Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2013 11:34:01 GMT -5
[glitch report] create thread input form not different color than background[/glitch report]
I have not done enough tumbling, but I have been paying attention.
My first observation is that tumbling really has two stages. In the past we would say four stages. But
Stage One: Roughing out. Tumbling long and in Jamesp's case fast. Get the final shape you want.
Stage Two: Finishing. This has perhaps two-three-or-four sub-stages. 220, 500, 800, polish is common, but everyone has their own methods. TnTMom (and certainly others) use(s) different machines for this stage.
Krystee uses a rotary for rough and vibe for finishing. See her obsidion thread for exact details. Need link, could not find thread.
Jamesp uses large high rpm barrels for rough and smaller very low 25rpm barrels for the finish stages. Jim only uses 220-600-polish one week each with sugar in the polish.
Both are producing excellent results.
Clearly there is way more than one way to skin a cat. I just wanted to put it out there that it seems that tumbling is really two very different things; rough & finish. Rough takes months sometimes, finish is faster in all cases.
Feel free to tear this apart. I am always learning.
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Post by deb193redux on Jun 1, 2013 12:21:24 GMT -5
I think you are speaking about lapidary generally. 1) grind & shape, 2) sand and polish
you might use several girts/wheels/steps to grind and several to sand and maybe more than one to polish. depending on material and available options either more steps or fewer.
p.s., use "preview" instead of "bbc code" and the background for create post is white
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,564
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Post by jamesp on Jun 1, 2013 12:27:22 GMT -5
There is a lot of ways to skin the cat.Softer material and mixed loads of mohs are the tough ones.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jun 1, 2013 18:03:44 GMT -5
There are certainly many different recipes for a successful tumble but when you look at them all they are really not much different after all. I think most people all run there rough stage as long as necessary to remove all defects and that means checking the rocks every week to 10 days to see which rocks can be set aside for the next stage and refilling the rough barrel to the proper level with new rough/water/grit. When there is enough rock pulled and ready to fill a full batch then the load switches to 120/220, then 500/600 then this is where some options come in because some people will run there rocks in 1000 and then even a run in tripoli before going to polish and some will run a longer period of time in 500/600 so the grit breaks down to 1000 and then they go to straight to polish. Finishing of with a burnish in borax or dreft is always a good idea and its a quick way to insure that you get the best shine possible.
the two big variables I have found in tumbling are 1) how much patience's do you have and 2)how perfect do you want your rocks in the end.
The good news is that with this forum and the members here you will always be just one post away from getting great advice on just about anything you want to tumble.
Chuck
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2013 17:16:25 GMT -5
Great post Chuck!
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Post by susand24224 on Jun 2, 2013 21:47:59 GMT -5
I haven't used 120/220 for years. I use 200 in the vibe and go straight to 500 in rotaries. But--I'm running my 60/90 for 10 days, at least for Mohs 7, so somewhere in there 60/90 becomes 120/220.
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