Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Apr 11, 2022 18:52:49 GMT -5
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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 11, 2022 18:13:40 GMT -5
All of my packages are home , they have been unpacked and sorted. When I say "sorted" it is just 2 piles, a big pile of Brown Fractured Quartz and some Yellow Fractured Quartz. About 60 pounds in all. The first 2 pictures show the brown quartz. I hammered each piece to make sure the stuff was solid before bagging it. It looked great on the side of the hill, but it looks Crazy Great now that I have it laid out in one place and sprayed off with a hose. Already have a 6 pound barrel rolling with a full load of it. Much of it is way to large to fit my barrel so I'll break it up with a chisel before rolling it. In the small wash that had all the visible veins of quartz, there were many different variations between brown & white. the most interesting was this Yellow/Orange stuff, so I hammered a bunch of that out for experimentation, I think it will come out really good. Plus you can see more brown rocks in the background. That is the Haul and the project for the next full year . . .
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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 10, 2022 19:52:33 GMT -5
I did my first Real Rockhounding in Yuma last year April 2021. At that time it was all just a big experiment and I got plentyful samples of every rock that looked like it would polish. It actually took a full year to polish all 55 pounds of rocks that I mailed to myself from Arizona. So here are the results from that project . . . --- Here are the Before & After pictures --- I had high expectations for the rocks above. They were deep red and kept their color when broken with a hammer. But the color seemed to wash away and it was half Pumice & half decent rock and generally awful looking. Out on the desert floor I found a lot of white featureless quartz, but it was picked up anyway because I knew it would take a polish. And true to my thoughts the stuff was just cloudy with some features, but not pretty enough to be interesting to me. Occasionally I would find some veins of Brown Fractured Quartz. I thought it looked fantastic, but with all the fractures I wasn't sure it would hold together in the Tumbler, Was trying to find more of it but the veins were small and hard to find or dangerous to work around. This stuff actually worked great. it did break up a little bit in the tumbler, but it seemed to happen in Stage-1 where it didn't matter much. I have some better pieces coming out of polish in 3 weeks. I decided on my trip last week that I was going to Only get the Brown Quartz rock, it is the only stuff that I picked up and was finding good wide veins right at the base of the big hill that I was working on, close enough to park there. Then there was the Slag that I thought was a Meteorite. It polished up real good but it's not interesting at all. Then there are these 2 red Mystery Rocks. Don't know which rock they came from but I want more. Soon I'll post some pics of the 55 pounds of rough rocks that I sent back to me last week . . .
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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 5, 2022 16:51:39 GMT -5
Three packages of rocks have been posted & sent back home , about 50 pounds. The last Yuma rocks were really an experiment to see which ones look good. I thought that the Brown Fractured Quartz is exceptionally interesting, so that is the only rocks that were dug up and bagged. Looking forward to tumbling this stuff. Flying home on Wednesday. Rocks should arrive before Sunday and there is an empty barrel waiting for me there.
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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 3, 2022 22:35:57 GMT -5
Rock Hounding went great today. Tried a small wash and discovered multiple veins of Quartz. Some of it was featureless, but there was plenty of the Brown Quartz that I've been looking for, actually it was unlimited but would require a little hammerwork to get it out and lots of postage to get it all back to Alabama.
So now I have 3 boxes of it packed up and ready for the Post Office.
There are 5 more Date Farms around here, might need to find another one that makes Date Beer?
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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 3, 2022 10:26:12 GMT -5
Hold on a minute , I was packing my Medium Flat Rate boxes and only filled up 1 1/3 boxes. Looks like an excuse to go out and find some more Quartz . . . Today . Went out to the Naked Date Farm yesterday, but they had closed for the season last week and the place was deserted. The sad part is that I didn't get any pictures of my Naked Dates to post, or try the Date Beer.
