sdefurianni
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2022
Posts: 18
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Post by sdefurianni on Oct 9, 2022 12:15:20 GMT -5
Hello!
Newbie here. Just purchased the National Geographic Platinum Series Rock Tumbler. I put my first batch of stones, grit and water; set it for 6 days at a speed of 1 and let it roll. Three days in I noticed condensation under the hood (uh oh). I paused it and opened the hood to find the barrel covered in slurry and the well under the rollers filled with water and the rollers covered in slurry.
My immediate thought was I didn't tighten the lid enough. It had to be clean because it is its first use. I could not and still cannot open the barrel. The unit is still working ironically.
Before I set the barrel on the rollers I shook it vigorously to be sure the lid was on tight and sealed. I'm totally baffled on how this happened. I'm also disappointed that 3 days into my new hobby and I'm dead-in-the-water.
My husband could not open it either. We immersed it in a pot of hot water and are hoping in 2 hours he can muscle it open.
Can anyone help me? Oil-filter wrench perhaps?
More importantly, did I make a mistake buying this machine? I researched for at least 20 hours before deciding on this model. It's quiet characteristic was on the top of the list since I keep it in the laundry room on main floor of house. I never read any reviews about the barrel leaking and cementing shut.
I've also read the Nat Geo has great customer service and will probably send me a new one when I call them on Monday. Do I want another one?
I'm ready to drive over it or buy a sledgehammer.
I'll take any suggestions/ advice. Thank you for reading my post.
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 9, 2022 12:32:16 GMT -5
Honestly with a screw on lid like that, you likely have dried grit and rock dust cemented in the threads right now. Depending how much if any water is left in the barrel you might try freezing it for an hour or two the water trapped in the threads might expand just enough to break loose the rock dust cement. Sorry you had this issue, Good luck.
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 9, 2022 12:35:55 GMT -5
As far as tumbler advice. My girl has a Komestone tumbler similar to the Nat geo style and I have a tumble-bee, similar to a lortone style with a 4lb barrel. Neither of the are loud. Mine is one room away from my bedroom, literally about 10ft from my bed and I cant hear it when I go to sleep.
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sdefurianni
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2022
Posts: 18
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Post by sdefurianni on Oct 9, 2022 12:52:20 GMT -5
Thank you Vance....in the freezer now
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 9, 2022 13:12:48 GMT -5
Thank you Vance....in the freezer now hope it works! If I had to guess at what happened I would say the Inner liner didnt seal fully. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2022 13:18:01 GMT -5
I have two nat geo tumblers. One is a recent buy the other I have had since may and its been running non stop since then. They are good machines with great customer service. I did have a blow out but it could happen with any tumbler. Let us know if you get it opened. Also take a picture and let us see, maybe someone can offer some advise.
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sdefurianni
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2022
Posts: 18
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Post by sdefurianni on Oct 9, 2022 15:11:31 GMT -5
After freezer we put it in a pot of water and boiled it. Eureka! We got it opened. The threads were covered in slurry. I guess I sealed it incorrectly.
Hard yellow plastic gasket and soft rubber disc. Which one goes directly on top of barrel first....I don't recall. It is in the instructions which I followed.
Considering getting a loratone and returning this unit. I think screw top is too risky to seal well.
Just finished washing stones. Fearing the next stage.
The stones are smaller and frosted. Most are clear when wet. I will take a photo and post tomorrow.
Done for today!
