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Post by perkins17 on Jul 9, 2021 18:56:45 GMT -5
I am wondering how long most people would run their coarse cycle to achieve a good rounding on their rocks. I understand that some people run it for months and I am hoping to run it for about 2 weeks. Would that work? Thanks!
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Post by manofglass on Jul 9, 2021 21:19:28 GMT -5
Two weeks is ok for beach stone Quartz I run a month
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Post by jasoninsd on Jul 9, 2021 22:00:40 GMT -5
I'm thinking your question might have too many variables to give you a yes or no answer...such as type of rocks...type of grit being used...type of tumbler. In my opinion, the biggest variable is the type of rock and what condition it was in when it started the tumble.
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Post by perkins17 on Jul 9, 2021 22:17:04 GMT -5
I separate the rocks by surface condition . I keep one bin of smooth and the other broken or sharp rocks. I run a smaller Lortone 33b tumbler as of right now. I use 60/90 grade silicon carbide for the first step. Thanks for the help!
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Post by jasoninsd on Jul 9, 2021 22:43:12 GMT -5
I separate the rocks by surface condition . I keep one bin of smooth and the other broken or sharp rocks. I run a smaller Lortone 33b tumbler as of right now. I use 60/90 grade silicon carbide for the first step. Thanks for the help! That helps a little. You would think the smooth stones will take less time tumbling than the sharp ones...unless they're of different materials. Smooth agates might take longer to run than softer stones that have jagged exteriors. Rather than grouping the stones by exterior cosmetics, it would be better to group them by their hardness level. You don't want to be tumbling stones that are a Mohs 7 (agates) with stones in the Mohs 3-4 range. They just don't play well together. To try and give you an answer to your original question as to whether 2 weeks in coarse would be enough...it's a definite "maybe"! - Only you will be able to judge the results and determine if they had enough time in the coarse stage or not once those two weeks are up and you do the inspection. Don't forget...we love seeing pics of the tumble results.
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Post by aDave on Jul 9, 2021 22:49:20 GMT -5
As Jason mentioned, the determination is yours at the end of the day. If you like your rocks after two weeks, that's great. If you want to spend more time in coarse, that's fine too. There's no set formula. Run your rocks in coarse until you're happy with their shape. That's pretty much the way they will look (shapewise) at the end of your runs.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Jul 10, 2021 6:26:00 GMT -5
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Post by perkins17 on Jul 10, 2021 10:35:46 GMT -5
Thanks! I will definitely be more careful with how long I run the first cycle next time. Does anyone know where you can get a set of picks for scratch testing? Thanks!
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Jul 10, 2021 11:20:06 GMT -5
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Post by perkins17 on Jul 10, 2021 11:44:25 GMT -5
Thanks!
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Jul 11, 2021 8:19:42 GMT -5
Glad to help. I was very confused when i first started so I am sypathetic for all newbies.
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Post by Bob on Jul 16, 2021 23:01:49 GMT -5
Seldom less than 4 weeks and up to 100.
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