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Post by tims on Nov 9, 2016 23:11:53 GMT -5
Is there toxic / harmful material in the sludge? All i've run so far is SiC which i assume is pretty safe (other than the dust), but was concerned about Aluminum Oxide and am having no luck finding info regarding proper disposal. I did see that borax is pretty evil on plants.
I think i'll just distill out everything to be safe and unload it at the city's annual toxic waste disposal day. Thanks for the ideas.
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Post by tims on Nov 9, 2016 21:29:51 GMT -5
Good luck everyone. I'm tempted to dig something out of my 220 just so I can play ...
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Post by tims on Nov 9, 2016 21:26:41 GMT -5
Big thanks for sharing, I love pics of rocks but it's nice seeing some scenery and wildlife too ... gives a sense of being there. Cool nug and some nice rocks to boot.
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Post by tims on Nov 9, 2016 21:05:07 GMT -5
With that encapsulated 1/3 HP motor freezing should not be an issue. Have run mine down to 25F. 3600 RPM motor a serious heater. However heat is my problem as it is in a greenhouse. Hot here. Has to be in shade. At 100F ambient the rocks get so hot they are almost unbearable to the touch. So real hot. Motor gets hot too, which is not good. Motor has been running for over a year with what sounds like a dry bearing. So the overhaul. Never had any Mohs 7 rocks get damaged unless there was too many big rocks. My Viking does not do softer rocks. It wants to frost them. There are adjustments but I never had luck slowing it down for say rhyolite, glass or obsidian. I believe the counterweights are supposed to be set at about 1.2 for the 14 pound hopper. Have you checked their setting ? With a good mix of stones to 2 inches I use no media. If say running 8 pounds of only 1.5 to 2 inch stones I use 6 pounds of pea sized media. Too cheap to use ceramics so I just use small quartz and agates. What type of rocks are you running ? I have not even checked the counterweight setting ... meant to ask about that but somehow it completely left my mind. Got my ceramic today and topped off the load with about 1.5 pounds each of the small and medium, so my 10 pound starting load was a little light. Ceramic is pricy so I hope it holds up through multiple tumbles. I should have filled the hopper up initially instead of going by weight as it's running noticeably quieter and smoother now. I had to use 3 good Tbsp of 220 to get everything covered with all the extra surface area.
As for material i'd say 80% jasper / agate / pet wood / quartz, and the rest is unidentified material that looked to have good hardness. There are a few pieces that I know are softer material, some little teepee chunks with softer matrix and more unidentified but obviously softer material just to see what it'd do. I thought I got some detailed pics of the batch before it went in but this is all I can find, and I think there was another pound or so of smaller stuff that got added after this:
I was really nervous about completely destroying the first batch so I only used stuff I was ready to lose, which in hindsight is probably a terrible way to sort a batch, even if it's the first.
Rolling along again now, still set up 3 feet from my bed, and will probably just keep running it in the house and turn it off to sleep as i'm nervous about running it unattended. Did I mention I get nervous a lot?
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Post by tims on Nov 9, 2016 20:17:59 GMT -5
Hi Tims Cool! ... if it can be worked, it can be worked. Whether or not it is Copal or Amber may influence its durability. A good treatise on the differences and how to test it can be found here. There are clear differences that gemmological testing can identify (before the durability test disappoints you) see Charts here. In the absence of much else, ether and polarising filters can be used to achieve a reasonable level of comfort that you have one or the other. Thanks for the links, I looked through that first page and a few of its links last night, and tried isopropyl alcohol with no noticeable stickiness. I'm not really concerned with doing the homework to determine an exact classification unless I get lucky and find a plant inclusion or something. I am confident that the resin is old enough to work with, otherwise I suspect my polishing pads would have been gummed up beyond repair (something I didn't even consider beforehand).
Anyway, you're right, it doesn't really matter what it is if I can play with it. Since it's easily workable and not messy i'm comfortable lapping it in the house which will give me something to get me through the winter. It also looks to be easily drilled, unlike stone, which might give some cheap and easy options to actually finish some pieces into pendants / beads etc. to throw at relatives for gifts instead of the oh-so personal gift cards I usually resort to
Here's another handful of the rough. Some of it has nice translucence and it ranges in color through yellow / tan / red-brown and almost to black.
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Post by tims on Nov 9, 2016 5:39:47 GMT -5
This stuff might be copal. Not certain how to tell the difference. Didn't know there was a difference until i started googling amber and saw all the fakes available. Anyway, no malicious intent --- the few old farts i've had the pleasure of kicking rocks with locally call it amber (or leaverite, depending) so i think of it as amber.
Pretty and easy to play with in any case.
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Post by tims on Nov 9, 2016 1:19:34 GMT -5
Found a few pockets-full of (*DEFINITELY NOT*) amber today and might grab some more ... not sure how it will polish but it's super easy to shape.
Only brought one piece in out of the soak bucket tonight but will shoot the lot tomorrow. Before and after 10 minutes on the coarse wheel:
This one has some pesky bubbles but it's just a play piece, might shine on it a little tonight.
Does anybody tumble this stuff?
Somebody forgot the corners but it shines up ok.
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Post by tims on Nov 8, 2016 20:00:11 GMT -5
If you're near / in Rapid there are several good fairburn type agate beds near you. Fairburn itself might be the hardest for finding good ones as it's so picked over. Railroad Buttes is another really popular spot, and Indian Creek which i just found out about is supposed to be good pickings. I really want to get over there before it gets cold but it's a few hour trip for me from NE Wyoming.
