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Post by TheRock on Oct 17, 2018 18:33:04 GMT -5
I presently have 8 Tumblers running in the Lap Shop which Was what I call a Horse Stable from me collecting Wheel Horse Tractors They are now gone and it is our Lap Shop. I would like to Tumble and Polish rocks all Winter but it gets awful cold outside and what do you northerners do when you have to wash out? If Staged correctly with that many tumblers Wash Outs are pretty frequent. I suppose I haven't tried using water sparingly yet. I didn't Tumble last winter but this year I would like to. What do you folks do? Thanks
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Post by miket on Oct 17, 2018 18:40:48 GMT -5
This is a question that i have also...my garage gets a bit chilly. I suppose i may move the tumbler inside.
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victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,979
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Post by victor1941 on Oct 17, 2018 19:20:39 GMT -5
I don't vibe tumble in really cold weather in Austin, Texas but you might enclose a small area and use a space heater. Assuming the motor doesn't freeze you might use an antifreeze type additive to the grinding medium.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 17, 2018 19:49:58 GMT -5
My entire rock shop is in the basement and my tumbler clean outs are done down there year round. I carry all of my waste water upstairs in buckets year round. The only added challenge winter brings is my grit pit freezing over. When I dump my waste water into the pit it usually thaws it out enough to let things soak in. I have used the same grit disposal hole for 6 years and it is a whole separate process to keep that clean and working properly. I have a series of settling buckets so by the time water gets outside it has as little grit or sludge as possible. I still have to use a shovel to clean sludge out the pit every 6-8 weeks. The reason we dump grit outside is because it clogs drains. It does the same thing to a pit. Once the pit is lined in 3-4 inches of grit and rock sludge water stops draining into the ground. I tried pea gravel at the bottom of the pit early on and that was a huge mistake. The grit and water basically formed a mortar that filled all the voids. I had to use a pick ax to remove that mess.
Chuck
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inbtb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2016
Posts: 351
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Post by inbtb on Oct 17, 2018 19:52:44 GMT -5
Rotary only. Cut back to 2 or 3 tumblers. This is how I tumbled last winter. 1. Old cooler minus lid. 2. Old bath towels. 3. Place cooler(s) on their side. 4. Drape towel over opening place some type of weight on towel to keep from falling off. Heat from motor ketp slurry from freezing. Don't use the cooler lid motor does need cool air to keep from over heating. Getting rid of sludge from clean outs is another problem. Buckets of sludge sitting around my garage was a real pain. Dumping sludge was my biggest problem, probably won't run tumblers much this winter. The temp in my garage last winter did not get much lower than 25 degrees if I remember right. To cold to do much playing in water but using warm water and working quickly I did get rocks tumbled. Hope this makes sense.
Les
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inbtb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2016
Posts: 351
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Post by inbtb on Oct 17, 2018 19:56:48 GMT -5
Tried using RV anti freeze a couple of times last winter even mixed with a little water was not happy with results. Never plan on using it again.
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Post by TheRock on Oct 17, 2018 20:03:56 GMT -5
Well guys I'm not concerned with the temp while tumbling as my garage and Lap Shop are Insulated Extremely Well and Is Heated and has never seen Freezing Temps Altho I never have heated it continuously all the time only when I was out there working I will keep temp on 68 Deg. But get this it dipped down to 30 Deg monday night and when I went out there yesterday morn it was over 80 deg from the heat off the motors. I do have a Blanket over the doorway. I Really don't see the temp in there dropping below 60 from what I have seen lately. What I am talking about being a challenge is the wash outs.
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Post by HankRocks on Oct 17, 2018 20:29:04 GMT -5
I am lucky, my garage is heated in the summer(and humidified) and cooled in the winter!
There were a few days last Jan where washing out by hand on the driveway was a real character builder.
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Post by vegasjames on Oct 17, 2018 20:57:58 GMT -5
Couldn't you just put an incandesant lamp close to the barrels shining on them? The black barrels would absorb the heat from the lamp. Would not take much wattage for a couple of barrels, maybe a 40 watt light bulb. Putting a cardboard box around the tumbler will also help by trapping the excess heat somewhat.
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Post by greig on Oct 17, 2018 21:14:24 GMT -5
I am in Ontario, Canada and it gets a little nippy here. We had snow today. My garage is unheated. I have had rotary tumblers running water get slushy if they kept moving and freeze solid if for some reason they stop or it gets really cold (like below -25 C). I have never had a freeze up when running automotive windshield washer fluid. One risk to be aware is a possible reaction between the ingredients in the washer fluid with the rock you are tumbling. However, it hasn't been a problem (yet) for me. I also thought about using driveway rock salt, but have never given that a go.
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Post by TheRock on Oct 17, 2018 23:28:01 GMT -5
Well Since the tumblers are keeping it warm in my Shop without furnace running right now I am confident I only have to worry about clean outs. I will just let sones drain the slurry into buckets and rinse the stones with minimum water enough to bring them in the house to wash off and dump any minimum grey water down the toilet followed by a couple flushes. That worked for me fall of last year. Then i can clean stones in the sink to remove any grains of grits in cracks. I am just going to have to learn water Conservation. I have about (20) 1 Gal Jugs full of water I am thinking Of Setting up a 55Gal Drum w a Pump For This Purpose.
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mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,278
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Post by mossyrockhound on Oct 18, 2018 0:01:02 GMT -5
Well guys I'm not concerned with the temp while tumbling as my garage and Lap Shop are Insulated Extremely Well and Is Heated and has never seen Freezing Temps Altho I never have heated it continuously all the time only when I was out there working I will keep temp on 68 Deg. But get this it dipped down to 30 Deg monday night and when I went out there yesterday morn it was over 80 deg from the heat off the motors. I do have a Blanket over the doorway. I Really don't see the temp in there dropping below 60 from what I have seen lately. What I am talking about being a challenge is the wash outs. If you have a hot water faucet with threads on it, just hook up a hose to it and do your wash-outs with warm water. It shouldn't take that much water.
