mrbouldersmash
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2014
Posts: 12
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Post by mrbouldersmash on Mar 27, 2014 21:09:44 GMT -5
wrap it with tyre inner tube to expand the girth or foam/rubber backed carpet,that will slow your tumbling action down, and without messing your tumbler up. again tumbling with nuts, you can fill it up and theres less movement and damage is minimalised to none.
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Enigman
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2013
Posts: 163
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Post by Enigman on Mar 28, 2014 12:28:38 GMT -5
wrap it with tyre inner tube to expand the girth or foam/rubber backed carpet,that will slow your tumbling action down, and without messing your tumbler up. again tumbling with nuts, you can fill it up and theres less movement and damage is minimalised to none. There's very little room between the sides of the barrel and the sides of the frame, maybe 3/16", but I discovered that I could put fat rubber bands around the barrel to slightly increase the diameter. Unfortunately, after a few days of running the rubber bands began to degrade and left sticky mung all over the outside of the barrel. So that's out. Ironically, I used to have a standalone dimmer box long ago, but it was a two prong plug even if I still had it and I need three. I haven't looked for them lately. I'll have to see what's out there. Meanwhile, I have a batch in the polish stage again. I took the hints about using sugar in the water, and I have filled to 7/8 with HDPE media. The running barrels are nearly silent so I don't predict any excessive forces inside. I'll see in a couple of days how that is going. Thanks.
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Post by phil on Mar 28, 2014 16:56:45 GMT -5
fat bicycle tire inner tube.
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mrbouldersmash
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2014
Posts: 12
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Post by mrbouldersmash on Mar 28, 2014 18:33:25 GMT -5
JUST FILL IT ALMOSY FULL WITH LEATHER OFFCUTS, IT PERFECT FOR OBSIDION. ALZO, IF ITS THE SAME SIZE AS HERE IN THE UK, DEAIN PIPES ARE THE SAMW CIRCUMFRANCE AS A TUMBLER BARREL, TRY USEING SOME SOIL & EASTE DOWN PIPE AND BUILD AN ARM WITH A CURVED OFFCUT TO FORM A SUPPORT THAT ALLOWS FREE MOVEMENT OF THE BARREL. A STRIP OF INNER TUBE DOWN. ACROSS AND UP TOTHER SIDE AND FILL WITH small bb shot and vasaline petrolium jelly or ky. when your board, you can tweek it with springs and such for a fully flexable arm. it works
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Enigman
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2013
Posts: 163
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Post by Enigman on Apr 3, 2014 15:19:49 GMT -5
I have been running a glass polish stage (with aluminum oxide polish) for six days now. I used the sugar suggestion and the barrel was filled half full with glass from stage 3.5 (1000 grit). I filled the barrel to the 7/8 full point with HDPE pellets and made an emulsion using one cup of sugar with only enough water to make the sugar melt. I poured in the emulsion and added just enough more water to reach below the top of the pellets, which is hard to determine because the pellets rise with the water.
It only took a couple of days of running to reach about 98% glossy with NO impact damage at all. (thanks to all for that result) BUT ... if I pull out stones periodically and inspect them dry in sunlight, there is a very light satin sheen on the glass, which is why I said 98% glossy. It is very obviously not a fully glossy surface, but it is about as close as it can get without being fully glossy.
I mentioned that it reached this state in the first couple of days, but it has not changed at all since then. That last 2% of gloss to get rid of the satin look seems to be out of reach.
Can anyone suggest how I might get this all the way to fully glossy? The water/sugar emulsion is extremely slippery. Should I reload with less sugar and maybe switch to small ceramic? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on Apr 3, 2014 15:59:02 GMT -5
First thing I would try is to burnish with soap, no sugar, extra pellets.
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Post by wireholic on Apr 3, 2014 16:03:32 GMT -5
What kind of water are you using? The plastic pellets can react with hard water, leaving a film on the rocks. I've had it happen with finished jewelry so now I only use distilled water
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Enigman
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2013
Posts: 163
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Post by Enigman on Apr 3, 2014 23:50:57 GMT -5
First thing I would try is to burnish with soap, no sugar, extra pellets. Soap is going to smooth out a satin finish? I tried rubbing the surface of a stone briskly and there is no change to the finish. How much soap and runtime does one normally use?
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Enigman
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2013
Posts: 163
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Post by Enigman on Apr 3, 2014 23:59:44 GMT -5
What kind of water are you using? The plastic pellets can react with hard water, leaving a film on the rocks. I've had it happen with finished jewelry so now I only use distilled water I just use normal tap water. The water is not softened here, but it is not unusually hard either. I'm considering going back to small ceramic, or I bought a package of plastic tile spacers that I'd like to try. They are X shaped soft plastic with 1/8 inch wide "legs", about 3/32 inch thick. The tiny pellets are such a pain to deal with at cleanout time. They get everywhere. If I wanted to soften the water I'd just have to add a bit of salt, which is normally all a water softener does. So, once a film occurs, how have you taken it off? The glass doesn't look like it has a film, though. Nothing rubs off. It's more like a physically satin finish.
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Enigman
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2013
Posts: 163
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Post by Enigman on Apr 4, 2014 0:04:07 GMT -5
I also bought some borax as an alternative to sugar. What's a good amount to use?
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Post by connrock on Apr 4, 2014 9:39:52 GMT -5
Glass and obsidian can be difficult to do and a lot of people want to do a full load at one time. A key to success(for me) in doing glass and obsidian is to have the load consist of 1/4 glass/obsidian and 3/4 cushion.The barrel should be about 7/8 full,,,which slows down the "tumbling action" in the barrel. I use either a 6 lb or 15 lb barrel so I can get more glass/obsidian per load. Using a 3 lb barrel won't give you a lot of glass per load but if you don't use enough cushion,,,it's all for nothing anyway!
