Manipulating a Vibratory Tumbler
Mar 21, 2021 19:56:58 GMT -5
amygdule, jamesp, and 4 more like this
Post by Rockindad on Mar 21, 2021 19:56:58 GMT -5
***Putting this thread in the "Rock Tumbling" section as it has more to do with with the experiment than the pictures. A little background before we get to the vibe:
This started as a fairly normal tumble- used our six pound barrels for rotary with no particular special attention paid to cushioning the quartz other than keeping the barrels filled slightly more than normal. Not the most exciting material when taken individually but we thought it would look nice if we did a batch with a bunch of different colors. We ended up buying a bag of each type that The Rock Shed had in stock at the time. The only exception was the Rose Quartz which we picked up for fifty cents a pound a couple of years ago- not high grade stuff. Watched for any excessive bruising to see if any adjustments needed to be made, but we were happy enough. Being what it is, if you try to get rid of all of the fractures and imperfections in the Quartz you will not have much left.
My quick impressions of the material itself:
-Our "Fire Quartz" was a bust, 80% of the bag was nothing but clear.
-What was sold as "Glossy Blue" turned out to be milky grey, in all fairness it looks like that in the picture on TRS website as well.
-I love the Iron Quartz which ranges from clear with light yellow streaks to rich browns and yellows.
-Turned out to be a fun tumble, we learned a bit more about our vibe and the material took a heck of a shine even when pushing the boundaries of what we would normally do.
Now for the vibe part:
While we (my son and I) are continuously experimenting, our "normal" method while getting ready to vibe tumble a softer material would be to figure on using 40-50% ceramics. While Quartz is not soft at mohs 7, it does have a lot of conchoidal fracturing. This is especially true of the tumbling grade material that we had. The issue for us was that we did not want to run two batches of this through the vibe. We have a lot of glass that we are going to run through it for a project (about 50lbs. finished) and have other materials just about ready as well. One thing led to another and we started talking about just how slow and gentle we could get the vibe (a Thumler's UV-10) to run. Could we pack this thing full with less cushioning and still get good results? At final cleanout the total of ceramics and rocks weighed 11lbs. 15.2oz. The rocks weighed 9lbs. 6.7oz. while the ceramics were 2lbs. 8.5 oz. for a 79%/21% split by weight. As far as volume we were aiming to keep the filler to 10% max, I think we were pretty close, maybe even less. Much harder to compare due to how tightly ceramics pack versus the rocks. Some of the results, no fancy pictures for this, just some quick ones on top of the washing machine:
There are only a few variables that can be manipulated on a vibe:
1) Mechanical adjustments. We have not done any yet and our machine is still completely stock.
2) Fill level. This can make a considerable difference. No matter what the material, we typically jam it full- a bit above the center cone while the machine is still off. The machine is more than powerful to handle this overfilling and while not all that important with the more sturdy materials, it definitely helps with the more delicate stuff by taming the aggression some.
3) Slurry characteristics: quantity used, viscosity, etc. This is where we see our biggest change. We can now run this thing so it rattles your teeth or turn it into a white noise machine to put on your nightstand (this may be a slight exaggeration).
We really thickened things up for this run and it seemed pretty successful as there was virtually no significant bruising with the exception of some pieces of yellow quartz. We found four pieces that have it, all yellow and they were not large pieces at all. The two pictured are less than 1 1/4" in the long dimension, there are many pieces larger than them which are flawless, go figure.
Geez, this is long enough so I'm going to cut it off here. Would be glad to address any questions or comments, cheers!
Al
This started as a fairly normal tumble- used our six pound barrels for rotary with no particular special attention paid to cushioning the quartz other than keeping the barrels filled slightly more than normal. Not the most exciting material when taken individually but we thought it would look nice if we did a batch with a bunch of different colors. We ended up buying a bag of each type that The Rock Shed had in stock at the time. The only exception was the Rose Quartz which we picked up for fifty cents a pound a couple of years ago- not high grade stuff. Watched for any excessive bruising to see if any adjustments needed to be made, but we were happy enough. Being what it is, if you try to get rid of all of the fractures and imperfections in the Quartz you will not have much left.
My quick impressions of the material itself:
-Our "Fire Quartz" was a bust, 80% of the bag was nothing but clear.
-What was sold as "Glossy Blue" turned out to be milky grey, in all fairness it looks like that in the picture on TRS website as well.
-I love the Iron Quartz which ranges from clear with light yellow streaks to rich browns and yellows.
-Turned out to be a fun tumble, we learned a bit more about our vibe and the material took a heck of a shine even when pushing the boundaries of what we would normally do.
Now for the vibe part:
While we (my son and I) are continuously experimenting, our "normal" method while getting ready to vibe tumble a softer material would be to figure on using 40-50% ceramics. While Quartz is not soft at mohs 7, it does have a lot of conchoidal fracturing. This is especially true of the tumbling grade material that we had. The issue for us was that we did not want to run two batches of this through the vibe. We have a lot of glass that we are going to run through it for a project (about 50lbs. finished) and have other materials just about ready as well. One thing led to another and we started talking about just how slow and gentle we could get the vibe (a Thumler's UV-10) to run. Could we pack this thing full with less cushioning and still get good results? At final cleanout the total of ceramics and rocks weighed 11lbs. 15.2oz. The rocks weighed 9lbs. 6.7oz. while the ceramics were 2lbs. 8.5 oz. for a 79%/21% split by weight. As far as volume we were aiming to keep the filler to 10% max, I think we were pretty close, maybe even less. Much harder to compare due to how tightly ceramics pack versus the rocks. Some of the results, no fancy pictures for this, just some quick ones on top of the washing machine:
There are only a few variables that can be manipulated on a vibe:
1) Mechanical adjustments. We have not done any yet and our machine is still completely stock.
2) Fill level. This can make a considerable difference. No matter what the material, we typically jam it full- a bit above the center cone while the machine is still off. The machine is more than powerful to handle this overfilling and while not all that important with the more sturdy materials, it definitely helps with the more delicate stuff by taming the aggression some.
3) Slurry characteristics: quantity used, viscosity, etc. This is where we see our biggest change. We can now run this thing so it rattles your teeth or turn it into a white noise machine to put on your nightstand (this may be a slight exaggeration).
We really thickened things up for this run and it seemed pretty successful as there was virtually no significant bruising with the exception of some pieces of yellow quartz. We found four pieces that have it, all yellow and they were not large pieces at all. The two pictured are less than 1 1/4" in the long dimension, there are many pieces larger than them which are flawless, go figure.
Geez, this is long enough so I'm going to cut it off here. Would be glad to address any questions or comments, cheers!
Al