Post by waterboysh on Jul 20, 2023 8:51:02 GMT -5
Hey madenglishman , check out this collection of FAQs that I've written over on the rock tumbling Reddit. You might want to start with this one FAQ - I just tumbled some rocks and they are dull. What do I do? and answer the questions because we really need more info before we can give you some advice. Some pictures showing your setup could be helpful too. Would like to see what your barrel looks like after you've filled it with rocks and what the rocks look like afterwards.
You'll see guides on this forum on how to connect your account to some 3rd party picture site. Cloud something or another. I don't know why anyone would do this. Just go to Imgur, click on New Post in the top left, and upload the picture. All the EXIF data will be stripped out, so no accidentally sharing your location or anything like that. You don't need to create an account to use it, but you will have to watch an ad before the image uploads if you don't have one. After it uploads, just get the link and post it here.
No soft stuff in this batch. My fluorite isn't enough now to tumble. All Hardness 7. Various quartz. Tumbled on No1 slowest speed.
Really terrible results. I've used the No 4 white polishing powder.
It's unclear what you are trying to tumble. You mention fluorite, which has a hardness of 4, but then say there is no soft stuff and mention quartz, which has a hardness of 7. Fluorite can be very challenging to tumble and I wouldn't recommend it for someone just starting out.
Now, if you've moved on from the fluorite and started a new batch of just quartz, I have some tips for you there as well. I apparently never posted my pictures here, so now I realize I need to do that, but here is a link to an album. Quartz can actually be tricky to tumble too because despite being hardness 7, it has low toughness. The toughness of a rock is not talked about often. The hardness is an indicator of a rocks resistance to abrasion, but toughness is a indicator of a rocks resistance to fracture. Think of glass (like obsidian) as an example. It has a hardness of about 5.5 and can be polished. But drop it, and it's going to shatter. It has a much higher hardness than toughness. Quartz is the same, but just not as drastic a difference as glass. It will fracture much easier than other hardness 7 rocks like agates or jaspers. I suspect this may be the cause of your new frustration if you have moved from fluorite to quartz like I am assuming.
So here are my tips on tumbling quartz that worked well for me.
1. First off, you have to lower your expectations a bit. You probably won't be able to tumble quartz that is fracture free. Mine had a lot of internal fractures, so each week I'd grind some down, but expose more. It can be tricky to know when you are "finished" with the coarse stage.
2. The next thing I do is include some media with the quartz even during the coarse stage. This will slow down the grinding process and take them longer to shape, but in return it helps cushion the rocks and prevents them from slamming into each other. I do not add much; not as much as I do for stages 2+. I aim for probably about 15% media by volume. I also don't use ceramic media. I use small pea gravel. I save the ceramic for stages 2+.
3. Then once I get to stage 2, I use more ceramic than I would for a normal load. In a rotary, I usually aim for about 25 - 30% at this point. With quartz, I am for closer to 50%.
This is actually almost the exact same process I use for obsidian.
You'll see guides on this forum on how to connect your account to some 3rd party picture site. Cloud something or another. I don't know why anyone would do this. Just go to Imgur, click on New Post in the top left, and upload the picture. All the EXIF data will be stripped out, so no accidentally sharing your location or anything like that. You don't need to create an account to use it, but you will have to watch an ad before the image uploads if you don't have one. After it uploads, just get the link and post it here.
Hi Ashley. Thanks for the reply.
No soft stuff in this batch. My fluorite isn't enough now to tumble. All Hardness 7. Various quartz. Tumbled on No1 slowest speed.
Really terrible results. I've used the No 4 white polishing powder.
It's unclear what you are trying to tumble. You mention fluorite, which has a hardness of 4, but then say there is no soft stuff and mention quartz, which has a hardness of 7. Fluorite can be very challenging to tumble and I wouldn't recommend it for someone just starting out.
Now, if you've moved on from the fluorite and started a new batch of just quartz, I have some tips for you there as well. I apparently never posted my pictures here, so now I realize I need to do that, but here is a link to an album. Quartz can actually be tricky to tumble too because despite being hardness 7, it has low toughness. The toughness of a rock is not talked about often. The hardness is an indicator of a rocks resistance to abrasion, but toughness is a indicator of a rocks resistance to fracture. Think of glass (like obsidian) as an example. It has a hardness of about 5.5 and can be polished. But drop it, and it's going to shatter. It has a much higher hardness than toughness. Quartz is the same, but just not as drastic a difference as glass. It will fracture much easier than other hardness 7 rocks like agates or jaspers. I suspect this may be the cause of your new frustration if you have moved from fluorite to quartz like I am assuming.
So here are my tips on tumbling quartz that worked well for me.
1. First off, you have to lower your expectations a bit. You probably won't be able to tumble quartz that is fracture free. Mine had a lot of internal fractures, so each week I'd grind some down, but expose more. It can be tricky to know when you are "finished" with the coarse stage.
2. The next thing I do is include some media with the quartz even during the coarse stage. This will slow down the grinding process and take them longer to shape, but in return it helps cushion the rocks and prevents them from slamming into each other. I do not add much; not as much as I do for stages 2+. I aim for probably about 15% media by volume. I also don't use ceramic media. I use small pea gravel. I save the ceramic for stages 2+.
3. Then once I get to stage 2, I use more ceramic than I would for a normal load. In a rotary, I usually aim for about 25 - 30% at this point. With quartz, I am for closer to 50%.
This is actually almost the exact same process I use for obsidian.