Also,as has been mentioned here ,,,there are different types of glass and to get consistently good results you have to tumble the same type of glass in a load. A while back I did a load of different color slag glass thinking all of it was the same.It wasn't and some of it came out good and some didn't.
Good luck,,, connrock
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,169
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Post by jamesp on Apr 4, 2014 14:55:13 GMT -5
Don't use ceramic. It is harder than glass and will not do well on the polish cycle.(glass is softer than ceramic...).
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Enigman
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2013
Posts: 163
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Post by Enigman on Apr 8, 2014 13:39:59 GMT -5
First thing I would try is to burnish with soap, no sugar, extra pellets. I tried a burnish stage and it made no difference. 72 hours ago, after the attempt at burnishing produced no results, I restarted a new polish stage. This time it was loaded to 7/8 full with glass and mini ceramic media plus plastic X shaped tile spacers, borax, and aluminum oxide polish. At 72 hours of run time the finish was improving, although the surface is changing. Before it looked like micro-pits like pin points. Now the finish has short micro linear marks. The gloss has improved, but the marks are not gone. They have just changed shape. If this persists, I will reload with only glass and plastic tile spacers.
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Post by cpdad on Apr 11, 2014 20:13:54 GMT -5
i am going to try and help here...i will be giving out my secret sauce sunday...providing i don't get called into work...it may or may not help you. i will give most details...it will be up to all to perfect it own there own...as i think i have almost done...i will give a lot of info...yaw can take it from there. glass...wine bottles i don't know...beer bottles maybe who knows ....does it work on apache tears...probably ... it's really simple...but needs care ...kev.
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Enigman
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2013
Posts: 163
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Post by Enigman on Apr 13, 2014 18:13:42 GMT -5
At long last I have a successful polished batch of glass. (My wife has already grabbed some of it for jewelry.) It has been a long road since the impact damage at the beginning of this thread. It would seem that I have found a workable formula for the polish stage. The earlier stages are easy. I used mixed size ceramic media and filled to 3/4 full. I have since ammended the formula to include two tablespoons of borax. Starting at the 1000 grit (stage 3-1/2) point, I am adding X shaped plastic tile spacers into the media, and removing the large ceramics. Fill to 7/8 full. Finally, in the polish stage, the formula is: 1/4 cup of borax, equal parts of small ceramic media and X shaped plastic media, three tablespoons of aluminum oxide polish and fill to 7/8 full. After that, give it lots of time, approximately 10 days. Note: I like the X shaped tile spacer plastic as media better than the HDPE pellets. The X's are very soft and flexible and have a large surface area. They are available at any hardware store that has floor or wall tile and comes in many sizes. I like the 1/8 inch size (because the legs are square in cross-section) and that comes in bags of 1000 for about $6.50. Avoid using ONLY X spacers for media. If the media is only the X's, they tend to lock up into a solid mass and prevent tumbling. When they are mixed with ceramic they make a good cushion while allowing the ceramic to move around freely. Thanks to all who contributed information. Here are the pics:
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1nickthegreek
spending too much on rocks
Member since February 2014
Posts: 382
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Post by 1nickthegreek on Apr 16, 2014 3:07:30 GMT -5
wrap it with tyre inner tube to expand the girth or foam/rubber backed carpet,that will slow your tumbling action down, and without messing your tumbler up. again tumbling with nuts, you can fill it up and theres less movement and damage is minimalised to none. There's very little room between the sides of the barrel and the sides of the frame, maybe 3/16", but I discovered that I could put fat rubber bands around the barrel to slightly increase the diameter. Unfortunately, after a few days of running the rubber bands began to degrade and left sticky mung all over the outside of the barrel. So that's out. Go to the nearest parts supply house and get some thick diameter Silicone O-Rings, problem solved, Enigman.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Apr 16, 2014 10:21:23 GMT -5
Your glass turned out fine. Glad to see success.
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Post by cpdad on Apr 16, 2014 17:20:32 GMT -5
sweet...kev.
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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 Apr 17, 2014 21:19:31 GMT -5
Excellent work there kiddo, they look Mahhhh-velll-uss!!
A question for anyone still reading this...... back on page ne we discussed using sugar for a thickener in the tumbler and getting it to a viscosity of mineral oil.... what about using mineral oil??? 1) it will mix with water, especially during tumbling. 2) Borax will remove it during a burnishing stage, which can be done at any time between stages (and is recommended between course & fine grits!). 3)it would only take about a 1/4 cup, I think, in a 3lb barrel to thicken the water/grit solution. 4) would cause no permanent damage to barrel as the burnish stage would clean the barrel too, if it didn't the oil would only help with any stage being run.
But I am curious.... I am out of material to run through my rotary and need to get some Sodalite, and maybe some jasper to run... So I invite anyone to chime in on this and give an opinion. We seem to be moving into new territory with this page and I, for one, as the saying goes, have learned as I taught. And fr that I thank you all !!!
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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 Apr 17, 2014 21:39:00 GMT -5
a thought I had while on cpdads thread and his use of thick-it. 1 small pot filled 3/4 full of water, place on stove and heat water, add sugar until it won't melt anymore, saturation point, remove from heat and pour, thru a funnel, into a larger glass bottle with screw on cap, after you have poured it into the bottle add 1 - 3 cups of water to it immediately so it doesn't cool. (Once it cools it will form crystals that can scratch, which is why you dilute it at the end it should stay thick enough for what we need.) You now have a bottle of simple sugar, an olde' time baking staple, which you can keep ready until needed to add to your tumbler. If kept in your fridge, you can use it in your coffee to cool & sweeten it at the same time. Any thoughts on this are, as always appreciated.
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