zw685
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2019
Posts: 2
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Post by zw685 on Oct 26, 2019 13:35:22 GMT -5
Hi all,
Looking for a new rock tumbler. I’ve got a whole bag of rocks that I have hounded that need tumbling and my one tumbler can’t keep up with them all. Whats good tumbler to buy. Looking for a double barrel so I can commit one barrel to just polishing.
Also what grit is best? I’ve been using Polly plastics and I feel like the final polish isn’t that great. Any ideas or tips? Thanks!
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Post by RocksInNJ on Oct 26, 2019 15:13:50 GMT -5
Lortone makes a great tumbler. They have the 33B with two 3lb barrels and a QT-66 with two 6lb barrels. I just purchased the QT-66 from therockshed.com. They have the best price and are very helpful and great to deal with. A lot of people here deal with them for tumblers and grit. Some other places for grit that I’ve seen people here use, would be rocktumbler.com and Kingsleynorth.com. Best of luck and let us know how you make out.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Oct 27, 2019 10:53:18 GMT -5
zw685 I like Lortone tumblers but Thumlers rate well with their users here also. When I started I used a 33b double 3# lortone tumbler. Nice little machine. It didn't take more than a year for me to buy a second 33b. I could have all four steps running at once if need be with two 33b's. Shortly after that I bought lortone's QT66 double 6# tumbler. Then a 12# barrel for my QT 66. And so on until now when if everything is running I'm doing 4 12# barrels of rough grind. A lot of people "get hooked" on this hobby and wanna go bigger better faster. If it is in your budget I would buy Lortone QT66 along with a Lortone 12# barrel. The QT66 frame accepts two 6 pound barrels, or one 12# barrel. You can then devote the 12# barrel to stage one coarse grind. One of the 6# barrels for fine / pre-polish, and the other for polish. Just my two cents worth of course. Kingsley North and The Rock Shed are both good sources for grits and polishes. As it works out for me I buy grit from Kingsley because 50 pounds after shipping is cheaper. I buy Rock Shed AO polish because the price is right and it polishes "everything", and works great rotary or vibe. Bang for the buck can be important in this hobby, grits will be a leading investment. Welcome to the board, have fun, Rock on!
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JBe
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2019
Posts: 103
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Post by JBe on Oct 28, 2019 10:17:56 GMT -5
I started out with a Thumler 3 lb rotary. It ran for a couple weeks and the guides were shaving a fair amount of material off the barrel no matter how I positioned it. I also didn't like the way the lid seals on the barrel with just an o-ring around the outside (it didn't leak in the time I had it though). I ended up returning it.
From there I went with a Lortone 33B. I ran this for about 6 months before I decided I needed more capacity. I upgraded to a QT66 and added a 12 lb barrel for it shortly after. The 33B sits unused now. I wish I had gone straight for the QT66. If you think you'll stick with the hobby and the price of the QT66 is within your budget I'd start there.
I only use the rotaries for rough tumble. I have a Lot-O for polishing stages.
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Post by greig on Oct 28, 2019 10:26:12 GMT -5
I have various sizes of rotary tumblers and all are Lortone. I think any brand with a rubber barrel is probably OK (stay away from plastic as they wear out prematurely). The rocks don't care what brand they are being tumbled in. I am in Canada and it is easier to acquire Lortone than other brands here. So far, I have no complaint with the product.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Oct 29, 2019 8:06:50 GMT -5
Hi ZW685 - You said you had a whole bag of rocks to tumble. I'm assuming you mean a big heavy batch of rocks to process. I use three Thumler's Tumblers. I have two of the 15 lb Model B rotary and one of the 18 lb Model UV-18 vibratory model. These tumblers take large rock loads, are relatively fast, and from my personal experience they are well built, and except for an occasional broken belt, I have not had a lick of problems. thumlerstumbler.com/rotary.htmlthumlerstumbler.com/vibratory.htmlI have not used other brands so am not saying these are the best. They are big enough and strong enough to crank out a lot of polished stones. They are not terribly noisy but I run them in my backyard shed.
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MommaGem
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2019
Posts: 312
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Post by MommaGem on Oct 29, 2019 14:22:42 GMT -5
I also use the Lortone QT66 - it's a great tumbler. For grit, I buy all of mine at the Rock Shed. I resolved my final polish problems by adding in a stage of 1000 grit as pre-polish and it works like a charm!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 29, 2019 16:12:27 GMT -5
Lortone and The Rock Shed for me too.
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Post by TheRock on Oct 29, 2019 19:02:29 GMT -5
Hi all, Looking for a new rock tumbler. I’ve got a whole bag of rocks that I have hounded that need tumbling and my one tumbler can’t keep up with them all. Whats good tumbler to buy. Looking for a double barrel so I can commit one barrel to just polishing. Also what grit is best? I’ve been using Polly plastics and I feel like the final polish isn’t that great. Any ideas or tips? Thanks! Hi zw685 Let me suggest something to you. A Rotary Tumbler is mainly use to round and shape the rocks. you can polish with a Rotary but it takes a LONG TIME! A Vibratory Tumbler does in a few days what takes several weeks or months what it takes a Rotary Tumbler to Accomplish. In my honest opinion to speed up your process you should consider a Vibratory Tumbler for the polishing, And a Rotary for rounding and shaping the rocks. A Lot"O" Tumbler is a good choice but a Thumler UV-18 would be an even better choice to grow into if you can afford it and you don't have to monkey around with mounting the Lot"O" to a concrete block. I have em both and that's the way I would go in hindsight. Good Luck
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Post by As I in does tries! on Oct 31, 2019 5:31:58 GMT -5
Greetings zw685 I agree with therock however larger barrels such as the Lortone QT12 have more mass and can eat a pound in weight of Fixed 80 (60/90) grit every 5 - 7 days, but the entire barrel can weigh around 20kg (44lb), the Lortone QT 12/66 can either run 1 12lb or 2 6lb barrels that weigh only around 5kg (11lb) each. The common issue with noobs is the 28 day cycle that the instructions state is wrong, F80 (60/90) Silicon Carbide is about 29 (4x5+9) days, then five days of each for F600 SC (F500 Aluminum Oxide), F1200 SC (F1000 AO), Polish of choice, plus 4 days in borax giving a total of 48 days. Viking VT, VSV vibrasonic and minisonic vibratory tumblers frequently come up on Craiglist for around $300 or less, jamesp bought a second hand one on Craiglist listed as a VT8 (the VT8 is two 4lb hoppers for the VSV series), at a glance I saw it was in fact Viking VT14 vibrasonic 6.4kg (14lb) hopper, I myself have a pair of the Original Viking VT vibrasonic tumblers from 1972 and 1974 with a pair of 6lb and a 14lb hopper for £80 ($110) 8 year ago. I bought a new VT14 hopper with lid from johnjsgems just shy of $700 including import taxes into Scotland 4 years ago and it is still in it's packing box un-used.
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