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Post by tkrueger3 on Sept 15, 2009 20:36:41 GMT -5
OK - I have a set of 30 or so preforms of varying flavors that I wanted to see if I could process in the vibe (like, I believe, Frane and Mynewhobby do). So Yesterday I dumped them in and filled it the rest of the way with 3 sizes of ceramic fillers from the Rock Shed. About 3 or 4 pounds of ceramics. I ran it for 24 hours with graded 220 grit, and here is what they look like now. The questions I have - O! the questions I have! Fran, Julie, anybody, do you do more shaping than these when you drop your preforms into the vibe? Should I do more shaping? I was going to start with some 120/220 mix, but oh gosh, I'm out. So it's 220 or 60/90, and I really don't want to use 60/90 on these in the vibe. I'm thinking maybe another 2 days in 220, then see what they look like. Obviously some have cracks and pits, but that's ok by me - I just want to let them stay in and see what happens. But some may still need to be ground a bit more on the WF. The vibe set:  The closeups, arranged by what I think are stone types These all came from the same slab - which I've lost the name of:  Some laces, but extremely thin, I think also from the same slab  3 from a slab of palm  Picture jasper - ok, I've lost it: Wild Horse maybe?  2 very thin slabs of Montana - I'm jsut removing the matrix and polishing the rest:  Idunnoates - but I love them. Any ids appreciated  Couple of whatrtheyites. Both of these have some chatoyancy that doesn't show up in the dining room.  Not preforms, just what's left of a slab I cut and hated.  A nice little banded flint  More whatsitites  A little eye from a kambaba slab that I really like  Just for grins, some snowflake obsidian - the one on the left apparently has some matrix that I missed - it's getting cut out by the grit.  And finally (YAY!) 2 more idontknowites   ---------------------- I'm also working a batch on the expando wheel. I ran a few of them through 36 grit, then all of them through 60 grit, and 100 grit, this evening before my back gave out. Here's a picture of that group. A few may be familiar - I decided I didn't like the shine, so I'm doing them again. The expando group:  The huge rectangular picasso is for an insert into a belt buckle. The even bigger piece of wonderstone is going on display in my curio cabinet. If I can get it to shine. No, make that WHEN I get it to shine. Thanks for indulging me, and if you can give me proper names for this stuff, I appreciate it. Tom |
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Post by moondragon on Sept 15, 2009 20:54:58 GMT -5
Dang Tom:) YOu have been busy:) You got some excellent stuff in there. Really cool shapes too. I cant help you with the shining but I sure love to look at what you create.
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Post by NatureNut on Sept 15, 2009 21:35:34 GMT -5
Well Tom, I think you're shaping them well for the vibe. Yeah, I'm seeing some undercutting like in pic 9, just means those red pieces have a mixture of harder and softer material there. You could try some super glue in those mini pits and see what happens. Lookin good. Those dopps look great too!
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Post by tkrueger3 on Sept 15, 2009 22:25:23 GMT -5
Thanks - I did get busy on the WF after my new saw stand came in! Makes it a bit easier to get down and dirty with the machine, know what I mean?
Jo, I will take a few of the pieces out after this run with the 220, and do some glueing and probably some more shaping with the WF, and do some more 220 after that. Doesn't seem to be having a huge effect on most of the stuff in the load.
Oh, the dops ... you know what, Home Depot sells nice dowels in various sizes, and I happen to have a miter saw ....... talk about doing it on the cheap! I think I made around 50 dop sticks out of 4 dowels - about $6-7. And Michaels has these foam blocks that people use to stick the bottoms of their fake flowers into - they make great dop-keepers as well! And they're cheap! Notice a trend here? LOL!
Tom
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Post by tkrueger3 on Sept 15, 2009 22:31:03 GMT -5
Oh, by the way, Jo (naturenut) - look at the whitish trapezoid-shaped cab in the picture of the dopped ones, 3rd column from the left, 2nd one up from the bottom. Look familiar? ;D It's one of your moonies! I'm so proud - finally got up enough courage to try it! I hope I don't blow it.
Also, another "do I dare?" moment - there are 3 dopped flourites in the left-hand green block - 2 on the bottom row, and the center of the top row. Jeez, those are soft! The Expando eats them in a big hurry.
Tom
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Post by 150FromFundy on Sept 16, 2009 16:26:24 GMT -5
If you are not happy with your edges at the end of the day, there are a couple of things to try. I am cutting preforms on a Workforce with a cheap blade, so often I get a chipped edge that is too much for the Vibe to wear down. I separte the chipped edges out and run them in a rotary with 60/90 until the edges round out, then finish in the Vibe.
Ultimately, I want to get a shape grinder originally developed for stained glass work. This is essentially a wet diamond drum pop-up grinder. The Gryphon Gryphette is a beauty, but there are mant to choose from. Chances are, many members will chime in and praise this as an essential tool in the rock workshop.
Darryl.
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Post by tkrueger3 on Sept 16, 2009 17:41:43 GMT -5
Darryl, I have a Midland Wizard glass grinder - maybe I'll give that a shot one of these days. Right now I have it set up with the conversion kit that makes it a 5" flat lap of sorts - but the darn wheels wear out in just a minute and are over $50 to replace. So I wear out the $9 WF blades from Home Depot instead. The side of the edge grinds the stones quite nicely, I think.
