carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Feb 20, 2010 18:15:05 GMT -5
St. Augustine said that patience is the companion of wisdom. Well, guess which dumbass was hanging out with impatience last week? You guessed it....me! I had 4 pounds of tumbled agates and jaspers ready for the polishing step last week but my Lortone 3# barrels were busy with an intermediate grind. I had a 9# barrel that was not in use. The dim 2 watt bulb my head began to glow and so I put the 4# in the 9# barrel with "plenty of tile spacers". The screaming of the agates and jasper kept waking me up and on day 7 I pulled them out of their earthly hell. Pits, fractures, cracks, turned out to be their fate. Several stones just came apart. There was a reason I only used that barrel for full loads and coarse grit. I think full loads is the key learning here. Whelp, back to square one with that load.
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Post by rockrookie on Feb 20, 2010 22:43:55 GMT -5
trial & error learning at its best (worst)
---paul
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Post by roswelljero on Feb 21, 2010 1:27:44 GMT -5
Bummer!
Later,
jeri
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darrad
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2006
Posts: 1,636
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Post by darrad on Feb 21, 2010 5:40:45 GMT -5
Kinda like when you were a kid and you were told a hundred times to NEVER stick anything in an electric outlet but you did not learn why until you just had to try it. Bet you do not do that again.  |
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Post by connrock on Feb 21, 2010 6:42:50 GMT -5
Nothing ventured ,,,,nothing gained!
I worked with my Lot-O-Tumbler for a few years before I got it right and can tell you that I made a LOT-O-Mistakes!!
connrock
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Post by Toad on Feb 21, 2010 10:03:13 GMT -5
Ah, but you have patience now - don't you?
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Feb 21, 2010 10:33:50 GMT -5
I should now have enough patience to hold me for the next 4-6 weeks. Maybe I can make an insert that holds 4-5 pounds of rocks and fits in a 9 pound barrel. Hmmmmm.
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snuffy
Cave Dweller 
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
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Post by snuffy on Feb 21, 2010 11:35:02 GMT -5
fwiw,when I run low on rock for a batch after the coarse and fine run, I put in rock I've already polished to fill up the barrel.
snuffy
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Post by krazydiamond on Feb 21, 2010 18:54:39 GMT -5
done that too, snuff.
KD
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Post by susand24224 on Feb 21, 2010 19:05:06 GMT -5
Ooooh. Sounds dangerously close to something I would do. I'm so sorry this happened to you--and thankful to have learned this lesson in a less painful way from your experience.
Susan
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Haleysdream
has rocks in the head
K-9 unit Rock Hounds
Member since January 2010
Posts: 654
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Post by Haleysdream on Feb 21, 2010 20:26:14 GMT -5
Ok I am so new to tumbling I have to ask, so is it always better to have a full load of rock in any stage of the tumble??
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Post by connrock on Feb 22, 2010 8:14:49 GMT -5
H'dream,,
No matter what size barrel you are using it must be filled at least 1/2 which is the bare minimum.
A normal load is about 1/3 or 3/4 full.
The reason for this is that if the barrel is "under-loaded" the rocks will crash down on each other as the barrel turns causing cracls,fractures,chipping.etc.
On the other hand an "over-loaded" barrel won't let the rocks "tumble" as it's too full so they will just take a long ride round round as the barrel turns.
If you can picture a small wave coming up to the shore as it's"curl" comes over the top and goes back on itself.This is about as close as I can describe what it should look like in a tumbler's barrel.
You don't want that "pipeline" as surfers do.You want a nice subtle type wave where it never really "breaks".
Another VERY important thing is the size of the rocks you put into the barrel.ALWAYS remember that AT LEAST 1/3 of the load MUST be small rocks down to "pea' size rocks.
The reason for this is what I like to call "surface contact". The whole idea of tumbling is to get as much of the surfaces of all the rocks to rub the grit against each other.
If you have all big rocks you won't get very much contact between them but if you have a lot of smaller rocks in the load you will.
The entire "recipe" for tumbling has it's purpose and if it's followed you won't have any problems.
Oh,,,,did I mention that patience is probably one of the most important ingredients???
connrock
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Feb 28, 2010 17:19:58 GMT -5
Snuffy, I needed to do exactly what you suggested. I've got bags of polished rocks of many random shapes and sizes. I was thinking of them as finished products but they are bored and would love to help. I've now have a group of well rounded volunteers that would love nothing better than to see success shining all over. Thanks for the words of advice ya'll.
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