AO 46-AO 80 and AO 220.

Where do you get your AO 80 - Harbor Freight?

Very interesting James. So the AO keeps rounding off to smaller sizes & you get a corresponding finer polish? The longer you leave it the finer the polish. Sounds logical. I'm definitely going to try this in the rotary. THANKS

The Washington Mills sales agent used to drop by the house. Washington Mills makes most of the US SiC. Other abrasives.

We traded my rocks for his abrasive samples.

List of 5 pound samples he gave me in trade. Long used up over the years:

SiC 8, SiC 16, SiC 46, SiC 500, SiC 1000

AO 46, AO 60, AO 400, AO 800. The AO 46 was a 5 gallon bucket.

These were industrial abrasives. About the same as tumbling abrasives, just more costly because they were precision graded in size.

Then I acquired samples from garnet abrasive companies(best for tumbling metals):

270 garnet, 300 garnet, 400 garnet and 4 garnet. The 4 garnet makes great filler media in vibe or rotary

From Lortone:

Lortone pre polish AO, which is a range of aluminum oxide from 200-1000, particles averaging 600.

Lortone experimental AO polish, which was a range of aluminum oxide from 1000 to 6000 averaging 3000

Discussed the wide range of sizes with the Lortone technical guy. He was first to explain how aluminum oxide smooths.
That the wide range of sizes did not matter so much, all the particles are going to become smooth and impart a polish.
That Lortone's AO pre-polish was an inexpensive grade of AO because it was not precision sifted to one grade size.
And that it did not matter in tumbling rocks.

From an industrial junkyard:

AO 80, 5 gallon bucket. Plain sand blasting abrasive.

Other samples from other abrasive companies like Kramer.

Jake

To avoid any possible problems please order this AO 80 from Ebay. 10 pounds for $15 + $7 shipping.
I have used this supplier's AO 80 and AO 24 with perfect results. I have also used the brown AO 46 and AO 80 with same results.
This supplier's AO looks white but it is actually dead clear and it is a crushed form that breaks down quickly.

I don't think shape or color matters really. Feel certain the black would work.
I look at the color of the slurry too. I would not care for a potentially black slurry.

10 pounds will last a long time running 6 and 12 pound barrels.

Ebay link www.ebay.com/itm/121591344289?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Rock Shed is the source for AO 14,000. It is popular on his forum, tried and tested many times over.
I tried buying AO 60-70-80 from the Rock Shed but he does not carry it.

osuguy0301

Rock Shed's AO polish is AO 14.000. It averages 1 micron. Fine polish.

Glad you are going with the clear AO 80. Never ran the black. It is probably like clear black glass and may have little coloring.
AO comes in many colors. Don't think the color matters one iota.

The clear AO 80 run with Borax in the vibe makes a pretty dead white Milk of Magnesia slurry.

And milky in the rotary.
You were going to use it in the rotary. I would avoid kitty litter or clay. Sugar if you feel so inclined. One cup/10 pounds rock.
May go a bit light on the water level to make sure it sticks to the rocks. At least for the first day or two.
Run for at least 10 days. Longer will not hurt, only help.

My eyes were first opened by AO 80 in the vibe. By accident. I was smoothing rocks out of rotary run in SiC 30.
Came back 24 hours later and the rocks in the vibe with AO 80 had a decent polish.
Since, I have used the AO 80 in my vibe a dozen times now. 2-3 days with Borax.
Then straight to polish with AO 14,000 with borax in the vibe for 18 hours.
All went fine. Polish achieved.

A month ago I questioned if AO 80 would work in the rotary. Tried it. It worked.
Only difference is it takes 10 days for the rotary to break it down. (2-3 days in the vibe).
Makes perfect sense, the vibe breaks grit down way faster.
Two 10 day runs with AO 80 and one 10 day run with AO 24.
All three runs finished in 18 hours with AO 14,000 in the vibe. Polish achieved.

Beware. Running 80 grit is not recommended by many vibe manufacturers.
Not sure if that were referring to SiC 80 or AO 80. But AO 80 is much less aggressive than SiC 80. SiC is way sharper.
I will say that AO 80 is probably not very aggressive after the first 4-8 hours in the vibe. So it may not be worth worrying about.

And my vibe may be different than your vibe. Results may vary. I doubt it.
I say give it a go. AO 80 is about a guaranteed replacement for SiC 220. So it won't go wasted.

All I can say is it simplified my tumbling process. Good luck.

I use 2 tablespoons in a 14 pound vibe. 2 tablespoons Borax. Rock dripped dry after wetting and quickly put in hopper.
In my vibe the rocks stay on the wet side, Borax not getting pasty, closer to milk.

Check moisture daily, Lot-O may dry quicker, I have no idea about a Lot-O. Add just enough water to maintain milk slurry.
To clean I use Dawn-with hopper running(with AO 80) pour water in it say 3/4 full and add ~tablespoon of Dawn. Let run 5 to 10 minutes.


Lot-O is 4-5 pounds ? Maybe 80% of a tablespoon rasta, 80% of tablespoon Borax.

By day one you may have a sheen started. By day two you should have a polish starting. After 2-3days transfer to AO polish.

Good luck.

What type of vibe do you have ?