Next Equipment Purchase should be?

You're going to get a lot of opinions on this one. Some of us use vibes to speed up the tumbling process; you can finish a batch in a week after the coarse grind in a rotary. Vibes require a lot more attention, though; you need to check them 2-3 times a day. I think Thumler's Industrial (UV-10 or UV-18) and Lot-O are the most popular, but there are also Gyroc, Raytech, Lyman, and MiniSonic owners (and probably others I have forgotten). Stay away from Chicago Electric vibes or others made for case polishing/dry tumbling.

A lot of people have bought a cheap tile saw (like the WorkForce at Home Depot) to trim rocks and cut small slabs.

If you're lucky, you can find a used grinder and 10" saw for $500. A local rock club would be the best source for a deal, but you might get lucky with ebay.

Hope that helps!
Chuck

I agree with the mudshark and HRC. Being that you have a little one and little ones want the polished rocks to be ready yesterday, I too would go with a vibrating tumbler. As for type, all of them are generally good except the Chicago Electric. I have Mini-sonics and have been quite pleased with them for years. If you go with a vibe, do make sure to go through the first stage in a rotarty and the rest of the stages in the vibe. Reason being is that the first stage will wear out the hoppers quite quickly. Even better, if you can collect rounded rocks, then just begin with 2nd stage in the vibe.

Have fun,

Condor

Wow - lots of great ideas here...

i need to time to process I will [for sure] be posting some followup questions. One that comes to mind right now is:

If I get the model B this allows tumbling of larger rocks....[which i like] can those larger rocks be tumbled for prepolish & polish in the AR2? - or would I need to complete them in the large model B?? ie is the AR-2 restricted to the not more that 1.5 in category period?

Thanks again!
Andy

Oops, fanatic is right- I meant QT66 not QT6, I'm no longer an advocate of single barrel tumblers after my Model 3A experience.

my bad!

I'd get a vibe next....I use my rotory tumbler to shape and coarse grind the rocks, then fine, polish and burnish them in a vibe....doing it that way cuts weeks out of the whole process, and IMO the vibe puts a better polish on the stones, especially the oddly shaped ones. If you plan on being in the hobby for any length of time, the vibe will eventually pay for itself in the saved amount of grit and polish you'll use in it compared to a rotory tumbler.

MikeS

I completely agree with Michael John. I look at it like an investment in my family. Parents face so much competition for our children's attention these days. My daughter is very interested and my son's interest is growing. We left our first batch of polished stones on a paper plate in our family room for a long while. Not even a real great batch. But it was interesting to see how people's hands were drawn to it. Don't know if it's the cool smooth feel or the uniqueness. We can't wait 'til Spring to some rock hounding. Keep reading this forum. You'll learn so much and make new friends.

Just be warned... once you get a saw and another tumbler, the itch just gets worse ;D . Pretty soon is another tumbler, then a slab saw and a cabbing machine, and you look in the back yard and it's full of piles or rocks, then... well it basically never ends. We are all still trying to find "rock bottom" ;D
Steve

Hi rather than more equipment, may i suggest that you should get extra barrels (1 for each stage) & spares for your existing tumbler, then if you wish to speed up the process a similar sized tumbler so you can use your existing barrels.

The final stage after cabbing is faceting & if you thought the cost of cabbing was expensive, well for just a basic entry level faceting machine do not expect much change from $2500.

As for stones i prefer using locally found stones in addition to zero cost stones can be A1 quality even for faceting.

If you specify where you live or county other members should be able to tell you what you may find there.

You really need to keep a firm grip on the finances as they can get out control really fast & to the point that lapidary is no longer a hobby, but an addiction, also you need to keep in mind that your kids may loose interest after several weeks or months & finally you should have seen my back garden 30 years ago, it was more like a gravel quarry than a garden!

This is what i have:

3lb Beach Tumbler: A = 1x 3lb barrel; B = 2x 1.5lb barrels.

3 x 1.5lb & 8x 3lb barrels
1 Barrel for F80 grit; 1st grind (Moh's 6+).
1 Barrel for F220 grit; smoothing Stage 1 (Moh's 6+); 1st grind (Moh's 5 or below).
1 Barrel for F400 grit; smoothing Stage 2 (Moh's 6+); smoothing Stage 1 (Moh's 5 or below).
1 Barrel for F600 grit; pre polish (Moh's 6+); smoothing Stage 2 (Moh's 5 or below).
1 Barrel for Cerium Oxide polish; for stones that are (Moh's 6+).
1 Barrel for Tin Oxide polish; for stones that are Moh's 5 & below.
1 Barrel for washing between each stage this is the only barrel that i need to clean between each stage.
1 Spare barrel & for washing after final polish.

The 3lb Beach tumbler B: cost £80 including delivery & taxes ($116).
I have enough grit & polish for at least 75 batches.
Total cost to-date for everything is £280 ($408).

I am not going to add any more lapidary equipment for at least 6 months no matter how cheap they appear to be, as i wish to keep lapidary as hobby & not another addiction (smoking & computers)!