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Post by rmf on Dec 16, 2020 6:28:23 GMT -5
stewdogg what kind of agate is your image. In the olden days my favorite place to be was Burnie's Rock Shop in Madison. I think he was on Monroe street at that time.
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Post by rmf on Dec 16, 2020 6:23:17 GMT -5
the 33b only has one drive shaft. the belts expand over time and sometimes need to be tightened. there are 3 cap nuts that hold the motor which allow the motor to move away from the drive shaft. Tighten the belt by moving the motor. make sure the bearings have a touch of oil. the other thing is that the old drums are smooth and they use to get polished by riding on the drive shaft. In the old days before they put a pattern on the outside of the drum you had to rough up the outside with very coarse (30 grit) sand paper
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Post by rmf on Dec 16, 2020 6:17:32 GMT -5
looks like you found what is left of a geode. nice! quartz capped with fine white agate surrounded by rhyolite or basalt
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Post by rmf on Dec 16, 2020 6:13:49 GMT -5
That C8 from HP looks good. I had not seen that. Can anyone tell me the difference between the Baltic abrasives soft rez diamond wheels and the premium soft rez diamond wheels?
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Post by rmf on Dec 15, 2020 14:57:06 GMT -5
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Post by rmf on Dec 15, 2020 14:52:09 GMT -5
looks like unobtainium
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Post by rmf on Dec 15, 2020 7:52:16 GMT -5
@rouckhoundmn said, "2. Is there an average size of rock that should make up the load? Like 1", 1/2", 1/4", 1/8" or something else?"
Use a mix of sizes for best results. Things less that 1/4" become too small I don't tumble them. when you crack a rock up uses all the sizes in the ratio provided by the hammer. The largest you want finished add 25% larger in rough since you will loose about 25% of the rock you put in in mud.
Bearing lube should be as needed not after each load. tumbler design will dictate
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Post by rmf on Dec 15, 2020 7:42:33 GMT -5
Calcite (CaCO3) and Muratic (HCl) => CaCl + H20 + CO2 Ideally. there is always Cl2 that escapes which is corrosive and can burn lungs. Use outside only.
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Post by rmf on Dec 14, 2020 14:05:35 GMT -5
looks like La Junta Rose agate
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Post by rmf on Dec 14, 2020 14:04:44 GMT -5
If you make your own sintered diamond wheels, are you self sintered?
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Post by rmf on Dec 13, 2020 21:57:30 GMT -5
Start rounded rocks at 220. If they are well rounded like rocks from Brookwood AL that will work great.
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Post by rmf on Dec 13, 2020 21:50:35 GMT -5
@ponotocrocker I have hunted at Booneville and been in your area hunting fossils. do you hunt anything in particular?
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Post by rmf on Dec 13, 2020 11:10:38 GMT -5
I went back to rotary tumbling for coarse grit and rough tumbling after I learned that Vibe tumblers SUCK!! at doing coarse grit and stones with a lot of sharp edges. Vibs are great once the stones have been rounded a little in coarse in a rotary say maybe a week or so. Also the vib I had purchased wore through the tub in 6 loads when doing coarse, medium and fine (46/7, 220, 600). By tumbling in rotary I was able to extend the life of the tubs which were expensive.
the sharp edges tend to lock together and prevent tumbling in a vib where if they are slightly rounded they slip by. If you are trying to keep the terminations on the quartz and the crystal shape try vib at 220 instead of coarse .
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Post by rmf on Dec 13, 2020 10:59:00 GMT -5
In high school wood shop I built a tumbler. I used 1x1" oak for long supports with a length long enough to accommodate either 4 - Lortone 3# barrels or two 12# barrels. I have a solid oak end and a center solid support that were more or less 1" thick and 8" wide by 6" tall. I used 1/2" rod for rollers, a sprocket on both rods on one end with a short bicycle chain so both rollers rolled, a 1/4HP motor, a large pulley to give me 30 rpm, a 1" pulley. Bearings were 1" water pipe with Babbitt poured in side and centered drilled for the rod. Bearings were held in place with a 1x1" oak yoke that had a cut out for the water pipe and a matching cutout on each of the 3 end and center supports. these bearing yokes were tightened with long bolts drilled through the end supports. Bearings had a small hole drilled to drip oil. It ran for over 20 years before it was sold. All measurements are approximate since it has been nearly 50 years.
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Post by rmf on Dec 13, 2020 10:43:24 GMT -5
Image one is bloodstone, Image 4 is a nice thick tigereye, Image 2 is not good enough, Image 3 is Tigeriron in front (maybe a slab of tigereye on right) and leopardskin in back.
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Post by rmf on Dec 13, 2020 10:38:37 GMT -5
Mel something that rockjunquie said made me think to tell you the Nova wheels have a black under layer that is under the diamond layer. If you see that the diamond is gone. Galaxy wheels are the same way with metal under the diamond crust. I have been too cheap to try sintered wheels. I have tried a turbin wheel but it was suppose to be designed to expose more diamond as it wore. I found it slowed down after 100 agate cabs. The best performance in a galaxy wheel is 80 grit hex. rockjunquie Try taking agates and jasper to 3000 then go to Tin Oxide ( I use 1lb of Tin with 3table spoons of Linde A) both are about 100,000 grit. This is faster than Novas all the way. I have also found that 8000 finishes Lapis better than anything else I have tried.
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Post by rmf on Dec 12, 2020 23:26:05 GMT -5
I think the image.heic is a Apple only image format. check your phone and use the image.jpg file.
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Post by rmf on Dec 12, 2020 23:21:47 GMT -5
looks like mica on quartz. maybe granite
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Post by rmf on Dec 12, 2020 23:20:44 GMT -5
I have never needed to break in my metal bonded wheels. I coarse grind with 80 grit diamond and then go to 220. The Nova wheels have diamond in a plastic and they require the break in time. the plastic which holds the diamonds has points that dig into soft stones even agates. I use a knife from good will and take the back edge and hold it perpendicular to the wheel and gently knock off the high points. Then I start with the agates as stated above. the finer the grit the longer it takes me to break in. I use 80 & 200 Galaxy wheels followed by 220, 280, 600, 1200, 3000, 8000 Nova Wheels. the 220 galaxy leaves hard scratches and the 220 Nova leaves a better finish and I have less to do on the 289 grit.
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Post by rmf on Dec 12, 2020 10:06:38 GMT -5
goldfinder Though it is possible it is not recommended. The Lortone unit is designed for oil. on the other end it is for water but to keep the rust down you need to clean it out after each use. using water may damage the saw tank over time and you should use a stainless diamond blade. I would use oil in the Lortone and there are other manufacturers that make plastic or aluminum saw housings that would be better suited for water. keep in mind your mileage may vary.
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