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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 28, 2017 14:27:34 GMT -5
I've been experimenting more with rotary tumbling lately. I've been using plastic pellets, which I don't completely understand. I will also experiment with ceramic media in my rotary barrels. I find separating plastic from the rocks to be very frustrating. What I've been doing is filling the barrel with water and pouring the plastic off into a kitchen strainer similar to this: This takes forever because some of the pellets get stuck under the rocks. Each time I fill the barrel with water, I reach in and try to move the rocks around to release more plastic so they can float to the top. I realize that it would be better to dump the whole thing into a larger bucket and then use the strainer to skim them off the top. I haven't done this because I feel like I should have a separate bucket and strainer for each grit size to avoid contaminating my pellets. For those of you who use plastic pellets on a regular basis, how do you deal with them?
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Post by spiceman on Jan 28, 2017 14:35:43 GMT -5
Well, I don't remember the size but I took a water bottle, cut the top off. Drilled holes about .050 bigger than the balls. Used that for a sifter, if the rocks fell through the holes they are too small anyways. It works for me.
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Post by orrum on Jan 28, 2017 16:02:52 GMT -5
Some of them sink too. I just rinse everything in a large colander with super small holes and then dump all of it into a huge bowl. Then fill with water and skim the floating pellets. The sinking and semi sinking pellets I leave with the rocks. Then I select the rocks that can move to the first stage Loto and throw the rest of the rocks along with the odd plastic pellet back in a rotary with 46-70.
The question I have is that if 46-70 gets imbeded in a pellet then it doesn't get broken down. Then the broken down 46-70 not imbeded makes the rocks smoother and smoother as it breaks down. All of a sudden some unbroken particles of 46-70 come out of the plastic pellets and cause deep scratches in the smoother rocks right? This would be a problem because it could occur in the rotary without it ever stopping rotating.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 28, 2017 17:54:54 GMT -5
When I rotary tumbled I used just about the same method orrum described. Dumped the whole barrel into my normal colander and rinsed it all together. After that I dumped that into a bucket of water and let the majority of the pellets float up. I used an ice fishing skimmer to scoop them from the top. After the rocks and pellets were separated I would usually give just the rocks another quick rinse before moving them on. Chuck
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 28, 2017 19:00:18 GMT -5
Thanks everyone. I guess I need to find some colanders with smaller holes. The plastic goes right through the holes in the ones I have.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 28, 2017 22:39:51 GMT -5
I should have added that I absolutely hated used those darn beads. Not having to use plastic beads may have been the best part of getting my lot-o. Not sure I could ever go back. Good luck with your mission.
Chuck
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,341
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Post by quartz on Jan 28, 2017 23:39:33 GMT -5
I do it the other way around using air soft pellets that sink, S.G. 1+, and pull the rocks out of the slurry to wash them. Then I separate the pellets out using a wire colander. I found the pellets that float to be a major pain. Not the most fun but I like the cushioning help I get from the pellets.
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Post by captbob on Jan 29, 2017 1:29:45 GMT -5
And then I do it the other other way around. Naturally. I dump the barrel in the classifying screen thingy and pick the rocks out, putting them in a separate bucket of water. Then I can rinse out the screen strainer which is sitting on a 5 gal bucket with the ceramic media or plastic beads in it and I'm good to move on however I need to. Doesn't matter whether the beads float or not. Actually I rinse the screen into the bucket before picking out the clean rocks. I wouldn't dream of not using plastic beads from 500 grit through polish. (ceramics in this load, but it doesn't matter - works the same with beads)
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,179
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Post by jamesp on Jan 29, 2017 7:14:43 GMT -5
You guys know my opinion. After coarse grind move to AO 80 with plenty(30% smalls or ceramic media) and 80-85% barrel fill for protection. Run 10-14 days. Then polish. Please don't bomb the messenger
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Post by orrum on Jan 29, 2017 7:26:50 GMT -5
Hey Chuck I also forgoion I hatt to mene them but use them with quartz and glass/obsidian because I think they cushion better with less bruising. When they r gone I am not getting more! LOL Ceramics will have to do.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 29, 2017 8:16:21 GMT -5
And then I do it the other other way around. Naturally. I dump the barrel in the classifying screen thingy and pick the rocks out, putting them in a separate bucket of water. Then I can rinse out the screen strainer which is sitting on a 5 gal bucket with the ceramic media or plastic beads in it and I'm good to move on however I need to. Doesn't matter whether the beads float or not. Actually I rinse the screen into the bucket before picking out the clean rocks. I wouldn't dream of not using plastic beads from 500 grit through polish. (ceramics in this load, but it doesn't matter - works the same with beads) Do you use a different classifier for each grit? I have separate colanders for each grit, but they're a lot cheaper than classifiers. I do have one classifier.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Jan 29, 2017 9:42:37 GMT -5
I used to use large plastic bowls. Got mine at Dollar General. Less than 3 bucks each as I recall.
Gave up on plastic in the rotary however. Used ceramic and filled to 85% for cushion in later stages. Worked well.
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Post by pghram on Jan 29, 2017 10:03:04 GMT -5
I only use them in polish to fill the barrel more than 3/4 full. I float them out as best i can, then hand pick the rest. PITA!
Peace,
Rich
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Post by greig on Jan 29, 2017 10:22:28 GMT -5
I float them after washing everything well. However, here is something I saw this summer (should have taken a video):
I had the rocks and plastic beads in a gold panning sieve on my back deck. The chickens were out and about. A few came onto the deck and found the sieve and ate every last plastic bead. Probably got some small rock too, but I am not going into the coop to check. Anyway, if you don't want to sort by hand, let some chickens do it. LOL
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inbtb
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2016
Posts: 351
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Post by inbtb on Jan 29, 2017 10:42:49 GMT -5
I quit using plastic pellets, to big a PITA. But when I did use them, after cleaning the slurry off everything I would dump the whole batch in a tub and add enough water to float the beads. Then pick out rocks then dump water and beads into a colander to drain. Then dump beads into to a pan to dry. After drying into a plastic bag for later use.
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ubermenehune
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2016
Posts: 293
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Post by ubermenehune on Jan 29, 2017 14:33:34 GMT -5
I quit using plastic pellets, to big a PITA. Same here. Not worth the effort in my opinion. Pea gravel ftw.
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Post by spiceman on Jan 29, 2017 22:50:50 GMT -5
Everybody does different things to separate the plastic balls. So, I put mine in a paint pan and put under the down spout. At the end of the paint pan I put a retangle Tupperware type pan. Drill holes along the bottom so the water water won't float the balls over the top. In the morning or after some rain all the plastic balls are in the Tupperware and ready t be used. The rain does the work.
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osuguy0301
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 203
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Post by osuguy0301 on Jan 30, 2017 7:12:49 GMT -5
I bought cheap colanders from Dollar General. They are white plastic and I think they are $2 a piece. The holes are small enough that the plastic pellets won't fall through. I just dump my whole barrel into the colander, rinse everything off, then move the rocks to a 2 gallon bucket of water to inspect and clean. I let the pellets and really small rocks sit in the colander for a few days to dry. I have small tupperware containers labeled with the grit size the pellets go in and I just dump them from the colander into their container. I only use pellets in 500 and polish though. This has worked for me and takes minimal effort.
Jake
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