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Post by RocksInNJ on Feb 17, 2020 1:59:35 GMT -5
Apparently aliens skid landed on obsidian needles at times. Had to pick them out of their arses RocksInNJ lol. Crash maybe, but land? Oh hell no!
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 20, 2020 20:38:37 GMT -5
3rd Clean Out 2-20-2020 - 10 days
Reduced the cycle to 10 days instead of the previous 11 days. The slurry was not quite as heavy at the end of this run. The large Crystal was worn down a bit, still a ways to go.
Single point - start - 3.86 lbs (1750 grams) - 3rd clean out - 3.81 lbs(1730 grams) for a about only a 1.3% loss . This is a lot less than the loss for the previous runs. Not sure why. The only difference was the run time after last re-charge, 1 day less. That would not seem to be the reason. May have to try and add the day back and see if it makes a difference.
The run continues to be a grinding mill for the filler quartz. Started with 8 pounds, added 1 pound at the 2nd re-charge. It was down to 7.05 pounds at clean out for a 24.4% loss. I pulled out another 3.8 pounds ready for next stage for a total of almost 10 pounds ready for the 2nd stage - 600 SiC
I did put the crystal in top down for this run, although I noticed it can fit sideways in the barrel so I will be interested to see if it flips.
Sorry no pictures(again!) as I had to empty and get rock weighed and barrel re-loaded dodging raindrops, 18 geode and agate halves rinsed and moved from 600 SiC to Polish on the Vib-Lap and then finishing up packing for the Rock Show this weekend.
Henry
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on Feb 20, 2020 22:53:19 GMT -5
20 grams down from last time - ten days, including a recharge? That's seems lower than I would have expected. What's your coarse grade?
That one I did was losing 40-50 g every 7 days with 60/90, no recharges. Odd.
If it's getting ground down to the point it can fit sideways in the barrel, I wonder the possibility of it getting stuck now and again. That could slow the grinding quite a bit.
Interesting to see how these large tumbles progress. I'm taking mental notes, and pondering. Looking forward to what the next update brings!
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 21, 2020 7:53:38 GMT -5
20 grams down from last time - ten days, including a recharge? That's seems lower than I would have expected. What's your coarse grade? That one I did was losing 40-50 g every 7 days with 60/90, no recharges. Odd. If it's getting ground down to the point it can fit sideways in the barrel, I wonder the possibility of it getting stuck now and again. That could slow the grinding quite a bit. Interesting to see how these large tumbles progress. I'm taking mental notes, and pondering. Looking forward to what the next update brings! 46/70 grit. I think your "getting stuck sideways" thought is probably the culprit to the reduced grinding. Even if it just fits sideways, it only takes one rock to "wedge it" and hold in place for a while, reducing the grinding. Because the previous two or three large rocks I have tumbled have all been more rounded the possibility of a jam was reduced. This one being taller than it is wide probably contributed to a few stuck episodes during the 10 days. Plus, even if it does not get stuck, the end over end movement going sideways in the barrel is not applying as much force as rolling in the barrel. Good catch!! thanks (this is one of real benefits of this forum, besides all the great pictures and finding out "what the heck is jamesp up to now!!) Henry
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 21, 2020 8:19:21 GMT -5
I always figured you make the smalls small enough to avoid a jam. Say a 6 inch ID barrel can do a 4 inch rock with 1 inch smalls. An 8 inch ID barrel can do a 6 inch rock with 1 inch smalls. Or 5 inch rock with 1.5 inch smalls. That was my formula and I never had a jam. Gotta be bored Henry. Broke the 1-4-1 rule in a 6 inch barrel with the 6" wood and the 4.5" black/white agate though.
