rockbrain
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2022
Posts: 3,035
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Post by rockbrain on Oct 14, 2022 9:26:10 GMT -5
I freakin' love this thing. I almost didn't go with it because there just doesn't seem to be much info in the way of reviews compared to some of the other vibratory tumblers. I was impressed with the quality of the machine while unpacking and setting it up. I have quite a few cabs sitting around with varied success at polish. some of them look great but the majority were lacking. I took a big leap of faith and dumped all my cabs in. This wasn't quite enough material so I added some previously tumbled rocks and some previously used (in polish) ceramics. Added 2 tsp Rock Shed AO polish and about 2 tsp water. (Rocks were wet from washing). Started it up and yep this thing is a little loud. Played with the speed and water amount a little. It seems really easy to get good action and the rocks were moving well except at the lowest speed. Cranked the speed back up to close to full and let it run. Put the lid on the hopper and hey, this thing is not so loud after all. My 12lb barrel next to it is louder from the rock action. I checked on the rocks at 1/2 day and 1 day and could see a nice improvement both times. I'm very impressed with the shine. I had an obsidian cab in with all the others and it polished this beautifully. I can see the pattern that I was trying to capture much better now. I'm amazed how it changed the overall look of some of the stones and really brought out some nice stuff. At this point the only thing I would change about this machine is the price. I did pay a bit of a premium for an in stock model.
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 14, 2022 9:40:49 GMT -5
I think it's fantastic you're getting great results! It might be too much of a pain in the tail, but I'd be curious to see a comparable before and after photo of a few of the cabs the next time you use this to improve on the polish. Congrats on the new toy...errr...tool!
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ericabelle
spending too much on rocks
Instagram acct: @erica_shoots_everything
Member since April 2021
Posts: 482
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Post by ericabelle on Oct 14, 2022 10:51:02 GMT -5
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lapidarycentral
starting to spend too much on rocks
(Brian Rhode) LapidaryCentral.com - Fueling your Lapidary Addiction.
Member since August 2021
Posts: 218
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Post by lapidarycentral on Oct 14, 2022 13:30:53 GMT -5
Awesome to hear you got one. We just added a second one to the team. The only problem we've had so far is the 500 grit AO is not breaking down like it does in our Lot-o. We have 1000 grit AO on the way to see if we just need to run 2 days of 500 grit and 2 days of 1000 and see if we get the same results as 4 days of 500 in the lot-o. But, so far we love our machines too. Action is fantastic, not loud at all, no worry of breaking a motor. So far the only real issue I've had is the hopper had the metal clip break, but we have a replacement clip coming from diamond pacific.
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