RockyBeach
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2023
Posts: 318
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Post by RockyBeach on Sept 2, 2023 13:26:18 GMT -5
The well known rule #1 of rock tumbling is "DO NOT PUT GRIT DOWN THE DRAIN!!!!"
BUT, in the parts of the world where winter reigns, it is impossible to be out in the yard with the hose and the colander and the pails doing rinsing and cleaning and killing the lawn by the faucet with Borax.
So ... what do y'all do with your gritty water when it is too cold to be outside )other than putting your tumbling paraphernalia into mothballs until spring) ?
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Post by knave on Sept 2, 2023 13:34:54 GMT -5
Put the very first rinse into a 5 gal bucket and let it settle out. Later you can pour off the clear water and toss the sludge in the garbage.
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RockyBeach
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2023
Posts: 318
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Post by RockyBeach on Sept 2, 2023 13:43:12 GMT -5
Put the very first rinse into a 5 gal bucket and let it settle out. Later you can pour off the clear water and toss the sludge in the garbage. Thanks ! Follow up question(s) .... Do this with the first rinse only ? Is it ok then to let the later rinses go into the sink ? I've been paranoid about the grit in the drain and possibly have been spending too much time with pail and hose. Being able to rinse indoors would be all around helpful! I have a basement sink with a sump pump that empties into a ditch and it stays un-frozen thru the winter.
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Post by Starguy on Sept 2, 2023 14:12:20 GMT -5
You just need to let it settle prior to using the drain. The longer the better. I use a five gallon bucket and minimize water use during clean out. I clean out 4-5, maybe more, twelve pounders before the mud has to be dumped.
When pouring off settled water, watch for different layers. The top will be essentially muddy water. Next there is a layer of slimy mud that will pour but you want to stop when you get to that. Below that will be semi-solid. Pour slowly. Vibration will help settle it faster.
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RockyBeach
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2023
Posts: 318
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Post by RockyBeach on Sept 2, 2023 14:26:32 GMT -5
You just need to let it settle prior to using the drain. The longer the better. I use a five gallon bucket and minimize water use during clean out. I clean out 4-5, maybe more, twelve pounders before the mud has to be dumped. When pouring off settled water, watch for different layers. The top will be essentially muddy water. Next there is a layer of slimy mud that will pour but you want to stop when you get to that. Below that will be semi-solid. Pour slowly. Vibration will help settle it faster. Sounds rather like when pouring the fat off the meat juices so's you can make gravy ! Thanks for the input !
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Sept 2, 2023 16:29:59 GMT -5
If after letting the solids settle to the bottom of the pail and then pouring the water off as knave suggested, then leave the container open and let the rest of the moisture evaporate off. After saving up several batches then give the dried tumbling sludge to a local potter or to a local pottery class to use in their glazes. Those fine rock particles can make some cool ceramic glazes and the Silicon Carbide from the grit being present in the glaze can create a reduction glaze appearance even when fired in an oxidation environment including in an electric kiln.
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mgroothuis
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2022
Posts: 166
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Post by mgroothuis on Sept 2, 2023 17:12:51 GMT -5
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Post by velodromed on Sept 2, 2023 18:00:07 GMT -5
I have a 4" computer fan sandwiched between two pieces of wood that used to be my workbench fan. I had an unused belt guard from by tumbler build that I'm now using as a duct to blow air directly into a 5 gal bucket of thick slurry. I can completely dry 7-8" of settled slurry in about a week or so. Then I just throw it in the trash. I love this idea and will use it! Weโre moving at the end of the year and Iโve been stressed on what to do if we end up in an apartment. Now I know. Many thanks.
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Post by velodromed on Sept 2, 2023 18:03:06 GMT -5
I have a 4" computer fan sandwiched between two pieces of wood that used to be my workbench fan. I had an unused belt guard from by tumbler build that I'm now using as a duct to blow air directly into a 5 gal bucket of thick slurry. I can completely dry 7-8" of settled slurry in about a week or so. Then I just throw it in the trash. I love this idea and will use it! Weโre moving at the end of the year and Iโve been stressed on what to do if we end up in an apartment. Now I know. Many thanks!
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 2, 2023 21:21:49 GMT -5
I use a 5-gallon bucket and a colander that is set on top. I dump the rocks into the colander and with a couple of gallons of water that I set aside I rinse out the barrel and dirty wash the rocks after a few rinses the barrel is clean enough to continue. after a few days, I siphoned off the clear water from the top to recycle it for the next wash cycle. If the bucket gets too full with cloudy water then I take it out to the curb and dump it swooching it to agitate the mud. there will be some left in the bottom Let it dry, put a trash bag over the top turn the bucket upside down, and dump the dry clay into the bag. put the bag out with the trash.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,752
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Post by Mark K on Sept 2, 2023 23:10:09 GMT -5
I have a 55 gallon barrel in the basement that I wash into. The mud settles out and I siphon off the water from about 6 inches above the mud. Eventually I have to get rid of the mud so I get rid of all of the water and make the dehumidifier blow into the barrel as it is tipped mostly on its side. Then I bust the mud loose from the barrel and toss it in the trash. When I was tumbling real heavy I got about a year out of a barrel before the clean out.
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Post by liveoak on Sept 3, 2023 6:19:44 GMT -5
You could always move south Sorry, I had to say it
Patty
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titaniumkid
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 464
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Post by titaniumkid on Sept 3, 2023 7:02:12 GMT -5
It's nice to see other people do this. I thought I was the only one.
