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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 7, 2016 13:15:07 GMT -5
Welcome. Glad to have another tumbler around. What do you consider stage one? Stage one is usually considered 30 through 80 grit and none of those should be used in the loto. No miracle way for removing the grit from pockets. Do not let it drey out or it will become cement and impossible to remove. When you are doing your weekly cleanouts put them right into a bowl over water after they are rinsed. Now you can either try a strong stream of hot water or try as stiff bristled brush while they are submerged in the bowl of water. Keep in mind that the loto will never really get rid of pits,vugs and imperfections. Most of us use a rotary tumble for stage one and the rocks are not moved to the vibe tumbler until all imperfections have been removed so grit removal is not an issue. Chuck Hi there - to clarify, my step one was 120/220. It's okay if I don't get all the pits smoothed out - they are performs and I like those characteristics - hence straight to the vibe :-) I have a soft brass wire brush but thinking it might be too harsh...? They have dried while searching and posting here so my first step is probably to get them all wet again! I would try running them in the loto with 2 tablespoons of borax and a bit more water then normally used with grit. You want a soupier consistency with the borax. Let that run for an hour or two and it might save you some labor of hand scrubbing. For hand scrubbing I have a small hand scrubber with plastic bristles. I think I got it at an auto parts store for cleaning wheels. I stiff toothbrush will work too. At the end of every stage in the loto I always dump in a few ounces of water and squirt in some dawn dish soap and let it run like that for 10 minutes. When that is done I take it over to the strainer and do the clean out. That little run in dish soap at every stage makes the clean out much easier - IMHO. Chuck
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taryn
starting to shine!
Member since March 2016
Posts: 38
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Post by taryn on Apr 7, 2016 13:18:53 GMT -5
Hi there - to clarify, my step one was 120/220. It's okay if I don't get all the pits smoothed out - they are performs and I like those characteristics - hence straight to the vibe :-) I have a soft brass wire brush but thinking it might be too harsh...? They have dried while searching and posting here so my first step is probably to get them all wet again! I would try running them in the loto with 2 tablespoons of borax and a bit more water then normally used with grit. You want a soupier consistency with the borax. Let that run for an hour or two and it might save you some labor of hand scrubbing. For hand scrubbing I have a small hand scrubber with plastic bristles. I think I got it at an auto parts store for cleaning wheels. I stiff toothbrush will work too. Chuck Will do! Thanks for the advice - stay tuned!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Apr 7, 2016 13:20:22 GMT -5
When you get a chance please upload a picture of what your working with. Pictures really help in diagnosing issues.
Chuck
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on Apr 7, 2016 23:16:13 GMT -5
Scrubbing rocks with a brass brush will make them look like brass, the metal rubs to the rocks quite easily, best to use stainless or plastic brushes; been there.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,547
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Post by tkvancil on Apr 8, 2016 9:35:07 GMT -5
I ran into this problem last batch I polished. Only had a few that had the borax impacted. Let them soak for a week and scrubbed with tooth brush. A couple still didn't get completely clean.
I plan on getting an ultrasonic cleaner of some sort. Haven't decided on a jewelry cleaner from a big box store or one of the ones Kingsley sells. Glad this thread came up with folks saying the ultrasonic works for them.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Apr 8, 2016 9:37:17 GMT -5
Maybe an old dental water pic would work.
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