boojiboo
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2014
Posts: 16
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Post by boojiboo on Dec 14, 2014 19:33:47 GMT -5
I'm getting ready to order my first tumbler, a Lot-O-Tumbler vibratory one. Here are the grits/polishes I'm ordering-- am I missing anything important?
120/220 or 220 SiC 500 or 600 SiC aluminum oxide polish
I read somewhere that you should use Cerium Oxide for quartz and agate and Chrome Oxide polishing powder for stones composed of multiple minerals (like lapis, which I expect to run a lot of). Are these recommendations accurate?
I also expect to run quite a bit of zoisite with ruby, if I need any special polish or instructions for that....
Thanks for your input!
Corey
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 14, 2014 19:45:36 GMT -5
I always run a 1000 stage, but if you run your 500 long enough, I think you could skip 1000. I've never tumbled lapis, zoisite, or ruby, so I can't help with those. I use aluminum oxide polish for everything. It works fine on agate and quartz. Cerium oxide is expensive, but used to be cheap (before I started tumbling), so I think that's why it was used.
What you're missing is a rotary tumbler. Most of us with vibratory tumblers run our rocks for weeks or months in a rotary tumbler first. I have always done mine that way. I've never just used my Lot-O for rough rock. You can use it that way, but don't expect to get nicely rounded rocks. A rotary tumbler rounds rocks and eliminates holes if you leave them there long enough. A vibratory tumbler retains the basic shape and makes them shiny. You'll have to be very careful to clean out any holes from one stage to the next to avoid carrying over grit that could contaminate the batch.
I hope someone here who has experience using just a vibratory tumbler without a rotary speaks up. One of these days, I want to try doing rocks using just my Lot-O.
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Post by Peruano on Dec 14, 2014 20:42:18 GMT -5
I don't have a rotary and depend on my vibratory tumblers for several different jobs. 1. I often start with beach rocks (these are essentially pretumbled and not as rough as broken rocks typically run in rotaries. 2. I do a bit of preforming using my grinders (cab machine) so that the shaping that one often counts on happening in the rotary, is done more quickly and before they go in the vibratory. 3. I often am doing slabs or at least thinner pieces preshaped when I cut them on the trim saw and further enhanced on the grinder. The vibe will remove a lot of scratches left by the grinder, but it won't get rid of those major pits or protuberances. The key is using the same hardnesses and stones of varying sizes. Enjoy.
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Post by Starguy on Dec 14, 2014 21:29:40 GMT -5
boojibooWhat Jugglerguy said is right. Do your rough grind with a rotary. They round the rocks much better. Vibes work great for fine through polish. Welcome to the forum. You will get lots of good advice here. There are some great and helpful people on this forum. From Idaho, Brent
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boojiboo
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2014
Posts: 16
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Post by boojiboo on Dec 14, 2014 22:25:25 GMT -5
Thanks a lot, everyone, I appreciate the advice and the welcome. I actually chose a vibratory over a rotary tumbler because I like the look of a polished, but less rounded, rock. I'm hoping that's what the Lot-o-Tumbler will give. So I'll consider getting some 1000 grit and go ahead!
Thanks again, Corey
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 14, 2014 22:31:51 GMT -5
I'd go with 120/220 rather than 220 then. I look forward to seeing your tumbles!
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boojiboo
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2014
Posts: 16
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Post by boojiboo on Dec 14, 2014 22:38:44 GMT -5
Jugglerguy, thank you! I'll do that.
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Post by broseph82 on Dec 16, 2014 14:40:01 GMT -5
Where are you getting your Lot-O from? I contacted the rock shed and they're on back order.
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boojiboo
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2014
Posts: 16
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Post by boojiboo on Dec 16, 2014 21:26:11 GMT -5
broseph82, from the Rock Shed. He emailed me yesterday and said they were supposed to ship to his store this week.
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Post by connrock on Dec 17, 2014 8:03:20 GMT -5
Doing rough, un-preground rocks in the Lot-0 will have to go through the rough (120/220) stage several times. You will have to spray water into the load frequently,,,,every 5-5 hours,,,or end up with a VERY thick load. If the load does get very thick and the rocks don't rotate around the barrel,,,,spray about 10-20 times and use a tablespoon to loosen the load up by pushing the tablespoon all the way to the bottom of the barrel and pushing the rocks up one side of the barrel. I also would recommend using powdered laundry soap,,,about a teaspoon full,,, when you first start the rough cycle.This will help to loosen a thick slurry.Add the soap by sprinkling it as the rocks rotate and spray water as needed until the rocks are coated with the wet soap.Then add the 120/220 by sprinkling slowly.
I think your biggest problem when starting out is going to be keeping the rocks wet enough so the load doesn't thicken up on you.It's best to start a load when you can tend the tumbler often.Maybe a weekend?
