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Post by snowmom on Apr 1, 2015 12:16:22 GMT -5
april 1 and the tumbler, bottle of oil soap and the bucket standing nearby have all thawed enough to get the show on the road again. I had to do some adjusting of the material inside to get it to roll fast enough, and added a bit more murphy's. Slurry finally thawed and started to cover the rocks after about a half hour of fooling around. watching now.
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Post by snowmom on Apr 7, 2015 17:39:31 GMT -5
Been rolling for 7 days now and getting pretty shiny. It is not liquid looking yet but getting closer every day. Hope to have photos of my first truly successful start to finish tumble shortly.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Apr 7, 2015 19:48:09 GMT -5
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh dang it-it's a hurry up and wait show,huh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by snowmom on Apr 10, 2015 4:30:41 GMT -5
welllll another setback. It had been the best shine I'd got yet, when I washed them off and set them back to run one last time in just the murphy's...now I have haze. The materials I chose to polish were once again badly undercut and inconsistent.(had been before that final phase, but there had been a great shine on the solid parts) Going to rest and think on this a while. Maybe a last "cleaning run" wasn't necessary. I started it in more polish (AO) and we'll see.... Might have to go back and pick out a more solid and consistent batch to run. Won't be quitting but might need to start over. Learning more from more failures... just keeping on keeping on.
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rockymom
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2015
Posts: 118
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Post by rockymom on Apr 10, 2015 9:08:55 GMT -5
I love reading these posts about rock tumbling recipes, feel like I am back in the sandbox again. Hopefully that makes sense.
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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 10, 2015 9:37:55 GMT -5
I have noticed that undercutting is more an issue in my vibe than it was in my rotaries. Nature of the beast I suppose.
Also I have had great luck in the final cleaning (burnish) with borax.
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Post by snowmom on Apr 10, 2015 12:46:59 GMT -5
thanks- a lot of the undercutting is my poor choices in tumbling material as well, I love the vibe tumbler though and don't really care if it gets stuff completely smooth, I like the character of the original rock to show, so if I'd stop using granite, I know I wouldn't have that particular problem. Need more focus, need less random decisions on what to tumble and need to make the type of rock more consistent... all of one type. Keeping on... this may become a summer blog at the rate I'm going.
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Post by gingerkid on Apr 10, 2015 13:05:59 GMT -5
I'm sorry to hear about your setback, snowmom, but glad to hear you have them rollin' again. Did you take any pics of your tumbles when you noticed that they were hazy?
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Apr 11, 2015 8:20:23 GMT -5
Not good news-thumbs down..........Hope you get the results your looking for D.......
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megalotis
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2009
Posts: 226
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Post by megalotis on Apr 11, 2015 13:25:01 GMT -5
Just a note on Metamucil - we have some orange-flavored stuff that I tried on my current tumble...not good. Along with the orange flavor, it also contains a spoonful or two of sugar to help the medicine go down, I guess. Needless to say, it burped up a mess. Thank goodness it didn't actually explode!
Anyway, learned my lesson: Ignore the shared wisdom on this forum at your peril!
I'm trying dirty sand now, as a filler/thickener. It's got enough clay/fines in it to create a quick slurry, but no organics to gas up. So far, so good, still on the coarse grind stage.
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Post by gingerkid on Apr 11, 2015 14:04:37 GMT -5
The extra fiber didn't help your tumbles, megalotis? There are a few members that have had very good results using Metamucil. I hope you'll post pics of your tumbles that you're tumbling with dirty sand when you finish them. I thought about tumbling some tumbles with kitty rocks (litter). J/K
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megalotis
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2009
Posts: 226
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Post by megalotis on Apr 13, 2015 9:56:39 GMT -5
I don't think the metamucil was the problem, Gingerkid, it was the added sugar, which, in combination with the metamucil, was not a good thing. Sugar alone, good, metamucil alone, good. But not so good together. Why wouldn't kitty litter (fresh out of the bag, of course), work fine? Sounds like a good plan to me!
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Post by gingerkid on Apr 13, 2015 11:27:36 GMT -5
Hi, megalotis, I didn't know you placed sugar with the orange Metamucil in your tumbles. What was your "slurry" like with both of them? Thick? Why wouldn't kitty litter (fresh out of the bag, of course), work fine? Sounds like a good plan to me! ROFL!
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