jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jun 21, 2016 19:20:36 GMT -5
That was an easy one garage. Just happened to have some old AO 80 from way back to try. I was really trying to remove some bruises on some delicate quartz from the rotary. Knowing AO, that it does not break down as much as rounds and polishes, results not surprising other that the speed at which it rounded and polished. A consideration for those with vibratory barrel wear issues. Yes, it is 80 grit but only for a very short period was it sharp. I think SiC 120/220 SiC 220 SiC 500 wears vibe bowls out a crap load faster due to 1-4 day runs and the razor sharp particles. A few things: We use what we have. I stopped using 500 grit because I ran out. I have probably 5 pounds of 220 SIC, so I'll use it until it's gone. I've been running one Lot-O bowl for over a year with 220. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts. How did the quart turn out in comparison? So, now you no longer do the two-step? It's more of a waltz...that should be softer on that delicate, Southern Belle, quartz. Keep on waltzin' and rollin' Colin Just mixing it up napoleon. Abrasives in tumblers are flexible. Yes, this is a 3 step. Did darn well as a 2 step. Added the final polish step. The quartz still has deep bruises in it. I messed them up bad when run at 55 RPM with a single big 12 ounce stone in the mix. It will get redone in the 30 RPM barrel. Started over with SiC 30. I saw your last run. Those were rolled darn round and shiny as ever. You have fine rocks to collect. You are fortunate. Plus you get to see horny toads.
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Post by Garage Rocker on Jun 21, 2016 19:56:31 GMT -5
Plus you get to see horny toads.
Back to the dating analogy again?
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napoleonrags
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Post by napoleonrags on Jun 21, 2016 20:14:59 GMT -5
Funny thing about those Horney Toads: they stay still, you're lucky to find 'em. And when you do, you're, well, lucky. Keeping with the Jamesp motif: much shorter time in the first stage.
Out, out brief candle, Colin
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jun 21, 2016 21:50:31 GMT -5
Motif/analogy seems effective. You guys younger than this old bull. Motif/analogy works on this gender regardless of age apparently.
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Post by Garage Rocker on Jun 21, 2016 22:13:41 GMT -5
Regardless of species too. Simple biology, we're wired that way.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jun 21, 2016 23:02:15 GMT -5
Funny thing about those Horney Toads: they stay still, you're lucky to find 'em. And when you do, you're, well, lucky. Keeping with the Jamesp motif: much shorter time in the first stage. Out, out brief candle, Colin Here is a close up of crystalline quartz that got damaged at 55 RPM. agate/wood/jasper is no where near this sensitive. After polish it became apparent that these are surface fractures, i.e. impact fractures. They run deeper than first imagined. Polish is fine, but internal surface fractures messed up my clear quartz. it can be tumbled off.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jun 21, 2016 23:08:40 GMT -5
Regardless of species too. Simple biology, we're wired that way. Maybe if we return as Hyenas. They seem to be w/revolving gender. Naw, might as well wrestle with what we are. Complicated enough w/one role.
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Post by victor1941 on Jul 10, 2016 21:13:24 GMT -5
James, I use a uv-18 vibe and start with the 120/220 SiC grit for two cycles of two days each and wonder if adding some 60/90 to the mix would cause extra ware on the barrel. I have 75 lbs of grit that I bought for the vibe before everyone said not to use it because of premature/excessive wear. I tumble only cabs or preforms for most loads and would like to use the 60/90 grit. Any thoughts?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 10, 2016 23:05:51 GMT -5
James, I use a uv-18 vibe and start with the 120/220 SiC grit for two cycles of two days each and wonder if adding some 60/90 to the mix would cause extra ware on the barrel. I have 75 lbs of grit that I bought for the vibe before everyone said not to use it because of premature/excessive wear. I tumble only cabs or preforms for most loads and would like to use the 60/90 grit. Any thoughts? Victor IMO a vibe is only good for finishing. Aluminum Oxide is best for finishing. SiC for cutting, not for finishing. After running AO 80 in the vibe to remove a fresh SiC 30 surface from the rotary i am sold on using coarse (80) AO in the vibe. And the AO 80 ended up with a quick pre-polish quickly. Other UV owners may chine. My guess is 60/90 may cause wear.
