sheriam
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 34
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Post by sheriam on Feb 19, 2020 3:25:56 GMT -5
Hi guys,
The more I read in this forum, the more questions I have. I posted some of them in an older post, but then thought it might be better to pack my questions into seperate threads, so here goes:
I read in a few posts that some of you reuse old slurry to thicken their current slurry.
Some seem, even mentiones they reuse the leftover SiC after cleanout ( jamesp, I think?). So how do you "harvest" these (leftover SiC and old slurry)?
In the same vein: I seem to have a lot of leftover grit. That probably means I am not tumbling efficiently and should thicken my slurry, right?
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Post by rmf on Feb 19, 2020 3:42:01 GMT -5
I was my stones over a 5 gal bucket. the remaining coarse grit settles to the bottom unless you have really a high pressure hose. If you do make it swirl around the like the toilet and the grit will drop down. for 220 grit it is much harder to recover because it is smaller and it will float more on the water current. Use less water pressure. Depending on the size of tumbler saving 220 may not be efficient if tumbler is a Lortone 3A. too small not that much grit to start with.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 19, 2020 5:47:45 GMT -5
To separate left over SiC I just pour the entire contents of the barrel into a white Walmart plastic pan say 6 inches tall, ~12 x ~16 inches in size. Run fresh water into it and let it overflow 2 to 3 times till the slurry thins out a bit. sic is super heavy, it will settle to the bottom. Pour the half muddy water off at the corner of the pan slowly and leave all the solids in the bottom of the pan. Inspect for sic settled on bottom of white pan. If sic is there, wash sic back into barrel at corner of pan.
This method pretty much ruins your slurry for reuse. I don't reuse slurry, I just add fresh slurry thickener, clay in my case. Some use clay base kitty litter.
If you have a good slurry it should scavenge every single SiC grit particle into the rocks and use it ALL up. It is a good thing to scavenge all the big particles. It makes the next abrasive step quicker because there will be no deep scratches from leftover big particles.
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Post by joshuamcduffie on Feb 19, 2020 8:19:09 GMT -5
If you have leftover grit, maybe start with less grit, or run the tumbler longer? I don't reuse my slurry.
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sheriam
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 34
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Post by sheriam on Feb 19, 2020 14:46:50 GMT -5
To separate left over SiC I just pour the entire contents of the barrel into a white Walmart plastic pan say 6 inches tall, ~12 x ~16 inches in size. Run fresh water into it and let it overflow 2 to 3 times till the slurry thins out a bit. sic is super heavy, it will settle to the bottom. Pour the half muddy water off at the corner of the pan slowly and leave all the solids in the bottom of the pan. Inspect for sic settled on bottom of white pan. If sic is there, wash sic back into barrel at corner of pan. This method pretty much ruins your slurry for reuse. I don't reuse slurry, I just add fresh slurry thickener, clay in my case. Some use clay base kitty litter. If you have a good slurry it should scavenge every single SiC grit particle into the rocks and use it ALL up. It is a good thing to scavenge all the big particles. It makes the next abrasive step quicker because there will be no deep scratches from leftover big particles. Thx! I'll try that, and ask out local pottery whether they have any leftover clay to use as thickener
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Post by Garage Rocker on Feb 19, 2020 15:22:01 GMT -5
To separate left over SiC I just pour the entire contents of the barrel into a white Walmart plastic pan say 6 inches tall, ~12 x ~16 inches in size. Run fresh water into it and let it overflow 2 to 3 times till the slurry thins out a bit. sic is super heavy, it will settle to the bottom. Pour the half muddy water off at the corner of the pan slowly and leave all the solids in the bottom of the pan. Inspect for sic settled on bottom of white pan. If sic is there, wash sic back into barrel at corner of pan. This method pretty much ruins your slurry for reuse. I don't reuse slurry, I just add fresh slurry thickener, clay in my case. Some use clay base kitty litter. If you have a good slurry it should scavenge every single SiC grit particle into the rocks and use it ALL up. It is a good thing to scavenge all the big particles. It makes the next abrasive step quicker because there will be no deep scratches from leftover big particles. Thx! I'll try that, and ask out local pottery whether they have any leftover clay to use as thickener As jamesp mentioned, there are some of us that use cheap, clay based kitty litter. A big bag lasts a long time. My slurry and grind efficiency instantly improved with that addition.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 20, 2020 9:56:33 GMT -5
