sak
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since December 2013
Posts: 88
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Post by sak on Dec 16, 2013 18:59:32 GMT -5
Hi all I'm hoping you guys could give me some guidance.
I'm a complete newbie and I'm building a custom tumbler and I need to get everything done by Christmas for my 6yr old daughter whose nuts over rocks etc. (I'm running out of time....& getting stressed)
I read the tutorials and they say I need to have sieves for each stage of rock/slurry etc. Should I be getting a medium or fine screen sieve?
Thanks for your input.
Sak.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Dec 16, 2013 19:42:06 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. I got started here a couple years ago the same way you are. At the time I was building my tumbler for my kids. I have always just used a plastic strainer that fits on my five gallon bucket. I make sure its clean each time but never used multiple sieves. Others may certainly have different methods. Please post some pictures of your tumbler in the homemade section too.
Chuck
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sak
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since December 2013
Posts: 88
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Post by sak on Dec 16, 2013 21:03:49 GMT -5
Hi Chuck
Thanks for your reply. You just saved me money, I was thinking I would need a different strainer for each stage (to avoid cross contamination).
Regarding the strainer, based on your response do you recommend I get a coarse strainer? Will the coarse strainer be to big if I'm also using the plastic filler pellets (I was thinking of using the doll filler stuff that's available at Michaels).
Regarding my custom tumbler it's going to be very unique. I'm converting a vintage/antique singer sewing machine into a tumbler using gears for speed reduction.
I'll post pics when it's done.
Thanks for all your help.
Sak. .
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,547
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Post by tkvancil on Dec 17, 2013 13:04:34 GMT -5
Welcome. I personally have a strainer for each grit size and one for polish. I bought them at a dollar store for like a buck and a half a piece. They are plastic kitchen strainers. Plastic pellets can slip through the holes in the side but won't fall through the bottom holes. I do my clean outs in large plastic bowls (also from the dollar store) with the strainer inside. so the pellets that do escape the strainer are right there in the bowl. Anyway that's how I do it. I know you and your daughter will have a great time with this hobby. Merry Christmas !!!
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Dec 17, 2013 13:24:11 GMT -5
Get a little one-handed plastic fine-mesh scoop strainer, and use it to gather the floating plastic pellets from atop the water; they float nicely.
Then any garden variety kitchen collander -plastic- with the usual size holes will do.
Never seen the need for a separate strainer for every grit; just give it a good scrubbing with a stiff brush and you'll be fine.
A couple of tips: GIGO - garbage in, garbage out. Don't tumble junk, at least start with something decent, not beach stones and you'll end up with something nice.
Be brutal with your stones. Hammer out the cracks. Chuck anything with holes. The more brutal you are, the better the result, as you won't have stones carrying grit or fracturing all the way to the polish stage, ruining the batch. Hammer, hammer, hammer. Carbide-tipped tile nippers are awesome for quickly clipping stones down. Protect eyes, hands and lungs whilst hammering.
And clean, clean, clean. Keep that lid and barrel rim spotless, and spend time on your stones! Inspect your stones carefully, and scrub them all well. Be sure you're happy with them before you move to the next grit. I've recently begun taking stock of all my backlogged stuff and noticed I had a lot of material slated for stage two when it needs weeks more in the stage one coarse grit. If the stone isn't perfectly smooth to the touch, and chip/crack free, don't let it out of coarse grit. Tumbled stones are all about touch, and feel... imagine it in your pocket, will it be pleasing to the touch? If not, back into coarse she goeth. Time estimates given by the manufacturers are wildly optimistic to say the least. Six weeks in coarse might be enough for some tough agates and jaspers, or it might take 8 weeks... if patience is a problem, start with some amazonite or sodalite, they're much zippier.
And don't ignore the smalls! They cushion the load and get into the concavities and crevices of the bigger stones. Neglect the smalls at your peril. Keep all your trimmings and busted crap, down to dust size, and use lots of it. And be sure your tumbler isn't running too fast, or underloaded. After a while you'll develop an ear for it, and know when you have a happy load. Hard chipping and banging sounds are not good.
