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Post by velodromed on Oct 28, 2023 17:21:41 GMT -5
Experiment time My high speed Rebel 17 chews through rock shed and Kingsley North course SiC fast. So I picked 10lbs of this stuff up. I keep seeing it on Amazon and have been wondering for a long time if it would work. I put around 15 pounds of mixed size local rock we’ve collected, mostly cherts and Jaspers I think, a cup of this stuff and water in the rebel 17. It’ll spin at 40 rpm for the next month or so before checking. I know AO doesn’t break down as much or  fast as SiC does, and it continues to work as it does. At least that’s how I understand it, so I’m really curious to see what happens. |
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Post by catmandewe on Oct 28, 2023 18:17:53 GMT -5
I put a 55 lb sack of 80 grit AO in my 1000 lb tumbler and ran it for 20 days, it came out almost polished, I just had to run it through a vibe polish for a day or two and it was finished.
Tony
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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 Oct 28, 2023 18:35:13 GMT -5
I'm interested to see how it works! Thanks for sharing.
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Post by velodromed on Oct 29, 2023 8:48:44 GMT -5
I put a 55 lb sack of 80 grit AO in my 1000 lb tumbler and ran it for 20 days, it came out almost polished, I just had to run it through a vibe polish for a day or two and it was finished. Tony  That is pretty much what I am hoping to accomplish…just on a much much much much much much smaller scale. I’m also counting on it taking quite a bit longer. If, after a month, I am seeing what I hope to see I will let it continue. That must’ve been one big vibratory to finish it up lol. Out of curiosity, what was the rock shaping like? Did the aluminum oxide shape and smooth the rock like the silicone carbide does? Or was it a more natural shape. |
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Post by catmandewe on Oct 29, 2023 12:32:39 GMT -5
I put a 55 lb sack of 80 grit AO in my 1000 lb tumbler and ran it for 20 days, it came out almost polished, I just had to run it through a vibe polish for a day or two and it was finished. Tony That is pretty much what I am hoping to accomplish…just on a much much much much much much smaller scale. I’m also counting on it taking quite a bit longer. If, after a month, I am seeing what I hope to see I will let it continue. That must’ve been one big vibratory to finish it up lol. Out of curiosity, what was the rock shaping like? Did the aluminum oxide shape and smooth the rock like the silicone carbide does? Or was it a more natural shape. It did some shaping but not as much as the SC does. I had lots of saw scraps in there so just rounding the sharp edges was good enough. Tony |
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iamchris
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2023
Posts: 722
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Post by iamchris on Oct 30, 2023 14:59:45 GMT -5
Jugglerguy did something similar but on a much longer term. Will be very interested to see what happens with a shorter time horizon!
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adam5
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 153
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Post by adam5 on Oct 30, 2023 17:59:03 GMT -5
Since I have some 70 AO on hand, I decided yesterday to load a 3# barrel with 4 tbs of AO and my parking lot epidosite. I thought we could compare and contrast how the AO works in the different sized barrels.
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Post by velodromed on Oct 31, 2023 6:01:31 GMT -5
Since I have some 70 AO on hand, I decided yesterday to load a 3# barrel with 4 tbs of AO and my parking lot epidosite. I thought we could compare and contrast how the AO works in the different sized barrels. Sounds like a good idea! I’ll be curious to see results. |
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller 
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432 
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Post by Wooferhound on Nov 1, 2023 10:38:29 GMT -5
Try looking in your town for Sand Blasting Businesses.
Try to buy your grit there.
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Post by velodromed on Nov 1, 2023 16:32:37 GMT -5
Try looking in your town for Sand Blasting Businesses. Try to buy your grit there. That’s one of the things I did actually, and there are cheaper alternatives here locally. |
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adam5
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 153
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Post by adam5 on Nov 2, 2023 7:19:50 GMT -5
After 4 days of 70 AO in CE 3# barrel:  4 days tumbled vs rough:  This epidosite is mostly softer than 7 Mohs, so it shapes up fairly quickly. |
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adam5
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 153
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Post by adam5 on Nov 2, 2023 7:21:20 GMT -5
After 4 days of 70 AO (blasting media from Harbor Freight) in CE 3# barrel: 4 days tumbled vs rough: This epidosite is mostly softer than 7 Mohs, so it shapes up fairly quickly. |
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Looking forward to my Friday Night Barrel Clean out!