I tried crushed fine lime at $8 per 50 pound bag. Because lime is more of a round clay particle as opposed to a felspar based flat(colloidal) particle it sinks rapidly. As a matter of fact lime sinks so fast when tumbler stops spinning it concretes rapidly to the bottom of barrel because it settles so rapidly. This is why rivers running thru limestone are often very clear water. Rivers running thru more common granite where felspar clay exists stays muddy for days/weeks after a rain. Granite clay often deposits on river banks, trees, rocks, etc. You want a clay that stays in "suspension". Kaolin/Fuller's/Gumbo/Bentonite based clays. I prefer natural backyard clay with 20% to 40% sand content. www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/albums/72157648702228508Lime slurry after 4 hours. That would be a thick paste at the bottom. After a few more hours it begins to turn into soft concrete. Lime slurry paste settled to bottom of jar after only a few minutes:
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 20, 2020 10:19:03 GMT -5
If you have leftover grit, maybe start with less grit, or run the tumbler longer? I don't reuse my slurry. I used a triple dose of SiC 10 recently for shaping a load of glass. About 2.5 cups in 8 pounds of glass. Very fast shaping. I simply saved and reused the leftover SiC, almost a cup from the original 2.5 cups. It dropped in size from SiC10 to SiC 16 - SiC 80 after rolling for 8 days. I separated the SiC by running fresh water over the slurry in a plastic pan. Washed it into a barrel for another go.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 20, 2020 10:26:16 GMT -5
Shaping a 45 pound load of granite using SiC 30 and Georgia red clay. www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157649367219583Check out equal distribution of SiC 30 when batch was dumped in tub after 24 hors rolling: Monster 8" PVC barrel. Smalls to right, tumbles in center, bigger rocks to left not put in barrel:
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Post by knave on Feb 20, 2020 10:27:45 GMT -5
I tried this with the vibe that got too thick on me. Well, I left out the important part of transferring to a new container. Bunch of concrete remained on the bottom. I’ll have to try it again. A question: if the water trickle floats it up and out, is it drain safe?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 20, 2020 10:53:43 GMT -5
I tried this with the vibe that got too thick on me. Well, I left out the important part of transferring to a new container. Bunch of concrete remained on the bottom. I’ll have to try it again. A question: if the water trickle floats it up and out, is it drain safe? The whole problem removing lots of material(coarse abrasives) in a vibe is it get's too thick. It is a short coming of a vibe Evan. Nope. The muddy slurry overflow should be dumped on the ground. I know, it is awkward managing the excess water. How about a small junk sink drained to a 5 gallon bucket. Have 2 - 3 buckets to capture the overflow. Walk em outside say 1/2 to 3/4 full.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
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Post by gatorflash1 on Feb 20, 2020 10:56:08 GMT -5
If you have leftover grit, maybe start with less grit, or run the tumbler longer? I don't reuse my slurry. I agree. If I have good grit I'll keep running the rocks that need more tumbling at that stage for another week or two until the grit is mostly all gone.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 20, 2020 11:04:29 GMT -5
This is almost 100% sand free clay because it settled(precipitated) slowly from muddy run off. The sand dropped out long before the clay settled out of the muddy water. This pure clay is a bit more awkward to deal with. It is almost too pasty. Lacks density too. I prefer 10 to 30% sand mixed in like most naturally dug clays have in their composition. Red clays almost always have iron in them. This(ferric metals) makes them conductive. And grabs SiC much better due to static electricity(ion attraction) type attractions. Plus the iron makes it heavy.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 20, 2020 11:16:01 GMT -5
If you have leftover grit, maybe start with less grit, or run the tumbler longer? I don't reuse my slurry. I agree. If I have good grit I'll keep running the rocks that need more tumbling at that stage for another week or two until the grit is mostly all gone. It is not a bad idea to add more SiC and not do a total clean out for weeks at a time. Slurry can be poured off and fresh water added. Or better, add water to the barrel and shake it to thin the slurry, then slowly pour some water/slurry 'mix' off. Then add more SiC. It is not required to do full clean outs. By pouring off slurry and adding fresh water to thin the older abrasives sees a lot more rolling time. Recharges stay with the rocks much longer. IMO clean outs are an opportunity to dump broken down(but effective) smaller SiC like 200 to 500 sizes. SiC 200 to 500 may not last for a couple of days but sic that size removes a lot of rock. More cutting edges with small sic...SiC 30 or 46 or bigger only cuts so deep.
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