Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Jun 12, 2019 18:54:32 GMT -5
Be Bold . . . Use #30 grit ...
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Jun 3, 2019 13:15:20 GMT -5
Same thing again here . . .
Sounds like too much water to me.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Jun 1, 2019 23:40:08 GMT -5
Which side is "the bottom" when it's rolling on the tumbler ?
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on May 4, 2019 16:46:17 GMT -5
If you want to find oversized washers, then search for "Fender Washers". Never saw a big washer on a guitar tho .
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 25, 2019 13:07:15 GMT -5
I have used AO-80 for stage 1 before. It works OK but it is slower than SiC.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 25, 2019 9:44:36 GMT -5
When I tumble Rocks using the low water method, I am looking for slurry like this when the barrel is opened. There are a few raindrop craters in there.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 25, 2019 9:20:53 GMT -5
Yesterday was Cleanout day and I took pictures from the barrel that was loaded 3/4 full and water up to half the height of the rocks for the stage 1 tumble.
This is how the countertop material looked after I broke it up with a chisel and is what was loaded into the barrel
When the 6 pound barrel was opened I was surprised that the water was foamed up to the top
Dumped the countertop material into the colander and the slurry was thinner than I am used to when tumbling rocks with this method. It had been running for 7 days with 3/4 cup 30 grit SiC
Rounded off fairly good and reduced a lot from the start last week
Here is the material placed back in the tumbler after it was washed off. You can see that the barrel is only half full now, when last week it started out at 3/4 full, or as high as the drying-line near the top
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 21, 2019 19:41:33 GMT -5
All right Wooferhound . I've got all Stage1 coming up in the next couple days. I am going to give it a shot! I am using 46/70 SiC now. I am excited to see what kinds of results I can get. Thank you! Make sure there is some room for the rock to Slide Downhill while it's rolling.
And I have a 6 pound Stage 1 barrel rolling that was started Wednesday using the method I described. Using some Counter Top material this time, so I'm not sure what to expect. Pretty sure it's manmade stuff. Even have a 'before' picture of that batch.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 21, 2019 18:31:42 GMT -5
Just to throw this out there - some of us keep adding grit every few days throughout a tumble, adding sharp SiC to that which is broken down. There are no hard and fast rules on that, you test the waters, learn as you go. Thank you. I have a question rockpickerforever . Do you believe that by combining additional new SiC grit with the amount that is already there would ultimately cushion the load too much? Thus retarding the shaping and reduction of a load? Also I wonder about the 3/4 full comment from others above. I have found that even going slightly above 3/4 full barrel will cut shaping and reduction almost in half for a week of Stage1 in the barrel. Obviously this is rock hardness dependent, but I've found the sweet spot to be ideally somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 full. Whatever that fraction might be ( 17/24's or so ). Then again I haven't been tumbling very long now. I appreciate your input.
The key is, 3/4 full of rocks -and- water at half the height of the rocks. This will reduce the rocks into slurry very quickly. the barrel will not be 3/4 full after a week.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 21, 2019 11:15:49 GMT -5
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 21, 2019 8:57:27 GMT -5
Sounds like you could speed up your Stage 1 a little bit too. Fill the barrel 3/4 full, Use 80 grit for a 3 pound and 30 grit for a 6 pound tumbler. Fill the barrel with water to half the height of the rocks, you may not be able to see the water at all under the stones. This will make thick slurry quickly, so listen occasionally and make sure things are rolling properly.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 21, 2019 7:53:13 GMT -5
Shiny Barrels will slip. Use Sandpaper to rough-up the surface some.
And don't forget to oil the bearings at the ends of the rollers . . .
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 21, 2019 7:22:29 GMT -5
When Grit is purchased it has been screened so all the particles are about the same size. As soon as you put it in the tumbler, the rocks crushing the grit will break it down. This action is Not Consistent, some of the grit will remain unchanged and some of it will become extremely fine. Not to mention that the grit also breaks down the rock and you are accumulating more fine grit created from that process as the slurry gets thicker. What you end up with is a Huge Range of grit & rock particles that does not correspond to a defined grit size anymore. You would need to dry out your used slurry, break up the clumps and screen the material yourself to get the Real Answer, and then that would be variable depending on your loads.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 21, 2019 6:58:17 GMT -5
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 19, 2019 16:56:18 GMT -5
Planning on doing One More Batch before taking a Real Break.
I've gotten access to about 50 'Sink Cutouts' from Countertop Material.
Yesterday I Chiseled this stuff up into small enough pieces to tumble and got it started.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 19, 2019 7:36:32 GMT -5
I have been tumbling two 6 pound barrels for a coupla years now. Never wrote anything down, and only once, did I ever lose track of what was going on in each barrel. Wasn't a big deal at the time, one barrel was Stage 3, other barrel was AO-1000 prepolish. Couldn't remember which was which ?
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 13, 2019 9:18:42 GMT -5
Too Cool ! ! Thanks Guys . . .
I had a great time last night running spotlight for a local production by Community Ballet of Romeo & Juliet
Stopped by a brewery for my own little party at home
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 9, 2019 10:59:50 GMT -5
I did a long needed Cleanout today of the two 6 pound barrels. Did a little checking and it looks like this stuff has been rolling for 9 weeks straight. One barrel in SiC 600, these rocks had a slightly glossy sheen on them. The other barrel was AO 1000 prepolish, I meant to pull a couple of samples from that batch to see if they had shined up but I forgot.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 9, 2019 8:41:45 GMT -5
I think that you need Different Sizes of material in the tumbler with the beads. If everything is the same size there will be rotating resonances that will put the material in a repeating motion that will deform some of the beads.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,423
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 6, 2019 6:52:55 GMT -5
Maybe it's time to step away for a bit? If it us starting to feel like a chore or obligation you will resent it and may never want to get back into it. Any other lapidary pursuit interest you? Al I will get-it-together and finish these 2 barrels next week. Then I have several varieties stone countertop material I really want to try. I have been working Overtime at my real job and it's really pushing tumbling off the priority list. Plus, I have about 10 hobbies and tumbling will eventually work it's way back into the rotation.
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