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Post by HankRocks on Feb 21, 2020 8:47:05 GMT -5
I always figured you make the smalls small enough to avoid a jam. Say a 6 inch ID barrel can do a 4 inch rock with 1 inch smalls. An 8 inch ID barrel can do a 6 inch rock with 1 inch smalls. Or 5 inch rock with 1.5 inch smalls. That was my formula and I never had a jam. Gotta be bored Henry. I think I will empty the barrel after 4 or 5 days and measure the height of the large crystal and then check the size of the smalls and remove any that would qualify as "jam makers". Besides starting over with another 10 day cycle fits well into a "shut-down" week I have coming. I wish I had time to be bored!!! Of course if I did have time I would just fill it with something!! Thanks Jim
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 21, 2020 9:46:09 GMT -5
I always figured you make the smalls small enough to avoid a jam. Say a 6 inch ID barrel can do a 4 inch rock with 1 inch smalls. An 8 inch ID barrel can do a 6 inch rock with 1 inch smalls. Or 5 inch rock with 1.5 inch smalls. That was my formula and I never had a jam. Gotta be bored Henry. I think I will empty the barrel after 4 or 5 days and measure the height of the large crystal and then check the size of the smalls and remove any that would qualify as "jam makers". Besides starting over with another 10 day cycle fits well into a "shut-down" week I have coming. I wish I had time to be bored!!! Of course if I did have time I would just fill it with something!! Thanks Jim This is the system for big rocks Henry. Did about 25 of them late 2016/early 2017. Got busy and had to do other duties. There are photos of two big rocks going thru the "grind/tumble - grind/tumble - grind/tumble" operation. Five PVC barrels holding 7 pounds. One big rock/barrel. 5 bigs at a time rolling 5 barrels simultaneously. I would use the tile/tuck blade grinder to shape the rock as it was run in SiC 30. The grind/tumble steps 3 to 4 times each big rock. Lots of time spent. I only used the rotary with SiC 30 to remove the grind marks from the tuck blade. The tuck blade did 95% of the shaping. So it only took 2 to 3 weeks to have the big rock ready for the vibe. I switched from SiC 30 to SiC 60 for the last 4 days in rotary so the big rock could go in the divided vibe at AO 220. Vibe was only AO 220 for 2 days, polish for 18 hours. Really fast due to big rock. As mentioned before, the tuck blade/$90 tile saw combo at 4500 rpm would made the super saw blade grinder look like a butter shaper. www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157713197639332These are the smalls run with the Bloodstone. All roughly pre-tumbled reject hard coral. Looking at 7 pounds total. No pea gravel.
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 2, 2020 8:03:31 GMT -5
4th Clean Out 3-1-2020 - 10 days
I should have cleaned this out at the first re-charge as there were several pieces in the batch that were in the 1.5 inch range and as suspected they slowed the grinding down a good bit.
Single point - start - 3.81 lbs (1730 grams) - 4th clean out - 3.79 lbs(1719 grams) for a about only a .6% loss .
I took all the pieces over 1 inch out. The run did finish another 3 pounds for the next stage. This time I decided to add a lot of small agate to the run, figuring it might be a bit more aggressive than the broken crystals I have been using.
This run will be short one, 8 days, as I need to shut everything down for a week.
Henry
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Post by HankRocks on May 25, 2020 10:26:57 GMT -5
Ok!!, finally reached the end of the Journey!! only 4 months. Unfortunately the picture does not capture the finished product very well. It did take a high polish with no frosting that can plague large Crystals; IMG_1805 by Findrocks, on Flickr It started out Jon Jan 19th at 1863 grams finished the 7th coarse run April 20th at 1620 grams Started 600 SiC April 20th - April 29th. finished at 1573 grams. Started 80 AO April 29th - May 8th. Started Polish Tin Oxide May 8th - May 19th Final Polished weight - 1562 grams I did use 22 to 24 tablespoons of Tin Oxide as polish. It was all saved Polish. My though was that in addition to the smalls in the run, the extra Tin Oxide would create a nice slurry. Also noticed that the flat cut bottom did not quite have the high polish as the sides and the top. That does make sense due to the size and shape of the crystal, the bottom does get turned in the barrel and only gets contact with the smalls brushing past it, if that makes sense. Anyway tie to move on to some other bigs When my daughter comes home, hopefully this week, I will have her try and video the piece on the color changing LED pedestal and post that. It looks very nice in a darkened room. Henry
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Prov
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2020
Posts: 116
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Post by Prov on May 26, 2020 11:13:47 GMT -5
Gorgeous results! Hope you get that video, would love to see it!
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Post by HankRocks on May 26, 2020 16:18:34 GMT -5
First attempt at a Video, does not really capture the effect. It's best in a very dark room, however the darkness and the changing light colors really fools the IPhone; Can not post it from Flickr for some reason.... I assume it get's copied out of Flickr the same way as a picture. flic.kr/p/2j5Z2MY
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Benathema
has rocks in the head
God chased me down and made sure I knew He was real June 20, 2022. I've been on a Divine Mission.
Member since November 2019
Posts: 703
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Post by Benathema on May 26, 2020 23:29:37 GMT -5
Glad to see it made it! Superb!
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agatemaggot
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Member since August 2006
Posts: 2,195
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Post by agatemaggot on May 27, 2020 1:12:46 GMT -5
Any way you could grind away some of the outer nasty before tumbling to shorten the odds of fracturing ?
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Post by RocksInNJ on May 28, 2020 19:21:11 GMT -5
Congrats on the successful tumble. Would love to see that color changing pedestal.
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