Grit question

Greetings "Ross", Grits do vary usually because the USA uses Imperial mesh sizes based
upon the (micron & inch) where as 99% of the world uses Metric mesh sizes, also the
American 1200 grade is equivilent FEPA 1600 grade.

I think your problem is: that you followed instructions with your tumbler.

Just for interest what make & model is tumbler?

What is recipe are you are using?

Per 1.36kg (3lb) load.
American recipe = 4 4 6 6 heaped tablespoonfuls.
British recipe = 1 1 1 heaped, 1 level tablespoonful.
My recipe is the last Sticky.
It takes more than 1 cycle of grit per stage to get good polished stones that you could
make into your own jewelery.

If you have good quality Quartz (Moh's 7.0) gravel you will probally reload your barrel around
10 times with Fixed 80 grit in order to get a reasonable rounded shape with enough to fill
a 1.36kg (3lb) barrel, after that stage a single cycle of grit per stage can be done.

Wash the barrel & stones, then do a 4 hour burnish wash then check your stones when
dry for rejects (pits, sharp points, cracks that can be felt with a fingernail, thins that can be
broken in two by just using in your fingers & thumbs), those that fail are back in 80 grit, those
that pass move on to the polish stage, usually it is only a few stones per 1.36kg (3lb)
load after at least 3 cycles in 80 grit.

You will either need an unused barrel for polish or wash the barrel to clinical standards to stop
cross over grit contamination after each stage.

If you use plastic pellets, do not re-use the same pellets for all stages as they can carry
grit from one stage to the next, you can re-use pellets, but put them in a container marked
with the stage or grit grade, you should also mark the barrels too.

Please watch & listen to my Beach tumbler XviD encoded videos with both plastic & rubber barrels.

My camera's codec is Quicktime with around 1000kB per second, XviD codec is around 150 kB per second with no loss.

If you need the XviD Codec (Freeware); it works on Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP, Vista
& most likely Win 7 too.
Koepi's XviD Codec 1.2.2

Note: XviD encoded movies works better in Winamp media player than Windows Media Player (all versions).

My first tumble for a picture heavy first steps.
--
I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens sometimes come
for a visit & about 4 miles west from this monstrosity!

Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1: Vendors worldwide, 2: FAQS: Tags & Smilies,
3: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4: Save money on expensive grits & polishes!

You could get by with 400 if you run it two or more weeks to let it break down. If you are tumbling all flat stones you would do better with a lot of ceramic non-abrasive cylinders rather than plastic. You need grit carrying media like ceramic or a bunch of small stones mixed in with a few flat stones.

For what it's worth, I add an AO 1000 step as a pre-polish.

Hope this helps,
Chuck