Post by connrock on Jan 4, 2011 14:11:28 GMT -5
I noticed off and on that some people have problems polishing Apache Tears so I thought I would do a small load(with photos) from start to finish.
If anyone finds that I'm not explaining something here or that I'm explaining it wrong PLEASE step right in and let me know.
This is NOT the only way to do this and it might not even be the right way to do it,,,,it's just my way of doing it.
For starters I used Apache Tears and some sort of what looks like lace agate for a filler. I don't know what type of lace "agate" it is but I doubt if it can even be called an agate as it is VERY soft.
It doesn't really matter if I mixed a hard agate and or jasper,etc,as this is just the rough stage so scratches are not an issue,,,,yet!I just happened to have this soft material handy so that's what I used.
The following photos will pretty much explain what's going on but again,,,jump in and ASK!
I don't know if it's worth the bother to take photos of every grit re-charge during the roughing but if someone thinks I should then just ask.
Tic-Tock,,,,,Tick-Tock!!!
connrock
2ND ROUGH
Here's the photos I just took after the 1st rough and starting the 2nd rough.
I think they will pretty much explain what's going on but as always,,,,,comments and questions are ALWAYS welcome!Good and or Bad! ;D
Well I guess that's it till next week!
connrock
The 2nd rough is finished and I was surprised to see all of the flaws that showed up so at least one more rough will be necessary but I would imagine another after that!
The photo's pretty much explain themselves but something I REALLY want to point out are the "Natural Flaws" that have fallen out during the 2nd rough.
I've only had this happen once before doing Tears and I suspect it's the rough itself so we'll just have to be patient and keep on roughing until we get it right!
I went from a 6lb barrel to a 4lb barrel because the load got smaller.I put the barrel on the tumbler,turned it on and NOTHING!! I forgot that the motor was shot on the tumbler but I had a new one so I had to install it!
I've noticed that as of this post 374 people have read this post and only a very few have commented!
I invite anyone and everyone to comment be it good or bad.If anyone thinks I am doing something wrong and or knows of a better way of doing this P L E A S E jump in here!
THIS IS how we ALL learn,,,,,,,,,,,,I have HUGE shoulders and can take a real WHOOPIN so don't be shy!
3rd Rough
Well all but some of the bigger tears are ready for the next stage.
The "holes' that were created by the "flaws' didn't rough out yet so they need more roughing.
There's only 1 new flaw that showed up after this rough which (in my opinion) proves that these are not caused by the tears banging against each other.
I won't be able to continue this for about 2 weeks so PLEASE be patient until I can continue,,,,,
Thanks
connrock
Well I'm finally back,,,,,,,,,,,,,in body that is!I think I left my mind and spirit back in Arizona where I was for the past 2 weeks! LOL
Anyway,,,,,,
Instead of re-roughing the flawed Tears in a rotary again(and maybe again)I decided to run them through the Lot-O-Tumbler for a couple of days to get rid of those flaws.
I ran out of 120/220 grit so I did a "no-no"(for vibes) and ran 60/90!
I ran it for 2 days and got rid of the flaws!
Instead of running that obsidian as a filler again (it was getting worn down a lot) I used more Apache Tears rough,,,,,,,
The inset photo in the upper right shows Apache Tears as you might find them in their rough.You can see how well they ground down in just 2 days using the 60/90 grit in the Lot-O-Tumbler in the main photo!
They wouldn't have ground down that much using graded 220 but would almost be the same!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of the polishing process will be done using a Lot-O-Tumbler which is a vibrating unit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the barrel full of Tears.
(note) I used some of the "semi-roughed" Tears as filler as the barrel wasn't full enough to continue without adding something as a filler.
In this next photo I tried to show the tears/grit/water/soap content of the barrel.
I wet the Tears and then added soap and let it run to emulsify the soap a bit and then added 1-1/2 tbsp,s of graded 220 grit.
By the time I got the camera out and made the proper settings on it,the load dried out a little but if you look at the VERY bottom of the photo you will see that the grit/tears are wet.
I could have just squirted the load with water for the photo but as I said before,,,,,my mind and spirit aren't back from the trip yet! LOL
I will let this load run for a full 2 days(checking it frequently to add a tad of water) so that the grit breaks down fully which just about eliminates any chances of cross contamination between grit(s).
