Post by Good Vibrations on Jul 2, 2009 10:03:29 GMT -5
I think the beginner's luck I had with the first batch ran out. This second batch has been troublesome.
I wrote earlier about slurry leaking out the top of the vibe bowl & how the rocks congregated to one side of the bowl. Thanks to some very good suggestions here, I'm guessing it's all related to something in the spring mechanism. I peaked underneath where the springs are and noticed thick strings of hot glue going from a couple springs to somewhere else like the external casing on the other side! Sloppy construction!
Anyway, batch 2 went through the "Borax burnish before the final polish" yesterday. When I removed & rinsed the rocks from this step, I noticed all sorts of new chips and cracks in the rocks! I would say more than 50 percent of the larger rocks had new chips & cracks. Really discouraging. About half way through filling them with G-S Hypo-Tube Cement (used for watch crystals, jewelry making...) I gave up on them. I'm still not sure what went wrong.
Needless to say, I just got through ordering the UV-10 (plus extra bowl), more grit, AO 1000, AO polish, & large ceramic pellets from the Rock Shed. (I mentioned that they came highly recommended by all of you at RTH).
In the meantime, batch 2 is sitting on the shelf. Once I get my UV-10 I don't know if I should bother trying to finish them or start fresh on a new batch.
I wrote earlier about slurry leaking out the top of the vibe bowl & how the rocks congregated to one side of the bowl. Thanks to some very good suggestions here, I'm guessing it's all related to something in the spring mechanism. I peaked underneath where the springs are and noticed thick strings of hot glue going from a couple springs to somewhere else like the external casing on the other side! Sloppy construction!
Anyway, batch 2 went through the "Borax burnish before the final polish" yesterday. When I removed & rinsed the rocks from this step, I noticed all sorts of new chips and cracks in the rocks! I would say more than 50 percent of the larger rocks had new chips & cracks. Really discouraging. About half way through filling them with G-S Hypo-Tube Cement (used for watch crystals, jewelry making...) I gave up on them. I'm still not sure what went wrong.
Needless to say, I just got through ordering the UV-10 (plus extra bowl), more grit, AO 1000, AO polish, & large ceramic pellets from the Rock Shed. (I mentioned that they came highly recommended by all of you at RTH).
In the meantime, batch 2 is sitting on the shelf. Once I get my UV-10 I don't know if I should bother trying to finish them or start fresh on a new batch.
(I'm still trying to figure out how to put those yellow smileys in my post...)
