zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Feb 25, 2017 18:18:07 GMT -5
I just finished a batch of double-sided cabs. I think there are 80 of them plus 10 or so single sided cabs. I removed most of the regular cabs for this photo. I started by shaping them on the 60 grit sintered wheel. I drilled the hole & then resumed with shaping. I finalized the shape on a 220 plated wheel. Then into the Lot-O tumbler using 220, 400, 600, an unknown "prepolish" & then tripoli, aluminum oxide & cerium oxide. I follow a recipe I found here with a couple of tweaks to suit the grits & polishes I have acquired. I spent a couple of weeks on the shaping. They only filled my barrel halfway, so I used ceramic pellets to fill up the space. The tumbling takes 10 days. I'm very pleased with the results. They took a great shine. After shaping a cab, the rest is pretty tedious. I hope no liberals are sad that a machine took away my job made my job easier. There are lots of Indian Blanket jasper, Cedar City agate, Montana Moss agate, & some other jaspers and agates. I will add some closeups as I have time to shoot more pix. These are drilled with a 2.5 - 3mm hole. A waxed cotton cord with magnetic clasps on the ends makes it into a pendant. My first show isn't until Mother's Day weekend, so I'm building up my inventory. I also need to get my Etsy store going again after not having anything in it for a long time. Lynn
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Post by captbob on Feb 25, 2017 18:20:45 GMT -5
Holy cow! You win the internet today!
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Post by orrum on Feb 25, 2017 18:45:56 GMT -5
X2 Captbob!!!
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Feb 25, 2017 18:48:03 GMT -5
Holy cow! You win the internet today! Sir, do you have the internet at your house? ... ... ... ... Could you send him home, please.
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Post by pghram on Feb 25, 2017 19:33:52 GMT -5
That's quite a nice batch of cabs. Beautiful wet shine!
Peace, Rich
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jeannie
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 266
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Post by jeannie on Feb 27, 2017 19:09:27 GMT -5
Wow! I hope I get this good some day! Really nice!!!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 27, 2017 19:57:03 GMT -5
Wow, that's a whole lot of shiny cabs. Nice!
I find your Lot-O procedure interesting. It seems like you're doubling up on a couple of stages. Your unknown prepolish and Tripoli seem redundant and aluminum oxide and cerium oxide also seem redundant. Do you notice a difference after each of these stages? I do 220, 500, 1000, then aluminum oxide polish. Most of time, I don't know if the 1000 is even necessary, but what's a couple more days? Whatever you're doing, it's working well.
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Feb 27, 2017 20:23:58 GMT -5
Wow, that's a whole lot of shiny cabs. Nice! I find your Lot-O procedure interesting. It seems like you're doubling up on a couple of stages. Your unknown prepolish and Tripoli seem redundant and aluminum oxide and cerium oxide also seem redundant. Do you notice a difference after each of these stages? I do 220, 500, 1000, then aluminum oxide polish. Most of time, I don't know if the 1000 is even necessary, but what's a couple more days? Whatever you're doing, it's working well. Here's the recipe I got from here: From 2nd Stage 2 Tablespoons 220 Grit, Run 48 Hours, Wash Up 1/2 teaspoon 400 grit, Run 24 hours, Wash up 1/2 teaspoon 600 Grit, Run 24 hours, Wash up Burnishing stage 1 teaspoon soapflakes 2 teaspoons Borax. Run overnight 12 to 18 hours. Wash up. I also change barrel to polishing barrel at this stage. From now on NO washing just adding ingredients 1/2 Teaspoon 1000grit ----------Run 48 Hours ADD 1/2 teaspoon Tripoli ---------Run 24 hours ADD 1/2 teaspoon Tin Oxide AND 1/2 teaspoon Cerium Oxide -----Run for 48 Hours I'm using my unknown pre-polish instead of 1000. I don't have tripoli either so I'm using another unknown polish. Notice teh Aluminum Oxide & Cerium Oxide go in at the same time. True, I may be doubling up by not knowing what polishes I have. Someday I'll be more scientific & do some A/B testing of polishes. Lynn
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Feb 27, 2017 20:32:19 GMT -5
Never seen that recipe before but you got great results. Thanks for the show.
Chuck
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 27, 2017 20:41:11 GMT -5
I used to use that recipe, or something very similar. Now I do this:
220 SiC - 2 days 500 AO and borax - 2 days 1000 AO and borax - 2 days AO polish and borax - 2 days
I use 2 tablespoons of 220, 1 tablespoons of borax, and 1/2 teaspoon of everything else. I switch to my polish barrel just for polishing. The Lot-O instructions from the manufacturer say that they found that cerium does not work well in the Lot-O. When I used that recipe, I used tin oxide. I never use tin oxide any more.
I burnish with borax between stages for 15 minutes to an hour.
