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Post by message on Mar 21, 2003 18:09:55 GMT -5
hi Andy I work out of town some times for 2 weeks can I leave the stones tumbling in the slurry for longer than 8 days without harmming the stones seeing the grit breaks down over this span and if so can it be done with all grits 80-polish? and second do Agates usually take a recharge and longer grind to shape and remove pits? thanks HURK
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Post by Andrew on Mar 24, 2003 9:43:56 GMT -5
Hi and welcome on the board.
In answer to your first question, there is no problem leaving them for 2 weeks in terms of the grits, however Ive had one or two barrels lose their lids due to gas build up popping them off. MESSY.
This is rare though, VERY rare, and it seems to be with a particular pink stone I was grinding, (cant remember its name) - not agates.
The other thing which can sometimes happen if the barrels are left too long in the 80 stage in particular, is that the slurry can thicken up so much that the stones stick together in the "mud" and just dont tumble, instead they go round the barrel stuck to the sides. To get around this, add more water than usual if you can - dont overfill though in terms of getting to the top of the barrel - just slightly less rock and slightly more water to completely submerge the rocks. Then allowing to tumble for two weeks is no problem whatsoever.
In terms of the agates and the recharge, yes - I recharge agates every 4 days - and even up to 6 times before they are round enough and not pitted for my liking. Depends very much on how they were when they went in. If I am left with just one or two stones Im not happy with from a load, I just take them out - move the load onto the 220 stage and then place the ones I took out into the next batch of 80 grit with a different load. This stops the good ones wearing down and losing size just for the sake of a couple of rouges!!
Hope this helps
Thanks
Andy
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