Tom
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Post by frane on Sept 16, 2009 18:03:06 GMT -5
Looks like you are doing great! I would say, watch your edges and reform if necessary. The agates are a bit harder than the others so they won't shape as fast as the others but will shine great by the end! Like Jo said, use some super glue in some of those natural pits in some of the cabs, just to help them through.
Your Obsidian will not make it very well but the rest may work out great. the woods may need a little more time in 120-220 and often get splintering. You may want to run at least 2 days in the 500 (breaks it down to 1000) and then go on to polish. I am looking forward to seeing the final results!
Fran
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Post by tkrueger3 on Sept 16, 2009 18:12:37 GMT -5
Well, I just opened the vibe with the preforms, after the 2nd day of graded 220, rinsed it all off, and brought the cabs inside. There are quite a few that I'm going to superglue tonight, and several that will feel the edge of the WF, but prolly not in the next couple days due to other commitments. I'm thinking I'll be ready to restart in 220 grit this weekend. We'll see how it all turns out.
I spent an hour with the Expando wheel and 220 grit, on the 20 that I have dopped, and once again, my back quit on me. But those are mostly all looking pretty good - I found 4 of them I'm going to superglue before going any farther with them.
One other thing I did today - I have a 1.5-lb. Lortones barrel going with some flourite rough - I did 7 days of that in 60/90, and wore about half the material away. So Sunday I started it with graded 220, and opened it today (3 days of turning). Those are looking pretty good - not a lot of crazing, but there is a small amount. I have a bunch of plastic beads in with it - no ceramics - so if they are getting chipped, then they must be chipping each other - there's nothing else in there that can chip them. I'm Boraxing that one now, and will restart it later with some graded 600 for maybe 3 days to see what happens. I'm now scared to death of running them too long and winding up with flourite powder only!
Tom
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rockdewd
has rocks in the head
Member since October 2007
Posts: 605
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Post by rockdewd on Sept 17, 2009 14:21:26 GMT -5
When I'm doing "preforms" I just break up the slabs or saw them on the trim saw and dump them in the rotary tumblers. I occasionally do some shaping on my Gryphon or lapidary grinder or just use tile nippers and break off anything that doesn't look good.
The shaping in the rotary tumbler takes from 2 weeks to 3 months with 60/90 grit. I can't nail it down closer on the time because I have 87 lbs of rock in 8 different barrels (1 x 15#, 5 x 12#, 2 x 6#).
When the preforms are shaped the way I like them then I finish them in the vibes.
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Post by tkrueger3 on Sept 17, 2009 20:43:23 GMT -5
Rick - wow! compared to my little hobby, you're running a veritable factory! Of course, we've already discussed in other threads my complete lack of patience ;D, so waiting for preforms to "form" in a rotary, for months, isn't in my cards at all.
I'm hoping I can prove something to myself with this batch - that I can, in fact, find a way to make decent cabs in a reasonable amount of time without beating myself up about it. LOL!
Tom
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Post by tkrueger3 on Sept 18, 2009 13:54:58 GMT -5
Update - So last night I did some pit and crack glueing, and this morning I did some more shaping with the sides of the WF, then restarted the preforms that were in the vibe. I added a double handful of my left-over, soft beach rocks that wouldn't polish, and then I added about 1/2 as much ceramics as I had in it before. I think that may have been my problem - too much content for the vibe. I cranked her up with a few squirts of water and 2 tbsp of graded 220, and she's a-vib-a-ratin away, everything has a nice gritty coating, and it's churning up a storm in there.  So far, so good. I also ran the set of 20 or so dopped preforms that I glued last night, through the 400 grit on the Expando. After another load of laundry, when my back returns to me, I'll go run them through the 600 grit. Most of them are starting to really look like actual cabochons, much to my surprise! Tom |
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Post by frane on Sept 19, 2009 7:09:11 GMT -5
Good luck with your experiment Tom. I think you are off to a great start!
Fran
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Post by MyNewHobby on Sept 19, 2009 12:13:49 GMT -5
Good Morning!
I am feeling kinda woozy here thinking that you think I know what I am doing. ;D
However .... I love those shapes and in my opinion, do no more shaping .... they look great.
As for the cracks ... if some of your pieces have cracks all the way through, you can do two things. Split the piece into smaller ones and smooth the edges or leave it alone and finish it the way it is.
The jagged edges, you can smooth it out with WF (Nature is the one that showed and taught me how to work WF doing this) or I also have a Gryphon Studio with a rough bit to smooth the edges and then continue on with your batch.
These pieces look really nice right now and unless there are serious (continued smoothness issues) I would go on to the prepolih.
Just my take. I really have not had the experience enough to know how all the various conditions can take place.
As always
Julie
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Post by MyNewHobby on Sept 19, 2009 12:16:30 GMT -5
ps .... see what I mean about not knowing ...
I had completely forgotten about trying to use super glue and have yet to do that. Why? I dunno!! DUH!
Maybe I will try that.
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Sept 21, 2009 3:00:01 GMT -5
Hi Tom ,
I do a few pre shapes I find that starting at 220 the edges like round your pet wood will be all smooth over
If you want sharper edges leave angles till later 600Grit ,But make sure you do a angle grind of 600 Grit (on these angles ) before you re enter your pre cuts to the full batch
A lot is trial end error (otherwise known as experementation !! ) depending on the hardness off the rock
Jack
Yorkshire uk
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So far, so good.
