sheriam
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 34
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Post by sheriam on Feb 19, 2020 3:28:02 GMT -5
And another one:
Since for various reasons (mostly for running headlong into things without reading first) I am currently accidentally running a "soft stone tumble": Can I use the small (SiC?) ceramic fillers or will they chip my stones? Is it better to use plastic fillers?
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Post by rmf on Feb 19, 2020 3:37:09 GMT -5
This depends! (no not adult diapers) How full is your tumbler, what is the soft material you are tumbling, what size of tumbler?
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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 3:54:56 GMT -5
This depends! (no not adult diapers) How full is your tumbler, what is the soft material you are tumbling, what size of tumbler? It's mostly serpentine, fluorite and apatite in a Lortone 3A and the tumbler is currently, in coarse stage filled to about 2/3
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Post by rmf on Feb 19, 2020 4:07:40 GMT -5
you probably do not need to run them in coarse. they are all soft start them in medium or do a short (3days ) in coarse to see if they are rounded enough for you.Fluorite is hardness of 4 and serpentine is about the same. apatite is hardness of 5. the Ceramic is hardness of 6 which is about what glass is. Ceramic may scratch your softer stones. You can use plastic pellets, wood pegs, leather bits. I usually use these in polish cycle not in grind cycle. Try doing another batch of soft stones and mix the batches after the shaping (coarse or medium) grit. Then you will be using the 2nd batch for filler and the hardness will match. This assumes you have enough for a 2nd batch.
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sheriam
starting to shine!
Member since December 2019
Posts: 34
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Fillers
Feb 19, 2020 5:16:48 GMT -5
Post by sheriam on Feb 19, 2020 5:16:48 GMT -5
you probably do not need to run them in coarse. they are all soft start them in medium or do a short (3days ) in coarse to see if they are rounded enough for you.Fluorite is hardness of 4 and serpentine is about the same. apatite is hardness of 5. the Ceramic is hardness of 6 which is about what glass is. Ceramic may scratch your softer stones. You can use plastic pellets, wood pegs, leather bits. I usually use these in polish cycle not in grind cycle. Try doing another batch of soft stones and mix the batches after the shaping (coarse or medium) grit. Then you will be using the 2nd batch for filler and the hardness will match. This assumes you have enough for a 2nd batch. great advice, again, thank you so much, rmf
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Fillers
Feb 19, 2020 5:47:36 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by knave on Feb 19, 2020 5:47:36 GMT -5
Nice tips rmf... hadn’t heard of the wood or leather yet.
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einholt
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2019
Posts: 95
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Fillers
Feb 19, 2020 21:48:01 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by einholt on Feb 19, 2020 21:48:01 GMT -5
I might try that wood peg idea next time. I have a bunch of those and some plastic tile spacers left over from renovation projects.
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