Post by herchenx on Feb 20, 2012 13:39:10 GMT -5
Helen asked me "what have you learned" on my last thread in the tumbling pictures section. I started to answer her there and realized this might be useful to someone else.
First, I have a QT66 rotary tumbler from Lortone that lets me tumble 2 6# barrels at once. I also have a 3x1.5 Lortone, but the production is fairly low on that one. I bought a UV10 - 10# vibratory tumbler for stages 2-4 since the vibratory is faster and the rotary can do most of the shaping. I bought a spare barrel for the UV10 since I do the polish in its own barrel. Lastly, I have a Lortone combination machine with a 6" saw and a 1.5" x 6" 120 grit diamond wheel. This allows me to add cabs into the vibe, and also to grind stones that would be trashed in the rotary.
Here is the evolution I have seen (this is not 100% day-to-day accurate, but it is close and I think shows how the rotary and the grinder can start feeding new tumbled material to the vibe):
day zero:
follow the directions here to get a good batch going in the rotary:
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=trtphoto&action=display&thread=22055&page=4
Day 10 - remove everything, wash, rinse, none were ready.
repeat above stage 1 process
Day 20 - repeat day 10, except I removed 2 or 3 rocks and set them aside in a tupperware with water. Meanwhile, as per those directions, I do add rock as my volume decreases.
Day 24 - check in and notice that new pits are forming. Remove a couple rocks that I think I can grind-finish so they are ready for stage 2. Add in some new rock as I always do to keep the volume up.
Day 30, repeat day 10 and day 20, removing more "ready" rock and some pitted rock that I think I can finish on the grinder. Also - start all "stage 1 finished" rock, and a whole bunch of cabs that I just shaped - in the vibe tumbler so now I am running coarse in parallel with the vibratory. I am following Randy's vibe instructions here at this point:
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=tottumb&action=display&thread=29369
Day 34, check for new rock that is ready or close in the rotary, pull out and add new material in as it fits.
Day 40 - repeat day 10 again on the coarse grind, removing anything that is ready, adding new material in.
Day 41 - At this point the vibe has gone through the last 3 stages and I have my first real polished rocks. I clean everything up in the vibe, pull the polish barrel off the vibe and start a new vibe batch with more tumbled stones and more cabs.
I am now in a rhythm where I check the rotary every few days, pulling anything that is ready or that I think I can finish on the grinder out. I still clean everything every 10 days or so and restart a new tumble, but I also check intermittently between full recharges so I can save rocks that would otherwise lose features. I am finding that often pits and cracks are on one part of the rock, and if I grind that part away, the rest of the rock (that would otherwise also be tumbled away in the rotary) can be preserved. I wish I would have done this with a bunch of the ocean jasper that lost so much of its most beautiful features in the first couple weeks.
The other nice thing is that I can work on something every day (clean out rocks, change stages in the vibe, cut cabs, recharge the rotary) - OR I can take a couple days off and just make sure the vibe is still going OK (open a couple times a day, spray with water, close)
This flexibility is wonderful.
For other new folks, you can follow the "just rotary" path and use the first link I included above, it just takes time and patience. For the "vibe only" path, you will need to use pre-rounded stones and ground cabs, but you can kick them out every 10-11 days. For folks with both, you can start feeding the vibe from the tumbler. If you have a wet grinding wheel, you can also intervene in the rotary rough stage and save rocks that would otherwise lose some pretty features.
I know several (many perhaps) folks START on the grinding wheel, but for me, the rotary is a good lie-detector test to see if there is anything interesting in the rock worth saving before I commit time on the wheel.
Hope this helps someone else out!
First, I have a QT66 rotary tumbler from Lortone that lets me tumble 2 6# barrels at once. I also have a 3x1.5 Lortone, but the production is fairly low on that one. I bought a UV10 - 10# vibratory tumbler for stages 2-4 since the vibratory is faster and the rotary can do most of the shaping. I bought a spare barrel for the UV10 since I do the polish in its own barrel. Lastly, I have a Lortone combination machine with a 6" saw and a 1.5" x 6" 120 grit diamond wheel. This allows me to add cabs into the vibe, and also to grind stones that would be trashed in the rotary.
Here is the evolution I have seen (this is not 100% day-to-day accurate, but it is close and I think shows how the rotary and the grinder can start feeding new tumbled material to the vibe):
day zero:
follow the directions here to get a good batch going in the rotary:
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=trtphoto&action=display&thread=22055&page=4
Day 10 - remove everything, wash, rinse, none were ready.
repeat above stage 1 process
Day 20 - repeat day 10, except I removed 2 or 3 rocks and set them aside in a tupperware with water. Meanwhile, as per those directions, I do add rock as my volume decreases.
Day 24 - check in and notice that new pits are forming. Remove a couple rocks that I think I can grind-finish so they are ready for stage 2. Add in some new rock as I always do to keep the volume up.
Day 30, repeat day 10 and day 20, removing more "ready" rock and some pitted rock that I think I can finish on the grinder. Also - start all "stage 1 finished" rock, and a whole bunch of cabs that I just shaped - in the vibe tumbler so now I am running coarse in parallel with the vibratory. I am following Randy's vibe instructions here at this point:
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=tottumb&action=display&thread=29369
Day 34, check for new rock that is ready or close in the rotary, pull out and add new material in as it fits.
Day 40 - repeat day 10 again on the coarse grind, removing anything that is ready, adding new material in.
Day 41 - At this point the vibe has gone through the last 3 stages and I have my first real polished rocks. I clean everything up in the vibe, pull the polish barrel off the vibe and start a new vibe batch with more tumbled stones and more cabs.
I am now in a rhythm where I check the rotary every few days, pulling anything that is ready or that I think I can finish on the grinder out. I still clean everything every 10 days or so and restart a new tumble, but I also check intermittently between full recharges so I can save rocks that would otherwise lose features. I am finding that often pits and cracks are on one part of the rock, and if I grind that part away, the rest of the rock (that would otherwise also be tumbled away in the rotary) can be preserved. I wish I would have done this with a bunch of the ocean jasper that lost so much of its most beautiful features in the first couple weeks.
The other nice thing is that I can work on something every day (clean out rocks, change stages in the vibe, cut cabs, recharge the rotary) - OR I can take a couple days off and just make sure the vibe is still going OK (open a couple times a day, spray with water, close)
This flexibility is wonderful.
For other new folks, you can follow the "just rotary" path and use the first link I included above, it just takes time and patience. For the "vibe only" path, you will need to use pre-rounded stones and ground cabs, but you can kick them out every 10-11 days. For folks with both, you can start feeding the vibe from the tumbler. If you have a wet grinding wheel, you can also intervene in the rotary rough stage and save rocks that would otherwise lose some pretty features.
I know several (many perhaps) folks START on the grinding wheel, but for me, the rotary is a good lie-detector test to see if there is anything interesting in the rock worth saving before I commit time on the wheel.
Hope this helps someone else out!