afterburnt
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2021
Posts: 152
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Post by afterburnt on Dec 2, 2021 21:07:23 GMT -5
I have been tumbling various types of quartz in a three pound barrel but I want to try rolling in a Lortone six by six. Does anyone think that the larger barrel will beat the stones up and give bad results compared to the three pounders?
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on Dec 3, 2021 0:20:44 GMT -5
No, not at all. You want to be careful about having some protective cushioning in the latter stages after rough, ceramic or plastic pellets. My personal preference for cushioning material is airsoft pellets for 220 and finer grits, and leather scraps, say roughly 1/2" squares, for polish. I do this in barrels up to 5 gallon [12" PVC pipe a foot long].
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afterburnt
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2021
Posts: 152
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Post by afterburnt on Dec 3, 2021 10:01:47 GMT -5
No, not at all. You want to be careful about having some protective cushioning in the latter stages after rough, ceramic or plastic pellets. My personal preference for cushioning material is airsoft pellets for 220 and finer grits, and leather scraps, say roughly 1/2" squares, for polish. I do this in barrels up to 5 gallon [12" PVC pipe a foot long]. Thanks, I use a vibe with ceramics for all subsequent stages. Do you use a rotary for all stages?
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Post by Rockoonz on Dec 3, 2021 12:54:03 GMT -5
afterburnt by 6x6 do you refer to the molded rubber barrel or the metal barrel with a rubber liner? The molded barrel has small flats to keep the material moving, and is more gentle than the metal 6 sided barrels. Plenty of smaller filler in the coarse stage is what we use, including some garnet gravel about the size of aquarium gravel from an estate years ago. We like to be a bit more aggressive with our rough grind most of the time, since we are usually working with materials that need to be rounded. Our coarse stage usually goes for 3 or more weeks with a check at one week with more coarse grit added. We usually skip stage 2, the coarse will break down enough over a long grind to make that possible. We use vibe tumblers, but they are reserved for loads that contain preformed items like Elizabeths thin earrings and other preshaped pieces. Usually never go coarser than 600 with them, 2 UV10 Thumlers with 3 barrels, one for polish only.
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afterburnt
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2021
Posts: 152
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Post by afterburnt on Dec 3, 2021 14:40:21 GMT -5
afterburnt by 6x6 do you refer to the molded rubber barrel or the metal barrel with a rubber liner? The molded barrel has small flats to keep the material moving, and is more gentle than the metal 6 sided barrels. Plenty of smaller filler in the coarse stage is what we use, including some garnet gravel about the size of aquarium gravel from an estate years ago. We like to be a bit more aggressive with our rough grind most of the time, since we are usually working with materials that need to be rounded. Our coarse stage usually goes for 3 or more weeks with a check at one week with more coarse grit added. We usually skip stage 2, the coarse will break down enough over a long grind to make that possible. We use vibe tumblers, but they are reserved for loads that contain preformed items like Elizabeths thin earrings and other preshaped pieces. Usually never go coarser than 600 with them, 2 UV10 Thumlers with 3 barrels, one for polish only. I have the molded rubber barrels. A lot of the rough I have is pretty small so I will make sure that there is an adequate amount in the mix.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on Dec 3, 2021 22:42:39 GMT -5
afterburnt, regarding your question. Yes I have done nearly all tumbling in a rotary, do have some different sizes. I have a couple vibs., but my wife has some serious health problems and I'm her only caretaker, no time to work on perfecting the machine operation now.
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