tonyg
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Post by tonyg on Mar 24, 2013 20:38:10 GMT -5
Could a ceramic tile (cut up into small pieces )be used as tumbling media in both kinds of tumblers ? I have a box of 6x6 white tiles left over and it would save a few bucks if it was ok.
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Minnesota Daniel
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Mar 24, 2013 21:51:17 GMT -5
As long as you save enough tiles for when you need to replace the ones your teenage son broke when he... oh, sorry. Yes, it should work. They won't be the same shape as the industrial ceramic tumbling media we buy, but I doubt it makes much of a difference for our purposes.
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Post by deb193redux on Mar 24, 2013 21:51:42 GMT -5
they would carry grit, but might not last as long. the real ceramic media lasts a long time, so it ends up being kinda cheap on a per load basis.
I would cut into strips then pieces so that there is not too much broad flat surface.
It may throw mud quicker, so be ready to ass some water.
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Post by susand24224 on Mar 24, 2013 22:20:07 GMT -5
I've read of some tumblers on this board using ceramic tile with good results. But--what we call ceramic media is really compressed aluminum oxide--much tougher than true ceramic.
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Minnesota Daniel
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Mar 24, 2013 23:55:03 GMT -5
There are many formulations for ceramic media, for many purposes. The kind used for cutting contain abrasives. The kind we use in rock tumbling are non-abrasive, and I'm pretty sure are porcelain. Porcelain, a type of ceramic, is harder and denser than "ordinary" ceramic. You would know if you had porcelain tile. Assuming you have ceramic tile, it won't be as durable and last as long as the (porcelain) ceramic media sold for rock tumbling. Someone here recently pointed out that toilets are porcelain.
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tonyg
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2013
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Post by tonyg on Mar 25, 2013 0:00:05 GMT -5
Thank you for the responses. I will give it a try , and see how it works. I will be buying some proper ceramic media in the future .I am just getting going in this hobby and there is much to learn. And it seems very addictive....... cheers tony
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The Dad_Ohs
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Post by The Dad_Ohs on Mar 25, 2013 0:06:44 GMT -5
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jspencer
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Post by jspencer on Mar 25, 2013 21:58:58 GMT -5
I did that one time in water. It made a bubble. ;D
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 26, 2013 9:06:15 GMT -5
Ceramic media and porcelain media are not the same. Porcelain is harder and more expensive. The cheapest non ceramic media would be common pea gravel. You might even end up with pretty gravel.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2013 10:48:17 GMT -5
^^ yes to all of the above.
Ceramic tiles range from "Mexican Pavers" a tile that is not much harder than a red clay pot (made from the same clay!) and range in hardness and durability all the way to porcelain tiles that have a Mohs of 7. The line between ceramic and porcelain seems to be very well defined, but I cannot say HOW it is defined.
edited to add: the above is for flooring tiles. I am aware of other ceramics that go all the way to Mohs 9 that have specialty purposes. But that is not likely what you have.
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The Dad_Ohs
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Post by The Dad_Ohs on Mar 26, 2013 20:30:43 GMT -5
I did that one time in water. It made a bubble. ;D bwah-hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha <deep breathe> hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! good one bro !!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 27, 2013 8:39:20 GMT -5
In a rotary tumbler i have always tumbled small pieces with big pieces-never needed media and got all those small pieces tumbled too.Works for me with agates.If spending money on grit and electricity why tumble media if you can tumble beautiful little stones instead.So i do not understand media in a rotary if you can use small pieces of the material you are tumbling. Vibratory maybe,i think you need media in them.But have no experiece w/them. I have tumbled porcelian,'china',tiles,ceramics.As mentioned some is real hard,some will be turned to mud-lots of sticky mud.The tiles you get with the hard white material is dang tough.
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