braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Dec 8, 2016 12:13:45 GMT -5
I recently acquired the tumbling bug (obsession?) and bought the Lortone 3A starter kit with rocks and grit. I didn't want to set future expectations too high using the rocks that came with it so I found rocks in my back alley that I thought could be interesting and I'm pleased with what I'm seeing in the photo after 42 days....I've been taking to heart what some in here are saying about patience and how the first stage is the most important. In future tumbles I'll be more choosy about what goes in and doing some "preforming" with my bench grinder or whatever might work for that. If I'm still this excited after the first tumble is done I think I'll get the Lortone double barrel model and a 4th barrel. Anyhow I thought I'd show all you fellow obsessives my progress so far...
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Post by captbob on Dec 8, 2016 12:20:58 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum braat . Looks like you are off and running. Very nice to see someone new to tumbling that doesn't think that a load of rocks can be run from rough through polish in 10 days. You got a great shape on those rocks before moving on to finer grits. This half the battle and it should be smooth sailing to the finish line. Some of those rocks may not take a glossy polish, time will tell. Pretty darn nice for back alley rocks! Preshaping on a bench grinder (dry) may not be such a good idea. Guess you can try it, but please be super careful of breathing any dust this may create. Hope you stick around and post pictures as your rocks progress.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Dec 8, 2016 12:33:47 GMT -5
Sometimes it helps just to pick something up and throw it in the barrel to see how it works out. And great job on the patience part!
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Post by wigglinrocks on Dec 8, 2016 12:45:21 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum . Looks like your getting the patience thing down pat . Starting with self picked rock is a good way to start . Doing it that way gives you an idea of what works and what is leverite . Good luck and happy tumbling .
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,558
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Post by jamesp on Dec 8, 2016 13:00:39 GMT -5
Looks like some fine Appalachian pink granite.
Welcome to the forum.
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Post by pghram on Dec 9, 2016 22:36:28 GMT -5
Looking good, very good. Welcome.
Peace,
Rich
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Dec 15, 2016 13:05:27 GMT -5
Stage 2 - 220 grit - day 7 - I think I'm going backwards...some are getting pretty small and all are uber smooth but the luster that was there on some of the rocks is gone. I'm thinking I should have added plastic beads to fill to the same level as what produced some luster in the stage 1 photo?? The barrel was noticeably noisier these past 7 days than it was during stage 1 so I'm thinking it's because I filled 2/3 full (just covered in water plus 220 grit) versus 75% (or a little more) in stage 1?? Does that sound right?? I'll await opinions before I do anything more...
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grizman
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since July 2011
Posts: 878
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Post by grizman on Dec 15, 2016 17:42:37 GMT -5
Let's see if I fully understand. You started out with your rough rocks & (grit number, unknown) and ran that for 42 days straight? That produced the first photo example? You then switched to 220 grit for 7 days, and feel that you lost volume as well as your semi-gloss.
Here's my take for what it's worth. The first tumble of 42 days, no matter how course your grit, broke down to almost a pre-polish grit in that amount of time. Thus the slight polish. Grit does not stay the same over a week, 2 week, 3 weeks, etc. It constantly breaks down to a finer level.
Then you started out with a 2nd round with 220 grit for the 7 days. It was actually much more course than the grit left in your slurry after 42 days, so it was like almost starting over except that you have already shaped your rocks and removed most of any flaws or imperfections. If you were to leave it for 42 days also, you'd have a better shine...but there is NO NEED to do that. Now go to 500 grit for a week, then 1,000 grit or tripoli for a week, and then pre-polish or polish for a week to 10 days depending on what you have for shine after the 1,000 or tripoli.
You have the concept down, now just continue with the "patience" part of tumbling! Good luck. We want to see the finished product down the road. Also, remember where you got your rocks from to start with, so if they do not finish like diamonds, you can understand.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,558
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Post by jamesp on Dec 15, 2016 18:49:56 GMT -5
What Mr.grizmzn said. 42 day coarse grit is likely very much smaller than 7 day 220
Looks like you have pink granite in the mix. It will get a decent polish but may undercut (the pink part, it is felspar and softer than the white quartz part).
No matter. I would stay committed to running your 220 for that week, moving to 500 for a week. And keep on(1000 a week, polish at least a week).
You don't know if your going to get a polish till you get down to 1000 or polish. i.e. maintain your patience.
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Post by captbob on Dec 15, 2016 19:04:50 GMT -5
Now go to 500 grit for a week, then 1,000 grit or tripoli for a week, and then pre-polish or polish for a week to 10 days depending on what you have for shine after the 1,000 or tripoli. One slight clarification - 500 grit is often considered "pre-polish" by some grit sellers. 1000 grit would definitely be "pre-polish". There is no other step between 1000 grit and polish, or 500 and polish if you don't have Tripoli (considered to be around 800 grit) or 1000 grit. So... coarse grit (whatever that may be, you didn't say) 220 (maybe run a bit longer if you are going from 220 to 1000 rather than 220 to 500) 500/1000 "pre-polish" (depends on what ya got) Run one after the other if you have both. polish burnish (optional) Did you actually run 42 days without doing grit recharges/changes or did you just leave out that you did that?
