Instructions for vibe tumblers....

When you do the burnish stage, just spritz with water like you would for all the other stages. I always like to add a little AO polish to the burnish stage before the polish stage, this gives the rocks a kick start.

i bought a Chicago Electric 5 lb vibe from Harbor freight put in 3# of rocks and very little corncob media. Started at 12:50 a.m. When I got up around 9 a.m. The center spindle was wollered nearly smooth, the center holes of 2 metal and one rubber lid washer were greatly enlarged. Was it from too much rock? HF traded me a new one. I tried to balance the rock and cob plus about 6 or 8 tbsp of Tripoli for a polish cycle. I added enough water make it all flow. It ran an hour or so then started rattling. Had 6# 2 oz of charge (excess was water) so removed more than the excess and tried again. Cob media to the top. The rocks were smooth but dull like a matte finish on a photo. By adding spacers and washers the wing nut got tight (for awhile). The media stuck to the sides of the bowl. The tumbler will probably get traded in shortly. That brand will get one more chance, mainly for me to see if I can do a load right.
What all am I doing wrong? Should I get another CE unit at HF and try to get another brand bowl or would I be ahead to just get another brand tyo start with? Any help appreciated.

I have a raytech 5lb vibe and have only done a few batches, mostly of crap rock I've found around our house, and have never, ever gotten a shine on anything.

I use a lot more water in my first two batches because I'm not around enough to keep an eye on the batches to keep them from drying out. What effect will more water have? Will it just slow the process? My rocks have nicely gotten the edges taken off, so the more water works, and it keeps me from having to monitor every few hours. What is one to do other than add more water if we can't be around to spritz?

Second question... I had a batch in rockshed's aluminum oxide for one day and I pulled out a rock to test and was THRILLED to see a shine, my first ever. I figured, hey, this is good, so I'll make it better and add a little more polish and let them go for another day (I have a dedicated polish bowl). At the end of the second day I was disappointed to find that instead of better, they got worse. No more shine and it looked like the polish had eroded some of the rocks giving me newly formed crevices and cracks that I hadn't seen prior.

So I went back a level to the 500 grit and they're currently running at that for another couple days. I'll burnish (a step I skipped the first time) and try the polish stage again. Five days?? I'm worried I'll have the same issue as I did this time, or was I too impatient this time? It could very well be that the rocks I'm tumbling will just never be great, but they *were* shining somewhat after day one, so I assumed they'd get better, not worse. My tumbler is not very full at this point since I've pitched a lot of the real crap out now, is that a problem?

I'd love to get just a single batch of a few good rocks out of this after all the attempts I've made. I'm not tumbling anything great... a lot of jaspers and granites from my best guess, and a few I have no idea what they are. Would bad rocks in a batch stop the good ones from shining, or will the bad ones just not take a shine? I have some that I think are some sort of sandstone that I'd really like to just get a matte shine on (mine kind of look like these, sans shine... www.universaltreasures.com/images/tumbled%20stone/PictSandStone_Tumb_Large.JPG), but I've removed them from the batch of harder stuff since I figured they probably shouldn't all tumble together, but I may still have a few losers in the batch.

So many questions. I'd really just like one successful, shiny stone already!

OK, I just got a minisonic MT10. I am a rotary dude so get ready for a bunch of goofy questions. This thing is very alien to me. I still need to get a hopper for it as it only came with one so I am not ready to start it up yet. Firstly, thanks for this posting. It cleared up most of my questions.

Is a minisonic a vibe tumbler? I turned it on expecting a major clatter but it quietly hummed. Will regular vibe grits and times work for this tumbler?

It has a set of knobs for intensity on the front. Where should they be set for rocks?

It has 2 4-pound hoppers. How full should I fill them with rocks? How much grit for each hopper. As per Randy's instructions, I am planning on keeping the polish in one hopper and the 120/240, 500, etc in the other one.

Thanks. It's tough for a rotary type to take this on for the first time, so thank you for this posting.
Steve

Hi Randy!
coupla questions on the TV-10.
do you stop at 10 pounds total rock and media?
What kind of grit measure are you using on the various grits? I think I read 20tblspoons of coarse grit per 12lbs of rock. 16Tbsp = 1 cup.

I want to run 120-220, then 600, then tripoli for pre polish, I dont think I have any AO1000.

Hope to hear back from you soon. For now I will use the Thumblers UV-18 instructions below, and pro-rate back to my 10-12lb load.

Last question, Is Ivory Snow with a little boraxo a suitable inter grit vibe mix for cleaning? Or should I be using Ivory Dishwashing detergent???

This is great info. I've searched everywhere for a simple user's guide like this. I'm new to the hobby and have a nice Chicago vibrator (saying that still makes me laugh). I can't remember if it's a 5 or 10 pound bowl but would have to look to be sure.

I've been told that for best results and less chipping I should try to stay with one type of rock at a time when using these type of polishers. Also that I shouldn't go more than 3/4ths full on the bowl. Any suggestions on the amount I can do at a single time? Also, the suggestion on opening the tub, from what I gather, several times a day is to "burp" it more than to check on the status of the stones. Sounds logical?

Actually my rotaries are CE, I don't think the vibe is. I need to go look at it. Doesn't really matter, for what I paid for these if they die in a week is fine by me, as they were my "starter" setups. Eventually I'll be going with something better. For my cabs I'm getting the Inland GTO, plus two combination kits for it. Nice, inexpensive, and so far I've not heard any complaints on them.

if you mean the inland swap-top, I have heard nothing but complaints. the grinder works better than the lap. the saw kit is a joke. You can't really cab on the grinder, but it will get stones ready for the vibe. I think the lap can be made servicable by enlarging the drain hole.

watch out for shocks. they had a bad batch of motors.

Plan on getting a vibe real soon. These tips are excellent. Thanks