quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
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Post by quartz on Mar 4, 2011 21:53:16 GMT -5
Built 4 of these, identical, 2 sold, 2 to go. Attachments:
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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 Mar 4, 2011 21:56:10 GMT -5
Nuts, thought I had both sides on one post, here's the other. Attachments:
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Mar 4, 2011 22:37:47 GMT -5
Wow, those are nice! Did you tell the wife you stole the cutting board for the barrel? Your secret's safe with me lol.
Nate
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Post by Woodyrock on Mar 4, 2011 22:40:02 GMT -5
Quartz:
You did a very professional job of these 'homemades'. sort of harks back to the early days of this hobby when most 'professionally' made lapidary equipment came out of someones garage. I really like the way you double stacked the barrels.
Woody
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Post by Rockoonz on Mar 5, 2011 3:12:04 GMT -5
I was talking to a guy at the rock club that bought a Royal saw new years ago. He went over to the guys garage to pick it up and ended up helping him finish putting it together.
Lee
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Post by gr on Mar 5, 2011 6:42:31 GMT -5
pretty sweet piece of engineering. I like how the top barrel rides on the bottom one. great job quartz
gary
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Post by tandl on Mar 5, 2011 10:57:58 GMT -5
Nice
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danb
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2011
Posts: 107
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Post by danb on Mar 26, 2011 1:33:58 GMT -5
What is the capacity? How much are you selling them for?
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quartz
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breakin' rocks in the hot sun
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Post by quartz on Mar 26, 2011 22:15:04 GMT -5
danb Each barrel is one gallon capacity; or 12+ pounds of rock. Asking $400. The first one I made like this has been running near steady for 2 1/2 years and the owner is totally pleased with it.
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danb
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2011
Posts: 107
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Post by danb on Mar 27, 2011 0:39:39 GMT -5
Thanks quartz. I think we are neighbors. I just noticed one of your tumblers on craigslist today. Are you a member of WAMS or any of the local clubs? Maybe I can convince my wife to replace all the small tumblers with one of these... Probably won't happen right away!
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quartz
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breakin' rocks in the hot sun
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Post by quartz on Mar 27, 2011 21:24:37 GMT -5
danb Nice to aquaint with a "neighbor", about where do you live? We were members of the Newberg club for several years, but age and lack of interest got to many members and it was folded last fall. It got to where only a couple of us really did anything. Regarding the machines, have 3 for sale now, got a call last week from one confirmed buyer last week. His job is looking shakey, so he backed out. If you have the tools and ability, I've drawn it up [7 pages]. Build while you work on your wife, or just add to the group.
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danb
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2011
Posts: 107
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Post by danb on Mar 28, 2011 1:13:57 GMT -5
I live in West Salem. I am interested in making a tumbler. I have an old one that needs rebuilding. I basically just need the frame and rollers. Where do you get your rollers and bearings? Thanks, Dan
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quartz
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breakin' rocks in the hot sun
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Post by quartz on Mar 28, 2011 18:55:14 GMT -5
Rollers I make of either 1/2" or 5/8" cold rolled rod, depending on how big the machine is, with drip irrigation hose on the 1/2" rods and garden hose on the 5/8" rods. A little vegetable oil helps slide the hose on the rods. Used 1/2 " on the machine pictured. I bought bearings from U.S. Bearing, deal was right, and they brought them to work for me; that before I got laid off. If you are wanting to build a machine, I'll help with any questions, keep 'em simple. I do have some 6" and 8" plastic pipe if you want to build in the way I do. Larry
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fairguy
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2011
Posts: 2
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Post by fairguy on Jun 2, 2011 14:01:57 GMT -5
What materials can I use for filler? With out buying silicone beads or Porcelain pieces. Live in a very small town and don't have that stuff available. Any ideas?? Thanks! fairguy10@yahoo.com
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quartz
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breakin' rocks in the hot sun
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Post by quartz on Jun 2, 2011 21:31:04 GMT -5
We use pieces of leather cut into about 1-1 1/2" pieces for padding. Our regular tumblers run 1 3/4 and 5 gallon barrels. Smaller machines would likely be happier with smaller pieces, down to about 1/2" in a 3lb. machine. We load the leather to about 20% of the load. any old leather works, get ours from garage sales; stay away from real thin split leathers. Thanks to members here, I recently tried air soft pellets in with the leather in the polish run, and our quality has improved. Dumped all 10k of them in a 5 gal. barrel. Used the little ones that don't float, the floaters make a horrible mess when trying to clean a big barrel. We make a week long run of cheap, dry laundry soap mixed to thin pancake batter consistency after polish, helps gloss up or "burnish" the rocks, use leather for padding here too, separate leather for each cycle. Pellets here didn't work, caused sliding and crashing. Some like this method, some don't, but it works well for us. Perhaps Jack from Yorkshire will come in with an opinion, he said he has tried it too, thinking he wasn't too happy with it.
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Fossilman
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Member since January 2009
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Post by Fossilman on Jun 3, 2011 9:56:08 GMT -5
Awesome!!!
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fairguy
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2011
Posts: 2
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Post by fairguy on Jun 3, 2011 10:49:33 GMT -5
Thanks quartz for the reply sounds good and I defiantly will give it a try...
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spicer m
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2008
Posts: 337
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Post by spicer m on Jun 3, 2011 21:47:54 GMT -5
Quartz Nice engineering, on Your rock thumbler, Nice compact unit, Also a good price. What are You going to build next? Mike
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Jun 5, 2011 2:01:16 GMT -5
Hi Quartze & fairguy ,
Yes I tried leather a few years ago when I was finishing off in a Rotary ,(I now finish in a vibe )
It wasent to my liking it took to long to clean up and sort out, but it did cusion well and I think it helped with the polishing as well,
I found plastic pellets a lot better and could float them off the top real quick, and I have also used cermic fillers
I do try to fill the barrel with local rock sea shore and have a selection of stages to keep the vibe full
The weight of rock in a early stage batch will grind faster than any lighter filler in a rotary and wants to be considered
hope this is of help Like I said it is a long time ago 7 or 8 years since I used leather as filler.
That tumbler looks a great sturdy machine hope you get a lot of sales
Jack Yorkshire Uk
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