Again,,,,,,I'm sorry for the delays,,,,
connrock
The Tears have been in graded 220 grit for "about" 48 hours.
I tried to separate the Tears from our original load from the rough ones I threw in as filler.
I got most of them and you can see they are not rounded as the others but have roughed in a lot faster in the Lot-O-Tumbler.
If you compare the next 2 photos you can see how much smoother the finish is between the one that came out of the 3rd rough and the one we just finished in 220.
The following is just something I do to try to prevent damaging the Tears when loading the barrel,,,,,,
Here I "tried" to show the water level but it was difficult to capture it,,,,,The water should be seen down through the rocks,,,,,
OK,,,,,The tears are now in with 1/2 teaspoon of 500 grit and about the same amount of soap.They will run for another 48 hrs in the 500 grit.
connrock
Hi again,
The tears ended up in 500 for more time then they actually needed but I was too busy to work with them and longer is even better.
Here,again I'm trying to show what the surface looks like after running in 500 grit,,,,,,
Starting to get pretty smooth!
The Tears are now in 1000 grit,soap and as much water as the previous stage was.
They should run for at least 2 days so I should be back then,,,,
Questions??
Comments???
connrock
Well I messed up again! I thought the Tears were in 500 but they were in 1000!
They're back in 1000 again and maybe this will get rid of the new tiny "pockets' that have formed??(see 2nd photo)
connrock
Well we're back on track again!
This run was pretty good and it did get rid of all those tiny "pockets" we saw after the 1st run in 1000 grit.
I don't think very many have tried what I did this time but I've had success before so I did it again.
I put in 3 teaspoons of powdered laundry soap right off the bat and then added the ceramic media and then 1000 grit.
The reason I used a lot of soap was to get a thick "soap slurry" which helps the ceramic media to stick to the Tears.
I tried to show this in the following photo,,,,,
(this photo was taken when the load was finished in 1000 grit)
Here is the whole load after the 2nd run in 1000 grit including the ceramic media in a plastic cup,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Here is what the surface looks like,,,,,
They're starting to shine a little but I'm not all that crazy about how the actual surface(s) look.I may be wrong but I think this rough is just loaded with tiny,tiny bubbles throughout!
I hope I'm wrong but we'll see after the polish stage is finished.
In the polish stage I'm trying something that isn't normally done in a vibe but I have had success with it before so I'm trying it again.
I put in the 3 tablespoons of powdered laundry soap and added plastic pellets and cerium oxide polish.
Plastic pellets and cerium oxide are usually no-no's in a vibe but by using all that soap it seems to work for me.
As with the ceramic media in the 1000 grit stage, the soap helps the plastic pellets to stick to the Tears which allows me to use them and the cerium oxide polish.
I sure hope I'm not making a complete fool of myself in front of a whole lot of people here with all my "adjustments' to the "norm" but all of this has worked before for me soooooooooooo!!!!
See you in a day or 2!
connrock
Well they're finally finished!
They didn't come out as well as I would have liked them to due to the bad rough!
I say "bad rough" because as you will see in the 2nd photo,there are still VERY tiny flaws in the finish that I suspect are air bubbles in the rough itself.
I took several photos of the finished surface through a 10 X jewelers loup and this photo is the best I could do.
If you'll notice the finish isn't very good after that 2nd run in 1000 and at that point I began to become skeptical about how they would polish.
Again I ask you to PLEASE comment and I DO NOT care if it's good or bad! LOL THIS is how we ALL will learn!
If anyone would like to view just the photo's without the written posts you can view them here:
imageevent.com/tcknkk/apachetears?n=0&z=9&c=3&x=1&m=24&w=0&p=0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5/31/11
I guess as some of you know I was very upset with the final outcome of the Tears and the fact that they didn't shine like I wanted them to.
I did them 3 more times after my last post here and got a good shine on them but you can still see those tiny "bubbles" just under the surface.
I thought that if I could polish them at exactly the right time when there was a thin "film" between the bubbles and the surface I would be successful in getting the shine I wanted.
Well I did get the shine but you can still see the bubbles just below it!
It all boils down to "junk in,,,,,junk out" and that's that!
