jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Dec 23, 2017 7:02:43 GMT -5
I start too many threads here. Thought I would just start a diary. Please visit. 10 ounce piece of soft blue glass running by itself with quartz pea gravel in Vibraminisonic in AO 220. It had been face sawn and coarse tumbled. Never thought it would come close to polish due to being a heavy piece of glass even running by itself w/media. It was either day 3 or day 4 that the AO 220 finally broke down enough to show reflection. This is a good thing and a surprise. Was guessing that the surface would have been micro frosted terribly due to it's weight. Next step is to figure out how to go to fine polish step without damaging surface. Any single step can cause bruises that requires starting over. So a heaping teaspoon each of Borax, AO 14,000 and softer pumice abrasive for an immediate protective slurry was added. Banking on the pumice to offer padding, it has about a 4 hour breakdown rate in my particular machine. Then the AO 14,000 can take over. If the AO 220 took 4 days, the AO 14,000 may take 2 to 3 days. Haze polish. AO 14,000 could easily take over here to a wet shine if there is no frosting(frosting can be on micro level): Looks good here but polish is far from finished: Here is a piece of glass that was run in harsh rotary for fast shaping. Done a long time ago. Now these pieces of glass are being run gently with media/85% fill/slow speed/thickish slurry to remove deep bruises. The PVC barrel is barely audible. Heavy clay slurry, coarse SiC. Yet the grind rate is fairly rapid as glass is soft. Note number of bruises increases at pointed end. Typical of rotary born bruises. At 48 hours, just added water: *polish improving at 24
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Dec 23, 2017 7:29:34 GMT -5
After visiting 3 different HDPE supply houses to see what type of HDPE fittings would make a good rugged tumbler barrel I found this reducer. I sawed the 6 inch side shorter to allow a 6 inch Fernco rubber cap enough length to grab it. Looking for following barrel characteristics: 1) Super rugged for running aggressive bulk SiC. Barrel wear is an issue. HDPE good on resisting wear. 2) Larger 8 inch diameter to increase grinding force for large bulk SiC and in-general grinding forces on rocks. 3) Round shape more aggressive than 6 sided barrels. 4) Short barrel for high mixing rates, maybe a good thing. Certainly for tumbling single big rocks. 5) Larger 6 inch opening with quick Fernco access and yet larger rocks. Easy to see and access contents. 6) Short barrels so they can be run side-by-side on long shaft set up. Lighter in weight too. Fernco runs against end of another barrel well. 7) Smooth outer wall for possible higher speeds in the 55 to 80 RPM range. 8) Fernco cap is about 3/8" thick rubber, cheap at $6.37 ppd on Ebay or available at box stores. 9) Will be noisier than rubber barrels. However thick clay slurries make hard barrels much quieter. 10) Cost is about $55. Could have gotten cheaper prices on reducer fitting. 11) Holds 1.5 gallons so bigger than imagined. Almost finished, just need to add 3/4 inch HDPE end cap: Dimensions 10.5" long, 8 5/8" diameter, 7 1/4" I.D.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Dec 23, 2017 15:30:02 GMT -5
This splits most aquarium pea gravel into two sizes. For running delicate stones in vibe. found item
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Dec 23, 2017 18:14:25 GMT -5
Softest glass, tempered 3/8" table glass after 24 hours in AO 14,000, skipped 220. May be old bruises from rotary. Coarsed in a week, super soft. Rerun AO 220 and AO 14,000. No problem w/polish progress. May be collecting bruises. Heap teaspoon 0-1/2 pumice added = medium slurry. 3 heapers ?
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Post by gmitch067 on Dec 23, 2017 20:52:08 GMT -5
'Not familiar with aquarium pea gravel... Is this actual store bought aquarium gravel or did you acquire it from another source? Wouldn't a gravel that is harder than glass cause the frosting?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Dec 24, 2017 5:32:53 GMT -5
'Not familiar with aquarium pea gravel... Is this actual store bought aquarium gravel or did you acquire it from another source? Wouldn't a gravel that is harder than glass cause the frosting? Most people use ceramics to polish obsidian and glass. It is far harder than glass and quartz. Regardless, quartz or ceramic media should have a close-to-polish finish. I thought the same way when I started tumbling. Nothing further from the truth... Frost damage is almost always mechanical impacts Mitch. Machine related. The glass above is the softest of about all glass. So I am trying to tune my machine gentler to run it with out frosting it. This brand Mitch from Pet Smart is the best I could find for quality quartz pea gravel:
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Dec 24, 2017 5:55:12 GMT -5
Started ~25 pounds of glass and obsidian chips in fat boy barrel 12/23. Much from Owens Corning Glass Insulation plant. Gas, double band clamps. 2.5 cups sifted SiC 30. 3 cups clay. 85%. 30 RPM. ETA 1/20 to 1/30. Add trash pea gravel for loss.
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Post by HankRocks on Dec 24, 2017 7:50:04 GMT -5
It seems that with so much SiC, the glass and the obsidian and going to be reduced considerably in short order. Suppose the slower rpm and the 85% fill with slow down the grinding.
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Post by HankRocks on Dec 24, 2017 7:57:22 GMT -5
For Pea Gravel I do use a mixture with smaller especially when tumbling any botryoidal. I think it helps to grind and polish further down between the bubbles. The only downside is the smaller pebbles getting lodged between the bubbles and takes a little time to remove with a couple of dental picks.
