Post your Lot-O tumbling recipes

I've been using the Lot-O now for a couple of months consistently, and as such I feel I can contribute to this thread.
I have a water softener, and I am starting to think this impacts things in the Lot-O quite a bit. I have stopped adding borax to my tumbles in the Lot-O and I contribute that to my water. I usually have anywhere from 1/4-1/2 the barrel filled with ceramics depending on the amount of stones ready for polishing. I have one barrel for 220 & 500 grit and another for polish and pre-polish.

Prior to the Lot-O my stones are shaped in a rotary with 60/90 grit, then run in a rotary for one week in 120/220.

1 Tablespoon of 220 SC run for 24-36 hours.

• Fill the barrel with rocks ceramic and water. Dump the water out. Place in the frame and plug in the machine. Slowly add the grit while the stones and media are cycling. Add 3-4 squirts of water from a spray bottle.
• This stage requires more water additions than the other stages. Check it every 1-2 hours and add water as needed. I can usually get a good slurry consistency in about 4-8 hours that will hold for 24 hours with minimal additions of water.
• When the slurry looks sticky and thick it is time to wrap up the run. In most instances after 36hrs the slurry starts getting too thick. 
• I have found I can run it for ~48-60 hours if I reduce the amount of grit down to a teaspoon, but there appears to be no advantage to this.

1 Teaspoon or 500 AO run for 36-48 hours

• Fill the wet barrel with wet rocks and ceramic. Place the barrel in the frame and plug in the machine. Slowly add the grit while the stones and media are cycling. Add 2-3 squirts of water from a spray bottle.
• Check in about 4 hours and add water as needed. This stage usually needs 1-2 squirts of water each day.
• When I remove the rocks depends on how thick the slurry gets. I shoot for 48 hours. When the slurry looks sticky and thick it is time to wrap up the run.
• Sometimes I run 500 SC if I want the stage to be a bit more aggressive/remove some light bruising. I always do a 500 AO stage after doing a 500 SC run.

1 Teaspoon of 1000 AO run for 48-72 hours (pre-polish)

• Fill the barrel with rocks ceramic and water. Dump the water out. Place in the frame and plug in the machine. Slowly add the grit while the stones and media are cycling. Do not add any additional water.
  
• Check in about 4 hours and add water as needed. I usually need to add 1-2 squirts of water every 24 hours after the initial slurry is good.
  

1/2 Teaspoon of rock shed polish run for 48-72 hours (polish)

• Fill the barrel with rocks ceramic and water. Dump the water out. Place in the frame and plug in the machine. Slowly add the grit while the stones and media are cycling. Do not add any additional water.
• Check in about 4 hours and add water as needed.
• I don't generally need to add much water to the polish stage - 1 or 2 squirts here and there (sometimes no water additions).

I've gotten to the point where I can get "most" my pre-polish and polish stages to run longer than 3-days, but there appears to be no advantage to this in my opinion.
I think a good goal for me is 48 hours in each stage, but take out the 220 stage a bit early.

For what it is worth . . . Cheers!

I have been noticing that a lot of experienced tumblers always seem to use a wetting agent of some sort- soap, borax, dish detergent- and I understand why, but some folks are using both soap and borax which seems a little redundant. Comments?

I was surprised at the comment that cerium oxide doesn't work well in a Lot-O. I have found
AO in other tumblers gives me a less satisfactory polish on quartz gems. Of course there are different grades of cerium oxide as there are different grades of AO, and that may be the difference as may length of processing. I'm up to my eyeballs in microalumina polish I bought in estate sales and I'm just about to try 500 AO in lieu of my usual SC 600 for third stage. I'm using a TV5 currently and have a large Gyroc that may be in working order- it's too big for routine use and I hav'nt cranked it up in years.

I'm lusting in my heart for a Lot-O. They seem to have a tremendous reputation for durability that may justify the steep price. One day soon.....

M. Harber

Basic Recipe: 1 part rock tumbling grit, 3 parts water, and the material you're polishing.
Pre-polish: Use 60/90 grit for 7-10 days, then move to 120/220 grit for 7 days.
Final Polish: Use cerium oxide or aluminum oxide with a soft abrasive for 7-10 days.

I'll copy paste mine here from earlier in this thread but there are several detailed posts in this thread like this. I will add that I never re-charge any stage in the vibe.

Here's my general rule of thumb recipe. I may tweak from time to time but this is the start point. I should add that part of my goal is to have the Loto run 24-7 and start a new Batch every Sunday. This means I have 7 days to work with.

Stage one rotary 46/70 S/C for as long as needed with complete weekly washouts and grit recharging.

Stage two Loto 2 tablespoons of 120/220 S/C for 24 hours. Ceramics added if the proper amount of smalls are not in the batch.

Stage three Loto 1/2 teaspoon 500 A/O for 48 hours + 1 tablespoon of borax. 25-50% of volume to be mixed sizes of ceramics. Amount required is dictated by the material being tumbled.

Stage four Loto 1/2 teaspoon 1000 A/O for 48 hours + 1 tablespoon of borax. 25-50% of volume to be mixed sizes of ceramics. Amount required is dictated by the material being tumbled.

Stage four Loto 1/2 teaspoon A/O polish for 48 hours + 1 tablespoon of borax. 25-50% of volume to be mixed sizes of ceramics. Amount required is dictated by the material being tumbled.

Stage five Loto 2 tablespoons of borax for a couple hours to burnish and clean the stones.

My most common variation lately is to run stage two (120/220 S/C) for 48 hrs instead of 24 and then run stage three (500 A/O) for 96 hours instead of 48. I then skip stage four and move right to A/O polish. I am also on the fence with burnishing. I do not always do that.

When using the Loto try to start the 120/220 stage early in the day. The Loto works fast and in 120/220 the slurry thickens pretty quick. After 8-12 hours it will probably need some squirts of water to get the action corrected. If you start that stage at 7:00 PM it may not need any water before bed but then might not be moving at all when you get up in the morning.

The recipe above is for general mixes of rocks. Cabs, small slabs, softer rocks and obsidian require a little more direction. We can cross that bridge when you get there.


When in doubt you can always click on a members name and view all of the threads they have created to verify what you can expect using their recipe.

forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/user/3917/recent_threads

Chuck

There's so much for me to learn here.