vickster
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2022
Posts: 13
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Post by vickster on Oct 3, 2022 21:29:03 GMT -5
Hi, After running a stage in a rotary I then clean well and run it in Ivory soap or Borax before moving on. The rocks are scrubbed clean and smooth (no cracks) so what is causing the dirty water after the Ivory soap or Borax run? Does the ceramic media hold on to the grit? Thanks.
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nursetumbler
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2022
Posts: 928
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Post by nursetumbler on Oct 4, 2022 20:34:14 GMT -5
vicksterMay I ask what you mean by dirty? Ceramics shouldn't be holding grit. I use borax and, for example, when I tumble red jasper the slurry is somewhat red from the red jasper. When I borax them it washes the rocks of anything thats left on the rock unseen. I read somewhere that people burnish until their water is clean clean. I am a why and how person so How do they know it's clean clean? Soap/borax leaves the water milky in color on its own. Also if you are using something coarser than 60/90 say in a small barrel I would think that the grit would scrub the barrel too. Only a guess. If so maybe it is minute bits of rubber from your barrels. I photo would go a long way in us seeing what youre seeing so we know how to help you. Kelly
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
Posts: 760
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 4, 2022 21:36:44 GMT -5
Hi, After running a stage in a rotary I then clean well and run it in Ivory soap or Borax before moving on. The rocks are scrubbed clean and smooth (no cracks) so what is causing the dirty water after the Ivory soap or Borax run? Does the ceramic media hold on to the grit? Thanks. It could also be left over rock slurry, because honestly no matter how well we rinse them, there is always some slurry left on the rocks. I am in the middle of doing a burnish on all my rough rocks to clean them up, mind you these are rocks i have already scrubbed with a tooth brush and soap, and the water is still turning grayish or brownish when I clean them in the tumbler. So my guess is left over rock slurry.
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Post by Bob on Oct 9, 2022 10:20:22 GMT -5
Some ceramic media unfortunately has interior flaws and voids that can contaminate later batches. I normally don't see these until they are maybe 25% ground away. Because of this I no longer let ceramic media get in polish runs unless it was prepped for it and then only kept for polishing.
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