Intheswamp
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Member since September 2015
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Post by Intheswamp on Oct 1, 2015 22:05:22 GMT -5
I was kind of rushed this evening but I managed to get some rocks in the pvc pipe tumbling. I had been trying to decide which would be my first rocks (not axe) to grind. I had some very nice unakite that a certain math instructor was so kind to send me, then there was Jeremy's rocks from the Texas river stash, and handful of others. Well, last weekend a friend helped me locate a place to hunt and I came home with some really nice rocks. You guessed it....I'm gonna start with rocks that I found. I have no idea if I'm tumbling these right or not....but there tumbling one way or the other. I put 3.25 pounds of rocks in the pvc barrel and then added another 1/2 pound of some basic white gravel (quartz, it looks like)in the 1/8" to 1/2" size range. The white gravel is for smalls being as most of the rocks I found were 1" to close to 2" in the longest direction. Some of the rocks may be too big for my little 4" tumbler, but I'll learn.<grin> After mixing up the rocks and the smalls I added 4 tablespoons of 60/90 grit followed by 14 tablespoons of Dansani bottled water.<grin> Really, a part of a bottle of water had sat in my jeep and went through several heats...I figured the rocks wouldn't care! I arrived at 14 tablespoons by tilting the barrel over fairly sharply until I saw water on the side of the barrel. I probably had the barrel tilted at something like a 55-60 degree angle. The grit, well, I used the 1 tbsp per pound of rock recipe. I had read where some will use 4 tbsp of coarse grit for the first grind in a 3# barrel...my combination of rocks and smalls came to 3.75 pounds so four tablespoons should be good...not a heavy amount, but hopefully sufficient. I forgot to weigh the loaded barrel (I'll weigh it tomorrow). Figuring everything in my head I figure it weighs around 7.5 pounds. After I loaded the barrel and tightened the inspection cap I sat it on the tumbler. I plugged the tumbler in and without hesitating it started up at it's roughly 42rpm speed. I let it spin a minute or two and checked for leaks...did not find one. I'm looking forward to checking it tomorrow to see it tumbling and not leaking. It was making a nice "swooshing" sound when I left. I know this is a boring tumble for most of you, but...I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's what I put in the barrel.... The rough... IMG_7278a (Custom) by Intheswamp, on Flickr The white quartz smalls... IMG_7281a (Custom) by Intheswamp, on Flickr
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meviva
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Member since July 2013
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Post by meviva on Oct 1, 2015 22:11:59 GMT -5
It's always fun starting a batch. Looking forward to seeing them go through all the stages.
Andrea
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Post by captbob on Oct 1, 2015 22:33:46 GMT -5
Good to see you up and running!Looking forward to your progress reports.
you measured the water? *snicker*
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 2, 2015 5:26:12 GMT -5
Woo-hoo, you're off and running! Can you resist peeking for a week?
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Intheswamp
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Member since September 2015
Posts: 1,910
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Post by Intheswamp on Oct 2, 2015 7:55:48 GMT -5
Thanks ya'll, we'll see how this works out. I've still got the little Model T 3#'er to load up, but I'm waiting on the granddaughters for that one. Maybe this weekend...I wonder, will smooth unakite tumble ok with miscellaneous river stones river stones? The granddaughters picked up a few rocks to go in the tumble, smaller than the unakite, so they might work well for semi-smalls. A question...the white quartz-looking gravel that you buy in a plastic bag at Lowes or HD, would it be ok to use as smalls in most tumbles? I'm not sure how it plays with other rocks. Yes, Andrea, I'm excited about it. After a little plotting, planning, and rigging....we've got a barrel rolling. I agree...fun. For me, that's what it's about. Seems like good therapy...and the local authorities have agreed that that's what I need. captbob...yep, measured the water, measured the grit, weighed the rock, weighed the smalls, clocked the rpm's of the barrel, and even measured the distance from the top of the rocks to the top of the barrel to insure the rocks came up close to the 3/4 mark I have noted on the outside of the barrel,...and I'm thinking about putting a Kill-A-Watt meter on the Model A to see what kinda power is being used. Rob, I'm going to try and hold out for a week. I'll just be happy if the vintage Model A keeps going. After oiling it and letting it dry run for a while it seems to be good and strong now...starting up quickly with a fairly heavy load on it. I'll check the motor temperature today and see where it's at. I checked it the other day and the hottest spot on the motor was just under 160F. If I recall correctly the motor shaft/pulley was sitting +/- 130F. The belt as it rode on the topside of the roller pulley was reading around 98F. (How ya like that captbob? ) So, maybe I do need to look today...just to be sure a slurry has kicked in, to make sure there's enough water, ot make sure the rocks are still in there, etc.,.
