Vibe

Most important tip is damp not wet. If you see water splashing you will settle grit to near bottom of bowl, wearing grooves n bowl as rocks rotate above. Monitor every few hours until you get the hang of it and use approximately half the grit you would in a rotary. It looks like a TV5 so capacity is approximately 4 lbs.

I use my vibe to polish and burnish most of my cabs, I've noticed I get much better results if I hand polish them first on the lap and then finish them in the vibe....

That's what I usually do, depending on the material. I shape them on 100-220 wheels, sand any bad scratches out of them, then run them for 2-4 days in the vibe with 500 grit, recharging the grit daily. Then I hand polish them on the lap, then return them to the vibe for a 2-4 day polish with aluminium oxide, followed by a 12 hour burnish with ivory bar soap shavings. I've had good luck doing them this way, but some softer materials do not respond as well to this method, I have to do them entirely by hand.

Mike

That's the vibe I have. The only problem is the plastic bowl but if you are doing preforms without sharp edges, you should be fine.
The stones should be damp when you put them in the bowl or use a spray bottle to dampen the stones, about 4 sprays should do it. Tighten the nut down to hold the bowl on, plug in and immediately add a pinch of ivory soap over the stones as they run. sprinkle in 1/2 teaspoon of 500 grit to cover the stones. It won't look like much but in about 2 hours it is a paste all over the stones. Unplug and put the lid on. At first, check every few hours until you know how your machine works for you. If you do not see a folding action going on and everything looks a little sluggish, add a few squirts of water to get it going again. if the bowl is not full enough, it will not fold as well as it should. You can add more grit after 12 hours but frankly, it is rarely needed. You should never add more than a second round of grit to the batch without washing the stones in between. It would get too sluggish. The grit breaks down really fast in a vibe, so after 24 hours your 500 grit has changed to about 1000. Have fun with it. I rarely do more than 2 days at each grit and the batch I just posted ran 3 days at 120-220, 1 day at 500, 1 day at 1000 and 1 day polish. (were preforms or ran in the rotary to get a shape before putting in the vibe to finish)
Well, I think that is all I can say to help a little. Any questions, just ask.
Fran

Beef, Connrock's (Tom Kuzia's) guide can also be found on my site as a single pdf: www.peregrine-rocks.com/rocksmin/tips.shtml.

I rough my cabs out on a 60 grit diamond then smooth them on a 360 grit diamond flex wheel. I wish they made a heavier grit flex wheel. I then start them in the vibes at 120/220, then 600, then 1000, 2 days each stage, then polish with alumina oxide for a least a week.

YMMV

Rick

John,

Thanks! I'll check them out. A 220 flex might be what I'm looking for...

Hi Karen,
In short you realy need both

Why
To get a good shape you need a rotary that tumbles the rocks and gets the rough edges of quick a lot quicker than a vibe and more eficently and cheaper

The vibe ( My Lot"O") then takes over in speed and economy in stage 2 220Grit

It is never the less very very agressive in this stage and produces a lot of mud so you have to check every 2 to 5 hours and add a drop of water so they are glossy again

Note
( I must add that vibes run moist NOT like rotary tumblers that are filled to just under the top stones with water)

this stage takes 48 hours in the vibe 14 to 21 days in the rotary

stg 3 500grit 24 hours vibe week to 10 days in rotary

st 4 1000 grit 24 hours in vibe a week in rotary

Burnish vibe 5 to 10 hours rotary 24 to 48 hours

final polish vibe 2 days rotary 2 weeks rotary

(This is my system which is based on Conrocks Gloss guide for Vibes. see other threads on polishing for more information on this & a copy )

Hope this helps to answers your query Karen on the difference between Rotary and vibe rock polishing systems?

Jack
Yorkshire UK

To slightly restate the previous answers about tradeoffs:

A vibe is quicker and does not round-off hardly at all; requires more checking; most (but not all) are more noisy.

A rotary is more time consuming, rounds rocks, can be "ignored" for a longer period of time.

Also, I believe (but not 100% certain) that and 10 pound vibe uses less grit than a 10-pound rotary, right?

To add some confusion , sometimes 'not rounding' is a benefit. There are some rocks that you don't want to add any shaping to. For example, limb casts and cab-preforms.

:2cents: Dean