wolverine
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2022
Posts: 129
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Post by wolverine on Dec 27, 2022 14:32:57 GMT -5
I finished the first part of a batch of Botswana agates and couldn't be more disappointed. Polish is great but the fractures are terrible. I am now guessing that while the Bots are hard they are brittle. Is this the case? These were done in a 12 LB barrel with some other material.....mostly jasper then finished in the Vibe. Should I be treating this stuff more softly in a smaller barrel or is it just the nature of the material?
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Post by Son Of Beach on Dec 27, 2022 15:06:55 GMT -5
I'm curious how long you ran them?
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wolverine
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2022
Posts: 129
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Post by wolverine on Dec 27, 2022 15:26:43 GMT -5
I'm curious how long you ran them? I ran these for 4 weeks. I was recharging every 4 days using 1 cup of 30 grit and the grit was for the most part used up. The last barrel run was in 35/70 as I knew some were getting close to moving on. Close as in the holes would never be tumbled out so close enough. The rest of the Bots are still rolling along with more I put in. Obviously I have what I have with my current batch but definitely need to figure things out for the future. I realize now that I should have ran a test sample batch before going all in but here I am. They are still interesting with the fractures but.....
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Post by Son Of Beach on Dec 27, 2022 16:05:42 GMT -5
I finished the first part of a batch of Botswana agates and couldn't be more disappointed. Polish is great but the fractures are terrible. I am now guessing that while the Bots are hard they are brittle. Is this the case? These were done in a 12 LB barrel with some other material.....mostly jasper then finished in the Vibe. Should I be treating this stuff more softly in a smaller barrel or is it just the nature of the material? Sorry Wolverine I didn't read your post well enough the first time. I think your own inkling is spot on. The bigger barrel is likely leading to more violent collisions. I swap my bots early to a smaller barrel because they generally deserve kids gloves.
I'm far from the expert, just my My last little bot roughly your size had small impact bruises, I probably should have run it another week or two.
If your looking for a rock with few defects, sometimes the only solution is time or a trim saw if you have one. Those little surface level cracks need a few extra weeks to work themselves out from what I've experienced. That one you highlighted would probably take another 2-5 weeks at first glance depending on the size, but ultimately it's your call when to call it as good as it'll get.
I still think they look really nice for what its worth.
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Post by jasoninsd on Dec 27, 2022 17:58:25 GMT -5
wolverine - I'm tagging Brent Starguy for you. As far as I'm concerned, he's the King of Bots Tumbles!
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
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Post by dillonf on Dec 27, 2022 18:17:25 GMT -5
I got some bots from 2 different vendors and I would say about a third of them had deep fractures like the ones in your pictures. I had most of them in the QT6 for 2-3 months of coarse grinding. I still have a few I've kept in coarse grinding for about 5 months now trying to grind out the cracks.
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hypodactylus
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2021
Posts: 467
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Post by hypodactylus on Dec 27, 2022 20:02:09 GMT -5
I personally don't see any cracks/fractures that appear to be from the tumbling process; they all look like they were there before you even started.
If the tumbling action was too violent in a 12lb barrel, I would expect to see bruising, not deep cracking. I am personally still trying to figure out how to tumble 'larger' rocks in a 12lb barrel without bruising, but cracking has never been an issue (unless they were already fractured).
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Dec 28, 2022 0:57:12 GMT -5
You could try adding a bunch of Pea Gravel as cushion to help with the fractures.
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Post by Starguy on Dec 31, 2022 12:16:49 GMT -5
wolverineNice looking Bots. Some of the cracks that run just under the surface or parallel to the surface, (first photo) might be removed by more coarse tumbling. Deciding when to move rocks onto stage 2 can be a little tricky. There’s no shame in sending a rock back for some remedial coarse tumbling. Bots are really fun
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wolverine
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2022
Posts: 129
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Post by wolverine on Dec 31, 2022 18:51:47 GMT -5
wolverine Nice looking Bots. Some of the cracks that run just under the surface or parallel to the surface, (first photo) might be removed by more coarse tumbling. Deciding when to move rocks onto stage 2 can be a little tricky. There’s no shame in sending a rock back for some remedial coarse tumbling. Bots are really fun I ended up throwing all of them back into coarse a couple days ago. At this point it's all about learning. Thanks for all the responses.
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Post by Starguy on Dec 31, 2022 19:31:35 GMT -5
wolverineBots are pretty easy but they’re tough and slow to shape in the coarse. The results can be pretty spectacular too.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,557
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Post by jamesp on Jan 4, 2023 23:54:43 GMT -5
It is not easy to find rocks without some fractures wolverine. And it's not easy to break a rock up into tumbles without leaving fractures in them. After breaking tumbles off of a larger chunk I put them on a sheet of backlit glass and check for fractures. Or use a flashlight. But I find the rock in quantity and break tumbles off, so I can reject the ones with fractures. And break them away carefully. The botswana's were probably a purchased item and it is hard to know if they have fractures. Perhaps your supplier will send you fracture free material; it's worth asking.
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