Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 14, 2009 16:34:40 GMT -5
Howdy, Just got my UV-10 running and was wondering. The action seems fairly gentle. Do you UV-10 users use plastic pellets in the polish and pre polish stages in this kind of vibe? Doesn't look to me like it would be necessary but I was just wondering....Mel
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rockdewd
has rocks in the head
Member since October 2007
Posts: 605
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Post by rockdewd on Dec 14, 2009 17:49:59 GMT -5
Plastic pellets won't work in vibe tumblers. They will just float to the top.
To get the best results from a vibe make sure you fill it up to the top of the center cone where it screws on to the base. If you don't have enough rocks you can use ceramic tumbling media, glass marbles, tempered glass shards. etc.
The correct tumbling motion of the stones looks like a load of clothes in the washing machine...
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Post by NatureNut on Dec 14, 2009 19:58:58 GMT -5
Not to discount anything Rockdewd said, he's got lots of experience and knows his stuff.  I've used plastic pellets in my UV-10 and what I noticed is that they climb up the sides of the bowl and drop down onto the turning rocks, work their way through the tumble to the bottom, and climb up the sides again. They did a decent job that way. Another suggestion is to use plastic tile spacers (little X's) from the hardware store. Keep them stored for the stage you used them in. They can contaminate the load. If you are running short, you can take some from a finer grade run (ex: use designated polish cushion material in a prepolish, 500, or 220; use prepolish cushion material for 500 and 220), but do not use cushion material that has been through a harsher grit for a finer grit load. Note: the borrowed material stays designated for the new stage, do not return to it's old container. Jo |
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Post by Bikerrandy on Dec 14, 2009 20:12:25 GMT -5
The only time that I use plastic pellets in the UV-10 is when tumbling tigereye, it keeps the edges of the stones from turning white, so they can be used but not really necessary.
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Post by 150FromFundy on Dec 14, 2009 21:49:07 GMT -5
Fill the UV-10 to at least the top of the blue line. I don't think you can overfill them. I usually have slurry coated on the top of the lid.
I don't use pellets in the 220/120 stage because I wan't to maximize the grinding. I add large and small ceramic pellets to the 500, 1000, and polish stages to cushion the edges of preforms.
Welcome to the UV-10 Owner's Association. If you don't take care of yourself, your UV-10 just may outlive you.
Darryl.
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Dec 14, 2009 22:12:54 GMT -5
This is what the action should look like:
Be sure to use lots of small stuff and only a couple the size of a goose egg. I've used a mix of ceramics as filler when I didn't have enough small rocks.
Chuck
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 15, 2009 4:19:56 GMT -5
Yes Mel, the ceramic media (or a lot of small rocks) will work much better than plastic.
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uneekarts
starting to shine!
Member since December 2008
Posts: 42
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Post by uneekarts on Dec 15, 2009 7:41:16 GMT -5
This is what the action should look like: Be sure to use lots of small stuff and only a couple the size of a goose egg. I've used a mix of ceramics as filler when I didn't have enough small rocks. Chuck Thanks for the video link. A picture is worth a thousand words. Quite hypnotic actually. I also enjoyed the polishing fluorite video. |
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 15, 2009 10:03:03 GMT -5
Thanks for the info guys. Man, I can't believe how much rock that machine holds. I'm probably going to have a tough time keeping it fed. The load is heavily mixed as to sizes and I decided to throw in a few plastic pellets just as an experiment. My pellets are heavier than most and seem to be mixing with the load well. Really like the action on this rig and it's not even incredibly noisy.....Mel
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Dec 15, 2009 11:42:00 GMT -5
Yes, the do hold a lot of rocks. I think Randy get's over 500 pendants in his. I had a really hard time keeping my UV-18 fed until I built my 50 lb. tumbler.
Chuck
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Post by Bikerrandy on Dec 16, 2009 17:28:16 GMT -5
Yep, 500+. Also, the more you fill the bowl, the better they work! Keep it filled to at least the top of the strip or just over it and you'll get the best results.
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