Post by calura on Oct 4, 2024 21:20:16 GMT -5
We're trying glass tumbling for the first time, still using the same grits as rock, but for much shorter times. It's a 3lb tumbler (NOT vibratory), with about 1/3 full of every size piece of glass that came off of the bottle when I busted it apart. It's all brown glass this time.
We're just now on stage 2 and I walked into the garage to find the tumbler blinking E and a gray stream across the floor. I looked closer, and the barrel had popped open and there were plastic beads, glass, and grey muck spilling out. It looks like it locked up the rollers, and that's what caused the tumbler to turn off.
When we were finished with stage 1, I noticed that the barrel (all rubber) was pushed OUTWARD on the bottom, like pressure had built up inside as it tumbled. When I tumble rocks, I often find the bottom of the barrel is concave (pulled inward) like the pressure dropped during tumbling. Does tumbling glass tend to build up a lot of heat or cause higher pressure for other reasons? Could this be why the barrel popped open this time? It had only been going for about a day in stage 2 when this happened. We ran Stage 1 for five days and it didn't pop open, it just expanded and pushed the rubber bottom outwards.
Now there's a tiny chance my husband could have messed up when putting the lid on this time too. I noticed he pushed the rubber-covered steel lid about 1/8" down INTO the barrel before putting the metal cap and wing nut on. Maybe it was too far into the barrel, didn't have enough traction, and opened that way. But the fact that it expanded during the last stage really has me wondering if that's the real problem. Can anyone give insight into this? Should I be saving glass for a vibratory tumbler (we're on a waiting list for a Thumler right now), or is there something I need to do differently for glass? I'd really like to tumble it all the way through a polish, instead of stopping on the early stages like most people seem to do.
I hit the power button when I saw the issue and the first thing it did was try to turn back *on* and the motor started up again (I thought I was turning it OFF, since it was blinking E on the LED screen). Since it went back to normal, the tumbler will probably be okay in the long run. I brought it inside and washed it completely with with soap and a scrub brush to dislodge all of the grit and plastic beads. It's now sitting in front of an industrial size floor fan. (I've cleaned and dried electronics like this many, many times before - it just has to sit there for a few DAYS in front of some really strong air to dry completely up before I plug it back in.) So the glass and plastic beads are back in the barrel, and resealed, and just sitting on my kitchen counter until the tumbler is ready again.
We're just now on stage 2 and I walked into the garage to find the tumbler blinking E and a gray stream across the floor. I looked closer, and the barrel had popped open and there were plastic beads, glass, and grey muck spilling out. It looks like it locked up the rollers, and that's what caused the tumbler to turn off.
When we were finished with stage 1, I noticed that the barrel (all rubber) was pushed OUTWARD on the bottom, like pressure had built up inside as it tumbled. When I tumble rocks, I often find the bottom of the barrel is concave (pulled inward) like the pressure dropped during tumbling. Does tumbling glass tend to build up a lot of heat or cause higher pressure for other reasons? Could this be why the barrel popped open this time? It had only been going for about a day in stage 2 when this happened. We ran Stage 1 for five days and it didn't pop open, it just expanded and pushed the rubber bottom outwards.
Now there's a tiny chance my husband could have messed up when putting the lid on this time too. I noticed he pushed the rubber-covered steel lid about 1/8" down INTO the barrel before putting the metal cap and wing nut on. Maybe it was too far into the barrel, didn't have enough traction, and opened that way. But the fact that it expanded during the last stage really has me wondering if that's the real problem. Can anyone give insight into this? Should I be saving glass for a vibratory tumbler (we're on a waiting list for a Thumler right now), or is there something I need to do differently for glass? I'd really like to tumble it all the way through a polish, instead of stopping on the early stages like most people seem to do.
I hit the power button when I saw the issue and the first thing it did was try to turn back *on* and the motor started up again (I thought I was turning it OFF, since it was blinking E on the LED screen). Since it went back to normal, the tumbler will probably be okay in the long run. I brought it inside and washed it completely with with soap and a scrub brush to dislodge all of the grit and plastic beads. It's now sitting in front of an industrial size floor fan. (I've cleaned and dried electronics like this many, many times before - it just has to sit there for a few DAYS in front of some really strong air to dry completely up before I plug it back in.) So the glass and plastic beads are back in the barrel, and resealed, and just sitting on my kitchen counter until the tumbler is ready again.