dbrealityrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2010
Posts: 1,084
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Post by dbrealityrocks on Jan 24, 2012 18:17:39 GMT -5
Glad to see you tumbling Cathy, looks gniess will be watching to see how it turns out for you, Dave
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Post by talkingstones on Jan 25, 2012 18:53:05 GMT -5
Yeah, Dave, I'm thinking the gniess parts are what will remain... LOL! That's some seriously hard stuff! Rob, what, exactly, is this Lot-O-tumbler stuff? I've been seeing people posting about this and have to wonder...
Cathy
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Jan 26, 2012 2:05:49 GMT -5
The Lot-O tumbler is a vibratory tumbler and probably would do more what it looks like you may be trying to.
Rotary tumblers can beat the tar out of rocks, and are good at rounding them off.
Vibratory tumblers are better at keeping the original shape and adding a nice shine without really affecting the shape much.
I have a 10# Thumler's vibratory tumbler that I am going to use for stage 2-4 and for polishing cabs. This is what Randy does as well.
One additional advantage of the vibratory tumblers is that for the latter stages they can save time. Once your rocks have their shape - either from being rotary tumbled to a nice round - OR from being shaped on a wheel - they can go to a nice polish in around a week total, versus potentially several weeks with a rotary.
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Post by talkingstones on Jan 26, 2012 6:23:32 GMT -5
Hmm...That's what I thought...
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 26, 2012 7:12:42 GMT -5
The vibratory tumblers also use much less grit. I'm finding that grit plus shipping can get pretty expensive. I've read good things here about the Lot-O-Tumbler. I like the smaller size too, since I only have a small rotary tumbler.
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Post by talkingstones on Jan 26, 2012 19:10:38 GMT -5
My thing is that I only have a little time and I'm never going to get anything accomplished if I spend forever grinding or tumbling... I was looking at the UV 10, but I think I'll be roughly 90 before I'd be able to fill it. Think I may take a look at the smaller units...
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grayfingers
Cave Dweller
Member since November 2007
Posts: 4,575
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Post by grayfingers on Jan 26, 2012 19:36:58 GMT -5
The Rock Shed sells a 3 lb. bowl that fits the UV 10, It's a nice size for stuff up to 2 inches.
Bill
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Post by talkingstones on Jan 26, 2012 20:41:36 GMT -5
Bill, I was wondering about that... but what is the advantage of having a 10 lb unit to run 3 lb bowls? I mean...isn't that overkill?
Cathy
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grayfingers
Cave Dweller
Member since November 2007
Posts: 4,575
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Post by grayfingers on Jan 26, 2012 21:39:55 GMT -5
That is a consideration, all-right. A lot-O might be less expensive. On the other hand, it finishes stones very quickly. This batch was Appx. 3 days in 120/220, 1 day in 500, and a little less than 2 days in polish. (I do rough them out on a tile saw, one needs to do that or rough grind in a rotary before using a vibe tumbler, as noted above, you can't coarse grind in a vibe) forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=trtphoto&action=display&thread=48899Bill
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Jan 27, 2012 5:23:50 GMT -5
Hi all Hear you go details off a Lot"O" from the rockshed (where I got mine from) www.therockshed.com/tumbler1.htmlBest buy I ever made, a huge saving on grit and electricity everytime I do a batch Bill You made a good job of polishing that batch Jack Yorkshire uk
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Jan 27, 2012 15:29:53 GMT -5
I ended up buying a UV10 from the rockshed, with a spare bowl for polishing only. My rationale was that if I was spending the money, it would be nice to have enough capacity to handle a full load from my 2 6# Lortone barrels. The trade off, obviously, is that it takes a lot of material to fill the bowl. Eventually I expect to have enough small rock to keep the bowl full all the time, so I can add in larger stones whenever I want to. Until then, I bought 10# of nonabrasive ceramic media from the rockshed. I am still "Saving up" my stone to maximize my first run, but I have the ability now to do many pounds of rock at once, and the cost on the 10# beat the Lot-O by a lot (-o)
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Post by talkingstones on Jan 28, 2012 10:14:32 GMT -5
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Post by talkingstones on Jan 28, 2012 21:44:23 GMT -5
Okay, after deep consideration I went with the Lot-O for two reasons. I have Graves disease and my hand shake on cabbing AND I like to get the whole picture from the stone when i can and that often means more than 1 and /1/8th inches of cab and it was cheaper to go with the Lor-O single with one extra barrel, for the second stage of cabs and polish than it was to order the UV 10 with TWO extra three pound bowls. Size more than price got me. I'm a sucker for a really good picture stone...no matter how big!. I got through about 15 roughings today so tomorrow i will be looking at ceramic fillers... By the time I get all of this together, I'll have another load of rough for the 1.5 Lortone! LOL! It's all good... and very relaxing after a rough week at work!!!
Cathy
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Post by connrock on Jan 29, 2012 11:32:20 GMT -5
If I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing in your photos I see a lot of grit on the rocks. It also look like you're using way too much water which may be the cause of grit not grinding down and also a thin slurry. I also see plastic pellets in there and they only hinder the roughing process.
connrock
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Post by talkingstones on Jan 29, 2012 16:43:55 GMT -5
Hi Conrock, I added the pellets because I had lost so much volume on the stones already. In the slurry, the rocks do have grit on them. I gave them a very minimal rinse so I could see what was going on before deciding to go another week with them, so you may be seeing some on them on the tray as well, although some of the rocks have black veining as well. Easily, I can cut back on the water! I'll see how things are tonight.
Cathy
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 29, 2012 20:48:02 GMT -5
From what I've read, you should add more rough rock to the first stage to add back volume. That way you get some more rock tumbling and don't slow stuff down with the plastic. It's a win-win situation!
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