Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 22:42:53 GMT -5
I have pondered this since you brought it up originally, what? 18 months ago? A year? I would think that epoxy with a very high grit to epoxy ratio 10/1 or even 30/1 or more? Would break down and 'time release' as you describe. Dedicated mixing tub wear gloves (nitrile?) And mix by hand until a very dry mix is achieved. Let harden in a slab and break slab. Getting the mix right is the key. A series of 1 cup batches until ratio is good. Lucky you have a huge pile of barrels and agate to test it in!! It's how the wheels are made, or so I was told when in that industry. The previous is all spitballing.... jamesp
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 23:00:01 GMT -5
Assuming success....
More spitballing....
Labor time is saved with clean out half as many?
More electricity, but less work. A fair trade-off, to a point. Does it slow grinding more than time savings??... meaning more clean outs per batch....
The goal is less clean outs per batch.
Must consider epoxy cost. Assuming not a factor due to ratio. But must be examined.
Points to ponder on the toilet.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Oct 19, 2016 3:14:05 GMT -5
Assuming success.... More spitballing.... Labor time is saved with clean out half as many? More electricity, but less work. A fair trade-off, to a point. Does it slow grinding more than time savings??... meaning more clean outs per batch.... The goal is less clean outs per batch. Must consider epoxy cost. Assuming not a factor due to ratio. But must be examined. Points to ponder on the toilet. I think I have run those chunks for 10 days to 2 weeks. No need to hassle with slurry thickener. I think I had to thin the slurry and add rocks after 7 days. I would put 3 cups of chunks in the barrel for 2 week run instead of 1 cup of loose grit every 3-4 days using 15 pound barrel. Grout has lime and hell on hands. Cooks skin. Epoxy sounds like a winner. Maybe bulk Silicon carbide wheels from China but I could not find them cheap. Guess they are electro-fused. But the grinding wheel bond releases prefect. Maybe Washington Mills has some kind of SiC slag waste by the ton. Could be a waste product. Tumbles can use crap for abrasives. You do need tough barrels to run chunks. Still got 15 gallons of those wheels to tinker with. And you need to do an AO 80 run afterward in the vibe or an SiC 220 run in the rotary or a long loose coarse grit run in the rotary to remove scratches from the chunks since they don't break down all the way necessarily. You may have a half dozen small chunks at end. Not worth grinding the little left overs to oblivion, just add them to next batch.(diminishing returns) No doubt those chunks make life easy. I would use them when going away for a week or at busy times.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Oct 19, 2016 3:21:01 GMT -5
This was rhyolite after 5 days. Most of it hammer broken. Little chunks spent SiC chunks are in 4 inch tumbler cap. No smalls, load as seen. Flat out tore the rhyolite up.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2016 19:45:44 GMT -5
We need to go private on this. We have a saleable product to develop.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Oct 20, 2016 3:25:42 GMT -5
We need to go private on this. We have a saleable product to develop. Us tumblers are spend thrifts.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 11, 2016 12:55:02 GMT -5
Next tumble. Pre-ground. ~ 1/2 Moss and 1/2 jasper biscuits self collected at the Rio Grande in S Texas. Big one is hardball size, yellow one size of cigarette pack. Will rough them all together with some similar biggish wood. 30 RPM clay and added 25% 3/4" agate media. Used the (now aggravated) curve in this diamond wheel to contour grind the biscuits. Don't care for this wheel, it is too soft and wears fast. Probably made for marble and not rated for granite. Need granite rating. But like the contour for tumbles.
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Post by txrockhunter on Nov 12, 2016 7:34:53 GMT -5
Going to be some beatiful Rio tumbles coming from your camp! I am setting up a pre-grinder....which doamond wheel do you like more, the cup or the one you just posted?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 12, 2016 9:25:54 GMT -5
Going to be some beatiful Rio tumbles coming from your camp! I am setting up a pre-grinder....which doamond wheel do you like more, the cup or the one you just posted? I wish the one above was longer lasting Jeremy. It has soft matrix and wears too fast, I like it's configuration best by far. Unfortunately the 7 inch Harbor Freight cup gives you the most bang for your buck at $49 and lasts forever. The 7 inch cup seems to remove material just as fast even though the matrix is super hard. The 4 inch cylinder above was $110 and cost prohibitive because it will last less than 1% of the Harbor Freight wheel. I can't seem to wear out the Harbor Freight wheel, not the 4 inch(cup) or the 7 inch cup. You know those wheels are interchangeable in a minute's time as they are threaded on to a 7/8" long bolt with a backing nut to seat them. You would be better off to have the threads on the shaft accurately chased on a lathe for concentricity, as a bolt is not always concentric and can cause very unwanted wobble causing bouncing. I spin at 2200 RPM and 1/4 HP. You can bear down hard enough on the wheel to slow the 1/4, don't be shy if you have a 1/3 or 1/2. I avoid bearing down hard to avoid a slip so the 1/4 is fine. I am sure you could stack 7 inch saw blades with washers between them too. With a nut on top to squeeze them down on the backing nut. I ground the rocks in the photo in about 30 minutes. The bleach coating and pits can run deep in those Rio biscuits. Need lots of grinding. Your San Jacinto gravels were blessed with little bleaching, a good thing. I usually pre-tumble for about three SiC 30 grit changes before grinding to get a better idea of what needs grinding. My thoughts are rough for two weeks and get better tumbles than not grinding and rolling for many weeks and/or grit changes. An hour or two at the bench is well worth it in long run.