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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 2, 2022 8:00:46 GMT -5
Well that went fast . . . After thinking about the results from the last batch of 50 pounds of Yuma rocks, I decided that I would only look for the Fractured Brown Quartz that looked so good from the first batch. Once the hunting started I found it was easy to spot it & bag it. Had a good hammer and it was used to make sure that they were Quality pieces. Only took 2 hours to get too many rocks. I am really happy with the rough that was found and looking forward to getting it started. I did not have enough time to post the pictures of the polished First Batch before I flew out to Yuma so I will get out a big picture report at the end of next week. Am promising to post pictures of my Naked Dates !?
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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, 2022 10:37:22 GMT -5
This is my second full day in Yuma and this will be my rockhounding day. Gas is $5 a gallon here so I"m wanting to keep the mileage low. ,will stay with my plan to go to McPherson Bridge To Nowhere that was where I went last time. Have looked at Airial views of the spot and picked out a few Washes to explore. I have my camera but do not have the cable to get the pictures off and post them, will be another week before we will see the pictures. Will be much more selective when picking up rocks this time, now that I have an idea which rocks give me the best results. Also will mail less boxes back this time.
Went to the County Fair last night, but it was to crowded to have any fun. Had a great Apple Funnel Cake though. We are going to a Date Farm called 'Naked Dates" on tomorrow. They have date Shakes, date Beer and Live Music. Still no plans for our last 3 days here . . .
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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, 2022 19:39:23 GMT -5
I am going back to Yuma Arizona on March 30 for 8 days, very excited to go back out in the desert and do some more Rockhounding. All the rocks that I mailed back from Yuma last year have all finished polish as of this week. A lot of the rocks had a bunch of Pumice in it and would not polish very well or look pretty.
The rocks that did look good actually Looked Great, Quartz from areas with gold nearby. From white to brown with detailed fracture lines, really good looking. I'm hoping to find some more of that stuff.
I will try and post some pictures before I leave in a week.
Unless anybody has any suggestions for where to find decent rocks, I will return to the same place I went last time, on the hill beside the `Bridge To Nowhere' on Highway 95 headed toward Quartsite.
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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 Feb 24, 2022 8:20:33 GMT -5
Been very busy since I Blew up my Woofer Tumbler, but I have new plans. Will make the next prototype tumbler using the Bass Shaker that Jamesp sent me last month. This time all the Flex-Points will be metal hinges instead of the thin plastic that I used on the last experiment. Also planning to reduce the parts-count intending to reduce the overall weight of the Assembly that will be vibrating. Am working all week but have plenty of time in the evenings to put it together. I bought a 3 foot long $10 BNC connector to phono/RCA cable Tim.
I sent you that adapter it is the Green side on the little box, then the RCA wires to the your Home Stereo the Red side is for your little red Functiion Generator, just tighten up the wire into the terminal strip on it. Then the Power supply was for the little one. giving you the ability to run Both of them at the same time. I gues the wiring would have been more messy, but it gives lots of options.
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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 Feb 21, 2022 9:39:14 GMT -5
Been very busy since I Blew up my Woofer Tumbler, but I have new plans.
Will make the next prototype tumbler using the Bass Shaker that Jamesp sent me last month. This time all the Flex-Points will be metal hinges instead of the thin plastic that I used on the last experiment. Also planning to reduce the parts-count intending to reduce the overall weight of the Assembly that will be vibrating.
Am working all week but have plenty of time in the evenings to put it together.
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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 Feb 18, 2022 13:34:11 GMT -5
I received my 2 Oscillators in the mail yesterday and decided to give the smaller Circuit Board a try. Got it all hooked up to the amplifier/speaker, I turned the Amplitude/volume on the Oscillator off, but the 500 watt amp was turned all the way up.
When I powered up the Oscillator, everything was going Full Blast, I was quite surprised and was reaching for a volume control to turn it down, the Overload light on the amp was lit up showing that it was producing Full Power. Before I could turn it off, everything stopped. On further inspection I discovered that the speaker was Blown up. So now I will need to get out my backup speaker and make another Woofer Tumbler.
The smaller oscillator has the Amplitude control wired backwards, turning it to the Left will increase the volume, turning to the Right decreases the volume. I thought I had the Volume Off but it was really at Full.
At least I can reuse all the plastic parts that I cut and drilled.
