Prov
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2020
Posts: 116
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Post by Prov on Sept 6, 2020 17:46:15 GMT -5
I may have mentioned back in July, my tumbler bit the dust. I was at the Fort Worth Gem and Mineral Show last week, and my local Gem Shop guy was there running a stall. I mentioned I hadn't been tumbling since July, and it turned out he had just gotten in a 12 lb tumbler. Practically brand new, removed from box, never used. It's an older model, and used(technically), so he priced it to me only a bit higher than the 6 lb Lortone I was going to order. Needless to say, I talked to him about putting it on layaway, and put down a down payment.
Hopefully in the next month or so I will be back to tumbling! It has 2 6 lb barrels on it, so I'll need to pick up a 12 lber somewhere, but this is almost the ideal expansion for me. I wanted to get into larger rock tumbles after seeing what you guys did, so I gotta say the Lord was looking out for me. My finances during Covid haven't been impacted too harshly, but enough to where dumping 200 on a tumbler wholesale wasn't going to fly. Now I'm getting a bigger tumbler for close to the same price, no shipping, and on a flexible payment plan.
I'm hyped to be able to get back to this great hobby!
I briefly browsed through some threads today, and I saw some very fascinating conversations. Can't wait to get the barrels running!
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Post by knave on Sept 6, 2020 18:11:40 GMT -5
Good news!
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Post by Pat on Sept 6, 2020 18:12:31 GMT -5
Welcome from California!
Many tumbling experts here. Not me!
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Post by jasoninsd on Sept 7, 2020 14:06:38 GMT -5
I'm glad you'll be back up and running!
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dkurtz
having dreams about rocks
Tumbling to de-stress from my work. :)
Member since February 2010
Posts: 66
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Post by dkurtz on Sept 9, 2020 12:17:27 GMT -5
I think you will like the twin 6lb barrels.
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Post by greig on Sept 9, 2020 16:46:28 GMT -5
Good deal. You will be making polished shinny rocks in no time.
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Post by Bob on Sept 10, 2020 22:51:01 GMT -5
And you can do the two 6 lbs or one 12 lb depending upon what you need at that time, then switch back and forth.
I'm usually running the two 6, but last night needed to start running just one 12 in that tumbler base due to a rose quartz the size of a baseball.
Of course this required having a 12 laying around unused--just the barrel though, because the lids and lid cover fit either. This was first switch out on this tumbler base in about a year.
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Post by drocknut on Sept 11, 2020 10:27:35 GMT -5
Sounds like you got a great deal. Glad you are going to be back at it soon. Don't want to get withdrawal symptoms....lol.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,681
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Post by Fossilman on Sept 11, 2020 10:41:41 GMT -5
Awesome, they are great tumblers too..
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Prov
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2020
Posts: 116
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Post by Prov on Oct 13, 2020 16:46:21 GMT -5
Today I brought it home. Loaded one barrel up with the Banded Amethyst I was working on when my old one quit, and loaded up the other barrel with yellow Aventurine. Can't wait for my cleanout on Sunday!!! New question: Got any recommends on sound damping, while maintaining heat dissipation? 8 lbs of rocks rolling around is significantly louder than 2 lbs.
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haleco
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2020
Posts: 5
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Post by haleco on Oct 14, 2020 4:59:54 GMT -5
Today I brought it home. Loaded one barrel up with the Banded Amethyst I was working on when my old one quit, and loaded up the other barrel with yellow Aventurine. Can't wait for my cleanout on Sunday!!! New question: Got any recommends on sound damping, while maintaining heat dissipation? 8 lbs of rocks rolling around is significantly louder than 2 lbs. Without building a dedicated cabinet with sound damping and ventilation, put it in the garage, basement, or outside. Isolating the tumbler from the concrete slab can reduce noise being heard elsewhere even further with some medium/high dense foam rubber.
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Prov
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2020
Posts: 116
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Post by Prov on Oct 14, 2020 14:23:14 GMT -5
It's not sitting on a concrete slab - If it were, it wouldn't be in a storage bin.
It's sitting on carpet on my 2nd floor, don't have a garage - might could put it on my deck, but there's no power outlets there.
Just checked it, and was thinking of moving it somewhere, but after unplugging it, it's not wanting to turn back on. Just checked the motor and it's pretty hot.
Guess we're into troubleshooting tips now:
It's a Lortone QT-NR.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
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HuntingHuron
starting to shine!
Member since October 2020
Posts: 39
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Post by HuntingHuron on Oct 14, 2020 17:16:57 GMT -5
I'm new to rock tumbling so I my advice is limited. However I would really consider not putting your tumbler inside a box or container without any sufficient air flow. I have recently started out with a Lortone 33B. Now I'm sure that the folks at this company did the heat calc and testing on this model to ensure that this design is fine and functional. However, the fact that the motor is totally enclosed, and the metal casing seemed to be warmer than my liking when operating, I had decided to raise the tumbler up at both ends by about 1/2". This allowed for a bit of convection cooling, and now the casing doesn't seem to be as hot. I'm no expert (my wife will tell you that ), but one thing that I've learned in my 39 years of electrical equipment package design - components running hotter than they were designed for tend to fail sooner than those that are well ventilated.
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