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scottyh
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2007
Posts: 181
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Post by scottyh on Jul 11, 2016 1:29:54 GMT -5
I run 80 in the rotary for 3-4 days max before refreshing. If running 60 for 5 days and 30 for 7 days. If you want to go longer then I would run a 60 lb barrel with 60 grit for three weeks then go straight to the polish. Have had really good results with that. However if its competition stuff I will always do a 220 SCI for 10 days and a 10 day 600SCI followed by a 14 day slow rpm tin oxide polish..... just can't help myself.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 11, 2016 7:59:14 GMT -5
I know a lot of people use the rotary with 30 to 90 SiC for shaping. Then go to vibe.
All I can say is if you get your hands on AO 80 or AO 220 try it in your vibe when transferring from rotary. Either one will remove the rough SiC surface and (in my case) lay down a fine pre-polish in short order. Using coarse AO in the vibe surprised me how fast rocks went from SiC 30 to pre-polish in 24 hours.
It was the absolute fastest vibe route I ever have taken. AO 80 straight to AO 14,000 made dead shiny rocks.
AO 80 not near as abrasive as SiC. I would consider it vibe safe since the particles round off in hours.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2016 10:00:12 GMT -5
I have a 100# of spent grit blasting 125ao. Its brown. Will remember this.
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Post by victor1941 on Jul 11, 2016 10:56:27 GMT -5
James, the UV=18 vibe on preshaped cabs or preforms using 120/220 SiC for 2 cycles followed by 2 days of 500 AlO and 3=5 days on AlO polish does a fine job on cabs. This method does remove small saw kerfs and scratches but does not reshape the material(only the surface). If two SiC cycles do not remove the scratches or sometimes quartz shock from the 60 flat lap I run a third cycle. I use abrasive and polish material from Shawn at the Rock Shed. I am asking if one could add small amounts of 60/90 SiC to the 120/220 SiC without premature wear on the barrel. I don't like buying $80 barrels but would like using the 60/90 SiC ,if possible, or if necessary need buy a rotary for the 60/90 SiC.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 11, 2016 13:13:43 GMT -5
I have a 100# of spent grit blasting 125ao. Its brown. Will remember this. Give it a go Scott. Ceramic media = like 000 AO grit. Same dang thing giant AO particles. They go with the flow. if you vibe a bunch of AO(ceramic)media for an hour with SiC 80 it will have an 80 finish and will not polish well till it re-polishes. AO 80 is just tiny ceramic medias. Starts out with rough finish and becomes polished. Faster than I thought.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 11, 2016 13:17:09 GMT -5
James, the UV=18 vibe on preshaped cabs or preforms using 120/220 SiC for 2 cycles followed by 2 days of 500 AlO and 3=5 days on AlO polish does a fine job on cabs. This method does remove small saw kerfs and scratches but does not reshape the material(only the surface). If two SiC cycles do not remove the scratches or sometimes quartz shock from the 60 flat lap I run a third cycle. I use abrasive and polish material from Shawn at the Rock Shed. I am asking if one could add small amounts of 60/90 SiC to the 120/220 SiC without premature wear on the barrel. I don't like buying $80 barrels but would like using the 60/90 SiC ,if possible, or if necessary need buy a rotary for the 60/90 SiC. Victor, I would be concerned putting SiC 60/90 in a UV barrel. Period. I like your idea of buying a rotary for the 60/90. Or trade it w/someone for a grit you can use. You have the 60/90 and you want to use it, understood. Probably best not used in the UV though.
