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Post by HankRocks on May 7, 2018 18:14:57 GMT -5
I use spent SiC slurry in the coarse stage which are all run in a Rotary. Like jamesp, I only have one SiC stage. After that I go to Aluminum Oxide for Pre-Polish and then Polish. I save some of the Pre-Polish slurry for use in the Pre-Polish stage in the Rotary. No slurry for the Polish stage in the Vib. The SiC slurry is dry-caked for easier disposal and for easier addition to the Coarse run, maybe 2 cups in the 12lb and the 15lb barrels. Must be contributing 90% of my dry SiC slurry to the local landfill. Dry caking in the winter is a bit of a hassle as the evaporation rate is so low and slurry buckets tend to back up. Use of slurry seems to be working well for me as in most normal runs none of the SiC grit is not visible at the 2 day re-charge. The grit reduction rate is also a factor of the type of rocks being tumbled. The smoother river tumbler rocks accelerate the grit reduction where a load of Round Mt bubbly Chalcedony affords the grit more hiding places and hence slows the grit reduction. Same with a load of Pre-forms and it's 3 pounds of cushioning pea gravel, reduced contact force slows grit reduction. |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,605
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Post by jamesp on May 7, 2018 19:46:41 GMT -5
I use spent SiC slurry in the coarse stage which are all run in a Rotary. Like jamesp, I only have one SiC stage. After that I go to Aluminum Oxide for Pre-Polish and then Polish. I save some of the Pre-Polish slurry for use in the Pre-Polish stage in the Rotary. No slurry for the Polish stage in the Vib. The SiC slurry is dry-caked for easier disposal and for easier addition to the Coarse run, maybe 2 cups in the 12lb and the 15lb barrels. Must be contributing 90% of my dry SiC slurry to the local landfill. Dry caking in the winter is a bit of a hassle as the evaporation rate is so low and slurry buckets tend to back up. Use of slurry seems to be working well for me as in most normal runs none of the SiC grit is not visible at the 2 day re-charge. The grit reduction rate is also a factor of the type of rocks being tumbled. The smoother river tumbler rocks accelerate the grit reduction where a load of Round Mt bubbly Chalcedony affords the grit more hiding places and hence slows the grit reduction. Same with a load of Pre-forms and it's 3 pounds of cushioning pea gravel, reduced contact force slows grit reduction. Tear it up Henry. Those coarser grades of AO are miracle abrasives. |
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350 
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Post by braat on May 7, 2018 22:22:11 GMT -5
It's been 18 months since I started tumbling (all rotary - Lortone 3A, Thumler AR2 and AR12)...I did the first 5 batches with the traditional 4 stages but the last 2 batches I've been going directly from rough to polish. I rough tumble in the 12 lb AR12 re-using old slurry that I try to keep at milkshake consistency. At my weekly cleanouts I'll sometimes add a tablespoon coarse grit more out of guilt and because I got lots  , but just as often I don't add any grit at all as I'm more and more thinking it's not required. During weekly stage one cleanouts I inspect each rock and when they are shaped to my liking and perfectly smooth (I'm getting fussier on the shape and feel), I remove them and when I got enough they get an overnight borax cleaning and go to polish in my 3lb AR2 for 2 weeks. I re-use old polish slurry and media (50/50 tile spacers/aquarium gravel quartz) and each week add 2 tablespoons polish and 1 tablespoon borax. Maybe my expectations are lower than others or I don't know how shiny my self collected rocks could be but for now I'm happy with the results....anyways that's what I'm doing now... |
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afterburnt
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2021
Posts: 152
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Post by afterburnt on Dec 1, 2022 12:30:58 GMT -5
I have tried adding old slurry just to see. If nothing else it seemed to slow the process, I found unspent grit after a week. This has never happened when I just used water and fresh grit.
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ashers87
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2024
Posts: 6
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Post by ashers87 on Jan 27, 2024 14:30:36 GMT -5
I am new to this site and rock tumbling. I don't save slurry, new everything but I use glass marbles in every stage with good results. Also, with hard and soft rocks. Don't know if that means anything but it works for me. Marbles??? Super curious please explain! |
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wseaton
starting to shine!
