jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
|
Post by jamesp on Sept 12, 2020 11:32:16 GMT -5
I started tumbling this tiger eye 5 days ago Labor Day. It was well pre-shaped on a tile saw using the diamond tuck blade with 30 grit diamonds. Running at 74 rpm in a 7 pound capacity barrel with 1 to 2 inch rocks that had already been shaped in step 1. Abrasive was a big dose(1 1/4 cups) raw silicon carbide, call it SiC 5 to SiC 16, big stuff. Looks as if the slurry had thickened so much by day 3 or 4 that the contents were near glued and not tumbling. So the effective tumble time may have only been as short as 3 days. The thick slurry is fine, telling that the rocks did some real heavy grinding. And not one single piece of monster 3/8" silicon carbide was left. Unusual. The bigger 2 inch rocks probably helped create an aggressive grind as opposed to pea gravel. This tells a story of an efficient tumble. I really like my big SiC at high speeds. This is the shorty 6 inch HDPE barrel and host tumbles. Some yummy crazy lace. Coral. Rio stuff. Tiger eye 5 days ago before pre-grind: A crystalline quartz porous zone reaching deep in the stone. 5 days in rotary. Two crevices that could easily be ground away but would force another step 1 run to remove them with the grinder. Not going there. Rock is plenty smooth to move into SiC 500 in vibe. I skip Sic 220 without issue. Always have. wet indoor light Next step is SiC 500 with kaolin pectate 4 slurry in one side of vibe, glass in other to test k pectate on glass. The tiger eye will be run with smaller than 1 inch stones plus pea gravel. Testing testing
|
|
stewdogg
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2020
Posts: 388
|
Post by stewdogg on Sept 12, 2020 11:54:59 GMT -5
That's an impressive amount of grinding/shaping on that Tiger Eye in 3-5 days!
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
|
Post by jamesp on Sept 12, 2020 12:51:02 GMT -5
That's an impressive amount of grinding/shaping on that Tiger Eye in 3-5 days! It seems to be softer than most agates and woods stewdogg. The fast rotation gets it done though. Thickener or smalls is best added to avoid bruises. Guessing the big SiC broke down from 1/4" to about 30 grit to 60 grit over 3 days. Average grit size for 3 days probably 30 grit.
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
|
Post by jamesp on Sept 12, 2020 12:56:02 GMT -5
Oh yea, the tiger eye only lost 1.3 ounces. It was pre-ground close to a tumbled shape.
|
|
jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
|
Post by jamesp on Sept 12, 2020 14:28:21 GMT -5
Holy crap, look at the SiC 500 particle distribution in one minute after cranking up the vibe, wow. Talk about equal particle distribution of your abrasives immediately at start up ! If it does this with SiC 500 it will do this with AO 220-500-1000-polish. No wonder this kaolin is used as a slurry in the abrasive industry. Kaolin Pectate 4 gettin it on. Betcha those black particles will be gone by morning.
|
|
|
Post by Mel on Sept 13, 2020 21:27:47 GMT -5
WOW!!!
|
|