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Post by orrum on Jul 18, 2013 15:42:23 GMT -5
So got my order of grit and spare barrel from Shawn at The Rock Shed today and want to fire up my freebie loto from Marinedad. By the way Shawn and family are great folks!!!!! So I ordered 500 grit silicon carbide but I notice the Obsidian tut says 500 grit Al oxide. Which do I use for jasper and agate etc???; is the Al oxide just for obsidian? Arent I supposed to tumble the new ceramic media to break it in and how do I tumble it and how long? While we r at it I have a bunch of Lortone pre-polish and polish...... Can I use this in the loto? ? Was going to use it in the rotary tumbler it came with but now I hope to only rough 60/90 in the rotarys. I have 60/90 and 200 and 500, all are silicon carbide and 1000 aluminum oxide and the expensive al oxide polish from John at Jsgemshop. I would prefer to not use the expensive al oxide and instead use the lortone stuff and save the expensive polish for obsidian and cabbing. Chuck I want my rocks to shine like yours!!!! Thanks, Bill
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 18, 2013 17:11:46 GMT -5
There's a lot of questions jammed in this little post. I use the 500 A/O from the rockshed just because thats what shawn recommended with the loto since if you run it 2 days it breaks down to more like a 1000 grit A/O pre-polish. I do still run two days in 1000 A/O on top of the 2-3 days of 500. I ran all of my ceramics for a couple days in rock batches that were in 120/220 in the loto to make sure all the sharp spots got worn down before using them in any of the later stages. I do have some more expensive #61 A/O polish that I use on any special batches but all my mixed rock batches are just being done with inexpensive A/O polish from the rock shed.
I have a feeling you will have shiny rocks soon Bill. good questions. Chuck
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Post by orrum on Jul 18, 2013 19:29:43 GMT -5
Thanks Chuck, anybody know about using 500 grit silicon carbide?
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Post by deb193redux on Jul 18, 2013 20:38:37 GMT -5
the Sic will take a little longer to break down. but for the most part 500 is 500 and which oxide is not critical. For course Sic is better because AO breaks down too fast. For polish AO comes in small micron sizes, so it is better. At 500, 1000, 1200 - not so much difference.
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Post by susand24224 on Jul 19, 2013 0:22:31 GMT -5
I use 500 sic for everything. The only time I use 500 AO is when I ordered it by accident. I use it in the Lot-0 now and I used it in rotaries before I had the Lot-O. I really didn't see any difference, but I also use 1000 AO in the Lot-O (and sometimes in rotaries, depending upon the rock). Since I use 1000 AO, I really don't need the 500 stage breaking down to more than 1000. I've also tumbled lots of obsidian, both in rotaries and Lot-O, with good results and 500 Sic. I know Krystee's tutorial is different, and she does a beautiful job, but really, Krystee would do a beautiful job using anything, I think. She just has a great touch.
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Post by tntmom on Jul 19, 2013 0:50:44 GMT -5
I use 500 sic for everything. The only time I use 500 AO is when I ordered it by accident. I use it in the Lot-0 now and I used it in rotaries before I had the Lot-O. I really didn't see any difference, but I also use 1000 AO in the Lot-O (and sometimes in rotaries, depending upon the rock). Since I use 1000 AO, I really don't need the 500 stage breaking down to more than 1000. I've also tumbled lots of obsidian, both in rotaries and Lot-O, with good results and 500 Sic. I know Krystee's tutorial is different, and she does a beautiful job, but really, Krystee would do a beautiful job using anything, I think. She just has a great touch. LOL Susan!!!! Listen to Susan's advice! You do know she was a 1st place winner in the World Rock Tumbling Competition? I've never used 500 sic but..... that doesn't mean a thing. I will say though that on obsidian, a few times I have been super lazy and left it vibing in 500 AO in the Lot-O for 5+ days and after removing the stones and rinsing them, they were already polished. Granted, that was with 50% ceramics and Borax too.
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Post by connrock on Jul 19, 2013 9:31:38 GMT -5
The pros have covered the grit/polish thing well but I'd like to comment on ceramic media. I was having problems doing small slabs in my Lot-O a long time ago so I contacted Tom about it.I phoned him and we had quite a long chat about the Lot-O in general and about what type of ceramic media to use in the Lot-O. He has a ceramic media that was developed to have almost the same specific gravity of rocks. The media is expensive but after buying a few pounds of it and using it I found it to be a lot better then the "normal" ceramic media we buy. It "mingles" with the rocks and small slabs much better and keeps flat surfaces from getting stuck to each other. That's the good news.The bad news it IS expensive and to buy enough to keep separate for different stages is quite costly. It's been so long ago I can't remember how much it cost per pound but if you're interested just phone Tom for more info on it.He doesn't advertise it on his web site,,,, Hum,,,,just went to his web site and now he doesn't have a phone number to contact him,,,,only email??? That stinks! connrock
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 19, 2013 11:36:33 GMT -5
Hey Connrock, I've heard you mention that specially made ceramic before, but I'm having good luck with regular ceramic and great advice from you, so I haven't looked into getting some. I'm surprised to hear that you keep your ceramic media separated for different stages. I've always read that that is important for plastic, but not for ceramic. Is this something different about the expensive ceramic or do you normally change ceramic with grit changes?
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Post by connrock on Jul 20, 2013 10:07:45 GMT -5
Rob, I doubt if you have to have your ceramic media separated for each different stage but I don't mix anything with anything and have done things like this for a long time.Stuck in my ways I guess! I would keep separate media and a barrel for at least the polish stage though. connrock
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