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 9, 2022 17:30:41 GMT -5
After freezer we put it in a pot of water and boiled it. Eureka! We got it opened. The threads were covered in slurry. I guess I sealed it incorrectly. Hard yellow plastic gasket and soft rubber disc. Which one goes directly on top of barrel first....I don't recall. It is in the instructions which I followed. Considering getting a loratone and returning this unit. I think screw top is too risky to seal well. Just finished washing stones. Fearing the next stage. The stones are smaller and frosted. Most are clear when wet. I will take a photo and post tomorrow. Done for today! Awesome glad it worked to get it busted loose. |
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rocknewb101
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2022
Posts: 1,368
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Post by rocknewb101 on Oct 10, 2022 9:49:04 GMT -5
After freezer we put it in a pot of water and boiled it. Eureka! We got it opened. The threads were covered in slurry. I guess I sealed it incorrectly. Hard yellow plastic gasket and soft rubber disc. Which one goes directly on top of barrel first....I don't recall. It is in the instructions which I followed. Considering getting a loratone and returning this unit. I think screw top is too risky to seal well. Just finished washing stones. Fearing the next stage. The stones are smaller and frosted. Most are clear when wet. I will take a photo and post tomorrow. Done for today! Hi sdefurianni - also a newbie here. Bought the nat geo for my daughter who seemed to lose interest somewhat quickly. We had a big blowout on ours the first time we used it, but have not had any issues with it since. I like the lid on this one much more so than the Thumbler MP-1 - which just holds in place with a tight o-ring. My next machine will be a loratone, however. Lots of good reviews for that brand. Good luck with your future endeavors - look forward to seeing your results. |
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Post by vegasjames on Oct 10, 2022 16:56:48 GMT -5
I would not go with the National Geographic tumblers anyway. Seen too many bad reviews of them on the boards, and from the videos I have seen the barrels rotate way too fast even on level 1 speed.
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 14, 2022 22:06:29 GMT -5
I would not go with the National Geographic tumblers anyway. Seen too many bad reviews of them on the boards, and from the videos I have seen the barrels rotate way too fast even on level 1 speed. I will say this, They Have a use, I can tell you what that use is! AGATES AND JASPERS!!!!!! lol. But Serously as fast as they roll, they are perfect if you dont want to be running stage 1 on agates and jaspers for the next 60 years lol. That said, My girl has a Kormstone which is similar to the Nat Geo, once you get down the process and how much material to add, its honestly really nice because on softer hard stuff like Quartz, you can have stage one done in 3 days. Its def one you have to play around with and get used to how much to load and adding old dried slurry to thicken it right out the gate helps a lot with brusing. All in all I would give the Kormstone 3.5 stars outta 5. I wouldnt do anything soft in it like lapis or Opal but for really hard tough rocks its awesome. |
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Post by vegasjames on Oct 15, 2022 0:00:06 GMT -5
I would not go with the National Geographic tumblers anyway. Seen too many bad reviews of them on the boards, and from the videos I have seen the barrels rotate way too fast even on level 1 speed. I will say this, They Have a use, I can tell you what that use is! AGATES AND JASPERS!!!!!! lol. But Serously as fast as they roll, they are perfect if you dont want to be running stage 1 on agates and jaspers for the next 60 years lol. That said, My girl has a Kormstone which is similar to the Nat Geo, once you get down the process and how much material to add, its honestly really nice because on softer hard stuff like Quartz, you can have stage one done in 3 days. Its def one you have to play around with and get used to how much to load and adding old dried slurry to thicken it right out the gate helps a lot with brusing. All in all I would give the Kormstone 3.5 stars outta 5. I wouldnt do anything soft in it like lapis or Opal but for really hard tough rocks its awesome. If a barrel spins too fast, which the NG tumblers often do, this inhibits the tumbling process. Think about the word tumbling. This is in reference to the rocks being able to tumble against each other. When the barrel spins too fast the rocks get forced outward towards the wall by centrifugal force preventing the stones from rolling (tumbling) inside the barrel.
If someone wants to speed up the tumbling process, one option is to simply get a larger barrel. The more weight in the barrel the more force the rocks can exert on each other while tumbling. Just like if you have a coarse sanding sponge and you are sanding wood. The more you push down on the sanding sponge, thus adding more weight to it, the faster the material is removed by the sanding sponge.
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 15, 2022 12:49:32 GMT -5
I will say this, They Have a use, I can tell you what that use is! AGATES AND JASPERS!!!!!! lol. But Serously as fast as they roll, they are perfect if you dont want to be running stage 1 on agates and jaspers for the next 60 years lol. That said, My girl has a Kormstone which is similar to the Nat Geo, once you get down the process and how much material to add, its honestly really nice because on softer hard stuff like Quartz, you can have stage one done in 3 days. Its def one you have to play around with and get used to how much to load and adding old dried slurry to thicken it right out the gate helps a lot with brusing. All in all I would give the Kormstone 3.5 stars outta 5. I wouldnt do anything soft in it like lapis or Opal but for really hard tough rocks its awesome. If a barrel spins too fast, which the NG tumblers often do, this inhibits the tumbling process. Think about the word tumbling. This is in reference to the rocks being able to tumble against each other. When the barrel spins too fast the rocks get forced outward towards the wall by centrifugal force preventing the stones from rolling (tumbling) inside the barrel.
