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Post by Tweetiepy on Feb 23, 2005 20:50:40 GMT -5
After I got my 33B I seem to have forgotten what the stones should look like once they come out of the 220. I don't really see a difference in them, they were pretty smooth after they came out of 60/90 then 40/70. I know there shouldn,t be a BIG difference, but should I see something?
Maybe the fact that it's only been in 220 for 3 days doesn,t help *searching for patience, it seems to have left the building*. Should I notice some change? and I assume that it doesn't need to be in there longer than 1 week. I'm anxious to get this batch into pre-polish so I can load up another load of rocks in there.
PS: in this batch I had to take out some rock (looked like milky clear stone) that had what looked like brown mud in "pockets". I used a needle to dig it out and now I've got caves & tunnels going through the top part of this rock - needless to say, it's in the do-over pile - but I would have thought that the tumbling & the grit would have gotten that out of there. Hmmm
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Post by cookie3rocks on Feb 23, 2005 21:29:23 GMT -5
Hi Tweets, Just remember, the lower the number, the coarser the grit. It should go 40/90 then 60/90, about 1-3 weeks each stage. then 120/220 for about a week. Patience, sugar, patience ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) cookie
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Skipper
spending too much on rocks
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Member since March 2003
Posts: 258
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Post by Skipper on Feb 23, 2005 21:41:29 GMT -5
Being a fellow Canadian, I wonder if you've got different coarse grit. My phases are: 45/70 (coarse) 200 (medium) 600 (fine - optional) prepolish polish
1 to 2 weeks in coarse is a good starting point. I think some of the "masters" on the site leave them in coarse as high as 3 months. On the other hand, there are rocks that never completely lose their bumps, fissures, pockmarks. the hardness of the stone can be uneven and pockets can get worse.
Oh the fun of rocks!
Regarding your question of what it should look like... Coarse is used only for shaping and grinding out ugliness. Medium is to get the rough scratches out. From this stage I like to see a smooth rock with a clean even surface. If the surface is still "grainy", it means: - the rock will not likely get any better just based on the rock hardness/type - some more time in coarse or in 220 will improve it
If the graininess in the surface is rare, that's when I might throw it into the 600 just for cleanup.
My 2 cents.
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Post by docone31 on Feb 23, 2005 21:51:51 GMT -5
Grit is an abrasive. 60/90 coarse chips large pieces proportionaly to the grit size. It also leaves scratches. 220 does the same size only it is smaller. It scratches down the larger scratches. Each piece of grit chisels away a piece of stone. Each piece of grit also breaks down and gets smaller. That is your slurry. 660 chips down the smaller pieces left by the 220. Pre-polish, 900 or 1200 chips the smaller scratches down. Polish finishes the process. It does not coat the stone, it chips the scratches left behind by the 900, or 1200. In theory, a progress of 60/90,220,1200,polish should progressively grind down the stone to get a polish. The banging action of the stones are like an hammer, the grit is a chisel. Do this over and over, and you have a predictable, smooth stone. As the slurry thickens, the impact is reduced. In theory, a run with 60/90 should be able to be run all the way to polish stage without recharge. The grit should continue to break down to ultrafine grit through time. I am not sure the quality of the tumble using that technique, however, a person comes to my shop and he only uses 60/90/coarse grit then polish. I have also never seen his finished work. I have seen Sands work. I think I will stick to the conventional way. The stones should look a little better in 220 then they looked in 60/90. I have found, the stones always looked hazed untill polish stage. Even then, some were so stubborn I wanted to explode. Especially emeralds, they take real work.
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Post by Cher on Feb 23, 2005 23:06:05 GMT -5
After I got my 33B I seem to have forgotten what the stones should look like once they come out of the 220. I don't really see a difference in them, they were pretty smooth after they came out of 60/90 then 40/70. I know there shouldn,t be a BIG difference, but should I see something? You're not going to see a BIG difference, especially after just three days. What this grit is doing is taking of the scratches of the previous grit ... which were probably not that noticeable. Best way to tell is to keep a stone from each phase so you can see if there's much difference. You don't really see the scratches made by the grit but they need to be smoothed out for the rock to take a polish. Not if there's holes, that darn slurry will build up in there and it's almost impossible to get it out. You could wash them in borax for a while, might get some out but then it would just fill in with polish. You did good, put them back in the "do over" pile. Cher
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Post by creativeminded on Feb 24, 2005 9:55:55 GMT -5
I haven't found a big change in appearance after 220, I can feel a change, it is smoother. Tami
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Feb 24, 2005 13:28:59 GMT -5
According to the thumblers book- after 60/90 you should have smooth rocks (no pits cracks etc). After 220 your rocks should show luster (shine) WHEN WET). after prepolish they should show SOME luster when dry. and of course after polish you should be happy! Tweet how long did they spin in 60/90 doesn't seem like it has been that long! Are you still only spinning the one barrel- Bet you can't wait to get the other one running!
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Post by Tweetiepy on Feb 24, 2005 13:37:24 GMT -5
Stefan, I'm dyyyyyyyying to get the second barrel spinning - it's bothering me that it's taking sooo long - it spent about 10 days in 40/70-60/90 (started on Feb 12) - I even had my kiddy rolling with 40/70 with driveway rock ![::)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/eyesroll.png) - I ended up with a bunch from the 3# that went into my do-overs, all of the kiddy ones went into the 3# to fill in the many gaps - I'm gonna wait the whole week for the 220 to complete the cycle. I keep looking at that empty barrel & wringing my hands with eagerness to fill it up - I have to wait as I need a good chisel to whack those larger stones into smaller bits - I'll go to home depot this weekend and pick one up & get rid of my agressions on them. *wanna get that barrel rollin, rollin, rollin* but mostly I want a nice batch of stones to show & admire. ![::)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/eyesroll.png)
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