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Post by tims on Jan 21, 2017 0:41:11 GMT -5
Nice, orrum. I've often seen scrapped sinks and toilets for giveaway and wondered if they might be good for something. At last I have reason to drag one home ...
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Jan 21, 2017 8:52:26 GMT -5
Hardness of Ceramic Tiles "Water absorption rate, glazes, compression and material all determine the hardness of ceramic tile The percentage of water absorption by the tile body determines whether the ceramic tile is Impervious, Vitreous, Semi-Vitreous, or Non-Vitreous. From Impervious, where absorption rates of 15% and higher, hardness factors change Most glazes fall in the 5 to 6 Mohs Scale range. However, certain types of floor and porcelain tiles can have compressive strengths of 10,000 PSI and a Mohs hardness factor of 8" This is right on James. I have had great success using broken ceramic tiles to make my own tumbling ceramics which saves a LOT of money. Breaking them into the right size pieces is a hassle and danger(use glasses and gloves!!!) And choosing the right tile is the key. Since it is only one or two tiles, buy the highest quality porcelain (not just any ceramic) tile you can get. They usually are harder. Or ask the salesman. I have run tests of purchased porcelain media with my homemade and they wore at the same rate and worked the same. I did get a cheaper/poor tile once and it worked okay, but did wear pretty fast. So I figured it was softer and discarded it. I run them by themselves for a day or two to wear off the sharp edges a bit. The edges didn't hurt the rubber barrel at all. Hope this helps.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,562
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Post by jamesp on Jan 21, 2017 10:16:31 GMT -5
Hardness of Ceramic Tiles "Water absorption rate, glazes, compression and material all determine the hardness of ceramic tile The percentage of water absorption by the tile body determines whether the ceramic tile is Impervious, Vitreous, Semi-Vitreous, or Non-Vitreous. From Impervious, where absorption rates of 15% and higher, hardness factors change Most glazes fall in the 5 to 6 Mohs Scale range. However, certain types of floor and porcelain tiles can have compressive strengths of 10,000 PSI and a Mohs hardness factor of 8" This is right on James. I have had great success using broken ceramic tiles to make my own tumbling ceramics which saves a LOT of money. Breaking them into the right size pieces is a hassle and danger(use glasses and gloves!!!) And choosing the right tile is the key. Since it is only one or two tiles, buy the highest quality porcelain (not just any ceramic) tile you can get. They usually are harder. Or ask the salesman. I have run tests of purchased porcelain media with my homemade and they wore at the same rate and worked the same. I did get a cheaper/poor tile once and it worked okay, but did wear pretty fast. So I figured it was softer and discarded it. I run them by themselves for a day or two to wear off the sharp edges a bit. The edges didn't hurt the rubber barrel at all. Hope this helps. Most of the old small bath tiles were solid thru. No glaze, extremely hard and wear resistant. Made to be wear free for many years. If color tinted, the entire tile was colored. High content of aluminum oxide just like china clay used in fine china. The cost is in the higher firing temps and pressures. Hard to find a source for those old tiles because they used to concrete bathroom floors. They got torn out in thick plates with a sledge. Not familiar with new tiles. Good to hear they still do the hard tiles. Due to our fine clays, namely kaolin: www.mse.gatech.edu/research/areas/ceramicsThere were oil and railroad barons. Georgia had clay barons. Ceramic a big game here.
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southerneagle
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2017
Posts: 9
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Post by southerneagle on Jan 21, 2017 16:56:12 GMT -5
Well I gathered up some small sized pieces of gravel from driveway and started my batch yesterday. 3# rotary with a purchased tumble rock mix, I made sure to stay at 3 pounds including grit, water, and the weight of the drum. But after further reading I think I made a mistake. The gravel in my area is gneiss, some people call it blue granite, which I read was not good to tumble. Do I need to stop the tumbling and get rid of the gravel?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 21, 2017 17:06:35 GMT -5
The gravel from your driveway is not going to hurt anything, it might not be great to tumble, but that's not its purpose. It's just there for smalls, right?
Your three pound barrel will weigh more than three pounds full. That is an estimate of the weight of just the rocks. The rocks, barrel, water, and grit will weigh considerably more. I never weigh my barrel, I just fill it to about 3/4 full. I would stop it and add more rocks until it's 3/4 full.
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Post by wigglinrocks on Jan 21, 2017 18:27:10 GMT -5
For filler in the rotary I used any rock that I thought might take a polish . Some did , some didn't . Stuff that did not polish got used for filler in the next load . I use vibes after coarse now and use ceramic for filler
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