jayhkr
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2007
Posts: 92
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Post by jayhkr on Sept 3, 2009 21:04:01 GMT -5
Ok, so I started my coarse tumbler on Monday in the early morning and my fine grit tumbler (separate batch) on Tuesday early morning. Here are some pictures as of this evening as to what they look like on the inside. To me, it just doesn't look right and I was curious if I needed to add water, reduce water, or if I'm just paranoid. This is of my course grit. It really reminds me of a baby's first poo it was so thick and really stained my hands. The contents are good ol' river rock found on the shore of Lake Superior  A little closer view of the thickness of it. Not light and bubbly, but heavy.  This is of my fine grind. I'd say 1/2 of it is full of plastic "air soft" pellets and only about 1/4 fill with Apache Tears I'm trying to finish up for a friend of mine that gave them to me 2 years ago :cheesy: You can see this batch is much lighter in bubbles.  Here's a close up of the slush, you can see on one of the green pellets that the grit is still very noticeable.  Close up without the flash on.  Any suggestions of what I should do or not do. I just need an idea as to what to look for during each step of the process. My plan is to later on use the dual rotary tumbler purely for coarse and get a vib with 3 tubs, one for each step thereafter. I was looking into the UV-3 as I don't need 10# batch's. I'm small scale right now. I'd love to hear comments on this as well. Thank you to everyone again!!! |
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Post by tkrueger3 on Sept 3, 2009 21:31:23 GMT -5
I'm no expert, but to me, it looks like you put about 3 times too much grit/powder in each of them. I could be wrong ..... but I doubt it. I'm sure others will point you in the right direction for how to fill the barrels properly. It might help if you say what brand and what size these barrels are. Good luck with it.
Tom
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jayhkr
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2007
Posts: 92
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Post by jayhkr on Sept 3, 2009 22:06:41 GMT -5
I'm very sorry, you're right I should had given a few more details. These are 3# barrels and I went with a websites recommendation as I've lost the manufacturers instructions. The website was: www.rocks4u.com/tumblers.htm so I used 4 tbsp each according to a "liquid medicine" style measuring device. I'd love to hear that I used to much, that means I can start using less and save me some money in the long run! LOL. Let me know if I get post any more information to help. |
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karock
has rocks in the head
Member since November 2007
Posts: 667
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Post by karock on Sept 3, 2009 22:59:19 GMT -5
the Slurry looks normal. As far as the amount of the grit goes, 4 tbs is the correct amount for stones that are fairly hard. My experience is that on softer stones that would be too much. I also use 3# barrels, and from the looks of your volume I would say you are just over 3/4. I find the tumbling action better just under 3/4 and make sure the water is just touching the lower 1/3 of the top stones. Hope this helps, just my opinion.
Karock
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Post by Bikerrandy on Sept 4, 2009 6:03:49 GMT -5
Looks like you need to add a little more water.
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Post by Toad on Sept 4, 2009 6:17:04 GMT -5
Looks kind of foamy in both cases too. Are you using anything other than water and grit with the stones? I always add borax to the mix to help with clean-up - but never had that foamy problem.
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Post by connrock on Sept 4, 2009 7:29:29 GMT -5
Even though you took some great pic's it's still hard to tell what's really going on.
If you blow on the slurry do the tiny bubbles break?
Are the barrels brand new?
What do the barrels sound like when tumbling? Ca-clunk or a smooth sounding action?
If that slurry is very thick as you say,it will cause the clunking sound.
I don't really think it''s as thick as you think.
(rambling here thinking out loud)
I find that when a load is finished grinding down the grit,the slurry will pour just a tad thiner then pan cake batter.Anything much thicker then that will cause the clunking sound.
I don't think you used too much grit but are just being a little premature and a bit anxious to see the results.
The only thing I can think of that will cause grit to not grind up is using too much water and in a 3lb barrel,which is small,the water/rock/grit ratio can be tough to nail down.
If you have a barrel 1/2 full and use 4tbs of grit you may have too much grit.If the barrel is 3/4 full you may have the right amount of grit.
This does not mean that using the same amount of grit will cause problems it just means that in the case of the 1/2 full barrel the grit will take longer to grind down and may cause the slurry to get thicker faster so you may need to add a LITTLE water.