Hrmmm, I seem to have run on a bit. Read all the posts here, these tumblers are brilliant. Good luck, and have fun!
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Post by pghram on Dec 17, 2013 14:57:32 GMT -5
As has been said, one plastic (not metal as it will leave marks that have to be ground/sanded off) collander, washed well will be fine for all grits. Welcome & have fun, that's the whole point.
Rich
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Dec 17, 2013 23:55:52 GMT -5
I used a single colander for a year with great results, and I just rinsed it between stages.
Then I bought a couple classifier screens for gold panning and they fit right on top of my 5 gallon bucket and hold a lot more weight when I need them to. I had plastic colanders give out or slip into the bucket more than once.
Also I've never had a problem with scratching from the metal grid but I pour the rocks carefully out of the tumbler and put them by hand back into the barrel after thoroughly rinsing each rock
Like was said if you don't tumble bad material and use a lot of varied sizes that helps you get better results.
Keep your hardnesses uniform in any batch and be picky about what you move on to the next stage. You want that first stage to smooth out the rocks and grind out any cracks or pits before you move something on to the next stage.
Welcome and good luck!
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sak
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since December 2013
Posts: 88
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Post by sak on Dec 18, 2013 3:29:09 GMT -5
Be brutal with your stones. Hammer out the cracks. Chuck anything with holes. The more brutal you are, the better the result, as you won't have stones carrying grit or fracturing all the way to the polish stage, ruining the batch. Hammer, hammer, hammer. Carbide-tipped tile nippers are awesome for quickly clipping stones down. Protect eyes, hands and lungs whilst hammering. And clean, clean, clean. Keep that lid and barrel rim spotless, and spend time on your stones! Inspect your stones carefully, and scrub them all well. Be sure you're happy with them before you move to the next grit. I've recently begun taking stock of all my backlogged stuff and noticed I had a lot of material slated for stage two when it needs weeks more in the stage one coarse grit. If the stone isn't perfectly smooth to the touch, and chip/crack free, don't let it out of coarse grit. Tumbled stones are all about touch, and feel... imagine it in your pocket, will it be pleasing to the touch? If not, back into coarse she goeth. Time estimates given by the manufacturers are wildly optimistic to say the least. Six weeks in coarse might be enough for some tough agates and jaspers, or it might take 8 weeks... if patience is a problem, start with some amazonite or sodalite, they're much zippier. Hi SirRoxalot --- You guys are awesome. Thank you for all your responses. At least I know what I'm doing with the strainer thing now... Regarding your post, you've opened up my eyes. I hadn't thought about being brutal with my stones.... Thanks for those ideas. Now I've got another burning question... What do you do if after inspecting your rocks during the coarse stage 25% of the rocks are ready for the next stage and the rest still need more time in coarse? I would guess you set them aside for the next stage, but then do you have to add more rough rocks to the coarse stage? Thanks again for all your help...
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Dec 18, 2013 11:22:56 GMT -5
You've got it, set them aside, add new rock to the batch to get the level of the rock up to 3/4 full and start it over again.
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sak
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since December 2013
Posts: 88
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Post by sak on Dec 18, 2013 12:17:43 GMT -5
You've got it, set them aside, add new rock to the batch to get the level of the rock up to 3/4 full and start it over again. John - So, do you ever get completly done with the coarse stage then (I would think it's rare to ever have all the rocks be done at the same time)? Thanks for your thoughts.... Sak...
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Dec 18, 2013 16:19:49 GMT -5
eventually every rock goes on to the next stage, or gets worn to nothing if it is too cracked to polish (I just keep it in coarse as filler), or tossed if it just crumbles.
I have a rotation going, as a lot of folks do, with a second (or tenth) tumbler - a vibratory in my case - that takes all the coarse-completed rock and moves it through to polish while my coarse tumblers keep churning out rock faithfully. This speeds up how often you can get new shiny rocks, about once every week or two when everything is running.
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Dec 18, 2013 16:21:09 GMT -5
I had coarse tumblers running for almost 2 years solid, just kept gleaning rocks every 10 days as they were ready for stage 2. I stopped them a few months back as I started traveling and didn't want things to spin without me at the house for more than a week. I need to fire everything back up, after the holidays when we will be home for a while.
