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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 14, 2023 18:51:40 GMT -5
Rob (Jugglerguy here and Michigan Rocks on Youtube) recently ran a similar experiment involving varying amounts of 60/90 grit and had a similar result as was reported in the article with 80 grit. Jugglerguy I have been trying to leave a link to this thread in the comments for your video, but they seem to have been removed. Rob, It occurred to me that the grit will have a tendency to collide with itself under pressure from the rocks and break itself down. The more grit the more grit particle to grit particle collisions the less opportunities for grit to rock breakdown. So the extra grit does not help as it is wasted in these grit to grit collisions. It's also why the grit seemed to be all used up in all of barrels. Also early in the run there is not as much slurry to help suspend the grit and it tends to stay "stacked" on one side and the bottom increasing the grit to grit grinding. As the slurry thickens the grit will suspend better but still be subject to grit to grit contact. Henry I never considered the grit on grit grinding of grit laying on the bottom of the barrel. Thanks for pointing out that possibility.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 12, 2023 16:50:43 GMT -5
That Lake Superior rock looks like some sort of granite. It’s a very nice granite, but it looks like it has some granite tumbling qualities.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 3, 2023 17:23:39 GMT -5
Hi Rob, I know it has been over 7 years since you posted this thread, I also have a Lapidary Hobbycrafts 10" Gemlap trim saw exactly like yours, and I have recently had to take it apart and I'm waiting for replacement bearings right now. I was able to find the exact same bearings by looking at the model number still visible on them. They are LEE company Sealed bearings # 99502H-2RS that they are still a commonly used bearing that I was able to easily find replacements for on eBay. I used a puller to remove the outer bearing as stated above by Harbor freight. I had the same problem getting out the inner bearing, which requires the use of snap ring pliers, and it was still difficult to remove causing the guard to get chewed up in the process. I am making a new guard for it, by using the bottom of an aluminum spice jar. The trick is going to be getting it all back together correctly! I ended up sending the bearings out to Cigar Box Lapidary. They did a good job fixing it and it's been running well ever since. I think it cost around $100 with shipping, but the saw was given to me, so I felt like that was okay. Your added info will be useful for anyone else who is trying to do the same job. Thanks for posting it.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 3, 2023 17:19:40 GMT -5
Welcome to RTH from Alpena!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 28, 2023 12:40:04 GMT -5
A vibratory tumbler would be better than your rotary tumblers for keeping the marbles round. I have never tumbled spheres, though, so I can't say for sure. I do know that shapes like crosses get rounded off a lot more in a rotary tumbler than in a vibe. Maybe with spheres, rounding them off is exactly what you want though.
The grits you have are fairly coarse. If you already have the shape of the marble the way you want it before you tumble it, I would start with 220 or finer. I wouldn't start at 60/90.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 26, 2023 17:48:57 GMT -5
Hopefully I didn't go on for too long about Rolley Hole. Seems to be a bad habit of mine. Even whenI worked at other parks I was still spreading Rolley Hole around. We just have a good time with it. You didn't go on too long at all. I find this game fascinating. I love how some games are played in only a small geographical area but are loved by the people who live there. We have a card game here in the north east part of the lower peninsula of Michigan called Spitzer. My wife's parents tried to teach us how to play it, but it was pretty confusing. Still, there are Spitzer tournaments in the area. It's a very interesting game from what I've seen.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 25, 2023 9:26:27 GMT -5
This is really interesting, I have been thinking of making marbles for awhile. I like the idea of making spheres, but making large ones takes so much time and fairly large material. I think I’d rather have a larger number of small spheres from material I can find myself. I’d love to hear more about your process of making marbles. In the video, it looks like a much different process than the sphere machines people on this forum tend to use.
I was also interested in how learning how to play the game until I saw how large the playing field was. It looks like you’d either have to live in an area that already has a field or court or whatever you call it, or commit to making one yourself. Is there actually a hole there somewhere?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 25, 2023 9:09:55 GMT -5
Looks cozy!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 18, 2023 14:57:25 GMT -5
I hope it's not considered hijacking your thread if I post last night's video here. It's basically a remake of the one you keep referring to, chris1956 . It shows my two new designs, but I still like your snowman the best. That's just awesome.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 17, 2023 10:38:28 GMT -5
Thanks. I forgot to mention that I think the snowman and candles would look better with a milkey quartz or white quartzite but I didn't have any slabbed when I started on it. I saw the maple leaves video and they looked great. Of course, now I want a laser cutter/engraver. The snowflake was a lot of cuts on the saw and I had to get out the dremel with a thin disk to get to the bottom of the smaller cuts. A actually liked the more icy looking rock for the snowman. I know that real snowmen don't look like that, but that rock just looks cold, which works well for snowmen. I really like it for the snowflake.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 13, 2023 22:08:07 GMT -5
Those are awesome. I love the snowman and the snowflake. I'm actually just upstairs for a minute waiting for some epoxy to dry on some new designs I'm making for this year—mittens and Santa hats. I hope to have a video out about them on Friday.
