Post by dingle on Sept 27, 2022 16:02:26 GMT -5
Well,
I guess I have arrived. This is my first post.
Have been tumbling river finds for a couple years using a Nat Geo tumbler to.. mixed results. It's been a learning experience.
I have a Lortone 3 lb.. 1.5E-NR I'm not sure if that's right. This was a tumbler that belonged to my grandfather. It was lost to the ages for about 20 years and resurfaced in my parents basement. Imagine my joy to find an untumbled batch of rock that my grandfather had never gotten to. Was fun to look through them and know he was the last person to touch them.
All of this is unrelated to my post. I've dreamed of tumbling large rocks for quite a while. Through my rockhounding, I have ended up with quite a few 5 gallon barrels full of baseball to softball size (lots of quartzite, quartz adjacent).
I always thought it would be cool to get a 55 gallon tumbler going. After some time perusing this forum, I'll save that idea for later.
Anyone have any recommendations for how to go about tumbling baseball to softball size? I've been thinking about a PVC (10"), but I did see a pretty neat setup with a golf cart tire. I could do the tire one as well.
I have a pretty handy and mechanical mind, but I'm a bit overwhelmed at how to begin. Money is a factor, but I love me some homemade things, so am looking to start off some ideas.
Mostly how big of a barrel would I need to tumble these and what would my limits be...as in how many baseball sized stones could I tumble at once, safely. From reading here, it definitely isn't a pipe dream (haw haw).
Have never gone vibratory, but I got my hands on a big piece of lab equipment that I believe is used to stir beakers. The surface is about 1 foot by 1 foot and is essentially a vortexer. Just an idea.
Lots of wisdom here, not sure what sort of response I'll get for this.
I guess I have arrived. This is my first post.
Have been tumbling river finds for a couple years using a Nat Geo tumbler to.. mixed results. It's been a learning experience.
I have a Lortone 3 lb.. 1.5E-NR I'm not sure if that's right. This was a tumbler that belonged to my grandfather. It was lost to the ages for about 20 years and resurfaced in my parents basement. Imagine my joy to find an untumbled batch of rock that my grandfather had never gotten to. Was fun to look through them and know he was the last person to touch them.
All of this is unrelated to my post. I've dreamed of tumbling large rocks for quite a while. Through my rockhounding, I have ended up with quite a few 5 gallon barrels full of baseball to softball size (lots of quartzite, quartz adjacent).
I always thought it would be cool to get a 55 gallon tumbler going. After some time perusing this forum, I'll save that idea for later.
Anyone have any recommendations for how to go about tumbling baseball to softball size? I've been thinking about a PVC (10"), but I did see a pretty neat setup with a golf cart tire. I could do the tire one as well.
I have a pretty handy and mechanical mind, but I'm a bit overwhelmed at how to begin. Money is a factor, but I love me some homemade things, so am looking to start off some ideas.
Mostly how big of a barrel would I need to tumble these and what would my limits be...as in how many baseball sized stones could I tumble at once, safely. From reading here, it definitely isn't a pipe dream (haw haw).
Have never gone vibratory, but I got my hands on a big piece of lab equipment that I believe is used to stir beakers. The surface is about 1 foot by 1 foot and is essentially a vortexer. Just an idea.
Lots of wisdom here, not sure what sort of response I'll get for this.