Welcome and Good Luck!
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Post by tims on Nov 6, 2016 21:50:47 GMT -5
After the 2nd 24hour run things are starting to round out, but i'm seeing lots of impact dings and some fracturing. Didn't notice this after the first 24 hours and am wondering if the extra grit / mud helped to cushion things initially. I didn't have time to run to Keystone over the weekend, but ordered 10 pounds of ceramic media, small and medium, and will top off the load and continue when they arrive. Hoping that will cushion the load and help to get more thorough contact to the nooks and crannies.
In the meantime I'm thinking of building an insulated wooden box and running the vibe on the sidewalk outside my house ... will see if i can get it soundproofed well enough. The vibe gets warm (not hot) when it's running so i'm thinking if it's in a well-insulated enclosure i should be safe from freezing up unless it gets really cold, which isn't even an issue so far. Days are staying in the 60s here which is crazy warm for November, but winter's going to hit eventually. It's warm enough now i might have to vent the box to keep it from overheating.
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Post by tims on Nov 6, 2016 2:51:34 GMT -5
How involved / expensive is a rebuild? I tell myself i won't put enough hours on mine to ever have problems, but wishful thinking only gets you so far. Hope you get yours sorted without too much pain.
I got started late today but should be through the 2nd round of 220 sunday afternoon, so 24 hours with way too much grit then 24 with 2 tablespoons of 220. Hoping to move on to 500 aluminum oxide from there for 24 or so then polish but will have to see how things look.
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Post by tims on Nov 4, 2016 21:36:20 GMT -5
Thanks Jim. After 24 hours i cleaned everything out --- lots and lots of mud. Will start with fresh and far less 220 in the morning. This kid is gonna sleep tonight.
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Post by tims on Nov 4, 2016 15:20:36 GMT -5
I don't have a ton of smalls in this batch but it's a pretty even mix and everything seems to be mixing ok; the only issue I noticed is the flatter rocks liking to stick to the sides when it gets a little dry. I'll definitely cut down the grit for the latter stages and when I rinse and recharge the 220 here in a few hours.
The instructions also call for 1 tablespoon water per pound at every stage and that doesn't seem too wet as far as I can tell ...
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Post by tims on Nov 4, 2016 6:53:15 GMT -5
Good excuse to drive to Keystone this weekend, thanks Jugglerguy. 12 hour check: things were getting slow and sticky and the couple flats i put in were hugging the edges of the barrel. Spritzed it until everything loosened up but i may forego the "watched pot" theory and start checking more often.
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Post by tims on Nov 4, 2016 6:20:58 GMT -5
The Viking manual is seriously grit-heavy, calling for 1 tablespoon (15cc) grit per pound for each of the first 3 stages, and 10cc (~2 teaspoons) per pound for final polish. I'd like to think the manufacturers knew what they were talking about, but i have to give preference to the advice i get here from people that get proven results from their equipment. Thanks for the help.
I'm wondering if i might need some filler media for the later stages --- with so little abrasive it seems there wouldn't be much slurry to keep good contact between the stones. Do you guys add anything besides water and abrasive after the first stage? I've seen sugar and borax mentioned in different threads but get conflicting rationales for when and why to use them.
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Post by tims on Nov 4, 2016 1:13:48 GMT -5
Tims, I never put more than 2-3 tablespoons of grit in mine. Not sure why those instructions go so heavy on the grit. Compare the dose to a Lot-O per pound. Have used 30-80-220-500-1000-5000-14,000. An have always used 2 tablespoons of any of those with great success. Looking forward to your tumbles, hope you have a rotary. Those machines are pretty loud. Just 2-3 tablespoons for a full load? That's what i get for reading the instructions. I wanted to try the first batch by the book and adjust from there, but dang that seems like a big discrepancy. I'll see how it looks at 12 hours, but at 6 it looks ok to me ... everything's moving around well and it doesn't seem too dry. The nice thing about first trys is it's a good excuse for making mistakes. I have an ancient 2-barrel sears rotary but the barrels are shot, so i'm hoping to be able to finish to polish in the vibe. If it doesn't blow up or burn the house down i think i can suffer the noise for a few days.
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Post by tims on Nov 3, 2016 20:08:31 GMT -5
Finally pulled the trigger and started my first tumble ever, a 10# grab bag in Viking 14# vibe. Mostly jasper / chalcedony. 10 tablespoons water and 10 tablespoons 120/220 as per the manual. Here's how it looks to start: (noise warning)
After 1 hour:
This is running 3 feet from my bed so I may need to run in 16 hour increments to get sleep ... any foreseeable issues there? In the meantime every chair in my tired old house is like a free massage chair.
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Post by tims on Oct 31, 2016 0:35:36 GMT -5
Gorgeous, thanks for the detailed pics The colors remind me of a flame paint job --- those reds and yellows really pop.
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Post by tims on Oct 29, 2016 16:35:31 GMT -5
Awesome, i love agate and you show those off nicely. What's the big orange fortification in the background?
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Post by tims on Oct 20, 2016 20:33:15 GMT -5
Thank you John, that's exactly what i needed to know. With the bearings exposed inside the tank i see how it could be an issue so i'll go with oil.
Currently the inside of the reservoir is oily and the bearings are quiet so hopefully i was the first one dumb enough to consider using water ...
Oh and i think these were a mid-60s Sears product.
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Post by tims on Oct 20, 2016 1:57:50 GMT -5
Love the agates. That first mystery rock has beautiful color and texture, i want one
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