Mazanec
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2004
Posts: 355
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Post by Mazanec on Oct 31, 2010 9:06:01 GMT -5
So that they don't wear out from all the abrasive grit?
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,341
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Post by quartz on Oct 31, 2010 9:12:46 GMT -5
Some barrels are metal with replaceable rubber liners, and some are P.V.C. or other types of high-density plastic; the plastic being suprisingly abrasion resistant.
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Post by johnjsgems on Oct 31, 2010 9:33:59 GMT -5
They will wear out no matter what they are made of. The ends usually wear first.
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jilly
off to a rocking start
Member since November 2010
Posts: 17
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Post by jilly on Nov 11, 2010 16:34:44 GMT -5
Ours are all made of PVC. One of them wore out and Significant Other replaced the wornout center part with PVC pipe. It works fine and was cheaper than the $40 replacement barrel the dealer wanted to sell us.
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jrtrio
has rocks in the head
With10 tumblers tumbling the sound is so delicious!Send me more of those little red fellas, please?
Member since February 2006
Posts: 535
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Post by jrtrio on Dec 3, 2010 14:01:03 GMT -5
Yup, they all wear out after a while. Some of the cheaper tumblers have barrels that last maybe 2 loads!! Smithsonian tumblers with the plastic domes with the gray barrels were terrible!! But, I've seen the newer models have made changes to both design and materials. Guess they didn't like all the returns!! I've got 3 types from the little red "toys" to the Thumlers 3# tumbler. Since I spent the extra bucks to have barrels for each stage they tend to last longer than normal since I'm not using the same barrel throughout the whole process. What I have found is the thumlers hard plastic lids tend to wear out right in the middle! Couldn't understand why I was having a little bit of leakage till I noticed the pin prick sized hole right in the middle of the lid. A little epoxy later I was back in business. What you will find is that the worst wear and tear will be from the first two stages. Mostly from the first stage since it's the roughest. So, if you plan on buying extra barrels to segregate your stages buy enough so that you'll have more for the first stage moving down to just a couple for the final polishing stages.
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