andys
off to a rocking start
If the first guy thought it was trash, the second guy's wife thinks it's trash too.
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1
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Post by andys on Jan 27, 2019 16:19:53 GMT -5
I'm brand new at this, and I have a Harbor Freight double barrel rotary tumbler. We just moved to Arizona and stumbled upon a ton of yellow jasper. I've always wanted to tumble some so we started small. I bought a starter pack of grit from Amazon, Poly Plastics I think. All of the suggestions I've read stated to inspect the barrel to see if a good slurry has developed. I don't have a good slurry. I never have. It's just grey/brown water with some grit floating in it. It is very hard to figure out what to do if you don't have one. A couple forums suggested adding sugar, one warned to never use sugar.
For stage 1, I use 60-90 grit SiC, 4 tablespoons per batch in a 3 lb. barrel. I also started adding about 20% small ceramic cylinders to each batch. Water (distilled) almost covering the rocks. Most of the rocks have been taking at least 3-4 weeks in the coarse grind. I realize jasper is very hard, but is that normal? If I were to discover the long lost secret to the perfect slurry, would my rocks smooth out quicker?
In 8 weeks, we only have one batch out of polish but I'm pretty pleased. I did finish off with a two hour burnish in Ivory soap flakes. I'm guessing Borax would do the same thing? Just started one of the barrels in Medium grit, its only the second one.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 27, 2019 17:06:39 GMT -5
Hi Andy, welcome to RTH.
You’re going to get some different opinions on this question, and they’ll probably all work for you. I’ll give you my opinion.
I use a Lortone 33b, which is very similar to your tumbler but is a little more expensive and will probably last a lot longer than the Harbor Freight model. But using the two machines should be the same.
It sounds like you’re doing pretty well already to me. Most hard rocks, like jasper, will take many weeks or months to finish. Eight weeks isn’t unusual. I’m a perfectionist about my tumbled rocks so I usually take longer.
You should be filling the tumbler to about 3/4 full. Use a variety of sizes, with the biggest being about an inch and half in diameter. Make sure you have some small rocks in the mix too, don’t use ceramics in the first stage, it will just wear them away really quickly. Save them for later stages. Add water to about the bottom of the top layer of rocks. By what you said, I think you might be using a bit too much water. About a half cup is about right. Just use cold tap water, you don’t have to use distilled water. Three to four tablespoons of 69/90 is good. That’s all I put in my tumbler. I don’t worry about how thick the slurry is. The harder the rocks, the thinner the slurry is for me. If I tumble really soft rocks like Petoskey stones, the slurry gets super thick. With jasper its more watery. The thickness of the slurry tells you how much rock you’re wearing away.
Some here will recommend that you add kitty litter to thicken the slurry. There have been some beginners here who have added way too much and had super thick, hard to rinse off slurry. I think that kitty litter just confused things, but others swear by it. If you use it, be sure to ask how much for a three pound barrel.
I run the first stage for one week and then do a full clean out. I inspect every rock and pull out any that are free of holes and cracks. The rest go back in with some fresh rock, grit, and water for another week. Each individual rock gets done whenever it gets done. Most go for weeks or months. With rough, broken jasper, I wouldn’t expect the first rock to be done with the first stage until about three or four weeks. Others will take much longer. I start the next stage whenever I have enough rocks set aside from stage one.
I don’t finish my rocks in a rotary tumbler, so I’ll let others advise you on that.
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Post by HankRocks on Jan 27, 2019 17:07:47 GMT -5
I'm brand new at this, and I have a Harbor Freight double barrel rotary tumbler. We just moved to Arizona and stumbled upon a ton of yellow jasper. I've always wanted to tumble some so we started small. I bought a starter pack of grit from Amazon, Poly Plastics I think. All of the suggestions I've read stated to inspect the barrel to see if a good slurry has developed. I don't have a good slurry. I never have. It's just grey/brown water with some grit floating in it. It is very hard to figure out what to do if you don't have one. A couple forums suggested adding sugar, one warned to never use sugar. For stage 1, I use 60-90 grit SiC, 4 tablespoons per batch in a 3 lb. barrel. I also started adding about 20% small ceramic cylinders to each batch. Water (distilled) almost covering the rocks. Most of the rocks have been taking at least 3-4 weeks in the coarse grind. I realize jasper is very hard, but is that normal? If I were to discover the long lost secret to the perfect slurry, would my rocks smooth out quicker? In 8 weeks, we only have one batch out of polish but I'm pretty pleased. I did finish off with a two hour burnish in Ivory soap flakes. I'm guessing Borax would do the same thing? Just started one of the barrels in Medium grit, its only the second one. I have used Cat Litter to get a slurry going. If you can find an unscented variety it's probably better, no extra chemicals in the barrel. Also use saved and dried slurry. Only warning to that is not to use it in 600 SiC stage(if you using that), it may carry grit that is coarser than the 600 grit you are using. Cat Litter may be the best for your last SiC stage. Also you might not want to use ceramics in your first stage, use them as a filler in subsequent stages. They will not wear out as quickly and you want rock to rock grinding in the Coarse Stage. I only use them in the first stage if I am running a batch of Slabs and Preforms to increase the contact on the flat surfaces. I assume you are using a mixed size batch of the Jasper. Good luck
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Post by MsAli on Jan 27, 2019 17:43:04 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. Follow the advice of these guys and you'll have good results.