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Nov 12, 2016 9:38:16 GMT -5
Damn James,your going to be the tumble "King" pretty soon........Nice rough you have for the run.....Can't wait to see the results!!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 12, 2016 9:46:32 GMT -5
Damn James,your going to be the tumble "King" pretty soon........Nice rough you have for the run.....Can't wait to see the results!! I figured out that Rio this go. The more rocks you hammer windows off the more pretties you find. If you simply windowed the bleach pure white rocks alone you will score big. Collectors have left them laying, The white often comes from high chalcedony content = fine agate. You would not recognize those in the photo before they were ground, about all were white with a tiny tint of their color. Emphasis on 'a tiny hint'.
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Nov 12, 2016 12:06:35 GMT -5
Damn James,your going to be the tumble "King" pretty soon........Nice rough you have for the run.....Can't wait to see the results!! I figured out that Rio this go. The more rocks you hammer windows off the more pretties you find. If you simply windowed the bleach pure white rocks alone you will score big. Collectors have left them laying, The white often comes from high chalcedony content = fine agate. You would not recognize those in the photo before they were ground, about all were white with a tiny tint of their color. Emphasis on 'a tiny hint'. LOL-Montana moss agates,are the same way...
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 12, 2016 12:28:00 GMT -5
Never thought, suppose all that stuff turned cobble requires magic reading skills fossilman.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 14, 2016 6:53:47 GMT -5
Went to a construction site and dug a bucket of the pastiest slickest red clay. From what I hear it is the most colloidal. Used for key ways in lake dams to seal potential leaks. For 2 days straight I added a half a cup of SiC 30 three times a day to 6-7 pounds rock and did no clean out. The third day I let it run with out adding grit. Did add a cup of water on day 2 to thin slurry. Opened the barrel after 72 hours, did clean out, and found not one iota of unused grit. Looked and screened and separated, no grit. Rocks reflecting wear rate of 6 grit additions. Running a 14 ounce and 11 ounce rock in the mix. Most of the others in the 4-7 ounce range of size. 20% smalls. Did some touch up grinding and started them back up.
Going to disconnect 2nd set of shafts and leave the 30 RPM set on. Cut back from 5 barrels to 2-3 six pound barrels. Getting things dialed in to more grit changes and faster production with less barrels.
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ubermenehune
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Post by ubermenehune on Nov 17, 2016 22:41:58 GMT -5
What ever happened with the bloodstone?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 18, 2016 6:11:56 GMT -5
What ever happened with the bloodstone? The bloodstone was getting bruises. No answer on that one.
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Post by captbob on Nov 18, 2016 9:25:17 GMT -5
What ever happened with the bloodstone? The bloodstone was getting bruises. No answer on that one. Send it to me, I'll fix it for ya!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 18, 2016 12:07:40 GMT -5
The bloodstone was getting bruises. No answer on that one. Send it to me, I'll fix it for ya! It will probably sit back burner for a while to some newly collected rocks.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Dec 5, 2016 6:59:56 GMT -5
What ever happened with the bloodstone? Tackling the bloodstone ubermenehune captbob. Using the Viking vibe. For some reason this bloodstone is sensitive to bruising in the rotary. It is the heaviest stone I have tackled. But the problem is the material IMO, not the size. So I took 12 pounds of smalls and the 2 pound bloodstone and chunked it all in the vibe with SiC 30 grit. I feel the polyurethane liner will handle the 30 grit. I feel that the 30 grit will shave off the bruises. A slight problem getting the chunky bloodstone to rotate/move in the vibe. Doubled up on Borax and water to lubricate. Hopefully it does not get stuck. Will probably do 3 eight hour runs with 30 grit, and 3 clean outs due to mud accumulation. Unless 1 or 2 runs shaves the bruises off. One thing for sure, it will not get any bruises as it is alone with smalls. Probably could have filled the rotary with smalls and also avoided bruises. Fingers crossed. ETA Coral or Rio moss rarely bruises, this is a material issue. Surprised, always thought bloodstone is as tough a rock as you will find. I believe it is a jasper, and jaspers can vary in hardness. Bruises. Note single fracture to left. Only fracture in this fine stone. But, the fracture causes a slight trough in surface due to higher impact forces. Best to tumble big rocks that have zero fractures. Not common to find such rocks. Coral continues to stay high on the list as a candidate for big tumbles. It has few fractures and is very tough. Just not so flashy. Coastal chert(probably Texas chert) and coral. Moss and most pet wood good candidates too. Bruises and exploited fracture:
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Post by captbob on Dec 5, 2016 8:55:47 GMT -5
I hope this vibe run does it! Really looking forward to seeing this big ol' bloodstone polished up nice. Figured it would be an easy tumble. The smalls may be the answer.
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