meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474
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Post by meviva on Jul 22, 2013 9:35:34 GMT -5
I finally got to start my first batch last night. This is what I put in the 6 lb. barrel: Zebra Jasper, Green Tree Agate, Picture Jasper, Mexican Lace Agate, Rutilated Quartz and some mixed rough from therockshed.com. I also put in a pound of small assorted agate. How often do I check it?
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 22, 2013 9:49:51 GMT -5
They look great already in that second picture! This should be a great batch of rocks for you. Take your time in the first stage and the rest will be a breeze. As long as your water level was good I would not check it for 5-7 days and you can let it run 7-10 days before recharging with grit. Your first week in 60/90 you will see a big change because it will knock off the sharp corners. In the weeks after the amount of change will slow down. You should need to add material to the barrel after the first 7-10 day run.
Chuck
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mikie
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2011
Posts: 13
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Post by mikie on Jul 22, 2013 10:28:23 GMT -5
Can't wait to see how this tumble turns out! Nice looking rocks!!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 22, 2013 10:37:14 GMT -5
I never just check my rocks anymore. When I first started, I was more impatient, so I'd pop the top after a few days to see how things were going. If you really want to see anything, you'll have to rinse a few rocks because they'll be covered in slurry, then you have to clean the lid and the rim, which is a huge pain without running it under water. I figured when cleaning a sample rock or the rim, I was losing valuable grit, so I stopped checking. Now I just wait a week and clean the whole thing out.
When you do your clean out, remove any rocks that are pit free and set them aside to wait for the next stage. Put some fresh rocks in to replace the ones you removed and any other lost volume from all the grinding. Your rocks will not all get done at the same time, so just keep removing rocks that are finished with the first stage until you have enough to fill a barrel for the second stage. Don't be surprised if it takes a few weeks to get your first rocks out.
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Jul 22, 2013 13:52:21 GMT -5
Your first batch? Oh, then you'll probably check it every hour or so.... oh, you mean how often SHOULD you check it... Ditto what the others said. If you've added the right amount of water, then let it run a week and do a full cleanout. Opening and resealing is messy. The only times you really need to open it early are if the bottom of the barrel puffs out indicating a gas buildup (a rare occurrence, but can happen for things like obsidian, not likely with agates), or if you hear things stop rumbling in the barrel or start really crashing around in the barrel (which both indicate that the slurry has gotten too thick and rocks are either stuck in place or forming into clumps that break free and crash into other clumps. -Don
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meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474
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Post by meviva on Jul 22, 2013 20:33:39 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for the comments and tips. It will be hard not to want to open it but I will wait 5-7 days. I'm just glad that I finally got it started...can't wait to see them.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 22, 2013 20:36:12 GMT -5
Bummer for you, because waiting is exactly what you're going to do!
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Post by deb193redux on Jul 22, 2013 21:02:43 GMT -5
after the 1st week, watch the zebra jasper and tree agate closely. they are both softer and may shape quicker. I believe zebra jasper is actually a marble, and the gray parts of tree agate are fairly soft crystals.
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meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474
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Post by meviva on Jul 25, 2013 20:28:41 GMT -5
Ok...It's been 4 days. I haven't opened the barrel. I go and look at the tumbler several times a day and watch it go round and round and round. I'm trying to wait til Saturday or Sunday to open it. Patience is not my thing.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 25, 2013 20:58:44 GMT -5
It gets easier each batch you do. Hang in there! You can do it!
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meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474
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Post by meviva on Jul 27, 2013 11:12:27 GMT -5
Today is day 6. I want to open the barrel either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. So what do I do when I open it? Rinse it all off? Look at all rocks and take out those that have no cracks or pits? Put the ones that need more work back in the barrel add more rock, small stuff and bigger pieces? When are the plastic or ceramic pieces used? Add 60/90 grit and fresh water or use the old dirty water with new grit? Sorry for all the questions and thank you for the help?
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 27, 2013 11:25:45 GMT -5
to be honest after just one week I doubt any will be ready to move to stage two but I am sure you are anxious to see the change so go ahead and empty the barrel and rinse them off. when you are putting the rocks back into the same grit again you dont need to bother with cleaning the barrel out. Make sure you do not put any water that may have grit into your sinks. This will cause some major problems to the plumbing. basically at this point you are re-filling the barrel the same as you did the first time. Do not count on the next stages to remove any imperfections so only pull ones out that you are happy with.
I found the easiest way to do my clean outs is to have one 5 gallon bucket full of clean warm water and another 5 gallon bucket with a colander over it so all the dirty grit water goes in that bucket. eventually all the grit settles to the bottom and gets very hard packed and you can dump the dirty water outside (I have a hole I dug that I dump my grit water into)
Chuck
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 27, 2013 12:10:03 GMT -5
I do everything about the same as Chuck does. My colander doesn't fit on top of my bucket though. I got some buckets from the local grocery store from the bakery department. They had lids on them, so I used a saber saw to cut a hole in the lid to hold the colander. I do rinse out my barrels, because its important that the rim is clean so that it doesn't leak. I also use the barrel to transfer water from the sink to my colander. I just keep refilling it and dumping it over the rocks until they're clean.