I don't measure my grit by volume but rather by weight.
I use the old rule of thumb method of 1lb of grit to every 10lbs of rocks.
I weigh the rocks and and add the correct amount of grit "by weight" to the load.
In other words if I had 3.56 lbs of rocks I would add 0.356lbs of grit.
I've done it this way for quite a few years and it has worked ,,,,so why fix it!
In tumbling obsidian( apache tears) you can sometimes get a gas build up which can cause a foamy looking slurry.This doesn't hurt anything and when you open the barrel it will just disperse sometimes with a terrible odor.
I notice that in the load of obsidian there is still a lot of water in the barrel.This means that either you put in too much water or the load isn't finished grinding yet.
I believe the load has longer to go.
The above has a LOT of guessing but what I suggest is to let the loads run a full 7-10 days.This WILL tell you what you did or didn't do correctly.
Changing the contents of the load now will only confuse the matter.
connrock
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jayhkr
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2007
Posts: 92
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Post by jayhkr on Sept 4, 2009 8:33:51 GMT -5
Even though you took some great pic's it's still hard to tell what's really going on. If you blow on the slurry do the tiny bubbles break? Are the barrels brand new? If I blow hard enough they will, but a steady easy puff, like in blowing bubbles, will only move them. The barrels are not new, actually they are about 2 years old from sitting but have been used for about 6 months. Aren't all N00bs premature and anxious! I agree whole heartedly though. Is this total fill, including pellets and rock? I thought I tried to get as close to 3/4 full by eyeing it as I could. However on the obsidian's, it's 1/4 with rock and 1/2 (to equal 3/4) with filler. Good info here, I will give it a go on my next batch! I agree, as of today it has only been 3 full days, but I didn't know what it should start to look like at the 1/3 mark. I will retake these pictures at the end of the 10 day mark and compare them. All the photo's that I've seen of "slurry" has been milkshake consistancy so that I what I was looking for when I took those pictures, hence the post of this message! LOL. I'm going to visit a few lapidary shops in my area today and hopefully I can gain some much needed information. Thank you to all that have helped in this! Much appreciated! |
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Post by johnjsgems on Sept 4, 2009 9:29:40 GMT -5
I believe the froth is normal after a day. I usually use 2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons and open on day three. I add a little more then if it looks like it needs it so 4 isn't excessive. Patience is a main ingredient in any tumbling formula.
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Post by Toad on Sept 4, 2009 9:44:50 GMT -5
Do many folks here open after just a few days to see how things are going? I always run a 7-day cycle, and don't peak until it is over.
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Post by johnjsgems on Sept 4, 2009 10:12:49 GMT -5
I learned by old instructions that said open every three days to "burp" the barrel. It always worked for me so I keep doing it. You'll find many variations for tumbling and also find most if not all work.
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Post by Toad on Sept 4, 2009 10:16:54 GMT -5
I learned by old instructions that said open every three days to "burp" the barrel. It always worked for me so I keep doing it. You'll find many variations for tumbling and also find most if not all work. Okay. I always ignored that because I was afraid of leaks with the grit/slurry possibly mucking up the seal when I went to re-start. Never had a problem, but then I also never tumbled stones that are supposed to 'create' gas build-up. |
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pebblepup
has rocks in the head
Succor Creek Thunder Egg
Member since July 2008
Posts: 515
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Post by pebblepup on Sept 4, 2009 14:39:16 GMT -5
Sometimes I get the foamy slurry and sometimes it is thin and watery. I think it depends on the material being tumbled because I have been pretty consistent with the amount of grit I use.
Normally I use 1 tbsp of grit per pound based on barrel capacity (3 pound barrel gets 3 tbsp of grit). Recently I have been experimenting with with using only 2 tbsp per 3 pound barrel and have found that I get the same results. My fried Jason (1rockhound) told me he recently tried 1 tbsp for a 3 pound barrel and was happy with the results. I am thinking that the writers of the available instructions which often are the sellers of the grit are having people use more grit so they can sell more grit. Anyway if you start with less and check the tumble often then you can always add more grit if your think you need it.
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