nolasean
having dreams about rocks
Member since March 2024
Posts: 58
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Post by nolasean on Mar 27, 2024 20:25:04 GMT -5
Hello.
I have a nat geo hobby tumbler I bought at Christmas for my daughter. I have been enjoying it at least as much as her. After watching videos and reading online I decided to buy a vibratory tumbler. Availability is terrible and a fellow member suggested a Ray Tech v5. So I bought one plus an extra bowl for polish. I'm waiting on it to arrive.
Meanwhile I have been debating on getting a better rotary tumbler as well. Since Lortone is on its way out but made great tumblers I bought a 33b too. I now have spent a lot of money making the wife frustrated. I must either be insane or maybe I fit well in this community.
There's my rant for the day. Thanks everyone
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Post by jasoninsd on Mar 27, 2024 20:31:08 GMT -5
Hello. I have a nat geo hobby tumbler I bought at Christmas for my daughter. I have been enjoying it at least as much as her. After watching videos and reading online I decided to buy a vibratory tumbler. Availability is terrible and a fellow member suggested a Ray Tech v5. So I bought one plus an extra bowl for polish. I'm waiting on it to arrive. Meanwhile I have been debating on getting a better rotary tumbler as well. Since Lortone is on its way out but made great tumblers I bought a 33b too. I now have spent a lot of money making the wife frustrated. I must either be insane or maybe I fit well in this community. There's my rant for the day. Thanks everyone Both are probably true! LOL |
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ronnsrockroundup
starting to spend too much on rocks
Hurry up and wait.
Member since October 2023
Posts: 154
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Post by ronnsrockroundup on Mar 27, 2024 21:03:34 GMT -5
Give it a few months you'll recover and go back to a normal life. NOPE! six tumblers later and bowls of rocks in every room and in my family's rooms because rocks make great gifts and in storage bins and that's only the polished stuff. I may need to see if there is a tumblers anonymous forum out there. Welcome to the club.  |
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nolasean
having dreams about rocks
Member since March 2024
Posts: 58
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Post by nolasean on Mar 27, 2024 21:59:40 GMT -5
Thanks Ronn
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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 Mar 28, 2024 5:37:11 GMT -5
Hello. I have a nat geo hobby tumbler I bought at Christmas for my daughter. I have been enjoying it at least as much as her. After watching videos and reading online I decided to buy a vibratory tumbler. Availability is terrible and a fellow member suggested a Ray Tech v5. So I bought one plus an extra bowl for polish. I'm waiting on it to arrive. Meanwhile I have been debating on getting a better rotary tumbler as well. Since Lortone is on its way out but made great tumblers I bought a 33b too. I now have spent a lot of money making the wife frustrated. I must either be insane or maybe I fit well in this community. There's my rant for the day. Thanks everyone Both are probably true! LOL  . Haha |
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Post by jasoninsd on Mar 28, 2024 17:29:56 GMT -5
She should know it's gonna get worse lol. I'm single so I have nothing to hold me back, but it's getting pretty insane. I'm hesitant to even bring girls over cuz everywhere you look is rocks or lapidary machines. You instantly made me think of this commercial  |
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nolasean
having dreams about rocks
Member since March 2024
Posts: 58
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Post by nolasean on Apr 12, 2024 8:58:50 GMT -5
Ok. I finally received the Loretone 33B tumbler. It spent a week sitting at another post office for some bizarre reason. The only problem I am having with it is that the barrels keep moving towards the motor end. I will check my rocks this weekend since it will have been one week.
Second topic is the Raytech I purchased never shipped. I asked for a refund and came up with the great idea to build one like the Rock and Lap guy. I have been working on it for a couple of weeks now and should be able assemble it this afternoon. I still have to figure out how to post pictures and I will update everyone.
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Looking forward to my Friday Night Barrel Clean out!
Member since August 2022
Posts: 492
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Post by hplcman on Apr 12, 2024 10:32:38 GMT -5
Ok. I finally received the Loretone 33B tumbler. It spent a week sitting at another post office for some bizarre reason. The only problem I am having with it is that the barrels keep moving towards the motor end. I will check my rocks this weekend since it will have been one week. Second topic is the Raytech I purchased never shipped. I asked for a refund and came up with the great idea to build one like the Rock and Lap guy. I have been working on it for a couple of weeks now and should be able assemble it this afternoon. I still have to figure out how to post pictures and I will update everyone. Hey! I'm happy you (finally!) got that 33B. I have one too and absolutely love it! Don't worry about the barrels shifting to one side or the other. They will always do that and that's what that little nylon washer thing is for that's attached to the frame at the ends there. Keep an eye on that, rotate it every once in a while if it's showing wear and tear, and replace as necessary. They're a consumable part. If the barrels are rubbing that washer hard than you can shim up that side of the tumbler to reduce some of that pressure. |
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brybry
Cave Dweller 
Enter your message here...
Member since October 2021
Posts: 1,221
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Post by brybry on Apr 12, 2024 19:43:02 GMT -5
Its not bad until you end up with a excess of barrels and start building homemade tumblers to justify all the extra barrels. Then you gotta get more rocks to fill the barrels to justify the extra barrels.
My conversation with my wife usually goes lime this ...
Wife : why so many barrels?
Me : got a good deal on them
Wife : so?
Me : want t o tumble more rock at a time and can run bigger rocks
Wife : but you can only run 1 barrel at a time
Me : I built a multi barrel tumbler
Wife : why?
Me : so I can run more barrels at a time
Wife : and you're going to fill them with what?
Me : gotta get more rocks?
Wife : wouldn't need more rocks if you only had 1 barrel
Me : ( looking at my wife like she is simple ) eh?