Then I inspect each rock and only take out the ones that are perfect. The rest go back in the barrel. Replace any lost volume with more rocks. Put in fresh water and grit just like when you first started.
I have only used plastic pellets a couple times. I used them with quartz and amethyst to prevent chipping and cracking. I use ceramic media in my vibratory tumbler all the time. I don't usually use ceramic in the rotary during the first stage because it wears faster. Usually I don't use anything but rocks in the first stage. I've never finished a batch in my rotary tumblers (I always use the vibe), so I can't advise you there.
Congratulations on waiting a week!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 27, 2013 18:53:06 GMT -5
Heres a couple pictures of our clean out process. This colander fits pretty good and I use this one for the 60/90,120 and 600 stages. I got this colander with an old tumbler at an estate sale and use it for prepolish and polish and after you dump out your dirty water you will be left with a sludge of rock and grit particles. when it gets a few inches thick I scoop it out and keep some to use it to thicken my 60/90 slurry when needed. None of this is my own ideas though. we took a rock tumbling class at our club and this is 100% what we learned there for clean outs. Chuck
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meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474
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Post by meviva on Jul 28, 2013 17:57:34 GMT -5
I finally opened the barrel this morning on day 7 and omg I love them. Thanks guys for the suggestions. I spent several hours rinsing and getting the grit out of each of the rocks. I have the pruney fingers to prove it...lol. I probably didn't need to do that at this point but it gave me a chance to look at each and every stone. Here are a lot of pictures: Right after first rinse Some of the ones that I know I got from therockshed.com Close ups: Zebra Jasper Picture Jasper Green tree agate Mexican lace agate Mixed rough from therockshed.com Rutilated Quartz More mixed from the rockshed.com and all the little stuff I got from a rock shop. It's supposed to be mixed agate. More close ups These are the keepers that are ready for step 2...they are the mixed agate from the rock shop....Any ideas what they are? I was a lot of fun going through them. I am putting everything back in the barrel and adding some more rough (bigger and smaller...they won't hurt these will they?) I'm afraid the really small stuff won't survive the next week but I guess that's the way it goes.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 28, 2013 18:37:25 GMT -5
I was drooling after the first few pictures. you got some great material in those. the last set of pictures have some real small stuff. my guess is they will disapeer if you wait for them to smooth out in 60/90 so you may have to deceide wether to just move them to 120 even though they are not smooth if you want to save them.
chuck
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meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474
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Post by meviva on Jul 29, 2013 22:58:47 GMT -5
Thanks...I really liked the bigger pieces. I ended up going back through the small stuff and kept a few that I liked the color and/or shape and thought they would be gone if I ran them through again. Here are a few more pics. Saved these: Added these bigger pieces: Added these small pieces:
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lacami
starting to shine!
Member since April 2013
Posts: 28
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Post by lacami on Jul 30, 2013 16:48:57 GMT -5
They look fantastic! That picture jasper, the third from the left on the top row on the first photo of them? Wow. Beautiful. I can imagine that one as a gorgeous pendant. May I ask how much grit you used per pound of rock? And did you use any filler? (My sodalite is taking ages and I suspect it's because of my ridiculous amounts of plastic filler pellets...) Your batch seems to grind so nicely and quickly!
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meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474
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Post by meviva on Jul 30, 2013 17:56:57 GMT -5
Thanks. That picture jasper is one of my favorite also. It may be a little big for a pendant but maybe by the end it will be a good size. I actually took that one out today to see how it was doing because I didn't want the pointed end to erode too much. It still needs just a little more work so I'm going to try and smooth the bad part with a dremel....not sure if that will work though....just going to experiment and putting it back in the barrel. After taking it out today it is a lot rougher that it was on Sunday....so are all the rest of the rocks. When I first opened it, all of the picture jasper was sooooo smooth. I guess after the grit wears down again things will be smooth again. I used 10 tablespoons of 60/90 grit in a 6 pound barrel. Someone on this board told me to put a lot of small rough in the barrel because it does most of the work. I went to a rock shop and bought 6 lbs of assorted petrified wood and agate pieces for .75 a pound. I put a pound of it into the barrel, I think it really helped. I think sodalite is a bit tricky. I haven't tried it yet. You might need the plastic pellets to keep them from getting damaged.
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tdeuwaite
off to a rocking start
Member since July 2013
Posts: 10
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Post by tdeuwaite on Jul 31, 2013 6:26:39 GMT -5
Great pics. I am finally going to take some before and after shots on our next batch. We've been running tumblers for about 9 months now. We started with the 4lb Lortone then added two of the 2x3lb units. Those five drums have kept us supplied with lots of nice pieces and a barrel full of rejects. We were staggering the start times but now we are on Summer hours and doing them all on the same day. We are getting a 2x6lb Lortone for the first stage grind. After finding this site and reading from the smart people we're going to try grinding the first stage much longer, two or three times if needed. We plan to make jewelry with ours. I take a hammer and chisel to the big chunks. I've only hurt myself once or twice. They call it "Bloodstone" for a reason...hehehe...
Good luck, Richard and Nessa
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