You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear and I should have realized that a LONG time ago with these Tears!
Anyway here they are and this IS their final polish! LOL
connrock
If anyone finds that I'm not explaining something here or that I'm explaining it wrong PLEASE step right in and let me know.
This is NOT the only way to do this and it might not even be the right way to do it,,,,it's just my way of doing it.
For starters I used Apache Tears and some sort of what looks like lace agate for a filler. I don't know what type of lace "agate" it is but I doubt if it can even be called an agate as it is VERY soft.
It doesn't really matter if I mixed a hard agate and or jasper,etc,as this is just the rough stage so scratches are not an issue,,,,yet!I just happened to have this soft material handy so that's what I used.
The following photos will pretty much explain what's going on but again,,,jump in and ASK!
I don't know if it's worth the bother to take photos of every grit re-charge during the roughing but if someone thinks I should then just ask.
Tic-Tock,,,,,Tick-Tock!!!
connrock
2ND ROUGH
Here's the photos I just took after the 1st rough and starting the 2nd rough.
I think they will pretty much explain what's going on but as always,,,,,comments and questions are ALWAYS welcome!Good and or Bad! ;D
Well I guess that's it till next week!
connrock
The 2nd rough is finished and I was surprised to see all of the flaws that showed up so at least one more rough will be necessary but I would imagine another after that!
The photo's pretty much explain themselves but something I REALLY want to point out are the "Natural Flaws" that have fallen out during the 2nd rough.
I've only had this happen once before doing Tears and I suspect it's the rough itself so we'll just have to be patient and keep on roughing until we get it right!
I went from a 6lb barrel to a 4lb barrel because the load got smaller.I put the barrel on the tumbler,turned it on and NOTHING!! I forgot that the motor was shot on the tumbler but I had a new one so I had to install it!
I've noticed that as of this post 374 people have read this post and only a very few have commented!
I invite anyone and everyone to comment be it good or bad.If anyone thinks I am doing something wrong and or knows of a better way of doing this P L E A S E jump in here!
THIS IS how we ALL learn,,,,,,,,,,,,I have HUGE shoulders and can take a real WHOOPIN so don't be shy!
3rd Rough
Well all but some of the bigger tears are ready for the next stage.
The "holes' that were created by the "flaws' didn't rough out yet so they need more roughing.
There's only 1 new flaw that showed up after this rough which (in my opinion) proves that these are not caused by the tears banging against each other.
I won't be able to continue this for about 2 weeks so PLEASE be patient until I can continue,,,,,
Thanks
connrock
Well I'm finally back,,,,,,,,,,,,,in body that is!I think I left my mind and spirit back in Arizona where I was for the past 2 weeks! LOL
Anyway,,,,,,
Instead of re-roughing the flawed Tears in a rotary again(and maybe again)I decided to run them through the Lot-O-Tumbler for a couple of days to get rid of those flaws.
I ran out of 120/220 grit so I did a "no-no"(for vibes) and ran 60/90!
I ran it for 2 days and got rid of the flaws!
Instead of running that obsidian as a filler again (it was getting worn down a lot) I used more Apache Tears rough,,,,,,,
The inset photo in the upper right shows Apache Tears as you might find them in their rough.You can see how well they ground down in just 2 days using the 60/90 grit in the Lot-O-Tumbler in the main photo!
They wouldn't have ground down that much using graded 220 but would almost be the same!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of the polishing process will be done using a Lot-O-Tumbler which is a vibrating unit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the barrel full of Tears.
(note) I used some of the "semi-roughed" Tears as filler as the barrel wasn't full enough to continue without adding something as a filler.
In this next photo I tried to show the tears/grit/water/soap content of the barrel.
I wet the Tears and then added soap and let it run to emulsify the soap a bit and then added 1-1/2 tbsp,s of graded 220 grit.
By the time I got the camera out and made the proper settings on it,the load dried out a little but if you look at the VERY bottom of the photo you will see that the grit/tears are wet.
I could have just squirted the load with water for the photo but as I said before,,,,,my mind and spirit aren't back from the trip yet! LOL
I will let this load run for a full 2 days(checking it frequently to add a tad of water) so that the grit breaks down fully which just about eliminates any chances of cross contamination between grit(s).