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Dec 15, 2016 19:33:24 GMT -5
Stage 1 was 42 days of 46/70 recharged weekly... The kit came with only 4 different grits...one pound each (from the labels) 46/70 Coarse, 220 Fine, Prepolish, and Titanium Dioxide polish.... If I'm understanding I should continue with 220 for another week or so (without recharging) then move on up? Nobody's said anything about the noise factor/fill levels so can I assume that doesn't matter as much as I'm thinking? Captbob...tks for clearing up the grit labelling it was confusing me. I really appreciate your input guys!
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Post by Garage Rocker on Dec 15, 2016 20:21:33 GMT -5
You should put filler of some kind in there to make up for lost volume. I don't rotary tumble beyond course grind, but even still, you don't want to hear crashing and banging around in there. You'll want filler to help cushion the tumble and avoid bruising.
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Post by spiceman on Dec 15, 2016 20:53:02 GMT -5
All the suggestions are very good but you find out what works for you and take good notes. If you like what you see repeat the same cycle on another batch of the same hardness rocks. Good luck Welcome to the forum. Dale
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Dec 29, 2016 12:49:12 GMT -5
Day 63 - after 1 week of pre-polish. I think I'm back on track as most of them are starting to shine again...yay! Recharged and back in they went for another week. Would any of you have gone to final polish from what you see in the photo?
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napoleonrags
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2015
Posts: 474
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Post by napoleonrags on Dec 29, 2016 21:33:15 GMT -5
Day 63 - after 1 week of pre-polish. I think I'm back on track as most of them are starting to shine again...yay! Recharged and back in they went for another week. Would any of you have gone to final polish from what you see in the photo? I'd like to give you accurate advice, but I cheat the polish stage because I don't tumble polish. But to answer your question, yes I would throw those to tumble polish. Give it a week, pull a rock out, and roll the rest for another week to compare. You've the patience that I don't have. Gather no moss, Colin
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osuguy0301
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 203
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Post by osuguy0301 on Dec 30, 2016 8:31:18 GMT -5
The first batch is always the hardest, for a ton of different reasons. One of those reasons beings the loss of volume of the rocks and not having anything to fill back in with once you are past your coarse grit stage. I rotary tumble from start to finish and you will find there are rocks that will be ready to move to the next step and others that won't. I constantly add new rocks in the coarse grit stage to maintain that 2/3-3/4 full benchmark. At every clean out I check to see if any are ready to be moved on and put them in a bucket of water. Once i get enough ready to go to 220, I move to that stage. Anything that wasn't finished in the coarse grit goes in a separate bucket for when I start a coarse grit stage again. I usually have a bucket of material that needs to go back in 46/70 or 60/90 and a bucket that can be thrown into 220 to keep the level appropriate. You will build up this stock over time. I don't use plastic pellets in the 220, I only use pellets in the 500 and polish stages. If you needed filler for 220 you could use them but typically I have enough material that its not needed.
Typically my coarse grit and 220 stages are fairly loud in comparison to my 500 and polish stages. The main reason is because I add pellets to those last two stages and that cushions the rocks so it should be much quieter. After a few batches you will be able to tell by the noise of the tumbler whether it is doing what its supposed to do or if something is off. I over filled a barrel during the 60/90 stage and it was hardly making a noise, it sounded like my polish stage. i knew that wasn't right so I opened the barrel, pulled out some rocks, and it went back to what it should sound like.
A lot of this is trial and error. The people on the forum give great advice and are more than willing to help with your questions. Keep on rolling!
Jake
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,558
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Post by jamesp on Dec 30, 2016 9:20:05 GMT -5
Day 63 - after 1 week of pre-polish. I think I'm back on track as most of them are starting to shine again...yay! Recharged and back in they went for another week. Would any of you have gone to final polish from what you see in the photo? That is difficult to answer from a photo or with rock in hand. Once rocks are at 500 it is tricky to tell how close they are to polish. Once they start to reflect images you are certainly getting close.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,558
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Post by jamesp on Dec 30, 2016 9:29:29 GMT -5
Typically my coarse grit and 220 stages are fairly loud in comparison to my 500 and polish stages. The main reason is because I add pellets to those last two stages and that cushions the rocks so it should be much quieter. After a few batches you will be able to tell by the noise of the tumbler whether it is doing what its supposed to do or if something is off. I over filled a barrel during the 60/90 stage and it was hardly making a noise, it sounded like my polish stage. i knew that wasn't right so I opened the barrel, pulled out some rocks, and it went back to what it should sound like. Read more: forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/76954/first-tumble?page=2#ixzz4UKbLRbMeYou can rest assured a barrel filled at 75-80% in 220-500-1000-polish is safe from bruising due to banging. I went a step further and used sugar as slurry thickener in 500-1000-polish and made sure barrel was 75 closer to 80% full. Had extra tumbled rocks to add after course grind to make sure barrel was at 75-80% for these finishing steps. Media is also fine. Just don't run barrel low. Can't be too safe. Key point-banging rocks do not polish well. And can bruise. Two problems.
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Post by captbob on Dec 30, 2016 9:48:30 GMT -5
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Dec 30, 2016 12:17:06 GMT -5
Yup I got plastic pellets in there...tumble is much quieter and tks for the spacer idea. jamesp - I think I'll try your sugar idea to thicken things up....it's pretty watery in there... Tks all for taking the time to share your experience...appreciated!
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