Post by hmc1973 on May 24, 2003 20:35:46 GMT -5
I am SOOOO glad I've found this site. I'm also brand new to rockhounding and tumbling. A friend gave me an old Lortone tumbler which her deceased husband had used 10 - 15 years ago. The enginge runs well. I've cleaned out the barrel, disassembled the lid and cleaned all the parts but can't get the drum to seal at all. I assume the rubber is too old, even though it doesn't seem to have any cracks. I've surfed the web and decided it is the same size as the Lortone Model QT6, 6 lb. barrel. The on-line prices are very different from one dealer to the next so I'm waiting for an answer from Lortone before I order from www.dadsockshop.com which seems to have lower prices.
Does anyone have any experience with pre-forming the stones before you tumble? I'm mostly interested in getting nuggets about the size of beads to make necklaces. Chunky stone necklaces are very popular in southern California right now. I've been lucky enough to get some great jasper at 2 estate sales this month and also have quite a bit of smoky quartz. I've cut some quartz up into roughly sugar cube sizes at the rock club workshop to run a first trial run but have to wait to get a new drum, darn.
Does anyone have any experience with pre-forming the stones before you tumble? I'm mostly interested in getting nuggets about the size of beads to make necklaces. Chunky stone necklaces are very popular in southern California right now. I've been lucky enough to get some great jasper at 2 estate sales this month and also have quite a bit of smoky quartz. I've cut some quartz up into roughly sugar cube sizes at the rock club workshop to run a first trial run but have to wait to get a new drum, darn.
