jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,561
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Post by jamesp on Aug 20, 2020 5:44:08 GMT -5
Jugglerguy A small 12 volt lawn mower battery placed in kayak connected to a good sized submersible 12v boat bilge pump via 10-15 foot cable works like a charm to clean away the debris on rocks sitting on bottom of the lake. Let the breeze drift the kayak while you snorkel collect. This would be a smaller version of what the big treasure hunters use. I believe those shores are picked over well. Why not hit the virgin rocks ? You may load up on 5 pound Fairburns....!
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toddbarrett
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 16
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Post by toddbarrett on Aug 20, 2020 16:37:25 GMT -5
I have a similar question as the OP. I'm running some Brecciated Jasper through the Lot-O and I'm getting chipping in the polish stage. You can see the chip below on the nose of this piece. I have about 20% ceramic media (a mix of large and small pieces), and I think the load is well balanced with the pieces ranging from (1/2" to 2-1/2"). Should I have more then 20% ceramic media in the barrel? I found 8 chipped and broken pieces which I guess isn't too bad, but when I see the broken ones I think to myself "This would have been a great rock." :-) Any help would be much appreciated! Todd B. Ramona, CA
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Post by HankRocks on Aug 20, 2020 18:25:37 GMT -5
I have a similar question as the OP. I'm running some Brecciated Jasper through the Lot-O and I'm getting chipping in the polish stage. You can see the chip below on the nose of this piece. I have about 20% ceramic media (a mix of large and small pieces), and I think the load is well balanced with the pieces ranging from (1/2" to 2-1/2"). Should I have more then 20% ceramic media in the barrel? I found 8 chipped and broken pieces which I guess isn't too bad, but when I see the broken ones I think to myself "This would have been a great rock." :-) Any help would be much appreciated! Todd B. Ramona, CA How large is the chipped piece in the picture? And how many large pieces(2 inch or larger) are in the load?
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toddbarrett
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 16
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Post by toddbarrett on Aug 20, 2020 23:06:21 GMT -5
Hi HankRocks... The chip is about 1/2" x 1/4". This stone is 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" and 1" tall. The overall load was kind of skewed toward the larger end. There were lots of small pieces, 1/4" and 1/2", and then there were lots of 2" to 2-1/2" pieces. These larger pieces made about 40% of the load. If there was a gap, it might have been in the 1" to 1-1/2" sized pieces. The overall load came out really well, and the bummer was that the pieces that were chipped were great except for the chips! :-) I guess I'm just not sure if this is an acceptable loss in a load like this, or if I can avoid it by adding more ceramic media (the Lot-O wasn't jam packed, but about 90% full), or by pulling out a few of the larger pieces and replacing them with more ceramic media. Either way, I'm having lots of fun with this cool new hobby!!! Thanks! Todd B.
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Post by joshuamcduffie on Aug 21, 2020 6:49:13 GMT -5
I haven't tumbled Unakite, but I have cabbed it. As Bob said, the softer Feldspars are problematic when you try to put a shine on it.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Aug 24, 2020 19:01:41 GMT -5
I read somewhere that using brand new ceramic media in the polishing stage can mess up the batch due to the irregular edges of the media at this early stage in their tumbling life. I can't imagine it would cause damage to this degree...but food for thought. This may be true in the polishing and prepolishing stages. In stage one and 2 those sharp media edges can get into the cracks, holes , etc. and etc. to round the rock.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 24, 2020 19:08:56 GMT -5
I read somewhere that using brand new ceramic media in the polishing stage can mess up the batch due to the irregular edges of the media at this early stage in their tumbling life. I can't imagine it would cause damage to this degree...but food for thought. This may be true in the polishing and prepolishing stages. In stage one and 2 those sharp media edges can get into the cracks, holes , etc. and etc. to round the rock. Very true, and I did know that too. The OP had stated this was happening during the polishing stage, so I was just tossing a possibility out there that if he was using the sharp edged "new" media in the polishing stage, it could be a potential factor. I do think a few other posters probably suggested a more plausible cause to the problem...
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Post by Bob on Aug 25, 2020 9:46:13 GMT -5
I predict that that rock had a flaw or internal fracture or something that led to that chip coming out. In the lower right part of your close up photo I see what looks to a a fracture that hasn't yet been ground out. If one similar to that was partially across that corner, it can lead to a corner chip out. I don't own a vibe, only do rotary. But I have not had even a single chip out in polish similar to yours in over 5 years. But in the first year, before I made sure to get rid of all the fractures, a few did happen.
Almost all the published material on tumbling mention that breakage in polish almost always ruins the entire batch. I have not found that to be true all the time, but I have found that if a hard rock breaks in polish it might mess up the edge of softer rocks if there are any. This is one reason I have two polish runs. The first run is with polish and beads used only for first polish run. Then I go through the rocks carefully. Then I do one more polish run with polish and plastic beads used ONLY for the second polish run. So this second polish is kept as pristine as possible, even though I've been using it about 3 years w/o any noticeable decline in results.
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