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Post by fernwood on Aug 28, 2018 9:21:31 GMT -5
OK, so checked after 6 days (yesterday) in good polish, AO 12,000. Had accidentally used bad polish. They came out of the bad polish with less gloss than the pre-polish. After 6 days with new, rock tumbling pellets, most still look worse than when they came out of pre-polish. The Tears: Lots of foam still. Checked after 2 days and there was even more foam. Added 2 more TBS of polish. These were in a 1 lb barrel. 2 TBS polish. The barrel was about 2/3 full. 60% Tears and 30% pellets. Water to just below the Tears/pellets level. These have no where near the gloss they did after removing from pre-polish. I added 2 more TBS polish. Photo is only a small sample. foam tears tears Cabs: Some foam. 3 lb barrel. ¾ full. About the same pellet/cab ratio as the Tears. Started with 5 TB polish. Added 2 more TBS polish to this barrel yesterday. Some of the harder cabs are looking closer to when they came out of pre-polish. Others are still very dull. The Granites and Pudding stone are getting better. Most Jaspers are still very dull. Again, just a sample, more cabs are in barrel. These were photographed after a quick water cleaning, so there is some polish residue on them. They were mostly dry. Any thoughts? Really appreciate any help on getting both the Tears and Cabs to come put great. Thank you. foam cabs cabs all cabs 1 cabs 2 cabs 3 cabs 4
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Aug 28, 2018 16:14:36 GMT -5
Polishing Apache Tears is the same as polishing glass. Learn to polish glass first, then do the Tears so you don't wear them down any smaller.
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Post by rmf on Aug 28, 2018 19:27:27 GMT -5
I did not see in the post if this is one batch or two different batches. If they are in the same batch the Apache Tears will not polish due to the harder jaspers and conglomerates. If they are two different batches then, never mind!
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Post by fernwood on Aug 28, 2018 20:00:52 GMT -5
Two different barrels, as stated above.
I only tried to polish about 20% of the Tears I have. If these come out small, no problem, as I can use ones about 1/4" and larger.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,555
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Post by jamesp on Aug 29, 2018 5:49:00 GMT -5
Shoot Beth. Glass/obsidian is so tricky. People do them in rotaries. I have done obsidian in a rotary with a decent polish. I have seen people do great polishes on obsidian in a rotary. Best advice, fill the barrel higher, say 85%. NO big rocks, all under 1 1/4 inches in size. Use 40% quartz pea gravel start to finish. Do not add any unpolished quartz pea gravel after step 1.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,555
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Post by jamesp on Aug 29, 2018 5:59:01 GMT -5
I rotary shape glass in SiC 60. Then rotary it with SiC 500. Then rotary it with aluminum oxide 220. Then to vibe #1 with AO 220. Then vibe #1 with AO 14,000. Then to a Lot-O with AO 14,000. But in the vibes I use various slurries. It only takes 8 days start to finish though.
Truth be known it is a tricked out vibe #1 that gets the polish base laid down. I can take several different abrasive paths, but the modified Vibrasonic vibe is the machine that gets the job done. Without it I can not get a polish on glass.
All I can say is good luck.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 29, 2018 6:14:35 GMT -5
I am not giving up! Thanks for the advice. I have lots of polished pea gravel, so will add some of that today.
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Post by grumpybill on Aug 29, 2018 7:35:37 GMT -5
...If they are in the same batch the Apache Tears will not polish due to the harder jaspers and conglomerates... I'm still fairly new at tumbling, so excuse me if this is a dumb question: If mixing hard stones with soft stones interferes with the polish on the soft ones, why do people recommend adding ceramic pellets, which I've been told are Mohs 9?
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,709
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Post by Fossilman on Aug 29, 2018 9:32:53 GMT -5
Obsidian is one of the hardest material to polish n a rotary....Takes lots of time,time,time....It took over a month and a half on my tries.. Looks like your barrels are full... I barely reach the 3/4 mark under what material I have in barrel..
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Post by rmf on Aug 29, 2018 12:29:16 GMT -5
grumpybill Ceramic pellets are mohs hardness of 6. Al2O3 (Aluminum Oxide/the mineral corundum) is hardness of 9. Normal glass/apache tears are about hardness of 6 as well. I have found with smaller diameter tumbler barrels like the Lortone 3A you can get away with mixing a wider variety of hardness in your stones and still come out with a good polish. As the diameter increases the harder stones peck away at the corners of the softer/less resistant stones. For example Rose quartz and agate are the same hardness but they are not the same tuffness. You can mix them in a 3A fine. If you go to a 12# or larger diameter the agate will frost the edges of the rose and you don't get a good polish. If you tumble just rose or various quartzes together you do not have that problem. Agates structure is like fibers of quartz woven together like a 3d cable mat. So when the stone is impacted the force is transmitted widely through the stone. In quartz (macroscopic crystals) the force just pings off a piece.
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Post by grumpybill on Aug 29, 2018 13:08:48 GMT -5
Thanks, rmf . Your reply caused me to off my butt and do a little research. I found this at rocktumbler.com, although I don't trust everything I read there.: If true, that seems to contradict the common wisdom of not mixing hardness. I use pea-size prepolished/rounded agates for glass and obsidian. I picked that up from jamesp who gets a great polish on glass.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 29, 2018 13:11:46 GMT -5
Only Tears are in 1 lb. barrel. Cabs pictured were in the 3 lb one. The foam in the Tears barrel was about 1.75 thick" from the inner lid line. So, the barrel was about 60% to 70% full. This included the tears and the new plastic pellets, water and polish. Appreciate the questions and comments very much. Toughest polish I have ever done for sure.
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Post by rmf on Aug 29, 2018 13:18:29 GMT -5
Well it is easy enough to test. take a piece of the ceramic media and dry it and take a quartz crystal and scratch it. If it scratches is is less than 7. Proceed with softer material. Normak Ceramic tile like used in the bathroom is Hardness of about 6. Porclain about 6. Also use a feldspar (amazonite, Orthoclase, plagioclase ...) and see if you can scratch the ceramic or vice versa.
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