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The Dad_Ohs
fully equipped rock polisher
Take me to your Labradorite!!
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,860
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Post by The Dad_Ohs on Dec 18, 2013 20:00:24 GMT -5
I found a simple plastic colander for paghetti at the dollar store... for a dollar!!.... and it fits my 5 gal buckets perfectly... I ust dump everything into the strainer and rinse, put the good stuff to one side and remix the rest with new material until I run out of rocks to tumble, then move it all the the next stage and start again.... boy do I miss tumbling!!!! I need to get back to it too... the colander looks awfully lonely sitting on that empty bucket in the car port!!!
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marinedad
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since December 2010
Posts: 813
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Post by marinedad on Dec 18, 2013 22:52:47 GMT -5
I only use 1 plastic colander for all stages.
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Dec 19, 2013 1:43:28 GMT -5
Now I've got another burning question... What do you do if after inspecting your rocks during the coarse stage 25% of the rocks are ready for the next stage and the rest still need more time in coarse? I would guess you set them aside for the next stage, but then do you have to add more rough rocks to the coarse stage? ----------------
Pro tip: Buy, collect, or otherwise accumulate a LOT of rock. Then you never run out! Also, to fill a barrel, you can chuck in ceramic tumbling media or plastic filler pellets, if you don't mind paying for it. When I hammer and clip stuff down, I save all of the scraps, just screen the smalls and save them for filler. Worst case scenario, use some gravel. Feldspar is one mineral we have a lot of around here, so I've collected a lot, and use it as sacrificial material whenever needed. It's softer than the quartzes so hammers up easily, and helps create a slurry, and some of it produces a pretty nice polished stone.
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sak
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since December 2013
Posts: 88
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Post by sak on Dec 19, 2013 11:58:56 GMT -5
I had coarse tumblers running for almost 2 years solid, just kept gleaning rocks every 10 days as they were ready for stage 2. I stopped them a few months back as I started traveling and didn't want things to spin without me at the house for more than a week. I need to fire everything back up, after the holidays when we will be home for a while. Wow!!!, that's hard-core!!! What kind of quantity of rough rock are getting in order to be in continuous mode? I'm imagining your getting 50lbs of rocks at a clip. P.S. I think I may be heading in the same direction right off the gate....I just ordered 45lbs of graded 80 Silicon Carbide grit... Thanks. Sak...
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MrCoffee
has rocks in the head
Member since December 2005
Posts: 634
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Post by MrCoffee on Dec 19, 2013 16:14:41 GMT -5
You won't believe how fast you go through 60/90 grit. A typical 12 pound tumbler will use up a 50 pound bucket of grit in one year, if it rough-grinds continuously. When I had my 36 pound Covington, that bucket would last 4 months.
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Dec 19, 2013 16:43:13 GMT -5
sak my kids and I rockhound all the time (when it isn't cold and snowy) - that is when this gets really fun, when you can source your own rough for tumbling and find stuff that can take a great shine. I'm still a relative lightweight here and we probably collected 200# of tumbling material last summer alone (not counting specimens and stuff I want to slab and cab), most of which is in piles by my garage...
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on Dec 19, 2013 17:38:40 GMT -5
Just get the cheapest plastic colanders that you can. The one's I've found at Walmart fit nicely over a 5 gallon bucket. I also use some rectangular plastic colanders that I got from Walmart that have smaller holes. These are useful when I'm tumbling small chips. I've managed to get a range of plastic colander with different sized holes. I like the one's with larger slots when I use plastic pellets at the pellets fall through leaving all but the smallest rocks behind.
Buy lots of extra colanders as they are also good for short-term storage of polished rocks, especially when waiting for them to dry.
And just to state the obvious, just making sure, do not let any of your slurry go down your drains. It's will clog them solid, possibly to the point of pipe replacement.
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sak
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since December 2013
Posts: 88
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Post by sak on Dec 21, 2013 1:56:08 GMT -5
Thank guys,
I appreciate all your help on the strainer questions I had. I've got that situation under control now.
Thanks again.
Sak...
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