Member since August 2022
Posts: 494
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Post by hplcman on Nov 2, 2023 10:32:32 GMT -5
After 4 days of 70 AO (blasting media from Harbor Freight) in CE 3# barrel: 4 days tumbled vs rough: This epidosite is mostly softer than 7 Mohs, so it shapes up fairly quickly. I'm watching this thread with interest! Another trial should include harder rocks, just to see the differences in rate of shaping. Thanks for the updates! |
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Post by velodromed on Nov 2, 2023 13:09:57 GMT -5
After 4 days of 70 AO in CE 3# barrel: 4 days tumbled vs rough: This epidosite is mostly softer than 7 Mohs, so it shapes up fairly quickly. Nice slurry it looks like. I’m not checking mine for a month or so, having mostly Jasper and other Mohs 7-8 rocks in the large 17lb barrel. I’ll give it more time to roll. |
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adam5
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 153
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Post by adam5 on Nov 12, 2023 19:56:17 GMT -5
I am calling it quits after 2 weeks. Here are some photos: Started on October 30th. November 2nd: November 5th:  November 8th:  November 12th:  |
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Post by velodromed on Nov 13, 2023 6:57:44 GMT -5
I am calling it quits after 2 weeks. Here are some photos: Started on October 30th. November 2nd: November 5th: November 8th: November 12th: Doesn’t look like it worked so well in a 3 pound barrel. I think the grit size is too big for it. I tried running 60 grit SiC in a 3lb barrel once and it didn’t work good. Mine is still rolling. I’ll probably check it this week at some point. |
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Post by velodromed on Nov 13, 2023 17:38:29 GMT -5
I am calling it quits after 2 weeks. Here are some photos: Started on October 30th. November 2nd: [sn’t look like it worked so well in a 3 pound barrel. I think the grit size is too big for it. I tried running 60 grit SiC in a 3lb barrel once and it didn’t work good. Mine is still rolling. I’ll probably check it this week at some point. Actually, after looking at it again in more detail, it did do a pretty good job of shaping the rock. I was looking at it with too much going on earlier... |
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Post by velodromed on Nov 15, 2023 16:13:09 GMT -5
I figure it’s been long enough, 18 days spinning at 40 RPM. First thing I noticed is the slurry is thinner than usual by a good 30% or so. Second thing I noticed is that the rocks are shinier than when removing from SiC run. That shouldn’t surprise me but the extent did. It definitely removed material. Just not as much as silicon carbide. But I do really like how it left the rocks. They don’t look quite as ‘beat to hell’ as they normally do coming out of the rebel 17. What I’ve taken from this is there is a place for using low grit blasting AO. But I think that place is during the last course run, not the first. I think it would also be good to add some midway during course run cycles. So I am putting back many of the rocks that I’ve been working on for much of the year. I want to get some of these into the next stages soon, I’ve been working on them so dang long. A good bit of the rocks that I put in are at their last course run, or second to last perhaps. So based on what I saw, my experiment is to include some of the 60 grit AO with the SiC. I included about 2/3 of a cup of the 60 AO with 2/3 of a cup of 35/70 SiC. I am hoping that they come out of this stage partially polished (or at least not as deeply scratched), making stages 2 and on easier in the vibe. I will post some more thoughts and pictures a bit later. Rolling up to pick up the kid from school now.    |
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Looking forward to my Friday Night Barrel Clean out!
Member since August 2022
Posts: 494
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Post by hplcman on Nov 15, 2023 16:30:38 GMT -5
Came for the pictures of shiny rocks, stayed for the science experiments!
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Post by velodromed on Nov 15, 2023 17:14:03 GMT -5
Came for the pictures of shiny rocks, stayed for the science experiments!  Yeah. Not a super scientific experiment with controls and logs and all that…stuff. Just satisfying my own curiosities and maybe finding a little bit better method to my tumbling madness. |
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That is pretty much what I am hoping to accomplish…just on a much much much much much much smaller scale. I’m also counting on it taking quite a bit longer. If, after a month, I am seeing what I hope to see I will let it continue. That must’ve been one big vibratory to finish it up lol. Out of curiosity, what was the rock shaping like? Did the aluminum oxide shape and smooth the rock like the silicone carbide does? Or was it a more natural shape.
Yeah. Not a super scientific experiment with controls and logs and all that…stuff. Just satisfying my own curiosities and maybe finding a little bit better method to my tumbling madness.
