meviva
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2013
Posts: 1,474
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Post by meviva on Apr 17, 2014 0:42:23 GMT -5
I have my first batch of rock in polish. I am using a rotary tumbler and they have been tumbling for ten days. I am getting anxious to open up the barrel. I'm curious how long do you all run the polish stage?
Thanks, Andrea
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stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
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Post by stephent on Apr 17, 2014 1:01:56 GMT -5
I use 6 to 10 days. With a lot of sugar in the water...it's syrupy! because I sometimes run mixed types in it. I check at 6 to 7 days and put any back in that I think will take a few more days. I look at them with a magnifying glass.....and put in enuff filler to make up for the stones taken out. I run the polishing tumbler about 75%-80% full...with about 1/4-1/3 of total with used wine corks sliced up into 1/4" or larger pieces to cushion the stones somewhat. It works for me....but like everyone else in the forum...we all do polishing differently. At 10 days into a polish...I would think they should be done all they are going to do. Softer stones will be into an edge chipping/hazing hazard if tumbled with harder ones at 10 days polishing unless you are running way more filler then stones.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Apr 17, 2014 11:29:06 GMT -5
I run my rotary polish barrels for 14 days. I'm not sure they get any shinier than they would after 10 days but in my mind there is no such thing as overkill if your happy with the results. I used to use plastic pellets in my polish barrels but have found that a 75% full barrel provides enough "cushion". If I need to fill it to volume after the 600 I use ceramic media. Have a pound or so that I use only for polish. The ceramics have been through all the steps at one time or another. If you use ceramic for filler along the way you can move them to polish as long as they are cleaned the same way you clean your rocks.
I also do a burnish after the polish is complete. Here is where I feel plastic pellets are useful. I have had more stones fracture in the burnish than I've had fracture in polish. My burnish recipe for a 3# barrel is.... Rinsed rocks with 3/4 cup hot tap water and 1/2 tbs. ivory soap shavings. I then add plastic pellets to fill the barrel to about 3/4 of an inch from the rim. That's roughly 1/2 cup of pellets. Again the pellets are "polish only". I run that for 24 hours. It will remove all the polish residue and may even bump the shine up a little bit. Hope that helps.
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The Dad_Ohs
fully equipped rock polisher
Take me to your Labradorite!!
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,860
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Post by The Dad_Ohs on Apr 17, 2014 21:43:17 GMT -5
I run my rotary polish barrels for 14 days. I'm not sure they get any shinier than they would after 10 days but in my mind there is no such thing as overkill if your happy with the results. I used to use plastic pellets in my polish barrels but have found that a 75% full barrel provides enough "cushion". If I need to fill it to volume after the 600 I use ceramic media. Have a pound or so that I use only for polish. The ceramics have been through all the steps at one time or another. If you use ceramic for filler along the way you can move them to polish as long as they are cleaned the same way you clean your rocks. I also do a burnish after the polish is complete. Here is where I feel plastic pellets are useful. I have had more stones fracture in the burnish than I've had fracture in polish. My burnish recipe for a 3# barrel is.... Rinsed rocks with 3/4 cup hot tap water and 1/2 tbs. ivory soap shavings. I then add plastic pellets to fill the barrel to about 3/4 of an inch from the rim. That's roughly 1/2 cup of pellets. Again the pellets are "polish only". I run that for 24 hours. It will remove all the polish residue and may even bump the shine up a little bit. Hope that helps. The only thing I would add to this, and as said above everybody is different, I would do aa burnish stage between each grit stage to be sure that all the previous grit is removed from the barrel, material, & media. for some this is a given, for others, maay not have heard of it, still others never have and never needed to. just me adding my dos centimes!! Mario
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