Wife : 1 barrel may take longer and wouldn't need as much rock
Me : there is grit too
Wife : so you'll need to buy more grit too?
Me : yes
Wife : if you only had 1 barrel you wouldn't need so much
Me : went rockhounding. Brought home 8 buckets of rock.
Wife : ( rolls eyes ) wtf is wrong with you?
Me : did I tell you about the deal I got on a vibe?
Wife : a vibe?
Me : yes. To polish the rocks after I run them in the barrels?
Wife : why not use the barrels to polish?
Me : barrels are for stage 1
Wife : ( looks at me like I'm simple )
Me : wanna explain the multiple shelves of crafty crap you got?
Wife : I enjoy crafting thank you very much h
Me : I enjoy working with rocks. Going to Arizona to pick up a rock saw
At this the wife unit may walk away. Chalk it up as an understanding, not quite a victory and be content.
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nolasean
having dreams about rocks
Member since March 2024
Posts: 58
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Post by nolasean on Apr 13, 2024 14:37:28 GMT -5
Ok. FINALLY finished building my vibrating tumbler (based on the Rock and Lap guy video). I will post pictures if I can ever figure out this cloudinary thing. Perhaps the 5 year old tutorial needs to be updated because the setup (on Cloud website) is not the same.
Now to the questions... This is my first vibratory tumbler. I have watched some videos online but am having trouble with the rocks. I am using a TV-5 bowl because I had purchased an extra bowl when I tried to buy a TV-5 online and that was actually delivered (not the tumbler). The rocks and ceramic media (~ 3lbs) are slowly spinning in a large circle but I am not getting that tumbling rotation effect that I am also looking for. I added media, then rocks, then media, then grit (120/220 SC - 2 tbsp) then slowly added water until it started moving better. I have continued to add water but it is not appearing to have an effect. At this point there is plenty of water in the bowl.
Any thoughts?
And thanks again for everyone's help!
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brybry
Cave Dweller
Enter your message here...
Member since October 2021
Posts: 1,221
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Post by brybry on Apr 13, 2024 16:15:21 GMT -5
TV-5 bowls are flat bottomed. I've never had the same movement with it that I have with UV bowls
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nolasean
having dreams about rocks
Member since March 2024
Posts: 58
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Post by nolasean on Apr 13, 2024 17:00:54 GMT -5
I thought that could be a problem since the bowl is not a "donut" shape. Perhaps I can invest in a different bowl if needed. In the meantime I am still looking for suggestions.   |
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nolasean
having dreams about rocks
Member since March 2024
Posts: 58
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Post by nolasean on Apr 13, 2024 22:05:33 GMT -5
Update...
I saw a video where the guy was using a TV-5 tumbler in the polish stage and he had it almost completely full with ceramic. I would estimate about 90 - 95 percent. So I added more ceramic media plus some water and I am getting somewhat better action. I keep expecting to see a "slurry" or at least everything well coated but its only been a few hours. I'll check again tomorrow morning.
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Post by pebblesky on Apr 13, 2024 23:26:50 GMT -5
I still use the TV-5 tumbler, now with the UV mini bowl though. When I used the original TV-5 bowl, the movements were not as nice as those in the UV mini bowl, but still did a fine job in moving the rocks down in a tilted donut direction (UV mini bowl performs better in final results though). I used a lot of plastic pellet in 500 and polish stages. From my experience, during the polish stage the stones were very lightly coated with white-color powder and water. Sometimes there were white bubbles buildup at the top of the bowl.
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nolasean
having dreams about rocks
Member since March 2024
Posts: 58
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Post by nolasean on Apr 20, 2024 20:14:46 GMT -5
I ordered a UV10 mini bowl from Kingsley laat weekend to see if it would work better than the TV bowl i have. It was supposed to arrive on Thursday but has been in Wisconsin since Thursday morning for no reason. This is the 2nd time in 3 weeks that the US post office is not properly delivering my packages. The last time was my Lortone 33B sitting at the wrong post office 30 minutes away for a week for no reason. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the United States government at work. Or lack there of....
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mirkee
starting to spend too much on rocks
Started tumbling a couple of months ago but now have four tumblers. Very interested in the hobby.
Member since March 2024
Posts: 125
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Post by mirkee on Apr 20, 2024 22:16:55 GMT -5
My experience with USPS has always been positive. Remarkable job.
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Post by Starguy on Apr 21, 2024 15:07:53 GMT -5
My experience with USPS has always been positive. Remarkable job. Mine too. |
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wargrafix
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2023
Posts: 1,085
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Post by wargrafix on Apr 23, 2024 14:02:29 GMT -5
You are insane. I am insane. We are all insane
wait, where is sane again?
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nolasean
having dreams about rocks
Member since March 2024
Posts: 58
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Post by nolasean on Apr 23, 2024 22:18:28 GMT -5
Finally some success. I received the UV10-mini bowl I ordered from Kingsley. I can immediately tell the difference in the tumbling from the TV 5 bowl. The rocks are starting to tumble and rotate vs just mostly rotating with the other bowl. It's also drastically more quiet too. I will post a few pictures once I give it 3 more days on polish.
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nolasean
having dreams about rocks
Member since March 2024
Posts: 58
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Post by nolasean on Oct 8, 2024 20:11:44 GMT -5
Hey guys. Another vibe update. I originally followed the instructions given by the you tube video on setting the amount of motor vibration. I tended to have more horizontal rotation than vertical like I am supposed to. I increased the weight offset and flipped over would have to add the motor. FINALLY IT WORKS CORRECTLY! What a difference it makes.
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. Haha
