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Post by Mel on Nov 10, 2020 15:25:49 GMT -5
So someone please educate me here. Got my new Raytech vibe last week. The problem is that it doesn't seem to matter what I do, some rocks keep getting hammered to the bottom of the bowl. Tried with and without ceramic media, different fill heights (manual says "fill full" and other sites say 3/4), and no difference. Should I be primarily be putting rounder rocks in here, and tossing the flat(ter)s into the rotary? It's a pretty good mix of sizes. and everything that's not getting stuck in the bottom is looking great (as are the tops of the "stuck" rocks, haha). Anyone have any suggestions? jamesp ?
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pizzano
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,390
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Post by pizzano on Nov 10, 2020 15:41:51 GMT -5
So someone please educate me here. Got my new Raytech vibe last week. The problem is that it doesn't seem to matter what I do, some rocks keep getting hammered to the bottom of the bowl. Tried with and without ceramic media, different fill heights (manual says "fill full" and other sites say 3/4), and no difference. Should I be primarily be putting rounder rocks in here, and tossing the flat(ter)s into the rotary? It's a pretty good mix of sizes. and everything that's not getting stuck in the bottom is looking great (as are the tops of the "stuck" rocks, haha). Anyone have any suggestions? jamesp ? Just to be inquisitive......is this your first vibe of any type.........there is a learning curve associated and it takes a bit of practice and time to get a routine down to develop a decent slurry.
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 865
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Post by lordsorril on Nov 10, 2020 16:23:13 GMT -5
If I turn off my UVs for more than a few minutes then the grit and slurry that is on the move will start to sink to the bottom and form a layer which may prevent proper action on restart and I might get rocks stuck in place and the tops hammered. I try only to turn off the device long enough to do quick adjustments to the moisture level unless I am doing a cleanout.
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Post by Mel on Nov 10, 2020 16:35:29 GMT -5
Thanks guys; Yes pizzano, first vibe. Been rotary only up until now. lordsorril, I think you are probably right. I had to shut it off a few times due to happenings in the garage. I will update in a few days with the results!
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kyoti
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2020
Posts: 542
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Post by kyoti on Nov 10, 2020 23:57:25 GMT -5
When my Tv5 does that its usually about 5 or more hours into a cycle. I give it a few sprays of water or I'll add a teaspoon of water and give the bowl a little twisty shake to get things re-circulated. ( this is with it powered off) My polish jobs are still in the dubious category though so not sure if this is good advice or not.
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stewdogg
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2020
Posts: 388
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Post by stewdogg on Nov 11, 2020 0:06:40 GMT -5
My Raytech runs better when it's between 80-90% full. It seems to be the sweet spot for action and is the quietest as well... for me anyway. I have had a load or two settle and can get them going again by stirring things back up with a wooden spoon while it's running.
What's your slurry recipe?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,560
Member is Online
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Post by jamesp on Nov 12, 2020 11:43:07 GMT -5
My vibe hopper is a horizontal cylinder Mel. it is about a foot long and about 5 inches in diameter with an open top. I had a lot of problems with big rocks traveling to the left and small rocks traveling to the right. Not good of course because the big rocks beat themselves up without protective smalls. I simply installed a divider to split the cylinder in halves or even in thirds. Your set up is probably more like a donut hopper. Divider ain't gonna work there. They can have dead spots and collecting areas in them too.
Using round and oval quartz pea gravel helped some but not enough. Serving as ball bearings and freeing up the flow. It was the dividers that fixed the problem. By the way, a thicker slurry exasperated the separation issue.
Vibes are a weird beast. Once dialed in they will save a ton of time and make some bad azz finishes.
Side note, after the divider was installed I was able to run a big 2 to 3 pound rock in each side. So I would run the big rock with 100% quartz pea gravel and it sped up each step a bunch. well, the big rock increased the grinding forces a great deal. The big rock attained polish 3 times faster go figure.
Note that the Lot-O has a 'Green Egg' shaped hopper. I think it has the best mixing design.
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Post by Peruano on Nov 12, 2020 14:38:59 GMT -5
If you have the Vibe 5, and probably for many other vibes, you can run the machine without the top. The advantage of this especially when you are just starting a load, is it allows you to adjust things (i.e. weight of rocks in load, amount of water (easier to add than to remove), add soap, and supplement filler material (smalls, ceramics, etc). If you are stopping the machine and letting it sit for hours before restarting that is likely your problem. If you have too much water, stuff tends to sit on the bottom and especially the grit which washes off of the moving stones, and settles there. You need not worry about having a mixture of flats and rounded stones, that is ideal. When you first start a load you get a different movement than after its been running an hour so, thus you have to watch it and await a built up of a bit of slurry to cushion things, etc. Sometimes when things are really out of balance you just need to rinse and start afresh trying to 1. not add too much water unless you appear to have thickly coated stones; 2. not having so many stones that they are not moving or just barely sitting in the bowl and jiggling. They need to oscillate like your margarita mixer. Talk to us and we will help walk you through your trials.
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Post by pauls on Nov 12, 2020 15:53:26 GMT -5
I have only ever had this trouble in the vibe when I overdosed the grit. The way I do it is to get things rolling and then add just sprinkle of grit and a squirt of water. Vibes are a completely different beast to rotary, they don't appreciate too much grit, water or cushioning material.
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Post by Mel on Dec 15, 2020 11:47:16 GMT -5
Peruano - I never thanked you for your advice. Too much water was definitely the problem; I was only shutting the machine for for a few minutes but that also didn't help at all. The tumbler makes me crazy but I am going to master it. It's too quick not to! I have another fresh load in the vibe right now, and hopefully will have some beauties to show off this week. Fingers crossed.
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