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Post by cpdad on May 20, 2006 16:33:48 GMT -5
after sawing up some rock earlier...i noticed when i dropped a bunch of it in the tumbler...there were a lot of flat sides...such as squares..odd shaped cubes..things like that.
i was just wondering what shapes everyone else saws up for the tumbler...and if there shapes that wont tumble correctly.
i havent started the load yet..but everything in the tumbler has been sawed..nothing broken up.
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Post by Cher on May 20, 2006 17:06:30 GMT -5
You need to have some rounder (broken) stuff in there too. The flat sided stuff tends to stick to each other and doesn't get tumbled so you need something to break it apart that it can't stick to. I generally have only about 1/3rd of a barrel with cut stuff, the rest I put varying sizes of rough. Or any old filler, even some of my first polishes are going back in the barrel as filler rock.
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Post by deb193 on May 20, 2006 18:26:33 GMT -5
You can also use several sizes of ceramic pellets. Do at least 40% pellets.
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Post by krazydiamond on May 20, 2006 19:00:55 GMT -5
i'm assuming you have a rotary, cpdad, and yes, charging of the barrel is important. you need the right proportion of large, medium and small rock. you can only sucessfully tumble a few slabs per load.....
KD
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Post by cpdad on May 20, 2006 19:13:08 GMT -5
yes we have 2 3#lb rotary..there was just so many flat sides..thought i would ask before starting them in 60/90..i forgot who it was...but they said they werent sure how cubes would tumble....and i have quite a few of them...i just went out and whacked a few up with a hammer...lot of odd shapes now.
not starting them untill tommorow.
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Post by Bikerrandy on May 20, 2006 20:07:47 GMT -5
Any shape will tumble just fine. Here's what I do with my vibratory tumbler....
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Post by cpdad on May 20, 2006 20:52:22 GMT -5
bikerrandy..i have a few preshaped peices..that are in another load...i was going to ask for advise from everyone..if they were worthy of bail caps..such as yours..but they are in a rotary tumbler...we will see how that goes..rest assured i will be asking your advise..and everyone elses..before i do a thing.
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Post by Bikerrandy on May 21, 2006 21:20:46 GMT -5
Daniel (Deb193) just did some of my pre-shaped pendants in a rotary tumbler and they did just fine. The key is to check them regularly, and I assume that you wouldn't want to tumble large pieces of stone with them since the pointy end is delicate and you'd risk breaking it off. Feel free to ask questions any time!!
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jrtrio
has rocks in the head
![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_pink.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_pink.png)
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 May 22, 2006 16:18:31 GMT -5
Correctomundo about needing to check your load of pre-shaped rock. And like the others have said: you need a variety of size and shapes to go with them. I've been cutting up some of the Georgia Queen Picture Jasper that I have baked, and I've got shapes of diamonds, cubes, triangles etc. and I loaded them into my 3 lb tumbler along with Non-baked GQPJ. The one thing, like Bikerrandy said about checking your loads is right too. I check mine about every 3 days or so, so I can make sure that if any of the "pointier" stones have broken tips off I can pull them so they won't do much damage to the other rocks. If I were to tumble bikerrandy's shapes in my rotary I would tumble just those shapes. Of course there would be the different sizes, small, medium and large, and maybe some ceramic pellets to help fill the load and add a little cushion. But, the one piece of advice I would give you is that when tumbling pre-shaped rock try not to tumble it with harder rock or heavier rock. Then you run a better chance of getting most of your shapes through those early stages. As a matter of fact I've pulled a couple of the diamond shapes because they looked so good in the 60/90 that I wanted to preserve the "sharper" edges they have. Then I'll add them to the 120/220 load. It's all experimentation right now but so far things are working out. Keep a log of what you do all along the way. And yes, take pictures!! I would but my son has my old camera and since I've gotten my new camera, well, the stones are in the barrel! At stage change I'll pull some and take some pictures. Good luck CPdad!
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Post by cpdad on May 22, 2006 18:19:28 GMT -5
appreciate it folks..but i have another question about checking the stones...do you just empty the slurry into a bowl...rinse of your stones..check them...and then just return the slurry to the tumbler?...im sure i would lose some grit for the last few days of the run...it doesnt seem like adding a little more grit after a few days would be a good idea....since the grit i started with had broken down somewhat...or am i just thinking wrong again.
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