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Checked it again today, slurry is thickening up again, created a vacuum in the barrel. I found a couple of mason jars of 46 grit SC from an estate I bought, so I went ahead and dumped them in, added a little water and fired her back up.
I pulled a few pieces out and washed them off to see how it was coming, they are rounding well and are already showing a slight polish when dried. Not bad for day 5.
Tony
Curious to hear back on the results of adding that S/C. I would think that would hinder any shine you stood to get using just the A/O. Faster grind rate but the way it breaks down usually continues to scratch VS polish. Might not have been enough to hurt with that volume of rock though.
Yes I am curious to see also, figured it was an easy way to find out.
Tony
Join the adopt a rock program. Tis a sad thing to see a rock without a good home.
By the words in the title I thought there was promise of seeing a 700lb tumbler in action... catmandewe got any video of that beast moving and making a racket?
I imagine for clean out that you will over fill the barrel with water to do a lot of the work inside for clean out?
Last Edit: Dec 19, 2022 10:30:51 GMT -5 by stewdogg
By the words in the title I thought there was promise of seeing a 700lb tumbler in action... catmandewe got any video of that beast moving and making a racket?
I imagine for clean out that you will over fill the barrel with water to do a lot of the work inside for clean out?
Ill see if I can figure out how to upload a video
Tony
Last Edit: Dec 19, 2022 12:18:44 GMT -5 by catmandewe
Join the adopt a rock program. Tis a sad thing to see a rock without a good home.
A couple things with this size barrel, the "fall or roll distance" is definitely increased and the weight of rocks pushing down on the each other is increased. These two factors should really be increasing the grinding and the grit breakdown. That will also increase the slurry creation as noted by the earlier picture.
Needless to say the noise factor has definitely increased!!
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Donation for my local rock clubs grab bags to sell at the show in March.
Tony
That's awesome!
Do you do this every year or this the first run of the 700lb beast?
We donate to the club every year but this is the first time I have run this tumbler. I brought the tumbler down here to sell, but was hoping to get a load ran through it before it sells.
Tony
Join the adopt a rock program. Tis a sad thing to see a rock without a good home.
A couple things with this size barrel, the "fall or roll distance" is definitely increased and the weight of rocks pushing down on the each other is increased. These two factors should really be increasing the grinding and the grit breakdown. That will also increase the slurry creation as noted by the earlier picture.
Needless to say the noise factor has definitely increased!!
You should have heard it when I fired it up, it was so loud you can barely hear me on the video. It has definitely quieted down after the slurry got built up. Its actually not as loud as I thought it was going to be.
Tony
Join the adopt a rock program. Tis a sad thing to see a rock without a good home.
Post by catmandewe on Dec 21, 2022 20:58:49 GMT -5
Opened her up and checked today, its got a good slurry, rounding action is almost good enough, one more week and I will pull a vibe tumbler load out and run it through polish to see if its ready yet.
Tony
Join the adopt a rock program. Tis a sad thing to see a rock without a good home.
Post by vance71975 on Dec 23, 2022 23:59:56 GMT -5
Awesome! I wish I had a reason for a tumbler this big but honestly, I think the biggest I might go in the future is maybe a 12 to 20lb barrel at the most, but that is totally awesome. I would have loved to see what results you got running SiC instead of AO.
Post by catmandewe on Dec 27, 2022 18:11:05 GMT -5
Day 13, some are ready to move onto polish. My uncle Ron and my wife Chris helped me pull a couple of vibratory tumbler loads to move to polish. The slurry is like gumbo mud, the washout tray under the barrel is AWESOME!! I am having second thoughts on selling it!
Took a few photos along the way.
Join the adopt a rock program. Tis a sad thing to see a rock without a good home.
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