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Post by TheRock on Oct 18, 2018 0:53:26 GMT -5
Well guys I'm not concerned with the temp while tumbling as my garage and Lap Shop are Insulated Extremely Well and Is Heated and has never seen Freezing Temps Altho I never have heated it continuously all the time only when I was out there working I will keep temp on 68 Deg. But get this it dipped down to 30 Deg monday night and when I went out there yesterday morn it was over 80 deg from the heat off the motors. I do have a Blanket over the doorway. I Really don't see the temp in there dropping below 60 from what I have seen lately. What I am talking about being a challenge is the wash outs. If you have a hot water faucet with threads on it, just hook up a hose to it and do your wash-outs with warm water. It shouldn't take that much water. Well as you can see in the two pictures below in the first picture you can see my hose reel that is outside and if it wa full of water it would freeze or everytime you wanted to do a wash out you would have to drag the hose reel out and hook it up then hafta unhook and put the reel away a bunch of monkeying around. In The Second picture where the hose is running is where I have been washing out around the corner of Garage. Thats how far I would need to run the hose each time to that corner. I will most likely wash my rocks inside and do a quick dump of slurry outside but at least i Wont be spending much time in the elements. And I do the super deep cleaning inside the house. Wont be much grit to wash by then.
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Post by grumpybill on Oct 18, 2018 6:39:32 GMT -5
My largest barrels are Lortone 45s, but maybe you can modify my winter method.
I dump the barrels into a colander that sits on top of a 5 gal bucket. Then I fill the barrel with water and dump it over the stones several times. When the bucket starts getting full, I put the colander on a second bucket in a deep slop sink and run warm water over it while I stir the stones. Next I dump the stones into a large dishpan and fill it with warm water. I carry the dishpan to a table where I do a final cleaning and sort the load into "needs more" and/or "ready to move on".
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Post by HankRocks on Oct 18, 2018 7:38:06 GMT -5
All of my cleanouts are in the driveway with the hose and spray nozzle set to "Jet" and the tumbler load in a colander over a 5 gal bucket. For the well rounded loads I could use a setup in the garage to pour water over the rocks and clean them, they shed slurry easily. For a load of Pre-forms and in my case pea gravel, I would need a couple buckets of water to get them properly rinsed. The flat sides and the small gravel do not give up the slurry coating easily.
If I lived farther north, my driveway method would not work. Last year we did have one cold snap with 30 hours below freezing and temp got to 18. For Houston that's darn cold. Had to delay washouts as the water hose froze solid, until temps warmed up which in two days they did. I will say that spraying the rocks down with cold water and transferring rocks by hand to a second colander with a north wind blowing and a cold light rain falling is a definite character builder.
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Post by miket on Oct 18, 2018 8:48:41 GMT -5
I don't vibe tumble in really cold weather in Austin, Texas but you might enclose a small area and use a space heater. Assuming the motor doesn't freeze you might use an antifreeze type additive to the grinding medium. It gets really cold in Austin?
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Post by miket on Oct 18, 2018 8:57:02 GMT -5
My largest barrels are Lortone 45s, but maybe you can modify my winter method. I dump the barrels into a colander that sits on top of a 5 gal bucket. Then I fill the barrel with water and dump it over the stones several times. When the bucket starts getting full, I put the colander on a second bucket in a deep slop sink and run warm water over it while I stir the stones. Next I dump the stones into a large dishpan and fill it with warm water. I carry the dishpan to a table where I do a final cleaning and sort the load into "needs more" and/or "ready to move on". That's kind of how i did my last washouts also when it was cold. I drilled holes in one five gallon bucket and set it in another. Then into the bathtub where i ran water over them to get most of the mud off. I dumped the water outside then put the rocks back into the bucket with clean water and scrubbed and sorted in the sink. It was a process but i was determined!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 18, 2018 9:33:27 GMT -5
Much of this conversation depends on quantity of rocks rolling. Weekly wash outs on a single barrel VS weekly clean outs of 10 barrels plus daily vibe clean outs. Easily ten times the amount of water to deal with and 10 times the amount of rock sludge to deal with. My process would be completely different for a lesser amount of rock. I have kept rolling through the last 7 Michigan winters. Where there is a will there's a way.
Chuck
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Post by miket on Oct 18, 2018 9:37:18 GMT -5
Much of this conversation depends on quantity of rocks rolling. Weekly wash outs on a single barrel VS weekly clean outs of 10 barrels plus daily vibe clean outs. Easily ten times the amount of water to deal with and 10 times the amount of rock sludge to deal with. My process would be completely different for a lesser amount of rock. I have kept rolling through the last 7 Michigan winters. Where there is a will there's a way. Chuck True. My two little three pound barrels probably pale in comparison!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 18, 2018 9:40:42 GMT -5
Much of this conversation depends on quantity of rocks rolling. Weekly wash outs on a single barrel VS weekly clean outs of 10 barrels plus daily vibe clean outs. Easily ten times the amount of water to deal with and 10 times the amount of rock sludge to deal with. My process would be completely different for a lesser amount of rock. I have kept rolling through the last 7 Michigan winters. Where there is a will there's a way. Chuck True. My two little three pound barrels probably pale in comparison! Nothing wrong with that at all. Just pointing out the difference. The OP has capacity well over 100 pounds and that is a whole different animal. Chuck
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