I might try making a snowflake because I had a request to do one by one of my YouTube subscribers. I made some maple leaves this fall and engraved the veins on with my new laser engraver. She suggested that I engrave some snowflakes. I will if I have enough time, which I'm always short of.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 8, 2023 16:37:03 GMT -5
I'll figure this thing out somehow. Jason. I was trying to tell you that I hope things are better for you and to share my Unakite that I finished today that didn't come out great for some consolation that things are not great for everyone but it's ok. They are better...thank you! For what it's worth, I do more cabbing than tumbling...but I've cabbed Unakite and it doesn't come out with a "mirror" polish for me. It does tend to have an "uneven" surface...pretty sure due to the varying hardness of the material. I can get it to "shine"...but not like I can an agate or a jasper. I didn't bring you any unakite, did I? Have you tried the stuff from Michigan?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 6, 2023 10:28:47 GMT -5
You do know I was just kidding, right? I thought your comment was funny as your comments normally are. Honestly...no...I thought you were serious. I'll be more careful with my comments in the future. I don't take myself all that seriously. As a math teacher, I learned to poke fun at myself before my students got a chance to.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 4, 2023 20:45:08 GMT -5
Don't laugh too fast, Jason. Did you know that the top three winners of this year's World Wide Rock Tumbling Contest all learned from some guy on YouTube? That's what I heard anyway. Welcome to the forum blackgirlrocks ! I respect your credentials! Ouch. Just to be clear...I never would have made any kind of comment like I did, had the OP not included a "laughing at her own comment" emoji. Without the emoji...and the implication she was poking fun at her own comment, I might have thought it was funny...but not said anything. I know there are oodles of people who have benefitted from YouTube videos...and your videos are at the top of the list - as is evidenced by your comment about the tumbling contest. Heck...I taught myself how to cab and wrap via YouTube videos...so I'm well aware of their benefits. You do know I was just kidding, right? I thought your comment was funny as your comments normally are.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Nov 2, 2023 21:43:10 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from South Dakota! This had me rolling! LOL : "Graduated from youtube university so I'm feeling like a pro already" Don't laugh too fast, Jason. Did you know that the top three winners of this year's World Wide Rock Tumbling Contest all learned from some guy on YouTube? That's what I heard anyway. Welcome to the forum blackgirlrocks! I respect your credentials!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 26, 2023 10:44:13 GMT -5
Welcome to RTH, Larry. You're going to learn a lot here. This is where I learned most of what I know about rock tumbling.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 26, 2023 10:42:33 GMT -5
I guess I didn't realize petoskys were only Lake MI - good to know. I'm Ohio so definitely closer to there. Maybe another trip is in order Petoskey stones are in Lake Michigan AND Lake Huron.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 26, 2023 10:40:34 GMT -5
Step Five: 500 AO Polish tumble for three days and maybe a couple days more if I'm not satisfied Is this a typo? Do you mean AO polish, rather than 500 AO? I'm really surprised that you get good results with such short tumbles. I understand pre-grinding the rocks to eliminate most of the first stage, but I am interested in how you get good results from the shorter runs at the end of the process.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 25, 2023 10:57:11 GMT -5
Agates are really hard to find. There are not many, most are really small and if you're not used to looking for them, they're hard to spot. I've been looking for a few years and I'm still not great at spotting them. I'm not sure what most of those are. I don't think there are any Petoskey stones in Lake Superior, they're in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. I have found puddingstones, but not many. I found one at Crisp Point Lighthouse (I think) and I'm sure I found a couple farther to the east at Point Iroquois Lighthouse. The source is toward the east end of Lake Superior, so that's the most likely place for them to be. Lake Huron is a better place to look for puddingstones.
Here's a video on Lake Superior rock identification done by a couple of geologists. It might give you a clue about what those might possibly be. It's always easier to tell in person, but I'm still not great at identification. I'd guess that some of those are granitoids.
47 Lake Superior Rocks Identified:
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 25, 2023 10:46:49 GMT -5
So, new question, how far up in the barrel do you consider 3/4 full in a 3 pound barrel? I'm wondering if maybe another problem is I'm over filling my barrel. Just started my first batch of second stage, so I'm pretty excited for that. I measured my barrel to find out. Just measure the inside from the bottom of the barrel to the bottom of the lip that the inner lid sets on. Then find 1/4 of that. I made a spacer when I was first starting to measure how much empty space there should be. I think I got the idea from the book "Modern Rock Tumbling" by Steve Hart. I made my spacer from a piece of PVC pipe. I used 1/4 of the inner barrel height and then added the height of the lip at the top of the barrel. I cut the PVC to that length. So then I could just set the PVC pipe into the barrel with rocks in it and if the pipe was level with the very top of the barrel, I knew it was filled to 3/4 full. I just measured my spacer and it's 3.6 cm or about 1 7/16 in. It also makes a great stand for my Lot-O tumbler barrel. Now I just guess. It's not a critical thing if it's a little too full or a little too empty. Too full will result in a gentler tumble for your rocks, which might be desirable fi you're trying to protect some rocks that are prone to chipping or bruising. Too empty allows the rocks to bang around more and is a waste of space. It doesn't usually hurt anything, but I can't think of a good reason to run a tumbler at something like 1/2 full.
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