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Oct 2, 2015 8:00:06 GMT -5
Perfect, let em roll. Those quartz rocks will do just as well as any on giving you an education and learning your machine. Fun starts now. Congrats Ed.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Oct 2, 2015 8:08:46 GMT -5
Congrats on getting rolling. No turning back now. I ran some of that unakite in a mix of agates and jaspers and it held its own. May take a better shine in a full load of just unakite but no complaints with the mixed batch results. Link to mixed load with unakiteChuck
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Post by orrum on Oct 2, 2015 9:08:55 GMT -5
You are tumbling! Might want to start the tumbler running before putting the barrel on, that puts less start up load on the motor.
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Post by captbob on Oct 2, 2015 9:16:32 GMT -5
captbob...yep, measured the water, measured the grit, weighed the rock, weighed the smalls, clocked the rpm's of the barrel, and even measured the distance from the top of the rocks to the top of the barrel to insure the rocks came up close to the 3/4 mark I have noted on the outside of the barrel,...and I'm thinking about putting a Kill-A-Watt meter on the Model A to see what kinda power is being used. I'll check the motor temperature today and see where it's at. I checked it the other day and the hottest spot on the motor was just under 160F. If I recall correctly the motor shaft/pulley was sitting +/- 130F. The belt as it rode on the topside of the roller pulley was reading around 98F. (How ya like that captbob? ) and I thought I was anal meticulous ... Thought about getting a Kill-A-Watt meter. Figured there are some things that I'm better off not knowing.
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Intheswamp
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Member since September 2015
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Post by Intheswamp on Oct 2, 2015 9:43:22 GMT -5
Jim, I guess I'll see what the quartz does...I knew I needed some smalls in there to get into the nooks and crannies of the rough I had. The next time I go rock hunting I'll be sure to bring some smalls back with me representative of the rough I that I collect. Hopefully I added enough of the quartz to the barrel...1/2 pound didn't seem like much but I guess rocks are heavy, huh?<grin> Thanks, Chuck. Nope, I'm committed now. I'm not so sure how important the rocks the granddaughters found are to them, but using them with the unakite would give them some ownership of the tumbling process. We'll see... I need to get a better education on rocks in general. Take quartz, that's a (big) family with many individual members to the family. Those white smalls that I added...I look at them and say "they're some type of quartz"...or if I want to be specific I say "white quartz", but something tells me they have a more accurate name. I just found a link to a good MOHS listing of rocks giving gemstone names and the family names. I can see that it's not all-encompassing as unakite isn't listed though I've found it elsewhere stated as being an altered granite and 6-7 on the scale. It's a fair list, though, I'll post the link in case anyone is interested... Mohs hardness scale for Gemstones If nothing else, I guess that I could coarse tumble the unakite with other rocks and then polish separately if I wanted a max shine? I'll probably just do a specific tumble for them, though...they're some nice looking rocks!!!!!!
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Intheswamp
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Member since September 2015
Posts: 1,910
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Post by Intheswamp on Oct 2, 2015 9:46:28 GMT -5
captbob...yep, measured the water, measured the grit, weighed the rock, weighed the smalls, clocked the rpm's of the barrel, and even measured the distance from the top of the rocks to the top of the barrel to insure the rocks came up close to the 3/4 mark I have noted on the outside of the barrel,...and I'm thinking about putting a Kill-A-Watt meter on the Model A to see what kinda power is being used. I'll check the motor temperature today and see where it's at. I checked it the other day and the hottest spot on the motor was just under 160F. If I recall correctly the motor shaft/pulley was sitting +/- 130F. The belt as it rode on the topside of the roller pulley was reading around 98F. (How ya like that captbob? ) and I thought I was anal meticulous ... Thought about getting a Kill-A-Watt meter. Figured there are some things that I'm better off not knowing. <chuckle> I do agree with the "not knowing" stuff on some things. This is an old, early version of the kilawatt meter....it's been sitting in drawer for the last 10+ years. It was informative, but kind of nose wrinkling and eyebrow raising, too.
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Post by captbob on Oct 2, 2015 9:46:59 GMT -5
Sounds like you have enough rock, so why not just break some of them up with a hammer to make smalls?
Life is too short to waste time tumbling crappy rocks.
