Post by tkrueger3 on Aug 3, 2009 18:50:39 GMT -5
I've been rolling some labradorite in a 1.5lb Lortone barrel - I started with 60/90, with about 1/4 of the load being 3 sizes of ceramics. That ran 7 days. Then I cleaned it up, and went to 120/220, adding some odd softer stones (extras from sodalite, aventurine, like that, but not very much) and some more ceramics. That's been running 7 days. I just cleaned that up, and by golly, the labradorite is looking pretty darn good! When wet, every piece has lots of fire, and even dry, you can still see the flash! None of it looks chipped or beat up, either.
So I separated out the other stones (which had mostly ground down to nothing, anyway), and dumped the labs into my vibe bowl. It was almost empty, so I added a bunch of peach and green aventurine that I took through 120/220 before, and it still was only 1/2 full, so then I filled it the rest of the way with a mixture of ceramics from the Rock Shed, and a bunch of 1/4" and 1/8" tile spacers from Home Depot. That filled it.
Started it up, spritzed, added 1 tsp 500 AO, spritzed more, and let it run. After 10 minutes, it didn't look like there was any grit, so I added another tsp. It slowed a bit, so I spritzed again. Another 10 minutes, and I added another tsp. grit. That's all I'll be putting in this load. It looks like a very light gray haze on everything.
I was surprised to find that the Home Depot tile spacers are some kind of either rubber or vinyl. They feel weird. The 1/4" ones are tumbling with the rocks, but the 1/8" ones are just climbing the sides of the bowl and staying there. I may scrape them out later.
The rubber/vinyl spacers have a HUGE effect on the noisiness of the vibe - it's like I put a big muffler on it! I LOVE it!
Anyway, we'll see what happens to this load, and I'll post results with pictures in the tumbling pictures section.
Tom
So I separated out the other stones (which had mostly ground down to nothing, anyway), and dumped the labs into my vibe bowl. It was almost empty, so I added a bunch of peach and green aventurine that I took through 120/220 before, and it still was only 1/2 full, so then I filled it the rest of the way with a mixture of ceramics from the Rock Shed, and a bunch of 1/4" and 1/8" tile spacers from Home Depot. That filled it.
Started it up, spritzed, added 1 tsp 500 AO, spritzed more, and let it run. After 10 minutes, it didn't look like there was any grit, so I added another tsp. It slowed a bit, so I spritzed again. Another 10 minutes, and I added another tsp. grit. That's all I'll be putting in this load. It looks like a very light gray haze on everything.
I was surprised to find that the Home Depot tile spacers are some kind of either rubber or vinyl. They feel weird. The 1/4" ones are tumbling with the rocks, but the 1/8" ones are just climbing the sides of the bowl and staying there. I may scrape them out later.
The rubber/vinyl spacers have a HUGE effect on the noisiness of the vibe - it's like I put a big muffler on it! I LOVE it!
Anyway, we'll see what happens to this load, and I'll post results with pictures in the tumbling pictures section.
Tom
Right on about the progress of your batch! It's a great feeling! ~Erica