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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 Feb 16, 2022 8:10:20 GMT -5
Been having some car trouble which was slowing things a bit. Working much better now . . .
In my early testing the machine was very well behaved and did not vibrate very much. I have everything setup on an unused dining room table that can Not Be Damaged according to the Boss.
As soon as I tried to put on Hoppers weighted with rocks, everything got much More Aggressive and stuff wanted to bounce around a lot. I can't keep testing on this table, but I don't have a lot of options for placement around here.
Thinking this must be mounted down to a Heavy Block to get proper motion. The Voice coil is actively Pushing Up then alternately Pulling Down.
I'm making a 4 inch Hopper this morning. Should get both of my new Oscillators in the Mail Tomorrow.
Starting to get serious around here . . .
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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 Feb 14, 2022 17:08:23 GMT -5
Use a JBX with blue tooth - frequency test
That looks like the way that Blue Man Group ends all their shows . Sounds like it would tumble some rocks too .
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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 Feb 14, 2022 15:08:21 GMT -5
Use a JBX with blue tooth - frequency test
That looks like the way that Blue Man Group ends all their shows . Sounds like it would tumble some rocks too .
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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 Feb 13, 2022 17:52:08 GMT -5
You will need to get this
BNC Male -to- Phono Female Adapter to convert to standard stereo cables for ease of use Or I promise to mail you one Monday Morning That would be a big help Tim. Such connectors get complicated. Thanks.
I have modified the adapters that I made so that you can use both of the function generators that you will have. Plus I also bought both of those same 2 function generators. The good one comes from China and the Circuit Board comes from New Jersey. Sending a Power supply for the smaller Oscillator you already have.
Also made another adapter so you may use your older larger Oscillator too. This will be a Surprise box with a buncha stuff that I had extra laying around. Feel free to discard anything you can't use. Already packed up , addressed and going out sometime early Monday.
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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 Feb 13, 2022 10:36:36 GMT -5
On another note, Cerium Oxide works better than Aluminum Oxide on some rocks that are harder to polish like Granite.
But it is awful on glass because it ends up looking cloudy.
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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 Feb 13, 2022 10:10:23 GMT -5
When I got my first rock tumbler 5 years ago, I had also ordered a Grit Kit that used Cerium Oxide (CO) as the polish stage. Checked around on the Forum and the folks that had used CO were getting good results, so I kept ordering CO for my Polish.
Everyone talked about how good Aluminum Oxide (AO) worked as a polish, so after almost 2 years I tried a big bag of AO and started rolling with it. After a few batches I found that it was easier and faster to get a good polish with AO. But the main thing that made me change from CO to AO was that the CO was harder to clean it out of any cracks in the rock and it could get into some really small cracks.
I always did a Wash/Burnish for a few hours with Dove Soap shaved into the water but the CO would just cling in there stubbornly. If there are not any fractures in the rock at all, then CO should be great to use as a polish. Plus AO is cheaper.
Here are a couple of really old closeup pictures of some rocks polished with CO Note that all the fractures have a white powdery/Crusty appearance because the CO would not come out of there. Very Shiny though . . .
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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 Feb 12, 2022 19:07:49 GMT -5
Lol, you are dealing with an ME and not an EE Wooferhound . Mechanical guys suck at electrical lol. Cancel the $12 generator Tim, this is the $27 generator with female (AV ?) cord output connector. At least it has a display to tell what type and amplitude signal is being output ! It apparently operates on 5 to 10 VDC. Note it came with a USB power cable. A USB power converter typically puts out 5 VDC at 1.5 amps. What do you think about this unit/set-up ? You will need to get this
BNC Male -to- Phono Female Adapter to convert to standard stereo cables for ease of use
Or I promise to mail you one Monday Morning
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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 Feb 11, 2022 19:18:44 GMT -5
OMG, check out this $30 oscilloscope. What next ?
I missed this post . . . Bought one of those with a separate plastic case, over a year ago when they were $24. It became Nonfunctional when I tried to install it into the case and ended up trashing it, but it worked wonderfully down in the Audio frequencies and the display looked great.
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