When I worked as an ecotoxicologist, we would collect fine sediment (mud) from rivers for toxicity testing. Before it could be used, we would settle it out in buckets and then tip the overlying water off when it had settled. How long it took to settle was dependent on water chemistry. Some stuff never settled well. The overlying water either went in the garden or down the sink, and to my knowledge in all the years we did this we never blocked a drain.
I do this now with the slurry from the rock tumbler, mostly because I don't want to be tipping this stuff in my garden because I'm a paranoid android (a side effect of working in ecotox). I'd rather tip the water down the sink so it undergoes waste water treatment and then dispose of the dried slurry. I've been doing this for all stages including rinses but not the washes between stages because so far I've found the water from washes was pretty clean, so it went straight in the drain I may regret this ๐
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RockyBeach
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2023
Posts: 318
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Post by RockyBeach on Sept 3, 2023 8:21:08 GMT -5
It's nice to see other people do this. I thought I was the only one. When I worked as an ecotoxicologist, we would collect fine sediment (mud) from rivers for toxicity testing. Before it could be used, we would settle it out in buckets and then tip the overlying water off when it had settled. How long it took to settle was dependent on water chemistry. Some stuff never settled well. The overlying water either went in the garden or down the sink, and to my knowledge in all the years we did this we never blocked a drain. I do this now with the slurry from the rock tumbler, mostly because I don't want to be tipping this stuff in my garden because I'm a paranoid android (a side effect of working in ecotox). I'd rather tip the water down the sink so it undergoes waste water treatment and then dispose of the dried slurry. I've been doing this for all stages including rinses but not the washes between stages because so far I've found the water from washes was pretty clean, so it went straight in the drain I may regret this ๐ My next question answered .... merci buckets ! Am in the boonies so there is no "waste water treatment" other than the sump drain that sends grey water (from only one sink) to a ditch. It has been interesting watching the "cement pad" that has gradually been forming by the outdoor faucet where I do warm weather cleanouts as well as the effect of the Borax on the surrounding grass. Ecotoxicology sounds like an interesting field. I knew a fella who tested bits of the ends of the pine branches for something to do with acid rain.
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RockyBeach
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2023
Posts: 318
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Post by RockyBeach on Sept 3, 2023 8:25:25 GMT -5
You could always move south But then I would be asking questions about how to keep the machines from overheating in the three digit nighttime temps or blowing away in a hurricane!
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Post by liveoak on Sept 3, 2023 9:20:00 GMT -5
It's really just a reversal of things - we have no snow to shovel or ice storms to worry about, or high heating bills, or frozen windshields or pipes, plowing driveways, etc, etc.
Instead we have hot summers, chance of hurricanes, AND we can dump our tumbling grit on the driveway year round ! But I do have a dirt/sand driveway - probably not a good idea in the condo community
Patty
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dianes
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2022
Posts: 9
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Post by dianes on Sept 3, 2023 11:30:16 GMT -5
I have two 5-gallon buckets. One is for "liquids" and the other for "sludge". I dug a 3 ft deep hole in my back yard in an "out of the way" location but still easy to get to in the winter (I can keep a path clear enough by just hand shoveling) where I pour the "liquids" then dump the "sludge" into the sludge bucket. I find that four gallons of liquids is about my personal max for lugging from the basement to my pour site. My pour site is covered with wood and a large ceramic tile (mostly so I don't do something too stupid like step in it when doing yard work and break my leg). Not sure how long it takes to absorb in - but every time I've taken water out to dump, it's empty (other than leftover sludge).
*This works well for my 3lb and 6lb tumblers.* YMMV....
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ashley
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2023
Posts: 927
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Post by ashley on Sept 3, 2023 17:29:56 GMT -5
I use a 5 gallon bucket to get them mostly clean then finish cleaning in the sink and let the bucket sit until it is mostly full, then a mad dash in the cold and snow to the woodline and dump it all quickly. It does kill the grass so don't dump it where you want to keep grass.
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Post by HankRocks on Sept 3, 2023 18:52:57 GMT -5
I have implemented the following multi-bucket slurry drying system; ( running 3 Model B Rotary tumblers and 1 UV-18 Vib for polish runs)
Coarse Bucket - For Tumbler Coarse and stage 2(220 SiC) slurry. When dried and reduced to a powder, about 1 1/2 cups go into each new coarse and 220 stages.
600 SiC Bucket - For Tumbler 600 SiC slurry, when dried about 1 1/2 cups go into each new 600 SiC stage.
500 AlOx Bucket - for 500 AlO Prepolish slurry, saved as a thick wet slurry after most of the water has been removed and then added to pre-polish runs.
Tin Oxide Polish Bucket - This is dried out and powdered for re-use in polish runs.
Vib-Lap All stages bucket - Everything except the polish run is washed off into bucket, this is not reused as there always seems to be grit and pieces of rock in it.
The drying process is assisted by dipping water off as slurry settles. Good news this time of year with 100 degree days and lots of sun on the back patio, slurry dry-cakes quickly.
I only add Borax to polish runs and after polish burnishing so any water removed from any other buckets gets poured on lawn and selected plants.
It sounds complicated but with the use of different color spray paint to color code buckets to help me keep everything identified and separated. For Tin Oxide I have one blue Lowes bucket designated for Tin Oxide.
Not surprisingly I always have extra dried slurry. I have used it as fill to raise about 30 round stepping stones in the yard as they do seem to sink after a couple years after installation. I also spread a bit of it into garden beds.
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RockyBeach
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2023
Posts: 318
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Post by RockyBeach on Sept 3, 2023 19:53:37 GMT -5
Here I was wondering if Jugglerguy had made a video on this important subject and lo ...he did !!! Something else to thank him for ! So,
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