|
Post by creativeminded on Jan 6, 2004 12:10:10 GMT -5
When I was a kid my parents got us a rock tumbler for Christmas, the small inexpensive one that comes with 1/2 of stones to tumble. I just recently got the same model, you can by them at Hobby Lobby. Now for my question, I would like to continue to use this tumbler because I will be using small stones for a project I have in mind the longest pieces are about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in length and most of them are slender and thin, if I were to buy the kits of 4 step rock tumbling supplies, how much of each do I put in for my small tumbler? Because the package that came with the tumbler said to add water to the package to avoid dust I didn't measure the amount. I hope someone can help me with this dilema. Tami
|
|
|
Post by hermatite on Jan 6, 2004 12:20:34 GMT -5
Hi there and welcome to the site. If you'll look in the main page Andy has a really great step by step guide from start to finish, including how much rock to put in the tumbler...how much grit...etc etc. It was all I needed and I know follow his directions like they were carved in...well...stone. With great results I might add. Good luck with the tumbling.
|
|
|
Post by Noosh9057 on Jan 6, 2004 12:26:17 GMT -5
Welcome to the site. Good luck. This is a great Site.
|
|
blueangele
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since December 2003
Posts: 86
|
Post by blueangele on Jan 6, 2004 19:27:24 GMT -5
i have a small one too, and although I agree with most of the stuff here the one think I found out is that if you fill the barrel 2/3 full it gets too heavy for the little motor to handle, so I had to cut back a bit and its only about 3/8, not quite half and it started to work again.
|
|
|
Post by Noosh9057 on Jan 6, 2004 22:29:45 GMT -5
If it is too heavy for the motor you could add plastic pellets to get it up to 3/4 full. This way you will get the full tumbling action.
|
|
blueangele
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since December 2003
Posts: 86
|
Post by blueangele on Jan 6, 2004 23:11:31 GMT -5
I did that, but the extra water to cover the extra pellets made it too heavy, this is a 'toy' remember, and it may have just been hot and not too heavy, not really sure, it got a break and a few stones taken out, but I only had a pound of tears anyway so no worries
|
|
thewiz
has rocks in the head
"What good is money if you don't spend it"
Member since January 2004
Posts: 735
|
Post by thewiz on Jan 15, 2004 18:54:30 GMT -5
Hi there and welcome to the site. If you'll look in the main page Andy has a really great step by step guide from start to finish, including how much rock to put in the tumbler...how much grit...etc etc. It was all I needed and I know follow his directions like they were carved in...well...stone. With great results I might add. Good luck with the tumbling. Hello where would this be "the main page"
|
|
|
Post by hermatite on Jan 15, 2004 20:32:47 GMT -5
My apologies. I worded that rather badly. What I should have said is that if you go to the rock tumbling hobby main page, near the bottom you will find a list of links, one of which is named "a complete 4 phase cycle or project". Forgive me if that wording isn't exact...I'm too lazy to keep zapping back and forth between here and there and I'm old, so my memory is short. If you look at that section of the site you'll get really good directions. I too started out with the three pound package from the rockshed...and I used their polish with really good results. The folks I gave rocks to seemed pretty pleased as well.
|
|
|
Post by Tami on Jan 16, 2004 10:25:36 GMT -5
I found the information on the front page ;D. That helped me alot, I also went and got a refill kit for my rock tumbler and this time I measured the grit. Ordered the 4 step polishing kit from Mama'a Minerals which will do 10-14 pounds of rock, the interesting thing is the 4 containters in the kit cost the same amount as the refill kit for 1/2 pound of rock.
|
|
WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
|
Post by WilliamC on Jan 18, 2004 16:35:34 GMT -5
Greetings All, Hello Tami and welcome to the board. I think you raise a good point to consider, that is many people have their first exposure to tumbling through the toy kits sold at hobby stores and toy stores. As far as I can tell, most of these toys don't last very long and don't give very good results, thus there may be a lot of potential rockhounds who give up after bad experiences with these toys. I can only suggest to anyone curretly using one of these, if you have the ability to do so, buy a small tumbler like the Lortone QT3A or 45C. I know the toy tumblers I see in toys-r-us are about $30, but for $60 one can have a real tumbler that willl last for years with minimal maintenience. It just makes me sad to think especially of all the kids out there who might get turned off of the lapidary hobby due to a bad first experience with a cheap plastic tumbler. But hey, that's what this message board is for, to keep that from happening, right? So keep the barrels rolling and happy tumbling for all ;D WilliamC P.S. No I don't work for Lortone, they're just the only type of tumbler I have expeience with...so far
|
|