ringlord
starting to shine!
Member since May 2015
Posts: 31
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Post by ringlord on May 20, 2015 16:31:41 GMT -5
So I'm new. Hello.
Been tumbling for a couple months, learned a lot from this board just by lurking. Thanks.
But now I have a question. I've read back through the forum to January 2013 and there is a lot of talk about tumbling in cold weather, but not too much mention about hot weather. I came across one mention of a tumbler motor overheating in direct sunlight, so that got me thinking about my environment.
I live on the coast of SC. Can get very hot and very humid. Anyone have bad experiences tumbling in such a climate? I have a garage, so I'm hoping that will keep the tumbler relatively cool. But it does get pretty nasty around July and August. I set my tumbler next to a cabinet that blocks most sunlight when the garage door is open.
Do you think my tumbler is safe or do I need to do something more?
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Post by captbob on May 20, 2015 16:52:17 GMT -5
I'm in Florida and my tumblers are also in my garage. Garage gets Africa hot. I quit tumbling during the hottest summer months. Not sure that I HAVE to, but I tend to err on the side of caution.
If you can keep your garage open (I don't due to mosquitoes and $100,000 worth of rocks out there) you will probably have enough circulation that you can run year round. Put a thermometer in your garage and see how hot it gets in there.
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Post by captbob on May 20, 2015 16:52:38 GMT -5
Oh, and welcome to the forum!!
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Post by 150FromFundy on May 20, 2015 16:55:54 GMT -5
If you have a rotary tumbler that has small barrels that rely on an O-ring gasket, the barrels can pop off. This happens when the air in the barrel warms up, expands, builds up pressure and pops the lids off. The best way to counter this is to ensure that the contents are warmer when you seal the barrel than the air temperature. This way when he barrel cools to the air temperature, the air in the barrel contracts, creates a vacuum and "sucks" the lid to the barrel.
Darryl.
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ringlord
starting to shine!
Member since May 2015
Posts: 31
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Post by ringlord on May 20, 2015 18:39:09 GMT -5
I'll try the thermometer in the garage to see exactly how hot it gets. I don't see any mention of operating temperatures in the Lortone instructions... maybe I'm too used to seeing those from electronics.
Didn't think about the pressure inside the barrels increasing with temp. I did notice that the rocks and slurry was quite a bit hotter one day recently during this hot spell we've been having.
Thanks for the advice!
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on May 21, 2015 10:44:35 GMT -5
Tumbler motors are supposed to run hot, but I'd think that there would be a limit to that. I remember reading here about someone who's tumblers were in a hot garage. They had a fan blowing on them to help regulate temperature.
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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 May 21, 2015 13:10:05 GMT -5
Welcome to the jungle! I'm a relative newbie to tumbling, but I ran a cheap, small rotary (Chicago Electric) in my garage in Phoenix (hotter than ****) all summer last year - pretty much non-stop - without issues. It was out of the sun. The sun here eats up anything plastic or rubber pretty quickly. I wouldn't think that humidity would be an issue.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,680
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Post by Fossilman on May 21, 2015 15:43:28 GMT -5
I'm lucky I can tumble in the winter months here in western Oregon-but in the hot summer,I will rest the tumblers till November......... Welcome to the forum also...............
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Post by broseph82 on May 22, 2015 13:04:20 GMT -5
So far my Chicago Elec tumbler are still going strong from a year ago. I took a break from my Lot-O vibe and restarted it last night with some agates, Jaspers, and pet woods. It was dry when I checked on it a second time this morning. Since I was tumbling in it this winter and spring it was cold and didn't had a problem. Now I see I will have to spritz more often as it gets in the 80's in my garage.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on May 22, 2015 16:15:43 GMT -5
My vibe gets super hot. When it was in the hot greenhouse. Rotaries run full time in the hot house and rarely have any trouble. 110F for 8 hours each day. Bet you will not have an issue unless you tumble gas generating substance.
