markinohio
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2014
Posts: 5
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Post by markinohio on Jun 21, 2014 18:22:13 GMT -5
Folks,
I cannot get a good polish out of my QT66 despite extreme efforts with plastic and ceramic fill. Clean barrels less water (distilled) quality compound and the stones come out all beat up not sure what gives? My 3lbs Lortone does a great job same formula on everything. I have 16 lbs of coarse ground highly sorted and cleaned stones that i am reluctant to do in the QT66 for the last two stages. Any ideas?
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on Jun 21, 2014 18:43:45 GMT -5
My quick guess is that you do not have enough rocks in the barrels. Start withe the barrel 3/4 to 7/8 full for rough. Others will say to never go over 3/4 the full, but I've found that for me filling to 7/8 for rough works better. No plastics or ceramic at this stage. Then as you move through the steps add filler to keep the barrels 3/4th full. Do not move the plastic pellets from step to step - they will carry contamination. I label my plastic pellets as to stage used so I can reuse them.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Jun 23, 2014 12:22:31 GMT -5
If the rocks are getting beat up I'd also guess that the volume is too low. Lortones instruction manual says fill from 1/2 to 2/3rds. I have always gotten poor results at 1/2 full, chips and cracks. I'd fill the barrel 75 to 80% full and try it that way. Less room for the rocks to fall and crash against each other. The unit will technically be overweight but I run mine that way all the time with no ill effects. Personally I'd not use the plastic pellets either, slows everything down too much. I've had better luck using ceramic only when I need filler.
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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 Jun 25, 2014 16:20:32 GMT -5
Folks, I cannot get a good polish out of my QT66 despite extreme efforts with plastic and ceramic fill. Clean barrels less water (distilled) quality compound and the stones come out all beat up not sure what gives? My 3lbs Lortone does a great job same formula on everything. I have 16 lbs of coarse ground highly sorted and cleaned stones that i am reluctant to do in the QT66 for the last two stages. Any ideas? I'll chime in with the others and say 3/4 full, no plastic, I use only ceramic, mix of sizes lg & sm., especially for course tumbling!! Grit, water (yeah, I know, no brainers) and run it!! The only time I use plastic is if I am using very soft material or at the final polish step. If I am feeling insecure about the material I will add plastic at both pre-polish & polish, but that's it. Also, you can do it 1 of 2 ways, tumble to step 2, add more filler and continue on, or, tumble to step 2, the do another load of course and combine when it is ready for step 2 so that you keep the barrel 3/4 full of material and filler.
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