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Post by taogem on Dec 28, 2007 3:32:55 GMT -5
Hi all, New to tumbling.... Borrowed a tumbler to experiment with and it came with two bags of abrasives. There is nothing to tell me what grit each of the two bags are. One does have a red label inside and the other a blue. I don't know if that might tell someone here what grit they might be. I thought tumbling was more than a two step process, but there are only these two bags of abrasives and not sure what I am missing to get started. I was thinking about mixing the first batch with some preform agates and also some jaspers, and also some flawed partially finished cabs. The edges are not really very sharp on the preforms because I hit the edges lightly with the grinder. The larger preforms are about 30 x 40 mm. Also not sure how much of the pellets compared to the number of cabs should be used. The person I borrowed this from was not much help.... The barrels only have about 1" of both red and blue colored stones. Not sure what the difference is or which one to start with, or if it even makes a difference. Okedokey...... This newbie is asking a bunch of questions  Just sorta looking for some help to get a start, and perhaps maybe walk through each step with me this first go around.    |
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Dec 28, 2007 5:26:19 GMT -5
Hi Teo Gem, I can send you a Polishing Guide see in lap tips section There is also a link to the RTH 3 stage polishing which is a excelent place to start, Try this link This is a excelent place to start. www.rocktumblinghobby.com/cycle/cycle.htmlYou need 80 grit or 60 grit to start with looking at the packets you have there I would say they are more like 400 & 600 . You dont need pellets in the first stage If your experementing try some beach pebles first and get the idea of how things work ? befor you use expensive stuff also Agate is very hard and need plenty of time to rub down 4 to 6 weeks BUT it does come up well and you get a good polish on it Flint also gives a good shine and is pretty common , Check whats around with a pocket knife if its scratches its to soft if it leaves a blue steely mark it will polish . hope this helps Im sure others will also give you help, Pleased to help any time Jack Yorkshire UK |
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Dec 28, 2007 10:26:44 GMT -5
1) Find a local rockshop and buy the grits they recommend for a 4 step tumbling process. Bring the bags with you to compare; it's easy to identify grit size when you've got something to go on. Bigger the little flecks are, coarser the grit, stage 3 is like black flour.
While you're there, pick up enough cheap sized (broken to 1") tumbling rough to fill your barrel about twice over. This will give you something to experiment with. Get some agate or jasper to go with the agate cabs, and maybe some feldspar to go with softer stuff. Try not to spend more than a couple bucks a pound, no point going hog wild.
2) The red and blue stuff looks like filler? Used to cushion delicate stones and help get into any concavities; essential only in the polish stage.
3) Keep your grits separate, contaminating the smaller grit with the coarse stuff will ruin them. Clean thoroughly btw steps, really scrub your barrel and inspect your stones. Keeping one barrel for polish only would be a good idea.
4) Oil your tumbler shafts and the motor with a light oil. Keep an eye on the belt; if it slips, snug it up. Tumbler motors run hot, so keep it away from anything flammable. Recharge with grit once a week. When you run those cabs, you might want to inspect them every day or so.
PS - Ask all the questions you want, but I suspect there's more activity in the General forum.
Happy tumbling!
SirRoxalot
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 28, 2007 11:25:44 GMT -5
Unless those are 5lb. bags that couldn't be grit at $16.95 a bag. Doesn't the bag say what it is? I'd take all of it to a rock shop if you have one there or a local rock club and have someone identify it for you. If you tumble the cabs use a ceramic media and monitor as you'll lose the shapes. I assume you want to round the edges. If you want to maintain the shapes you should use a vibrating tumbler.
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Post by BuiltonRock on Dec 28, 2007 13:31:20 GMT -5
Maybe call the phone # on the label inside each bag and ask the manufactor what you have.
john
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Post by LCARS on Dec 29, 2007 13:36:29 GMT -5
Those colored stones look a lot like epoxy treated/colored aquarium gravel. Probably not a great choice of "filler material" if you're going to be tumbling stones. I think the person who had the tumbler before you was using it for another purpose, such as burnishing/cleaning metal annd/or deflaring castings maybe?  Both of those bags look like compounds used for metal cleaning and not lapidary abrasives. The pic is too small for me to read any wording on the labels (note the guy with a metal detector on the bag label graphic). Depending on what the compounts are made of and how fine they are, they may be useable as a prepolish/polish for stones though. A larger or better close-up pic of the labels and contents may help settle it. My recommendation is to just forget about what it came with and get yourself set up with a complete series of rock tumbling compounds from a reputable dealer such as "The Rock Shed" (.com) or you may get off to a "rocky" start with this.  If you're looking for a good "filler" material, you can use plastic or ceremic tumbling media pellets or go to the pet store and look for untreated natural ground quartz bulk aquarium gravel. It is sold either rough or pretumbled smooth or polished and is usually whitish to off-whitish yellowy-brown pea sized pebbles having a hardness of about 6.5 Mohs. This works well for harder jaspers and agates. Use crushed bottle glass as a filler for softer stones between 4-6 Mohs and plastic "pellet fill" for anything softer than 4 Mohs. You can re-use filler materials as long as you separate them by which grit they were used with and only use them in that grit or coarser the next time to prevent cross contaminating finer grit stages with particles of coarser grit that may get trapped in it and rereleased later. |
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Post by taogem on Dec 30, 2007 19:33:17 GMT -5
Those colored stones look a lot like epoxy treated/colored aquarium gravel. Probably not a great choice of "filler material" if you're going to be tumbling stones. I think the person who had the tumbler before you was using it for another purpose, such as burnishing/cleaning metal annd/or deflaring castings maybe? Both of those bags look like compounds used for metal cleaning and not lapidary abrasives. The pic is too small for me to read any wording on the labels (note the guy with a metal detector on the bag label graphic). Depending on what the compounts are made of and how fine they are, they may be useable as a prepolish/polish for stones though. A larger or better close-up pic of the labels and contents may help settle it. My recommendation is to just forget about what it came with and get yourself set up with a complete series of rock tumbling compounds from a reputable dealer such as "The Rock Shed" (.com) or you may get off to a "rocky" start with this. If you're looking for a good "filler" material, you can use plastic or ceremic tumbling media pellets or go to the pet store and look for untreated natural ground quartz bulk aquarium gravel. It is sold either rough or pretumbled smooth or polished and is usually whitish to off-whitish yellowy-brown pea sized pebbles having a hardness of about 6.5 Mohs. This works well for harder jaspers and agates. Use crushed bottle glass as a filler for softer stones between 4-6 Mohs and plastic "pellet fill" for anything softer than 4 Mohs. You can re-use filler materials as long as you separate them by which grit they were used with and only use them in that grit or coarser the next time to prevent cross contaminating finer grit stages with particles of coarser grit that may get trapped in it and rereleased later. I called to check and sure enough you are 100% correct! The tumbler was in fact used for cleaning/polishing coins. I will do as you suggest and start from scratch. Thank you  |
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