First Impressions of the Lot-O UPDATED W/ PIX OF TRIAL LOAD
May 15, 2021 8:07:49 GMT -5
stefan, Pat, and 5 more like this
Post by Rockindad on May 15, 2021 8:07:49 GMT -5
When we got into tumbling about two and a half years ago things escalated pretty quickly. Before our first batch was completed in the National Geographic tumbler we started with we ordered a second rotary tumbler (a dual 3lb.). Within weeks of that we were ordering a Thumler's Model B and deciding on a vibe. While we had seriously considered the Lot-O, we ended up going with Thumler's UV-10 mainly due to greater capacity and what I perceived (by pictures, videos, posts on this forum) as being built better. The one thing that always intrigued me about the Lot-O was the rubber barrel. After putting many miles on our rotaries (2-15lb., 2-6lb., 2-3lb. and 1-2lb.) and the UV-10 I was still interested in the Lot-O's rubber barrel and if we had the "need" for a second vibe it would likely be the Lot-O. Well after not being able to find one for a while we received ours last week. The only things we have ready for a full load currently are mixed obsidians and manmade glass, and even those were slated to go through a final rotary run to eliminate any errant scratches. We decided to really test it out and threw in a handful of this and that: some of the aforementioned obsidian and glass, agate/jasper slices complete with rind not ground down and some Botswana pieces. We just put everything into polish last night so it will not be long until we have the final results, I will say it is looking good.
At unboxing my initial thought was that the machine looked like something that was invented in someones basement but was never refined before going into production. This machine is light- good/bad/neither? Dowels that are split from brad nails going into particle board with glops of hot glue did not instill much confidence. Rotating the motor shaft by hand showed one fan wheel to be quite wobbly (after a week of running so is the other one). As these are very lightweight and just pressed on the shaft I doubt there is much to be done. The weights were out of alignment but that is an easy enough fix and I am happy to say our machine seems to be tuned properly. The top for the barrel is a throwaway protective cap that is normally used to cover pipe to keep contaminants, etc. out until it is installed. Can't say that I am a fan of the spot welded frame, would have been nice to see some tack welds or even stitch welds. I did like the barrel as it felt sturdy enough. After a week we came up with some pros/cons. As our vibe experience to this point is with the UV-10 some comparisons are inevitable but I will save the head to head review for another thread after we run the Lot-O for a bit longer.
Pros:
-Like the rubber barrel as much as I thought I would and am convinced that more than anything else it is the key to this vibes success. Not bad for a modified toilet plunger .
-This thing is quiet.
-The action in the barrel is very gentle compared to what we are used to.
-The whole "you have to mount it to filled concrete blocks" is way overblown in my opinion. I mounted it directly to our work bench with wood screws and it is not only quiet, but works well. It is not reverberating through the basement. Obviously your options depend on your individual setup.
-Slurry development is extremely similar to what we are used to with the UV-10 so our learning curve has been very small.
Cons:
-The exposed fans. Our lapidary area in the basement is very busy- rotary tumblers, saws, slabs/rough storage................Will need to very mindful not to bump into these, may have to put it in a more secluded spot.
-Small barrel opening. Full disclosure: I have big paws, it is not easy for me to fish a stone out to sneak a peak. Definitely not an issue for everyone. Will limit what you can put in there as the opening is 2 3/8" round.
-Really!?!? I have to use rubber bands to hold the cap on?!? Granted this was not a surprise as I have seen enough people do it over the years, but still.
-While probably limited by capacity anyway I am wondering about the ability to do multiple larger stones at the same time. The action is pretty much rolling end over end which would provide more opportunities for hard collisions versus bowl type vibes where there is poloidal and toroidal movement. I have no issues running many larger rocks in the UV-10 because of this. Found a cool representation of this:
www.researchgate.net/figure/A-diagram-displaying-the-poloidal-direction-represented-by-the-red-arrow-and-the_fig1_338127283
I really do not have any brand loyalty other than trying to buy domestic when available, which the Lot-O as well as Thumler's are as far as I can tell. I hope to like the Lot-O at least as much as I do the UV-10 if not more. I have no doubt that we will get great results with this machine, I just hope it holds up. It is curious that there are so many fans of these machines, but at the same time it is not exactly a rarity to see posts/threads about problems with brand new machines. My guess is that it largely depends on the era it was purchased in. Time will tell for this one.
Will update with results of the initial run in the coming days.
At unboxing my initial thought was that the machine looked like something that was invented in someones basement but was never refined before going into production. This machine is light- good/bad/neither? Dowels that are split from brad nails going into particle board with glops of hot glue did not instill much confidence. Rotating the motor shaft by hand showed one fan wheel to be quite wobbly (after a week of running so is the other one). As these are very lightweight and just pressed on the shaft I doubt there is much to be done. The weights were out of alignment but that is an easy enough fix and I am happy to say our machine seems to be tuned properly. The top for the barrel is a throwaway protective cap that is normally used to cover pipe to keep contaminants, etc. out until it is installed. Can't say that I am a fan of the spot welded frame, would have been nice to see some tack welds or even stitch welds. I did like the barrel as it felt sturdy enough. After a week we came up with some pros/cons. As our vibe experience to this point is with the UV-10 some comparisons are inevitable but I will save the head to head review for another thread after we run the Lot-O for a bit longer.
Pros:
-Like the rubber barrel as much as I thought I would and am convinced that more than anything else it is the key to this vibes success. Not bad for a modified toilet plunger .
-This thing is quiet.
-The action in the barrel is very gentle compared to what we are used to.
-The whole "you have to mount it to filled concrete blocks" is way overblown in my opinion. I mounted it directly to our work bench with wood screws and it is not only quiet, but works well. It is not reverberating through the basement. Obviously your options depend on your individual setup.
-Slurry development is extremely similar to what we are used to with the UV-10 so our learning curve has been very small.
Cons:
-The exposed fans. Our lapidary area in the basement is very busy- rotary tumblers, saws, slabs/rough storage................Will need to very mindful not to bump into these, may have to put it in a more secluded spot.
-Small barrel opening. Full disclosure: I have big paws, it is not easy for me to fish a stone out to sneak a peak. Definitely not an issue for everyone. Will limit what you can put in there as the opening is 2 3/8" round.
-Really!?!? I have to use rubber bands to hold the cap on?!? Granted this was not a surprise as I have seen enough people do it over the years, but still.
-While probably limited by capacity anyway I am wondering about the ability to do multiple larger stones at the same time. The action is pretty much rolling end over end which would provide more opportunities for hard collisions versus bowl type vibes where there is poloidal and toroidal movement. I have no issues running many larger rocks in the UV-10 because of this. Found a cool representation of this:
www.researchgate.net/figure/A-diagram-displaying-the-poloidal-direction-represented-by-the-red-arrow-and-the_fig1_338127283
I really do not have any brand loyalty other than trying to buy domestic when available, which the Lot-O as well as Thumler's are as far as I can tell. I hope to like the Lot-O at least as much as I do the UV-10 if not more. I have no doubt that we will get great results with this machine, I just hope it holds up. It is curious that there are so many fans of these machines, but at the same time it is not exactly a rarity to see posts/threads about problems with brand new machines. My guess is that it largely depends on the era it was purchased in. Time will tell for this one.
Will update with results of the initial run in the coming days.