playin4funami
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since March 2011
Posts: 87
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Post by playin4funami on Apr 24, 2011 21:27:00 GMT -5
I recently purchased at walmart in the clearance section a large container of hard rubber air-soft gun ammo, about 1.5 quarts I guess, regular price was 9 bucks and clearance price of 3 bucks. I have used some of these to cushion the tumbles in the last couple stages and they have no noticable wear on them and seem to do the cushioning job very well. some of these have tumbled for 6 weeks and still have no wear on them. the bad, they do not float. But I dump my rocks from barrel to a mesh screen which catches them nicely. they have plastic pellets also in the same area and they have worked real well also. not knocking any other media cushions, but if you need some fast and/or find them on sale they do the job real nice!
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Post by tkrueger3 on Apr 24, 2011 23:01:23 GMT -5
Several people here do use the air-soft pellets. I haven't tried them, but since they don't float, I've been thinking about maybe trying some in the next load I do in the vibe. Only think I don't like about them is - they don't float, so they will be much harder to separate out when the load is finished.
Tom
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 25, 2011 8:26:40 GMT -5
Tom, they likely wouldn't be heavy enough for a vibe tumbler.
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playin4funami
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since March 2011
Posts: 87
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Post by playin4funami on Apr 25, 2011 12:18:37 GMT -5
they only weight about 7 or 8 grams each so I think in a vibe the rock would probably displace them and they would end up on the top. but I don't own a vibe so have no experience yet of my own with them. the not floating issue makes it a little more work to seperate, but when I dump out a barrel I place a 1/8 inch mesh over a barrel and dump the works on top to drain, then pick out rocks and fold the screen into a funnel and dump them the pellets in a jar, I have a seperate jar of pellets for each grade where I use them.
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crgator
starting to shine!
Member since January 2011
Posts: 31
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Post by crgator on Apr 25, 2011 16:45:10 GMT -5
I agree that not floating is a bit of a pain. But just a bit. I've been using them a lot, and they seem to work good. Of course, I'm a rookie at this hobby, so take that as you may.
I also keep them separated by grade of grit.
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playin4funami
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since March 2011
Posts: 87
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Post by playin4funami on Apr 25, 2011 23:14:27 GMT -5
Oh, I'm a novice too, but I am having a blast experimenting. I think the nearest rock shop to me that I know of is over 400 miles away, and I live 30 miles from the nearest town with a shopping center that has anything, my nearest neighbor is over a mile away, so I am used to making do with what I have. I absolutely hate running around trying to find a specific item and the milage adds up quick, so it's mail order or make it myself around here mostly. Now if it would stop raining for a day or two I might get some more stuff done, seems like the rain started and hasn't let up for two days now. We needed it and it ought to wash up some fresh rocks for me, but it seems to be a pain when everything is dripping.
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drjo
fully equipped rock polisher
Honduran Opal & DIY Nut
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,581
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Post by drjo on Apr 26, 2011 19:18:39 GMT -5
Been using them for a couple of years now too. Easy enough to wash out, one screen for the rocks, one for the pellets. playin4funami... you must get a lot of quiet time for your manifesto, huh?! ;D (I seem to get interrupted alot ) Dr Joe .
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