Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 7, 2021 21:41:42 GMT -5
Jugglerguy Just happened to see this pop up on my facebook feed. This person 3D printed a pulley for their Nat Geo to slow it down. The video that was posted showed a stock one next to the modified one and with both on speed #1 the stock was about 80 RPM and the modified was about 50. Just food for thought. Chuck
Too Cool It would even gear it down and make the motor run better
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 7, 2021 12:08:31 GMT -5
Tumbling rocks will remove some of the surface so I don't see how it could make a change. Seems you would get the same results if you added oil to the water.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 6, 2021 10:08:31 GMT -5
So I took a week off from tumbling because of lazyness.
Picked out 10 choice rocks to run one last time in a 3 pound barrel to polish the Polish. Included all the marbles that were used as Smalls as a test to see if I can polish those up too. Plenty of plastic beads and a planned 10 day final polish run. Will be back in a week or so with the results. At that point I believe that I'll send in my 5 best for judging.
I don't think I have used the 3 pound tumbler in a year sure do love my dual 6 pound QT66, just loaded it with an old glass batch that really needed a repolish
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 4, 2021 17:55:18 GMT -5
I have been tumbling my Stage 1 batches using large Silicon Carbide SiC pebbles that are larger than 3/8 inch and over 1/2 inch.
When I tumbled my Contest Rocks, it appears that I had one of these pebbles traveled all the way through the process and polish up as well as the target rocks.
This is as close as i could get a focus on this polished Silicon Carbide.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 1, 2021 14:21:02 GMT -5
I started tumbling glass by breaking up a couple of large Beer Mugs and rolling that.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 1, 2021 8:55:36 GMT -5
Looks like cement or ceramic or some other preformed material Is it Self Collected ?
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 31, 2021 19:42:22 GMT -5
I feel almost no warm up of the case while it's running. I don't know much about electricity, but do they use different types of motors? If so, which one uses less electricity?
Yes , the Lortone 3A and 3B motors run rather hot. I actually open the case and oil the motor bearings occasionally. Drilled a big hole in the case so the fan can pull in more air.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 31, 2021 14:05:24 GMT -5
This Black Chert has been sitting around here for 3 years and was recently rediscovered when sorting out my Horde of Rocks
Still rather hazy and I knew that I could make it shine better. So they went another week in polish and came out much better than before.
I had some black Countertop Material in there as filler, but it did not take a polish even though it was all in the same barrel together.
That countertop has a bunch of Chrystal structure and would look awesome if I could get a clear polish on them. Here it is wet . . .
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 31, 2021 12:01:56 GMT -5
After I did several long runs of glass I had to replace the Lid Liners on my Lortone 6 Pound barrels
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 30, 2021 10:36:33 GMT -5
Visited Yuma Arizona over the Christmas Holidays
We went many places and I picked up rocks wherever I saw the opportunity. We never went out for a proper rockhounding trip. Couldn't get too many cause they were coming back in my Carry-on luggage and airport security act very strangely when you are carrying a lot of rocks.
The best rocks came from around the Colorado river.
But the rocks that were common and seemed to be everywhere looked great as Rough. I could see many colors and patterns and was optimistic about the results I would get. They looked great wet while going through the tumbling process with the pastel colors showing through wonderfully.
But the final polish was not that great. The colored areas shined up nicely, but the connecting matrix holding it all together wasn't taking a polish. After wetting them down they still come back to life and show how wonderful they could be. This is the first time I have considered painting a Clear Coat on the rock to help them to look as good as their potential.
Planning another trip to Yuma in a month. Will send back a box of rocks in the mail this time . . .
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 29, 2021 14:09:12 GMT -5
So here they are ...
The first set is the cool looking Yellow and Red Rocks
Second set is Everything else This last set is all the filler. The Brown Chert polished up fabulously. The glass marbles still look hazy, so I may repolish the Final selections in a 3 pound barrel to get it a bit slicker looking.
Still have cracks and pits but I am completely ignoring that stuff.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 29, 2021 5:47:17 GMT -5
Look for a place that does Sand Blasting for bulk grit supplies
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 27, 2021 17:29:54 GMT -5
They are finally out and I have impressed myself. I think this is the best polish I've ever produced. Will get some pics as soon as I have some good light.
Showed them to some friends and they wanted to touch and hold them. Never realized I could be so sensitive about my rocks.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 24, 2021 17:30:24 GMT -5
I would absolutely make sure your Flocculation is right .
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 23, 2021 8:49:45 GMT -5
Been pondering a while... How far off are our rock slurries from clay? There are many videos out there showing how to isolate and purify clay from soils. It's not particularly complex, just suspending and decanting a few times. I've wondered if tumbler slurry could be cleaned up and used as a pottery clay. I have a small furnace for smelting copper and aluminum... Could test fire some small bowls.
I tried to make some dried Cakes of slurry to see how strong it was, and understand how it would solidify in Drains. It was very brittle and could easily break. I don't have a kiln to try and fire it up.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 22, 2021 17:16:39 GMT -5
I've never heard of a thickener, but now I am interesting in finding out more! I just finished reading Steve Hart's wonderful "Modern Rock Tumbling" and thinkeners are not covered. He talks about adding other media to soften the action, but not really a thickener as such. Is the thickener's main prupose to achieve a slurry of the right consistency? Can the same effect be achieved by experimenting and adjusting the amount of water and grit only? Thanks!
Here is how I recover old grit and make a Thickener for Stage 1 Tumbles. - 10 minutes -
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 20, 2021 11:43:32 GMT -5
My polish gets revealed on Friday in a week Was looking fairly good after Prepolish 1000 yesterday.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 20, 2021 11:39:15 GMT -5
I absolutely thicken the slurry in all my Stage 1 Tumbles to help the grit cling to the rocks to be effective. All the smaller grits seem to suspend in the water fine producing the grinding I need. I wouldn't try to make a thickener for other stages cause there is no way to control particle size easily.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 19, 2021 6:18:24 GMT -5
I would be concerned about overloading the motor on the 3 pound tumbler
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 18, 2021 9:55:37 GMT -5
- Good Luck - Mistakes are made so you become stronger
I am doing a cleanout today where I should see the final polish on some rocks I brought back from Yuma Arizona. They have been rolling since the first day of the year.
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