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mesha74
off to a rocking start
"you know when you need rehab when you hide rocks in youre bed insted of money" ;)
Member since June 2015
Posts: 10
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Post by mesha74 on Jun 26, 2015 18:06:36 GMT -5
almst done i hve my stones in pre-polish but it's to hot in the day so i have to wait till it cools off out side my berel blew last time .i wished i found this place sooner.
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FLrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2014
Posts: 343
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Post by FLrockhound on Jun 26, 2015 22:14:20 GMT -5
This reminded me to hook up my portable ac unit out inside my garage an switch on the fans. The temp is rising to 115° in there. My Wife will be happy when I take my two tumblers out of the kitchen lol.
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mesha74
off to a rocking start
"you know when you need rehab when you hide rocks in youre bed insted of money" ;)
Member since June 2015
Posts: 10
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Post by mesha74 on Jun 26, 2015 22:37:07 GMT -5
if only i had a cement truck in my tiny yard and tumble huge rocks i would be a happy girl my neibors wouldn't like me so much i'm ok with that lol
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Post by mohs on Jun 26, 2015 23:22:04 GMT -5
careful what you wish for mesha74I had a dream, a night mare, and a vision I dreamt I was driving a cement truck Across the country giving shows The cement truck even a had a name: Rolling Tumbling Revue so I’d pull up to a town and let the chute down all these pretty polished stones would come tumbling out/ The people ooohhhed & awwwed I was a big success. ;D Then at this one town all the people were gathered round And I released the chute and this huge boulder Started to emerge! I called on my Herculean strength to hold back that Rock! But it was going to roll! All the people started scattering and the boulder rolled right down the street Causing chaos & disorder back there over my Atlas Shoulder then a huge chasm opened up & that Sisyphusian Stone rolled right into the abyss then I woke forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/30750/cement-mixer-tumbler
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mesha74
off to a rocking start
"you know when you need rehab when you hide rocks in youre bed insted of money" ;)
Member since June 2015
Posts: 10
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Post by mesha74 on Jun 26, 2015 23:35:30 GMT -5
lol thats s funny i keep dreaming that i can fly every so oftan i have to run first lol but then i rember that i'm afrade of hights so i try to fly low to the grownd lol.
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1nickthegreek
spending too much on rocks
Member since February 2014
Posts: 382
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Post by 1nickthegreek on Jun 27, 2015 1:36:10 GMT -5
I ran all of my tumblers in the full Idaho sun last summer, 85-102 degrees....Lortone's gave me way way more trouble than my Chicago's did. I just took the motor covers off of both, the Lortones had a lot of trouble with the belts slipping, but that was the only trouble I had. Luckily this summer I have them all in my shop so no worries about sun anymore!!!
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Post by glennz01 on Jun 27, 2015 9:57:24 GMT -5
if your tumbler motor has a heat sensor auto shutoff it will be fine.... most of the larger models do.
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Post by broseph82 on Jun 27, 2015 19:14:16 GMT -5
I've had my Lot-O on last 4 days (500grit stage) and havent added any water. Just removed the cap and poured in whatever has condensed in it. Its still moving fine even though it looks and feels like clay.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,455
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 29, 2015 19:05:31 GMT -5
I live in Texas where is moderately hot and humid. I usually tumble 24/7/365 with no problems but think this year, I'll shut down winter and the hottest part of summer because it's just more uncomfortable changing the tumbler in that kind of weather....Mel
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ringlord
starting to shine!
Member since May 2015
Posts: 31
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Post by ringlord on Jun 30, 2015 8:59:35 GMT -5
To follow up on my original post:
We've had a nasty hot spell the past two weeks -- 100+F degrees and very humid. I installed a cheap wall thermometer in my garage and the warmest it registered was 95F. Tumbler never showed any sign of a problem, so I ran it 24/7.
My garage is shaded and well ventilated on two sides; that seems to contribute to the relatively cool temperatures in there.
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