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Feb 28, 2017 0:55:56 GMT -5
I used to use that recipe, or something very similar. Now I do this: 220 SiC - 2 days 500 AO and borax - 2 days 1000 AO and borax - 2 days AO polish and borax - 2 days I use 2 tablespoons of 220, 1 tablespoons of borax, and 1/2 teaspoon of everything else. I switch to my polish barrel just for polishing. The Lot-O instructions from the manufacturer say that they found that cerium does not work well in the Lot-O. When I used that recipe, I used tin oxide. I never use tin oxide any more. I burnish with borax between stages for 15 minutes to an hour. I'll give your recipe a try next batch. Lynn
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Post by tims on Feb 28, 2017 7:15:42 GMT -5
Beautiful stones and shine. How do you drill them? I'm surprised the holes don't indent more running from 220-, they seem to stay pretty flush.
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Post by radio on Feb 28, 2017 8:30:04 GMT -5
Great job on some pretty stones! I have to admit the holes in a few of the Montana's made me cringe a bit as they are worthy of bezel setting in sterling
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,179
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Post by jamesp on Feb 28, 2017 8:54:49 GMT -5
Your abrasive path sure did the job. Liking the tumble finished holes. Something a tumbler is great for. Those should paint an Etsy page well.
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Post by captbob on Feb 28, 2017 9:11:47 GMT -5
Here's the recipe I got from here: From 2nd Stage 2 Tablespoons 220 Grit, Run 48 Hours, Wash Up 1/2 teaspoon 400 grit, Run 24 hours, Wash up 1/2 teaspoon 600 Grit, Run 24 hours, Wash up Burnishing stage 1 teaspoon soapflakes 2 teaspoons Borax. Run overnight 12 to 18 hours. Wash up. I also change barrel to polishing barrel at this stage. From now on NO washing just adding ingredients 1/2 Teaspoon 1000grit ----------Run 48 Hours ADD 1/2 teaspoon Tripoli ---------Run 24 hours ADD 1/2 teaspoon Tin Oxide AND 1/2 teaspoon Cerium Oxide -----Run for 48 Hours I'm using my unknown pre-polish instead of 1000. I don't have tripoli either so I'm using another unknown polish. Notice teh Aluminum Oxide & Cerium Oxide go in at the same time. True, I may be doubling up by not knowing what polishes I have. Someday I'll be more scientific & do some A/B testing of polishes. Lynn I appreciate all the steps you go through. Sounds like one of my rotary tumble runs. If it ain't broke... as to - Tripoli (from my reading) is in the 700 to 800 grit range. Running that after 1000 may be a step backwards. And, your unknown pre-polish may well be a 500 AO. That is kinda typical for a pre-polish. Thinking that you may want to tweek the order of your steps here. I sometimes run more than one polish at the same time as well. Often Tin Oxide with Aluminum Oxide. Kinda figure it's like putting salt & pepper on a steak. They both add to the finished product. Again, wow & if it ain't broke...
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hh5
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2012
Posts: 136
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Post by hh5 on Feb 28, 2017 20:28:14 GMT -5
Nice work, I am going to have to give this a try. It seems I spend most of my time on the sanding of the cabs. So by tumbling I could possibly save a LOT of time. Thanks for the heads up and beautiful work.
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Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Feb 28, 2017 20:32:14 GMT -5
I just finished a batch of double-sided cabs. I think there are 80 of them plus 10 or so single sided cabs. I removed most of the regular cabs for this photo. I started by shaping them on the 60 grit sintered wheel. I drilled the hole & then resumed with shaping. I finalized the shape on a 220 plated wheel. Then into the Lot-O tumbler using 220, 400, 600, an unknown "prepolish" & then tripoli, aluminum oxide & cerium oxide. I follow a recipe I found here with a couple of tweaks to suit the grits & polishes I have acquired. I spent a couple of weeks on the shaping. They only filled my barrel halfway, so I used ceramic pellets to fill up the space. The tumbling takes 10 days. I'm very pleased with the results. They took a great shine. After shaping a cab, the rest is pretty tedious. I hope no liberals are sad that a machine took away my job made my job easier. There are lots of Indian Blanket jasper, Cedar City agate, Montana Moss agate, & some other jaspers and agates. I will add some closeups as I have time to shoot more pix. These are drilled with a 2.5 - 3mm hole. A waxed cotton cord with magnetic clasps on the ends makes it into a pendant. My first show isn't until Mother's Day weekend, so I'm building up my inventory. I also need to get my Etsy store going again after not having anything in it for a long time. Lynn Stellar batch, Lynn.
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zekesman
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2016
Posts: 637
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Post by zekesman on Mar 1, 2017 13:37:54 GMT -5
Wow high quality and quantity! Very nice π. What show are you headed to on Mother's Day? Maybe we can look you up. Vic
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Mar 1, 2017 13:50:28 GMT -5
Wow high quality and quantity! Very nice π. What show are you headed to on Mother's Day? Maybe we can look you up. Vic Grand Junction, Colorado Rock Club's annual show on Mother's day weekend. It'll be my first time. Lynn
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Post by Garage Rocker on Mar 1, 2017 13:55:24 GMT -5
Nice bunch of cabs! I like your mass production system.
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