had a baby girl, was thinking about doing yearly Hand Prints in the cement surrounded by stones, trinkets and small toys.
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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 Jan 9, 2021 21:45:20 GMT -5
So I've been a member on this forum and have been tumbling rocks now for exactly 4 years. It has always been a fun hobby and there has not been any desire to show off my finished rocks. The process has always been the same... - Spend 6 to 8 weeks polishing a batch of rocks - Rinse and dry them in the kitchen - Admire them half a day going in & out of the kitchen - Pack them Away in a bag/box/tin/jar/tupperware - Start next batch Today I dug out all the rocks from the far reaches of the house and pulled them together in one place to get sorted out. this is surely over 60 pounds of polished rocks.These have not been seen since the day they were finished. The main reason I wanted to do this is to split the Great Stuff from the plain stuff. I'm always mentioning the fact that I polish rocks but haven't had any good examples handy to show off. Also wanted to separate the Plain remaining rocks into similar colors so I can make some artistic Stepping Stones later this year During the sorting I also removed anything that had too many flaws. That stuff will be given to a friend that has been asking for any of my leftover rocks. There was also a considerable amount of glass that I'll go through tomorrow The pile of Great Rocks was actually Great. It was only about 10% of the total material that ended up in the Happy Bowls of good stuff. A lot of stuff was landscaping rocks that I got from the Family Dollar store years ago for about $1 a pound. I want to keep all these rocks and it will be difficult to get me to let go of any of it.
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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 Jan 9, 2021 9:03:55 GMT -5
regarding Cameras and Lenses
- Size Matters -
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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 Jan 8, 2021 8:59:49 GMT -5
Sounds like an electrical problem to me too. Make sure you are getting Good Steady voltage to your tumbler. It is a New tumbler and National Geographic are the worst tumblers that we hear about here, so you may need to investigate and fix it yourself. Is it working without the barrel, Do the rods spin freely, is the belt too loose/tight, are the bearings oiled, is the motor getting hot, does it work with different speed settings. Tumblers are very simple machines and usually easy to fix.
The fix that I recommend is a Lortone 3A tumbler.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,426
|
Post by Wooferhound on Jan 7, 2021 16:48:31 GMT -5
Is it a Rotatory or a Vibratory ? My tumbler does not have any lights ?
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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 Jan 4, 2021 8:33:31 GMT -5
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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 Dec 28, 2020 6:29:17 GMT -5
The Crevasses and Concave areas did not do very well. I suggest adding more Smalls to the mix to get these detailed areas polished better. the final polish stage is the tricky part. I ended up . . .
- Fill the barrel fuller than all than all the other stages, more than 3/4 full - Use half rocks and half plastic beads - Use Aluminum Oxide (AO) very fine grade higher than 10000 Grit - Roll it for at least a week, I've checked after 3 days and had really good results at that time
You are getting close !
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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 Dec 16, 2020 7:38:49 GMT -5
Is the motor turning ? Where is the belt slipping at ? My 3A machine will spin the driveshaft fine but the barrel slips sometimes and won't get started. I had to tilt the machine toward the driveshaft so most of the weight of the barrel was pushing down on it. I don't think the machine has enough Belt Adjustment, so I took a drill and modified my machine to move the motor more for a tighter belt. Here is the Thread . . .
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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 Dec 15, 2020 10:32:19 GMT -5
Don't worry about the weight. You may have a 3 Pound or a 6 Pound tumbler but this is just the size of the machine, it is Not a requirement when you fill it. Fill your barrel up to 2/3 or 3/4 full so it works properly and do not worry about the weight. Scales are not needed for rock tumbling, but they do help out a bit.
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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 Dec 2, 2020 18:25:09 GMT -5
I was a guest on an early morning show with Jamie Cooper and Gary Dobbs in Huntsville Alabama. This was recorded from cable TV on slow speed VHS tape sometime around 1985 with commercials and all. The show featured Odd Jobs and I was climbing TV Towers to change the lightbulbs. Very interesting show with lots of old Studio Shots.
I was 27 years old then , I'm 63 now . . .
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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 Nov 5, 2020 13:45:20 GMT -5
Jamesp suggests to add Sugar to the polish stage so it will desolve during cleanout.
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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 Nov 5, 2020 12:51:01 GMT -5
When I fill my Polish Barrels , I over fill them compared to all the other steps , about 8/10 or 9/10 full, not much airspace. Will use Plastic beads as filler to make this happen. This has produced great results in both the 3 & 6 pound barrel sizes.
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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 Nov 1, 2020 0:01:38 GMT -5
Well you are going to grind rocks into a powder which is rather dirty anyway , so how could the water make any difference ?
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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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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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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,426
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Post by Wooferhound on Sept 25, 2020 8:42:59 GMT -5
There should not be any kind of sparking on your tumbler. Is anything rubbing on the barrel that could be causing the static? Are you using water in the barrel?
It is not the motor voltage, that is too small and any arc would be very exciting.
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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 Sept 21, 2020 11:59:29 GMT -5
Always keep telling myself , "I can Stop anytime I Want Too".
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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 Sept 5, 2020 12:42:51 GMT -5
I like Raw Silicon Carbide much better than Over Cooked
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