can I use a Vibe Polisher

These Lot-O instructions would be good enough fo rmost kinds of units. Key is to just have damp rocks.

www.therockshed.com/instructions1.html

If you want to create cabs, then that has a few qualifications. Freeforms yes. Sharp bezel for mounting into calibrated findings ... not so much.

Doc: Since Lyman is famous mainly for shooting supplies, their tumblers may be designed mainly for tumbling brass for reloading etc . Not sure if they work for tumbling stones.....Mel

I have only used mine to polish old hotwheel redline bodies before restoring them and it is extremely quite and has performed excellantly but as for stones Im not sure if it can be used It did come with a spare bucket and clear lid. I will pull out the manual and see if it says.

Doc

thanks, jonje. Wishful thinking, I guess. They were so much less expensive, guess there's a reason for it.

keep us posted, Tony. How's the barrel look, is it getting chewed up with the abrasive?

The bowl has a had a nice sanding but seems good sturdy stuff. Of course I bought another bowl for polishing! The only machine problems have been because of me. I find I shouldn't be taking the top off while it is running because I'm reaming the cover hole out pulling it up up over the screw. I have been doing nothing but rough grinding now for 2 weeks or so. A new batch every 2 or 3 days with the harder stuff thrown back in. I think I have given it a pretty good beating and, right now, I'm pleased. It seems pretty loud but I'm not very experienced so I don't have much reference about noise. You need to buffer your stone. I had a lot crack on my last polish. I did a small load... meaning small stones... and I didn't fill the bowl up with anything. Now I am putting about a third of marbles and plastic balls in to cushion the rocks. Can't let them bang off each other. I'm going to throw in some rubber bands next. I have some cabs I'm doing now and want to learn the best way to protect them in polish. T

Well, my scanner is down so I can't help there. The manual is only 2 pages and the stuff on the vib is only a paragraph. It says the capacity is 4 on the small bowl and 8 on the big... fill up the bowl nearly to the top, etc. Stuff you will have read else where. Mostly it just assured me that the turbo is made to do rock. The back does have a list of the stages they recommend, but I use the following I got off this board...." We fill ours 3/4 full. this is a mix of pre ground pieces and the ceramic pellets used for deburring metal parts . We use fine or med. grit pellets. The shape we use are cylinders with angle cut ends. We grind our pre forms with 120 grit diamond wheel. The first grit size we use is 220 grit.We do not use anything coarser than that for the simple reason being , WHY ?
We have already been there.
1 day / some times 2 in 220 This removes all small flats / whoopte do's
1 day in 400 grit
1 day in 600 grit
1 day in pre polish
1 day in TSP polish This is satisfactory 99% of the time

We wet and drain the stone, then place in tub while it is running.

After placing wet stone and pellets in running mach., we drizzle antibotic dish soap onto the moving stones. THE KEY WORD WAS (DRIZZLE) don't squeeze bottle as hard as you can, just enough to get a hair like stream going making 3 or 4 laps around the inside of the tub.
After about 2 minutes the rock is completly covered with soap from the tumbling action.
Now you gradually add your grit , also in a spirial motion same as the soap.
Don't pour it , lightly sprinkle it in.
At this time you will notice that the small amount of dish soap has the grit evenly coating the stone. You are not waiting for a slurry to form to carry your grit because your effectively grinding before you even replace the lid on the machine.

At this time you will probably notice that the revolving / rotating speed of the rock has slowed down.

NOW, take a spray bottle, set on spray, NOT squirt, and lightly mist the surface of the stone until the ORIGINAL speed of the moving stone has been reached.
By that I mean ,the speed it was moving at before we added anything.
Slowly misting the rock keeps the soap and grit from washing off.
Think you used too much soap? Don't worry your rocks will only get a little cleaner.
The ANTI-BACTERIAL dish soap will stop any pressure build up because the yeast type reaction from the bacteria laden rock. Rising bread dough syndrome type thing.
If you didn't use a lot more grit than necessary, there will not be a trace of it in 24 hours.
Your now ready to move on to the next grit size."

I have Rock Shed grit so I'm doing 220, 500, tripoli, and polish. 2 days at 220, 2 at 500, one with pre polish, and one or two in polish. When the bottom of the bowl fills up with sludge during 220, I clean and recharge. 2 or 3 tablespoons of 220 and 500, 2 or 3 teaspoons of each polish. T