Something that's VERY important is to make SMALL adjustments,,,, especially when adding water.It's VERY easy for a person who is new to vibes to add too much water in haste so be PATIENT and make small adjustments. Good Luck,,, connrock
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Post by orrum on Dec 17, 2014 9:35:15 GMT -5
You need a rotary to rough out the stones before the Loto.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,461
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 17, 2014 10:49:38 GMT -5
Yep, I'm with the rest. I use a rotary to rough shape the rocks. Vibes do not change contours very much at all. My vibe is a UV-10 and one must remember that the grind stages really cut through vibe barrels fast. Don't now about how long a LOt-O tub will last when grinding for longer periods. I prefer rotary as long as it takes in 60/90 or 80 grit, 110/220 for fine grind in the vibe 3-5 days, then tripoli prepolish 7 days and Rockshed AO for a week for final polish but I do mainly all harder quartz gems.
Ruby and zoisite is a really difficult tumble as the zoisite is much softer than the ruby. Mixed hardness stones are a booger in the tumbler and of course, softer stones, even if not of mixed hardness, should be done as a separate batch for best results as if you mix stone hardnesses within a lot it will generally yield poor results.....Mel
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boojiboo
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2014
Posts: 16
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Post by boojiboo on Dec 18, 2014 13:13:19 GMT -5
Thanks, everyone, for the further advice! Tending the load regularly shouldn't be a problem for me. Again, I'm not sure if a rotary tumbler is right for what I want, because I don't want to change the contours of the rocks. I just want to polish the surfaces. I'll be diligent about checking it and try not to get too impatient. Thanks, Sabre52, for the specific advice on ruby and zoisite. I thought that might have to run by itself. It's good to have that confirmed.
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Dec 20, 2014 22:03:41 GMT -5
I always run a 1000 stage, but if you run your 500 long enough, I think you could skip 1000. I've never tumbled lapis, zoisite, or ruby, so I can't help with those. I use aluminum oxide polish for everything. It works fine on agate and quartz. Cerium oxide is expensive, but used to be cheap (before I started tumbling), so I think that's why it was used. What you're missing is a rotary tumbler. Most of us with vibratory tumblers run our rocks for weeks or months in a rotary tumbler first. I have always done mine that way. I've never just used my Lot-O for rough rock. You can use it that way, but don't expect to get nicely rounded rocks. A rotary tumbler rounds rocks and eliminates holes if you leave them there long enough. A vibratory tumbler retains the basic shape and makes them shiny. You'll have to be very careful to clean out any holes from one stage to the next to avoid carrying over grit that could contaminate the batch. I hope someone here who has experience using just a vibratory tumbler without a rotary speaks up. One of these days, I want to try doing rocks using just my Lot-O. OK, here's my experience, although I am just a hobbyist and far from expert. Years ago, nay, some would even say decades ago, I used to use a Lot O and no pre-grind or rotary. I got a good polish but I was never happy with the shape. My customers were happy, as I used to sell to people doing wire-wraps when wire-wraps were big and odd shapes seem to work well with that technique but I'm not the world's bigest wire wrap fan so I personally wasn't happy. If you are a control freak such as myself, you need to have some way to do the initial shaping. The best way IMHO is to rough the stones on a wheel BUT if you really don't have time or don't want to do any of the stage "by hand" then get a rotary so you can do a few weeks/months of 60/90 grit and get more rounding...I have long ago completely converted to doing all the steps in a rotary tumbler, but in an ideal world you would have both types of tumblers. Oh, I have now read ahead and see you don't care about control of the shaping in which case the Lot O is probably ideal for you. It worked very well for me when I had buyers who wanted polished but "natural" shapes.
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boojiboo
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2014
Posts: 16
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Post by boojiboo on Dec 20, 2014 22:47:54 GMT -5
Thank you, peachfront-- "polished but natural" is pretty much exactly what I'm hoping for. I start running my first load tomorrow. Guess we'll find out!
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Dec 21, 2014 10:10:18 GMT -5
boojiboo I'd like to see pics of your finished stones when you get that far. Good luck and happy tumbling!
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boojiboo
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2014
Posts: 16
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Post by boojiboo on Dec 21, 2014 11:12:57 GMT -5
Thank you, tkvancil! I'll post some, whether the stones turn out well or not.
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Post by adam on Dec 21, 2014 11:19:53 GMT -5
Looks like you're off to a fine start as well, boojiboo. I'm considering to order a dual drum rotary rock tumbler from Harbor Freight Tools plus the abrasives. Now after reading this thread you all provide very helpful and useful advice.
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boojiboo
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2014
Posts: 16
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Post by boojiboo on Dec 21, 2014 12:52:28 GMT -5
adam, when I was researching what tumbler to get, I came across information that said Harbor Freight tumblers don't hold up...I'm sure you can get more/better information here, though. You can see how much help I've already gotten!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 21, 2014 14:01:56 GMT -5
I've never used a Harbor Freight tumbler, but I've never heard anything good about them. I have a Lortone 33b and a 66QT and I like them both,
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