buckwheat69
noticing nice landscape pebbles
How do we get out of here ??
Member since July 2008
Posts: 96
|
Post by buckwheat69 on Oct 2, 2008 17:43:24 GMT -5
OK I'm running the thumblers dbl. 3# barrels rotory. I'm in the end of the third week of course. at every 7 days i have washed and clean everything then recharge add some ceramic media and some plastic pellets to keep me around 2/3 full i have a mix of rocks all 6.5 to 7.5. some of them are shapeing up very nicely others are still pretty rough(my rough was pretty rough). i'm chalking it up to the diffrent harnesses. now when I open the lid I have a thick foam on top (no big deal). but i don't have muck of a slurry it's pretty muck water (dark in color) with grith at bottom. I have red a few posts and seen a pic of someone barrel and the slurry looked like pea soup?  . Forgot to mention I have even been throwing a teaspoon of fresh grit on the 4rth day just because.am I doing somthing wrong here. the rocks are slowly taking shape. and my water level I try to keep right at the bottom of the top layer. I gues cause im sitting here staring at the thing and you start wondering am I doing this right LOL. If anyone can see some fault some where please feel free to school me. I was gonne do a cleaning and recharge tonight can i just open the lid and dump more grit in with out a washing. |
|
ejs
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2008
Posts: 478
|
Post by ejs on Oct 2, 2008 18:41:16 GMT -5
Buckwheat: one way to gain confidence that the process is working is to precisely weigh the rock before and after the tumble. You should see a weight reduction of 5-10% depending on the material. If you are getting that, then you know that you aren't too far of. Of course, there is always room for improvement, but at least you'll have a sanity check that you aren't wildly off. You can also try switching some variables (i.e. ceramic or not) and see what effect it has on the reduction.
|
|
buckwheat69
noticing nice landscape pebbles
How do we get out of here ??
Member since July 2008
Posts: 96
|
Post by buckwheat69 on Oct 2, 2008 19:30:41 GMT -5
it would probably also help if it measured the barrel to figure exactly where 2/3 is cause i am just guessing and for all i know I have it to full. Not allowing an efficient grind. I will try your idea next batch to help keep my sanity
thanks
|
|
ejs
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2008
Posts: 478
|
Post by ejs on Oct 2, 2008 20:56:10 GMT -5
I have a ruler that I use when I load up the coarse. The 3 lb. Lortone barrel is just about 10 cm to the bottom of the inside rim. I place the ruler and use it to judge where 7 cm of rocks fall.
|
|
|
|
Post by deb193redux on Oct 3, 2008 0:55:03 GMT -5
if you saw shaping, something happened. if grit settles to bottom, may be too much water
|
|
|
|
Post by connrock on Oct 3, 2008 4:36:09 GMT -5
As deb said it's too much water.
another thing may be plastic pellets.why are you using them in the rough stage?
next rough on this batch don't wash off all of the slurry.leave a little to get you started and THAT will help cushion the load.
connrock
|
|
lynskyn1970
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since August 2008
Posts: 93
|
Post by lynskyn1970 on Oct 3, 2008 9:23:25 GMT -5
yes too much water i agree. i also do not use plastic pellets in the rough i usually use them in the further stages and for the polishing stage.
|
|
fanatic
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2007
Posts: 233
|
Post by fanatic on Oct 3, 2008 11:48:28 GMT -5
I made a dipstick using a popsicle stick with marks at 1/2 and 3/4. Takes out the guess work.
I wouldn't use pellets in coarse either. If your load level has dropped, and it should, you can just add more rough.
I usually start with a load at the 3/4 mark and if it gets all the way down to 1/2 so be it.
|
|
buckwheat69
noticing nice landscape pebbles
How do we get out of here ??
Member since July 2008
Posts: 96
|
Post by buckwheat69 on Oct 4, 2008 20:46:53 GMT -5
great ideas thank you, I was only using plastic pelletes to carry grit for some extra grinding. If you don't think there a good idea in rough i can remove them. I also have ceramic pellets in there for same reason ?? and to have some smaller stuff in there,I have a pretty good size range in rocks, with a good fist full of garnets. That recharge i was going to do thur. night never happened so i'm doing it tonight I will take a pic of how it looks when lid is first opened and you all can see if i have it to full or to much water ect. I had squezed a little water out of each last week and the action sounds pretty good. I guess  LOL I know patiance my young grasshopper Thanks again for all the advice and please keep it comin |
|
buckwheat69
noticing nice landscape pebbles
How do we get out of here ??
Member since July 2008
Posts: 96
|
Post by buckwheat69 on Oct 5, 2008 1:09:40 GMT -5
I went ahead and did a recharge. but before i removed the lid I figured out the 2/3 3/4 thing with my barrel and marked them. and when I took off the lid (boy I'm not a very good estimator) I had way to much rock and way to much water. I pulled out a hand full from each barrel that where actually ready for the next stage. they have taken pretty good shape, took out all (that I could catch) plastic pellets, and a lot of ceramic out to. added a little new rough to bring up to New 2/3 gage on side of barrel,3 heaping tbl.spoons of coarse and just enough water to bring it up to just below the top layer as sugg. back on rollers and wow what a difference in sound. twice as loud to LOL.
Thank You for the great advice I think I'm on the right track for now
i took a few pics. will post tomorrow
|
|
|
|
Post by LCARS on Oct 5, 2008 2:13:13 GMT -5
Stop cleaning out the barrel between recharges, it's totally unnecessary unless you are rough grinding longer than 4 recharges or 4 weeks and then only do a half change of slurry at that point to new water just to thin it back out to the right consostency again. It won't matter what else you put in the barrel if you don't give the slurry a chance to build up viscosity to carry the grit more effectively. Also don't overfill the rock or water levels, just covering the top layer of stones is plenty since the rocks always shrink in time leaving more fluid. Add more smaller rough to bring the level between 60-75% and only move on to the fine grit stage when enough of the stones are shaped and ready to move on. Do not overfill the stone level hoping they will shrink either because this actually slows down the grinding action, better to add more as you go.
|
|
buckwheat69
noticing nice landscape pebbles
How do we get out of here ??
Member since July 2008
Posts: 96
|
Post by buckwheat69 on Oct 5, 2008 17:06:19 GMT -5
between to much rock and to much water, me cleaning out every 7 days I wasn't getting any slurry just dirty water. I left what little bit of slurry there was this time and adjusted everything else. sounds like there is some grinding going on in there now. Before it sounded swishy swashy. I did have a lot of both pellets in ( don't think there was much room for action but now only a few ceramics for size variation. my wife came out and said wow thats loud whats wrong with it. Thats what it's suppose to sound like when your doing it right LOL. Have it located on our porch (dont smoke in house so this is my sittin room) Think I'll be movin it to the garage  Once the little gos to bed I'll get the pics of progress and how full the barrel was loaded up Be gentle |
|
. Forgot to mention I have even been throwing a teaspoon of fresh grit on the 4rth day just because.am I doing somthing wrong here. the rocks are slowly taking shape. and my water level I try to keep right at the bottom of the top layer. 
LOL I know patiance my young grasshopper
