osuguy0301
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 203
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Post by osuguy0301 on Oct 22, 2021 7:48:42 GMT -5
This is my first batch in a few years. I had a bucket of rocks that had been run in 60/90 in my rotary before I shut everything down. I loaded up my QT 66 and ran those rocks in 60/90 for a week. I had enough material ready to move on to a batch in my Lot-o. Before I shut my tumblers down I was running strictly coarse in my rotary, AO 80 for 3 days in my Lot-o and then 2 days of polish in the Lot-o. The AO 80 is such a time saver, even in a Lot-o. It does the work of 220 and 500 with only 1 clean out and at least a days less time. There for a while there were a few people running this, don't know if anyone is still doing it or not. Here is a picture after 3 days of AO 80, right before they went into polish.
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,512
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Post by Brian on Oct 22, 2021 9:07:21 GMT -5
Great to see some recent results of 80 AO in the Lot-o. When my current stock of 120/220 SiC runs out, I want to try to switch over to AO exclusively in the vibe. The SiC is the only grit I struggle with in the Lot-O. I’m hoping that the 80 AO will run more reliably.
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Post by perkins17 on Oct 22, 2021 9:12:34 GMT -5
This is my first batch in a few years. I had a bucket of rocks that had been run in 60/90 in my rotary before I shut everything down. I loaded up my QT 66 and ran those rocks in 60/90 for a week. I had enough material ready to move on to a batch in my Lot-o. Before I shut my tumblers down I was running strictly coarse in my rotary, AO 80 for 3 days in my Lot-o and then 2 days of polish in the Lot-o. The AO 80 is such a time saver, even in a Lot-o. It does the work of 220 and 500 with only 1 clean out and at least a days less time. There for a while there were a few people running this, don't know if anyone is still doing it or not. Here is a picture after 3 days of AO 80, right before they went into polish. I'm kind of doing the same thing but it started with ao 500 or 600 and it's been too cold out to switch. (Aka: I'm too lazy to freeze for rocks. 😂)
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osuguy0301
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 203
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Post by osuguy0301 on Oct 22, 2021 9:51:01 GMT -5
Great to see some recent results of 80 AO in the Lot-o. When my current stock of 120/220 SiC runs out, I want to try to switch over to AO exclusively in the vibe. The SiC is the only grit I struggle with in the Lot-O. I’m hoping that the 80 AO will run more reliably. I have never run a traditional batch in my Lot-o, 120/220, 500, polish. I have all the grit from when I would rotary tumbled start to finish but have never ran it in my Lot-o. I think I bought 5 pounds of AO 80 when I first started with my Lot-o. I use 2 teaspoons of AO 80 and 1 tablespoon of Borax, spray with water every 12 hours or so (when i wake up and after work). It will take me a lifetime to go through 5 pounds. Polish will finish up this evening, looking forward to the final results.
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Post by Rockindad on Oct 23, 2021 8:54:38 GMT -5
We have been using 80AO in the Lot-O. Try cutting it down to one tsp and running an extra day or two, you just might decide a polish stage is not necessary. You can get a lot more polish out of that 80. Just my opinion but I think it is a waste of time (and resources) to do the traditional recipe in the Lot-O. I know this will be heresy to many here so I just follow the mantra (stolen from Toad): "Convinced myself, I seek not to convince". I will however share our findings soon on running a traditional recipe versus a single vibe stage using the same material. Just need to find the time to take pics, etc.
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Post by knave on Oct 23, 2021 9:18:21 GMT -5
We have been using 80AO in the Lot-O. Try cutting it down to one tsp and running an extra day or two, you just might decide a polish stage is not necessary. You can get a lot more polish out of that 80. Just my opinion but I think it is a waste of time (and resources) to do the traditional recipe in the Lot-O. I know this will be heresy to many here so I just follow the mantra (stolen from Toad): "Convinced myself, I seek not to convince". I will however share our findings soon on running a traditional recipe versus a single vibe stage using the same material. Just need to find the time to take pics, etc. If your rocks are properly prepped I can totally believe this.
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saxplayer
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2018
Posts: 1,327
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Post by saxplayer on Oct 23, 2021 10:16:44 GMT -5
I use only AO 220 in my lot o. 3-5 days depending how long I can keep it going. Then 36-48hr polish and done. One clean out.