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Intheswamp
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Post by Intheswamp on Oct 2, 2015 9:55:32 GMT -5
You are tumbling! Might want to start the tumbler running before putting the barrel on, that puts less start up load on the motor. Thanks for the suggestion! I've intentionally been trying to put some hard testing to this old Model A motor. At first it was rather anemic and wouldn't start on it's own rolling an empty barrel. I oiled it and let it run overnight, part of the time with a loaded barrel on it...the belt broke at some point that night and it free-wheeled the rest of the time until I stopped it. After I replaced the belt I tested it and it was like an entirely different motor...it now starts turning an overloaded barrel from a dead stop without hesitation. I wanted the motor to be able to start from a dead start in case of power outages....I didn't want the motor sitting there straining, unable to turn, and burning out. I think it as at the point now where I'm comfortable if a power outage hits that the tumbler will start rolling the barrel once the power is restored. I haven't got to the shop yet this morning and I'm interested in seeing how it did with the ~7.5 pound load....hopefully it's still tumbling. As for the future, I may just take that suggestion of starting the tumbler up before loading...no need to push it too hard now. Maybe just a test loaded start-up every now and then.
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Intheswamp
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Member since September 2015
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Post by Intheswamp on Oct 2, 2015 10:02:33 GMT -5
Sounds like you have enough rock, so why not just break some of them up with a hammer to make smalls? Life is too short to waste time tumbling crappy rocks. Now that's definitely an option. I may just do that when I do the first wash/rinse/repeat and take the plain quartz out....or maybe not.
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Oct 2, 2015 10:19:23 GMT -5
Well it's a start................Thumbs up
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Post by txrockhunter on Oct 2, 2015 11:35:08 GMT -5
Man, you have got it goin' on! Really looking forward to seeing how those turn out! Keep on posting the detailed steps.... It's like living vicariously through your experiment! I am much more of a feel guy and will never be that detailed (I would be a horrible geologist). Jeremy
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Intheswamp
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Member since September 2015
Posts: 1,910
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Post by Intheswamp on Oct 3, 2015 19:01:39 GMT -5
I left the Model A at the shop last night. Before I left I noticed the bushings squeaking...didn't have any 3n1 oil so I put a little airgun oil on them...hopefully they won't be gooey when I check it Tuesday (gotta be out of town Monday). We'll see.
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Intheswamp
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Member since September 2015
Posts: 1,910
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Post by Intheswamp on Oct 8, 2015 17:40:07 GMT -5
Well, it was the 1st when I started this batch tumbling and today's the 8th....but I'm gonna wait until tomorrow evening to open it up. Hopefully the rocks won't spoil before then.
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Intheswamp
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Member since September 2015
Posts: 1,910
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Post by Intheswamp on Oct 9, 2015 18:12:56 GMT -5
I had a few minutes earlier this evening to check the load in the Model A. I felt the slurry and it felt like the grit was pretty well gone out of it, but being a rookie I may be wrong. The slurry was watery like a watered down milkshake. Anyhow I dumped the load out in a cut up milk jug and rinsed them off. After looking trough them I can tell a big change in them. Matter of fact I'm a little concerned about running them another week in the coarse grit being as some of them are getting smaller and smaller....BUT, I still see a few cracks and pits in some fo them. Do the "fractures"(?) smooth out? There's one rock in there that had a rough, almost porous texture to begin with...it's smaller, but still rough...I'm thinking I'll cull it when I check them next time. The pet wood and the red stones(?) are smoothing out nicely, as are the small quartz smalls that I added. I put the rinsed-off rocks back in the dirty barrel and poured a little of the slurry back in, added three tablespoons of 60/90 and a bit of water to get it back about to where it was in regards to rock level. We'll see how a little more time in coarse grit goes... Rocks and slurry in barrel... IMG_7287a (Custom) by Intheswamp, on Flickr After 8 days of coarse tumbling... IMG_7292a (Custom) by Intheswamp, on Flickr And the original rocks (so you won't have to go back to the beginning of the thread )... IMG_7278a (Custom) by Intheswamp, on Flickr
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 10, 2015 8:35:15 GMT -5
Your slurry looks fine. I thInk some people get overly concerned about how thick the slurry is. If the grit is used up and your rocks look different, then it had done Its job. The harder your rocks, the thinner the slurry will be. The only time I get really thick slurry is when I tumble really soft rocks. For example, Petoskey stones will make a slurry like pudding. I double the water when doing them to prevent the pudding slurry.
You will lose a lot of volume when tumbling rocks. Don't be surprised if they're half the size they started at. Your rocks are not done. Add some more and run it again. Only remove the rocks as they get done. They won't be done at the same time, you porous rock may be that way all the way through. Do like you said and run it one more week. Toss it if it doesn't improve. Fractures can be removed if they don't go too deep. Some fractures will go right through the rock and can be moved to the next stage. If the rock is big enough, sometimes you can break it along a fracture and tumble two smaller, fracture free rocks.
The first week is where you see the biggest change. Don't expect the change to be as drastic next week.
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