Again,,,,,,I'm sorry for the delays,,,,
connrock
The Tears have been in graded 220 grit for "about" 48 hours.
I tried to separate the Tears from our original load from the rough ones I threw in as filler.
I got most of them and you can see they are not rounded as the others but have roughed in a lot faster in the Lot-O-Tumbler.
If you compare the next 2 photos you can see how much smoother the finish is between the one that came out of the 3rd rough and the one we just finished in 220.
The following is just something I do to try to prevent damaging the Tears when loading the barrel,,,,,,
Here I "tried" to show the water level but it was difficult to capture it,,,,,The water should be seen down through the rocks,,,,,
OK,,,,,The tears are now in with 1/2 teaspoon of 500 grit and about the same amount of soap.They will run for another 48 hrs in the 500 grit.
connrock
Hi again,
The tears ended up in 500 for more time then they actually needed but I was too busy to work with them and longer is even better.
Here,again I'm trying to show what the surface looks like after running in 500 grit,,,,,,
Starting to get pretty smooth!
The Tears are now in 1000 grit,soap and as much water as the previous stage was.
They should run for at least 2 days so I should be back then,,,,
Questions??
Comments???
connrock
Well I messed up again! I thought the Tears were in 500 but they were in 1000!
They're back in 1000 again and maybe this will get rid of the new tiny "pockets' that have formed??(see 2nd photo)
connrock
Well we're back on track again!
This run was pretty good and it did get rid of all those tiny "pockets" we saw after the 1st run in 1000 grit.
I don't think very many have tried what I did this time but I've had success before so I did it again.
I put in 3 teaspoons of powdered laundry soap right off the bat and then added the ceramic media and then 1000 grit.
The reason I used a lot of soap was to get a thick "soap slurry" which helps the ceramic media to stick to the Tears.
I tried to show this in the following photo,,,,,
(this photo was taken when the load was finished in 1000 grit)
Here is the whole load after the 2nd run in 1000 grit including the ceramic media in a plastic cup,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Here is what the surface looks like,,,,,
They're starting to shine a little but I'm not all that crazy about how the actual surface(s) look.I may be wrong but I think this rough is just loaded with tiny,tiny bubbles throughout!
I hope I'm wrong but we'll see after the polish stage is finished.
In the polish stage I'm trying something that isn't normally done in a vibe but I have had success with it before so I'm trying it again.
I put in the 3 tablespoons of powdered laundry soap and added plastic pellets and cerium oxide polish.
Plastic pellets and cerium oxide are usually no-no's in a vibe but by using all that soap it seems to work for me.
As with the ceramic media in the 1000 grit stage, the soap helps the plastic pellets to stick to the Tears which allows me to use them and the cerium oxide polish.
I sure hope I'm not making a complete fool of myself in front of a whole lot of people here with all my "adjustments' to the "norm" but all of this has worked before for me soooooooooooo!!!!
See you in a day or 2!
connrock
Well they're finally finished!
They didn't come out as well as I would have liked them to due to the bad rough!
I say "bad rough" because as you will see in the 2nd photo,there are still VERY tiny flaws in the finish that I suspect are air bubbles in the rough itself.
I took several photos of the finished surface through a 10 X jewelers loup and this photo is the best I could do.
If you'll notice the finish isn't very good after that 2nd run in 1000 and at that point I began to become skeptical about how they would polish.
Again I ask you to PLEASE comment and I DO NOT care if it's good or bad! LOL THIS is how we ALL will learn!
If anyone would like to view just the photo's without the written posts you can view them here:
imageevent.com/tcknkk/apachetears?n=0&z=9&c=3&x=1&m=24&w=0&p=0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5/31/11
I guess as some of you know I was very upset with the final outcome of the Tears and the fact that they didn't shine like I wanted them to.
I did them 3 more times after my last post here and got a good shine on them but you can still see those tiny "bubbles" just under the surface.
I thought that if I could polish them at exactly the right time when there was a thin "film" between the bubbles and the surface I would be successful in getting the shine I wanted.
Well I did get the shine but you can still see the bubbles just below it!
It all boils down to "junk in,,,,,junk out" and that's that!
You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear and I should have realized that a LONG time ago with these Tears!
Anyway here they are and this IS their final polish! LOL
connrock