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Post by holajonathan on Oct 23, 2021 11:12:41 GMT -5
I use only AO 220 in my lot o. 3-5 days depending how long I can keep it going. Then 36-48hr polish and done. One clean out. I usually do something similar to saxplayer . I use 46/70 SiC in my rotary barrels and run them for 10-14 days. Sometimes I will run a 220 SiC final stage in the rotary barrels as well. They have at least a SiC 1000 finish (extremely smooth) before I move on to the Lot-O. Then I move to the Lot-O with either AO 80, 220, or 500, for as long as the action the Lot-O is still good. There is no reason to clean out AO grit in the Lot-O until you can no longer keep them moving by adding water and/or borax. If I manage 5 full days in AO 80 or 220 or 500, hard rocks that polish easily are highly polished. I usually add a day or two in AO polish for good measure, but I'm not sure it adds much shine after 5 days in one of the coarser AO grits. Variations / Insights
1. Sometimes I give rock 24-48 hours in the Lot-O with a small dose (1 TBSP or less) of SiC 500 or 1000, before switching to AO in a separate hopper. (I have SiC hoppers, and AO only hoppers. An AO only hopper is as good as a polish only hopper.) For example, to tumble finish cabs, I will load a Lot-O barrel with ceramics, add 4 or 5 cabs, and run a day or two in SiC 1000. SiC 1000 is very fine grit, but it does wonders at removing scratches and really helps remove fine scratches from the back of cabs when I want a polished back. I add a little borax with SiC 1000 since it doesn't create much slurry. 2. I never use 120/220 SiC in the Lot-O anymore. The slurry gets too thick before the grit is broken down enough to move on to the next stage. For those who want to do a coarse stage in the Lot-O, I strongly recommend straight 220 as opposed to 120/220. At least with the way my Lot-Os are tuned, it makes a big difference. 3. I've tried a bunch of different AO grits in the Lot-O (24, 80, 220, 500, 1200, 14,000, sub-micron). If you let them run long enough, they all work well. Just for fun, I have gone directly from a 2-week final rotary tumble to an extra big helping of AO 14,000 (about 1.5-2 tsp). After about a week, the rocks were highly polished. I have also used the 24 grit AO (once or twice) or 80 grit AO (many times), and in about the same amount of time (4-6 days), the rocks are highly polished. I suspect that the ceramic media (which are something like 99% aluminum oxide) are doing a lot of the polishing, which is why the grit size doesn't seem to matter much. 4. The coarser grit AO works well for hard, solid agates, and does a better job of removing any lingering scratches on those types of rocks. It it not good for softer rocks or rocks with mixed hardness, however. I have had AO 80 nearly destroy softer rocks or hard rocks with mixed hardness / soft spots. If a rock has a tendency to undercut, the coarser grit AO exacerbates the problem. Moss / plume agates, mossy jaspers, amethyst, and obsidian are among those that don't like the AO 24 or 80 in my experience. Hard, solid rocks like Montana agates, Brazilian agates, Botswana agates, Condor agates, and chert get very shiny in the Lot-O starting with any AO, from 24 up to 14,000. Again, I suspect that this would not be true if I used gravel filler instead of ceramic media.
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Oct 23, 2021 22:52:14 GMT -5
We have been using 80AO in the Lot-O. Is that how you guys won the tumbling contest?
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osuguy0301
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 203
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Post by osuguy0301 on Oct 24, 2021 6:41:42 GMT -5
Just my opinion but I think it is a waste of time (and resources) to do the traditional recipe in the Lot-O. I know this will be heresy to many here so I just follow the mantra (stolen from Toad): "Convinced myself, I seek not to convince". I will however share our findings soon on running a traditional recipe versus a single vibe stage using the same material. Just need to find the time to take pics, etc. I agree 100%. Next batch i run in the Lot-o, i will try what you suggested with 1 tsp and a couple extra days.
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Post by knave on Oct 24, 2021 17:07:41 GMT -5
Does AO 80 sandblast media work for this?
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Post by Rockindad on Oct 24, 2021 18:44:06 GMT -5
We have been using 80AO in the Lot-O. Is that how you guys won the tumbling contest? Nope, we used our Thumler's UV-10 for the contest rocks and used a more traditional multi-stage approach. When those rocks had to be run we felt much more confident in using the UV-10 than the Lot-O. Have only used the 80AO once in the UV-10 and found it is very harsh on the polyethylene bowl, leaving deep grooves behind. Doesn't seem to bother the rubber barrel of the Lot-O at all. ETA: I may regret this next year, but in the spirit of sharing and helping each other out: knowing what I know now, I would not hesitate to use this method for something like the contest rocks. 80AO may be a bit coarse if you have really made sure that the grit in your rotaries is properly broken down each time you pull a rock. It will however have you covered if you have a tendency to pull the rocks when they are ready to move on, even if you have some coarse SiC leftover at clean out. Does AO 80 sandblast media work for this? The stuff we have is marketed as "Sand Blasting Media".
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Post by holajonathan on Oct 26, 2021 20:49:13 GMT -5
Does AO 80 sandblast media work for this? Yes, all AO works the same in my experience. I really like the brown Harbor Freight blast media. I think it's AO 80. Maybe 70. I use that alot.
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