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Post by churchbuilderrockman on Nov 8, 2013 16:43:59 GMT -5
Three years ago I bought a vibratory Thumbler's Tumbler, UV-10. Twice a bowl developed a long slit in the bottom, rendering it useless. I am using smooth beach rocks from Lake Michigan, nothing sharp. I have kept the bowls about 3/4 full when tumbling. A new bowl costs $80. Otherwise I love the finished product, smooth, shiny, just great.
Is there a better stronger vibratory rock polisher that wouldn't have the barrel break?
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Nov 8, 2013 17:21:56 GMT -5
I've heard they had some bad bowls, but had solved the problem. You might call The Rock Shed and see what their experience has been lately.
What grits do you use?
Chuck
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Post by 150FromFundy on Nov 9, 2013 6:04:07 GMT -5
I run a UV-10 pretty much 24/7 year round. At that level of usage, I tear through a UV-10 bowl in about a year. I consider that normal wear and tear, and reluctantly shell out the $80 each year for a new one.
The 120/220 grit is the hardest on the bowl. If you complete Stage 1 in a rotary, and use the UV-10 for your 500 grit, pre-polish and polish you will prolong the life somewhat.
However, even the polish stage in a UV-10 will leave a film of floating black dust on the load. The black dust was scraped from the inside of the bowl. It's the nature of the beast.
Make sure you are using the "industrial" bowl on the UV-10. They make a lighter version for polishing shell casings that will not hold up to rocks.
Darryl.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,473
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Post by Sabre52 on Nov 9, 2013 9:15:40 GMT -5
I've run a UV-10 for about five years now and have gone through a couple of bowls. It's my feeling the bowls (bottoms primarily) are really not sturdy enough for a lot of grinding. I do no coarse grinding in mine now and limit my fine grind runs to only two or three days. If you run grind any longer,bowl life is greatly reduced as the grit will cut through the bowl bottom quite rapidly. Coarse grind really eats them up fast! I have dedicated bowls, one for fine grind and one for prepolish/fine grind and the latter bowl lasts maybe three years or more while the grind bowl lasts a bit over a year if I use it a lot......Mel
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 9, 2013 10:05:36 GMT -5
I've sold many brands of tumblers over the years. The biggest bowl killer for all brands is using too much water. Every time a customer calls with the complaint their bowl cracked/split/wore through I ask is it about 1/2" up from the bottom. They are amazed if I am right. Too much water causes the grit to settle out near the bottom and wear at the bowl while the rocks are happily rotating above it. Thumler's went through a change in bowl maker but I think it was maybe 5 years ago. They may have changed again or the maker might have changed formula. Gy-Roc had an issue with bowl lids cracking and found their plastic supplier changed the mix. They handled it well, I think. He shipped me a pile of lids and told me if I got any lid complaints send out a new one. I'm guessing Thumler's would say a year is normal wear and tear with rocks.
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Roger
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,487
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Post by Roger on Nov 10, 2013 9:07:05 GMT -5
When I replaced my bowl I called Thumler's to order it. (they referred me to therockshed lol) When I spoke to Thumlers they said that year round use will wear-out a bowl in 12 months, quicker if 120 is used a significant amount of the time. Rough grinding very hard material also will wear the bowls quicker.
A sure way to kill the bowl quicker is leaving the pad under the bowl dirty. If any grit or slurry spills on it, it needs to be cleaned before running the vibe. I also noticed a few times that I didn't have things tight enough. Occasionally I would notice my bowl was ever so slowly rotating.
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