stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Apr 23, 2011 18:00:40 GMT -5
I agree. Tine oxide is my goto on anything that is the least bit tricky. It polishes everything
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Post by Original Admin on Apr 24, 2011 6:17:25 GMT -5
Ok - I have the tin oxide - the guy in the shop said that the AT's should polish up nicely with cerium oxide - but I will go with the tin oxide.
Ive got 600 grit aswell for the last stage, the shop had no 800 - my question is do I need it or will the sequence of 80-220-400-600 do the trick?
Having a think - if I run the 600 for 10 days - will it all break down and make 800 redundant?
I will search high and low to get some 800 if required though.
Cheers
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Apr 24, 2011 8:26:59 GMT -5
I would let the 600 run extra long. Maybe even let it go 3 to 4 weeks. Should make for a nice prepolish
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Post by frane on Apr 24, 2011 15:21:43 GMT -5
I would check it after 2 weeks, wipe the top off well, add any additional filler that you will need to cushion it and run another 2 weeks. That should break down to about 1000 and be ready for polish then. I agree with Mel. I have used cerium and tin and the tin worked best for the polish. Looking forward to seeing your final results! Fran
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Post by Original Admin on Apr 25, 2011 14:25:34 GMT -5
Ok fran and stefan - both agree about the long time for 4 weeks - what do you mean fran by wipe the top off well? Do you mean scrape any large muddy areas of grit out?
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Post by Original Admin on May 1, 2011 4:55:25 GMT -5
Its been in 220 for 10 days now. I cant wait to move them on - is it long enough? I dont know - but its no good - I have the neeeeed and they have to go to 400!!!!
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Post by Original Admin on Jun 24, 2011 4:27:00 GMT -5
Dam - im in trouble. Please see below. I ran for 5 weeks in 600 (which is the lowest I have got) - they looked great when they came out - not at all shining - just dull and smooth. Then I put them in TO as advised - and now look at this. They were kind of shining up after three days (this is after 3 days) - but whats with all the white? They are packed in with TO, Water and Plastic Pellets. I may have to re-run - but I cant get any 800+ grit - 600 is all I can get. Any tips? Mark
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on Jun 24, 2011 5:58:43 GMT -5
I'm certainly not an expert on obsidian, but it looks like you're getting the dreaded micro chipping. You need to back up a couple of steps and to thicken your slurry. You can try walnut shells or some fine saw dust. When ran into this I solved it by doing the polish step in a fully packed vibe - Lot-O tumbler. You may also need to store these in water - don't let them dry out and run a new batch so you can get a greater volume of tears ready for the polish step. Somehow you must slow down the action.
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Post by krazydiamond on Jun 24, 2011 16:07:56 GMT -5
wow, i have no idea what to suggest. are there actually pits in the material or is is fracturing from the inside? need more pics. six weeks was a lot for 600 grit, i'm surprised you had anything left. i'd advise against any organic cushioning (sorry Steve), and just use a lot of plastic pellets maybe run a few days in water and borax to clean off the TO?
KD
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Post by frane on Jun 24, 2011 19:55:35 GMT -5
Looks like they had a little bashing around and maybe not enough smoothing in the 600. I would step back to the 600 to smooth out some of your tiny pits. use about 50% cushioning in all of these steps and keep it pretty full. I always use a 1000 grit for at least a week. Normally 10 days then after burnishing, in they go with the TO. This is still in the 3lb tumbler right? I wouldn't go more than 3t of polish and make sure you are using your filler/cushioning in the burnish loads as well. Before you use the cushioning that you used in the polish again, run them in a burnish on their own for several hours and rinse well. They could have picked up some slivers of glass from the obsidian and you don't need that contaminating them again when you get back to polish. Don't worry, you will get them there. Fran
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Jun 25, 2011 11:06:42 GMT -5
yup back up a couple stages. thicken that slurry. The shape is all there you just need to do is get rid of those micro pits Hey if it were easy everyone would be doing it!
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Post by connrock on Jul 1, 2011 7:06:19 GMT -5
Hi Mark,, I may be a little late here but I don't frequent the "photo section" very often.Sorry,,, I think one of the main things that's causing your "mini-chip" problem on the Tears is actually your tumbler barrel!
Let me explain,,,,
Putting in the rubber mat on the sides of the barrel is causing the Tears to 'fall" on top of each other rather then "tumbling" in a "cresting wave" type action.
A tumbler with a barrel that's round inside turns at a higher RPM then a tumbler barrel with a multi-side.The round barrel MUST turn faster then the multi-sided barrel to cause the proper action or the rocks just keep sliding down the side of the barrel and no "tumbling" is created.
By adding the rubber mat to "force' the tumbling action I think you may have forced the Tears to climb up the barrel and then just drop down onto the Tears on the bottom of the barrel.
Also,,,I don't think you are using enough plastic pellets in the last stages.I use about 1/2 pellets and 1/2 Tears if I do Tears in a rotary tumbler which has multi-sided barrels.
You are probably thing to yourself,,,,, "I have done other rocks with the rubber mat inside the barrel before and have had no problems,,,,What's this guy taking about?"
Apache Tears ARE glass,WILL react differently then "rocks" and without enough "cushion" they WILL chip on you!
My :2cents:
Good luck Mark!!!
connrock
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Post by Original Admin on Jul 14, 2011 9:50:54 GMT -5
Right - I put them all back into 600 - but although the barrel is full and totally clogged with pellets - I can still hear a lot of them striking each other.
Im going to take them out - see what they are like - and then reload them in a smooth walled barrel at 400 with more filler - which I will have to create by doing a run of some spare at 80 and then 240 and then they can all cram in the 400 together.
I knew this would be a long ongoing thing! All advice appreciated. I will post some pics again when they have done that lot above - then been in the polish.
Who knows - when I get them out of this 600 and give them a couple of days in polish they may be ok?
We shall see - the only real way I can spot the tiny pitting is when it gets filled with the TO by the looks of things. When wet or dry and clean - you cant see the pits. I probably need a good magnifying glass for this on thinking about it.
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