If someone wants to speed up the tumbling process, one option is to simply get a larger barrel. The more weight in the barrel the more force the rocks can exert on each other while tumbling. Just like if you have a coarse sanding sponge and you are sanding wood. The more you push down on the sanding sponge, thus adding more weight to it, the faster the material is removed by the sanding sponge.
Well I dont know about Nat geo, dont have one. But my girl has a Komstone Which is similar to the Nat geo. Link below so you can see what im talking about. I can say that while yes it does spin much faster than my Tumble-bee or a Lortone, it does not spin nearly fast enough to create Centrifugal force and keep the rocks pinned to the side, they still tumble and fall against each other. I can only speak from My personal expierence with it, but we can clearly hear the tumbling and falling rocks in it and it does seem to cut faster than my tumble bee. Might have to do a side by side with some Quartz or Quartzite load both machines with the same type rock, grit, and water level, let them both run 4 days and see where the rocks are shape wise. Sounds like a fun lil expirement to me. I will say, My tumble-bee(lortone style) does seem to be a bit more well built than the Komestone, but it is also just an on/off switch, no digital controls, no speed settings its 1 speed, and no day timer, which honestly, I wish my Tumble-bee had at least a Day timer because I can never seem to remember WHEN I put my rocks in or How long they have been running and I always forget to right it down( I have memory issues from ADHD and Fibro Fog). I would be totally fine if it was 1 Speed with a multi day timer I could set and then when the days are done it shuts off. www.amazon.com/KomeStone-K1-Professional-Timer-Include-Gemstones/dp/B09PYR2RRT/ref=sr_1_9?crid=11S06HD3GOQ44&keywords=Kormstone+rock+tumbler&qid=1665855294&sprefix=kormstone+rock+tumbler%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-9&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc |
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shiny
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2022
Posts: 1
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Post by shiny on Nov 1, 2022 5:20:07 GMT -5
As far as tumbler advice. My girl has a Komestone tumbler similar to the Nat geo style and I have a tumble-bee, similar to a lortone style with a 4lb barrel. Neither of the are loud. Mine is one room away from my bedroom, literally about 10ft from my bed and I cant hear it when I go to sleep. I also purchased the KomeStone rock tumbler, the Cutting-Edge Brushless Motor one, it works like a charm. Yeah, it's not loud when I put it in the garage. I finished the first batch in 20 days, I didn't want to take too long, happy with the result. But the problem is, sometimes i have don't know how much girts to add for each round, do you have anything to share? |
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Nov 1, 2022 11:04:32 GMT -5
As far as tumbler advice. My girl has a Komestone tumbler similar to the Nat geo style and I have a tumble-bee, similar to a lortone style with a 4lb barrel. Neither of the are loud. Mine is one room away from my bedroom, literally about 10ft from my bed and I cant hear it when I go to sleep. I also purchased the KomeStone rock tumbler, the Cutting-Edge Brushless Motor one, it works like a charm. Yeah, it's not loud when I put it in the garage. I finished the first batch in 20 days, I didn't want to take too long, happy with the result. But the problem is, sometimes i have don't know how much girts to add for each round, do you have anything to share? We use 2 tablespoons for each stage. Hope this helps! |
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roxroxtumble
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2022
Posts: 1
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Post by roxroxtumble on Dec 26, 2022 19:05:18 GMT -5
I had similar problem. Turned rock tub upside down on bench vise so that the cap “handle” was constrained by the vise arms. Then I turned the rubber(y) base and voila, freed the cap!!!!!….after an hour of fruitless tugging, twisting, tapping, and warming the cap to no avail. I wish I had thought of the vise sooner!
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Maybe you can post some pictures here