Member since January 2024
Posts: 30
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Post by wseaton on Jan 27, 2024 16:43:48 GMT -5
I don't think that guy from 2016 uses marbles anymore :-)
For soft rocks use ceramic. Problem solved. Glass marbles would likely behave like ceramic.
As for the slurry thing, I've found that with 3lb barrels if you have any grit left over after week it's loaded wrong. I have found if slurry gets too think it will slow down grinding because it starts to cushin rocks too much.
These beginners who who are tumbling stage 1 or 2 for weeks at a time are seriously doing something weird. I can reduce two heaping tablespoons to nothing but grey pudding in my 3lb in well less than a week.
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Post by Bob on Jan 30, 2024 14:52:49 GMT -5
"Clean outs are a lot of work. It is totally unnecessary. And so is the SiC 220 step if you let the last coarse charge run a couple of weeks. Start with good rocks and forget the clean outs. Just add grit weekly and pour off slurry/add water 3-4 times(or as needed) over the 6-12 weeks of coarse grind. Clean cap and seal, close it up. Relax and enjoy the time and labor savings. Let your tumbler do the work."
That is a very interesting way of putting it that I think is very useful. In a 20 lb or larger barrel, I let 1" or so slurry remain in the next batch to start off with the water being thicker, so I guess in that way I reuse slurry. In other words, I pour off all but about that much slurry and I never clean barrels except if that barrel will be used for a polish run. But, I do rinse off the rocks between batches for several reasons and until reading your post had never thought about it in this particular way as to why.
- inspecting the rocks as they progress is possibly the 2nd most favorite tumbling activity for me, the first being finding them in the field
- it allows me to figure out for sure if I want to continue with a given rock if the rock is only 1 week old and the rind has just been ground off
- I separate those out that can be pulled out now to save for 220 later, vs. those that need to go another week in coarse grind. I put in new rocks to replace those pulled out to keep volume the same, so at any given time, the barrel might contains rocks that have been grinding for several months, several weeks, and some only 1 week.
- I pull out bad rocks that aren't going to make it, due to experimentation I was doing, internal fractures that have been discovered, finding out that what I thought was X material was really Y, etc. You avoid this I realize by saying good rocks. Sometimes something cleaves entirely, and usually it doesn't matter in coarse grind if all is Mohs 7, but sometimes it cleaves in a way that concerns me and I might pull that one out
- if internal vugs and spaces open up, I pull those out and put them in the to be trimmed box
- if the batch is less than Mohs 7, such as feldspars, obsidian, and other touchy things, it allows me to detect problem issues that sometimes arise with these materials
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
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Post by dillonf on Jan 31, 2024 7:03:56 GMT -5
I don't think that guy from 2016 uses marbles anymore :-) For soft rocks use ceramic. Problem solved. Glass marbles would likely behave like ceramic. As for the slurry thing, I've found that with 3lb barrels if you have any grit left over after week it's loaded wrong. I have found if slurry gets too think it will slow down grinding because it starts to cushin rocks too much. These beginners who who are tumbling stage 1 or 2 for weeks at a time are seriously doing something weird. I can reduce two heaping tablespoons to nothing but grey pudding in my 3lb in well less than a week. I do 2 week cycles with 60/90 grit. 1 week with 80 grit. With 60/90 and coarser grit I rarely get full breakdown of the grit in 6-7 days. |
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
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Post by dillonf on Jan 31, 2024 7:05:22 GMT -5
I can see the use of slurry helping to reduce bruising with quartz. I tumble a fair bit of quartz and may give it a try - I currently don't use it.
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, but just as often I don't add any grit at all as I'm more and more thinking it's not required. During weekly stage one cleanouts I inspect each rock and when they are shaped to my liking and perfectly smooth (I'm getting fussier on the shape and feel), I remove them and when I got enough they get an overnight borax cleaning and go to polish in my 3lb AR2 for 2 weeks. I re-use old polish slurry and media (50/50 tile spacers/aquarium gravel quartz) and each week add 2 tablespoons polish and 1 tablespoon borax. Maybe my expectations are lower than others or I don't know how shiny my self collected rocks could be but for now I'm happy with the results....anyways that's what I'm doing now...