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kskid
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2014
Posts: 98
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Post by kskid on Jan 27, 2019 23:53:10 GMT -5
Welcome, andys! I use even less water than most advise. My goal is slurry about the consistency of pancake batter. Jugglerguy is spot on. That's about as good of a starting point as you're going to find. Don't be afraid to experiment with one variable at a time until you find what works for you. BTW, the secret to great rocks isn't slurry; it's patience.
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hnhstngs
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2018
Posts: 93
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Post by hnhstngs on Jan 28, 2019 16:25:46 GMT -5
I use the cheapest, most basic kitty litter available from Walmart in all my rotary barrels to help build a slurry (3#, 4#, and 6#). For a three pound barrel I usually add 2-3 Tbs. Different rocks will build slurry at different rates so I'd start with 2 Tbs and take notes about what it looks like at each clean-out. As you build a database of results you'll begin to get an idea of how much you want to add.
I have tried using old saved slurry but the kitty litter is so cheap ($1.50/bag) that it wasn't worth the effort for me to save it.
BTW, this place is a GOLDMINE of information and the folks here are the most helpful you'll find anywhere. Ask any question and you'll get all the help you need.
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Post by aDave on Jan 28, 2019 17:07:30 GMT -5
All of the suggestions I've read stated to inspect the barrel to see if a good slurry has developed. I don't have a good slurry. I never have. It's just grey/brown water with some grit floating in it. It is very hard to figure out what to do if you don't have one. Hi Andy, I think all of the other responses have given you quite a bit of good information, so I'm going to do the best I can not to repeat it. However, this one set of sentences kind of caught my attention a bit, so I'll focus in this area. After a few days, not enough time has passed to develop anything decent (slurry-wise), so the presence of grit is not too much of an issue. However, If you are finding brown water and a fair amount of unused grit (coarse stage specifically) at the end of one week or so, you may need to do some adjusting. I say this because the presence (or lack) of grit is a pretty good indicator as to how efficient your grind is going. Little to no grit remaining means things are going well; not so the other way around. Just know, with your size barrels, you are kind of fighting a bit of an uphill battle in order to break down grit, as there isn't alot of material weight to help things along. If you were using a larger tumbler, lack of weight becomes less of an issue when trying to break down grit. So, IMHO, if you have a bunch of coarse grit leftover, you may want to change up things one variable at a time. As mentioned above, water lever may help, as well as ensuring you have a good mix of various sized rocks in your barrel. If you think you are set there, perhaps consider going a bit longer before doing a cleanout. At the end of the day, I think time will be on your side if you extend things out a bit longer. I do finish work in 4 lb barrels, and it takes me 7 weeks to complete everything after rocks are pulled out of coarse. No need to worry about hurrying stuff along. Good luck.
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Post by miket on Jan 28, 2019 17:19:18 GMT -5
All of the suggestions I've read stated to inspect the barrel to see if a good slurry has developed. I don't have a good slurry. I never have. It's just grey/brown water with some grit floating in it. It is very hard to figure out what to do if you don't have one. Hi Andy, I think all of the other responses have given you quite a bit of good information, so I'm going to do the best I can not to repeat it. However, this one set of sentences kind of caught my attention a bit, so I'll focus in this area. After a few days, not enough time has passed to develop anything decent (slurry-wise), so the presence of grit is not too much of an issue. However, If you are finding brown water and a fair amount of unused grit (coarse stage specifically) at the end of one week or so, you may need to do some adjusting. I say this because the presence (or lack) of grit is a pretty good indicator as to how efficient your grind is going. Little to no grit remaining means things are going well; not so the other way around. Just know, with your size barrels, you are kind of fighting a bit of an uphill battle in order to break down grit, as there isn't alot of material weight to help things along. If you were using a larger tumbler, lack of weight becomes less of an issue when trying to break down grit. So, IMHO, if you have a bunch of coarse grit leftover, you may want to change up things one variable at a time. As mentioned above, water lever may help, as well as ensuring you have a good mix of various sized rocks in your barrel. If you think you are set there, perhaps consider going a bit longer before doing a cleanout. At the end of the day, I think time will be on your side if you extend things out a bit longer. I do finish work in 4 lb barrels, and it takes me 7 weeks to complete everything after rocks are pulled out of coarse. No need to worry about hurrying stuff along. Good luck. I have to agree. I only started using 6 pound barrels the day after Christmas and every time I open them there's a super thick slurry and I usually add a small amount of water because I think it's a bit too thick. My 3 pound barrels, however, usually have a thin, runny slurry. I haven't added cat litter yet but that's next on my list of things to do. I haven't tumbled very long and am still experimenting as well. The advice from the people here on RTH is invaluable. As stated above, it takes a long time (at least for me) in a rotary tumbler to get the results I want. And thanks aDave for the explanation.
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