Post by nightop on Apr 4, 2007 15:11:36 GMT -5
Hello all
I received a rotary tumbler this past Christmas and have just started my first batch through it. I have been doing lots of research (just not soon enough) about how to do all this. I am sure that this first batch is going to be a mess as I just threw a mixture of rocks together in the barrel. I know that I have some Amethyst, and Jasper in there along with a lot of some blue rock that I am not sure what it is, and then to fill the barrel I just picked up some river rock out of the yard. Overall things seem to be going good other than the blue rock seems to be a lot harder than the other rocks.
I have also discovered that my tumbler is not one of the best on the market. So far in the first 7 days of operation I am working on my 3rd belt. I found a shop near me that I asked about this, and they stated that it was the belts themselves along with the brand of tumber that were not the best. They stated that they usually carry some better quality belts that are used in the brand of tumber that my tumber is a knock off of.
I have recently moved about 60 miles North to Vancouver, Washington from Salem, Oregon. I work for an insurance company doing mainframe computer work. The other hobby that takes up a lot of my time is Astronomy which is where my username originally came from. When the skys are clear (which has not been often) I like to take pictures of things in the night sky. www.nightop.com/ is where you can view these pictures.
I was looking through pictures that have been posted and noted that a lot of the rocks were tumbled for a month or more in the first stage. Is this normal? All the tutorials that I have read up to this point basically said tumble 7 days with first grit, 7 days with 2nd, and then lessor times with the pre-polish and polish steps.
I look forward to reading more here and maybe soon I will put another section on my website for pictures of earthly objects.
I received a rotary tumbler this past Christmas and have just started my first batch through it. I have been doing lots of research (just not soon enough) about how to do all this. I am sure that this first batch is going to be a mess as I just threw a mixture of rocks together in the barrel. I know that I have some Amethyst, and Jasper in there along with a lot of some blue rock that I am not sure what it is, and then to fill the barrel I just picked up some river rock out of the yard. Overall things seem to be going good other than the blue rock seems to be a lot harder than the other rocks.
I have also discovered that my tumbler is not one of the best on the market. So far in the first 7 days of operation I am working on my 3rd belt. I found a shop near me that I asked about this, and they stated that it was the belts themselves along with the brand of tumber that were not the best. They stated that they usually carry some better quality belts that are used in the brand of tumber that my tumber is a knock off of.
I have recently moved about 60 miles North to Vancouver, Washington from Salem, Oregon. I work for an insurance company doing mainframe computer work. The other hobby that takes up a lot of my time is Astronomy which is where my username originally came from. When the skys are clear (which has not been often) I like to take pictures of things in the night sky. www.nightop.com/ is where you can view these pictures.
I was looking through pictures that have been posted and noted that a lot of the rocks were tumbled for a month or more in the first stage. Is this normal? All the tutorials that I have read up to this point basically said tumble 7 days with first grit, 7 days with 2nd, and then lessor times with the pre-polish and polish steps.
I look forward to reading more here and maybe soon I will put another section on my website for pictures of earthly objects.