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Dec 24, 2017 9:19:42 GMT -5
It seems that with so much SiC, the glass and the obsidian and going to be reduced considerably in short order. Suppose the slower rpm and the 85% fill with slow down the grinding. With that big barrel I did not put enough clay in and the slurry was way to watery Henry. It did no cutting since the SiC 30 did not suspend and spread out. Had it went into suspension it would have cut the glass a good bit and released gas. I could tell something was wrong as soon as I looked at the barrel cap, it should have been bulging from pressure. Added more clay, drained a bit of excess water, and will have gas tomorrow. The ole slurry dial in. That 25 pounds of glass will probably have to be burped daily. I could run it at 55 but the cutting would speed up and the gas would increase and blow cap before burping time. Glass is easy, it is cutting fast when you have to burp it a lot. Slow and full with lots of smalls to avoid deep bruises at finish. The medley, all hand chipped off cullet and chunk. Or obsidian:
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Dec 24, 2017 9:22:39 GMT -5
For Pea Gravel I do use a mixture with smaller especially when tumbling any botryoidal. I think it helps to grind and polish further down between the bubbles. The only downside is the smaller pebbles getting lodged between the bubbles and takes a little time to remove with a couple of dental picks. I have graded the media when tumbling bots. Nothing under 3/8" so not to get caught in the smaller cavities. But some of the features of the bots do not get tumbled or reached. That one's a catch 22.
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Dec 24, 2017 9:50:33 GMT -5
Good thing. The soft glass is NOT accumulating bruises. Perhaps the polish has even camouflaged some of them. And the polish has improved to about final. Often happens, polish gets better and bruises accumulate. Not this time. Bruises are historical from rotary. Sure of that. This morning group on left. Yesterday group on right. Green glass at top is harder glass. Easily scratches aqua glass. However the 10 ounce hunk of blue glassy may be having micro bruise issues. Media may be too big at 3/8 to 1/2 inch. Too much pressure at media contact points ? BB sized media may be required. Or smaller. Near sand....? Vibe tumbling in smooth sand, hmmm. Or the quartz media is not polished enough(some of the media out of bag and not tumbled)
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Post by captbob on Dec 24, 2017 11:48:25 GMT -5
You need to show this glass with a different background. Something textureless (is that a word?) like blue construction paper. Hard to tell what's really going on there with that background surface. I have a BUNCH of that glass from a very recent Oh Shit moment, but doubt that I will try tumbling it. Worried about what it will do to a rubber tumbler liner. Probably can't hurt your PVC, but figure it could shred rubber. Also don't see spending time on tumbling clear glass with more quality rocks to tumble than I can get to in 5 years. Good test material for your experiments to finesse soft rock tumbling methods. Merry Christmas buddy!
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Post by captbob on Dec 24, 2017 13:06:24 GMT -5
PS reading a guy's diary just feels kinda creepy.
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Dec 24, 2017 13:39:15 GMT -5
You need to show this glass with a different background. Something textureless (is that a word?) like blue construction paper. Hard to tell what's really going on there with that background surface. I have a BUNCH of that glass from a very recent Oh Shit moment, but doubt that I will try tumbling it. Worried about what it will do to a rubber tumbler liner. Probably can't hurt your PVC, but figure it could shred rubber. Also don't see spending time on tumbling clear glass with more quality rocks to tumble than I can get to in 5 years. Good test material for your experiments to finesse soft rock tumbling methods. Merry Christmas buddy! Merry Christmas Bob !! Y'all have a happy holiday. Changed to tests, mens don't keep diaries. Thanks
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Dec 24, 2017 14:56:12 GMT -5
captbobThe story on this glass was it was found in pieces on the side of the road at an intersection. Obviously tempered since it broke into equal 1 to 3 inch pieces. I broke it up into smaller. Big surprise was when rotary tumbled. It rounded off way faster than other glass. So it is some soft glass. What surprised me is that the Vibraminisonic tumbled it with only 25 to 30% media. Normally glass needs 50 to 70% media for protection. Impressed with this performance. Cooking collards for in-laws Christmas shin dig. Big pot. From garden. Denise doing mashed potatoes and brownies and green beans. Did you drop a rock on a glass table ?
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Post by grumpybill on Dec 24, 2017 15:11:12 GMT -5
The in-laws are lucky you're not frying anything in the skillet.
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Dec 24, 2017 16:04:34 GMT -5
The in-laws are lucky you're not frying anything in the skillet. Funny you mentioned that. I just put the 3 gallon pot of collards on the front stairs so I could stick another barrel.
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Dec 24, 2017 18:00:40 GMT -5
Welded a smaller barrel with big mouth. Sawed an end cap shorter to reduce size. did not cut as square for some reason. Had to square cut on side of 14 inch abrasive cut off saw. Some error can be made up at melt in pan. Liking this HDPE. Another machine quality fry pan weld. 2 for 2. Inside and out. Flat plate difficult to heat, easier to weld two pipe ends.
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catskillrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,270
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Post by catskillrocks on Dec 27, 2017 12:28:51 GMT -5
This brand Mitch from Pet Smart is the best I could find for quality quartz pea gravel: I don't know if the Pea Pebbles from Home Depot would work just as well. It's $3.88 for a 48 pound bag. I've been using it in all my coarse runs:
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