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Post by victor1941 on Jul 11, 2016 15:32:31 GMT -5
James, thanks for the reply. I will probably buy a rotary.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 13, 2016 6:12:07 GMT -5
James, thanks for the reply. I will probably buy a rotary. "James, the UV=18 vibe on preshaped cabs or preforms using 120/220 SiC for 2 cycles followed by 2 days of 500 AlO and 3=5 days on AlO polish does a fine job on cabs." I used to use the above recipe Victor. I think you will do just as well doing AO 80 or AO 220(2 cycles) for a day or two and then AO polish for 1 to 3 days. A UV 18 holds 18 pounds ? You must make a lot of cabs and preforms. Or using a bunch of media ?
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Post by victor1941 on Jul 13, 2016 15:30:29 GMT -5
James, I collected and purchased a lot of material in the 60's and 70's and then proceeded to slice/slab and store it for many years and multiple moves. After we retired and settled in Austin, Texas I started to make a lot of cabs and preforms on a 8" flat lap for enjoyment. I run and fill the UV-18 with equal amounts of cabs/preforms and media for each cycle. I started with Biker Randy's method two years ago but will try your method and see if it that works equally well and requires less time. I normally buy from the Rock Shed and will need your source for AO 80, AO 220, and polish so I use the same materials. Thanks for replying.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 13, 2016 19:27:41 GMT -5
James, I collected and purchased a lot of material in the 60's and 70's and then proceeded to slice/slab and store it for many years and multiple moves. After we retired and settled in Austin, Texas I started to make a lot of cabs and preforms on a 8" flat lap for enjoyment. I run and fill the UV-18 with equal amounts of cabs/preforms and media for each cycle. I started with Biker Randy's method two years ago but will try your method and see if it that works equally well and requires less time. I normally buy from the Rock Shed and will need your source for AO 80, AO 220, and polish so I use the same materials. Thanks for replying. The AO is coarse sand blasting grade. The AO polish is Rock Shed. Rock Shed has fine AO's. Half media and half rock, sounds like a good plan.
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OregonBorn
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2015
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Post by OregonBorn on Jul 13, 2016 19:31:39 GMT -5
I use SiC for grinding really coarse and chunky stuff, but I got a box of AO 80 from Harbor Freight for really cheap and I have been using that for course stuff that does not need much shaping, like river rock that needs a good grinding but not serious shaping. I run it with soap in one of my larger rolling tumblers for 10 days w/o adding any more AO, and it gives me interesting results. Some stuff does not work so well and needs another round of coarse AO or even SiC in the large 12# or 15# rotary. Other stuff winds up ready for 220 SiC, and some stuff is near polished and I move it up to 600 SiC, both of which I run in my one of my Mini-sonic vibes for 2-3 days w/o any soap or rubber bumpers(soap tends to foam up too much and the rubber bumpers are pushed to the top and out of the spin cycle by the virbator). Then I run them with 1200 AO polish in the smaller roller tumblers for a week with soap and rubber buffers that I made from cutting roofing rubber into 1/4" pieces. Then I burnish them with soap/bumpers for a few hours. Slag glass and obsidian I then run in micron AO for a finer polish.
I also use high quality quartz sand as a pre-clean to cut off the crud and dirt from rocks before I decide whether I want to tumble them or not. I got a 5 gallon bucket of sand from Carmel beach last year that works well for that. There used to be what was called the "sand plant: at Pebble Beach where the Spanish Bay resort and golf coarse are now. They used to get the sand there to use for making high quality glass, as well as missile heads at Lockheed. "They" say not to tumble with sand, but I have had good results using it as a pre-tumble media.
Question for the OP, why the sugar added in some of your runs? I never tried that. Simple syrup?
I wore out one Mini-Sonic tumbler barrel using coarse SiC, and they are not cheap. So I do not use coarse in the vibe tumblers any more. The vibes also push too much polish into the cracks and voids for me so I prefer to polish using roller tumblers with soap to reduce the polish push-in and the bumpers to reduce the rock impact.
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