skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125 
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 3, 2023 20:08:51 GMT -5
The Blue stones should be Sodalite. At least according to the National Geographic guide that came with the stones. I took the two boxes of National Geographic Gemstone mix and separated the stones by color and type.  I put the Dalmatian stones in with the Sodalite, Aventurine, and Rose quartz thinking they was softer than the jaspers and agates.  Really can't tell in the picture but there are a lot of little Dalmatian stones in this batch I will call them Dalmatian Puppies. I got interrupted and have not started this yet. So if you think I should pull the Dalmatians out I can. The barrel is 3 inches deep so I use a 1 inch dowel to tell when I am at the 2/3 full point which seems to be the sweet spot for best results. |
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Post by velodromed on Sept 4, 2023 8:54:25 GMT -5
skmcconnell361I’m just seeing this. If you type my name, velodromed, and put a @ in front of it m, I’ll be notified quickly. Right, sodalite, that’s the name. it’s pretty soft also. It was one of the first stones I tried to tumble and they turned into pebbles lol. I looked up Dalmatian Jasper, I was wrong about its sturdiness. It’s quartz and feldspar with inclusions that make the black specs. Both quartz and feldspar need to be tumbled carefully so I imagine Dalmatian stone should also. So put those with the sodalite and quartz. Dalmatian puppies…that’s great, love it! Try filling the barrel 3/4th full. I’ve found it tumbles a bit gentler when 3/4th full. It’s okay to open the barrel mid run and pull or add rocks. It’s a bit messy, that’s all, so clean the lid and barrel rim well before putting it back together. When I open a barrel for a clean out, if the slurry isn’t stinky I’ll reuse much of it. That way it thickens up and the rocks tumble better, I’ve found. But if the slurry is real stinky or foamy, I ditch it.
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Post by velodromed on Sept 4, 2023 8:59:55 GMT -5
Check out the classifieds here. There’s some good rock for sale. I’m picking up some tumbling rough from vegasjames that looks really nice. A mix of Jasper, chalcedonys (agate material without banding), rhyolites etc. Good stuff to learn and experiment tumbling with. The rock shed and Kingsley north have nice rock also.
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 4, 2023 10:06:31 GMT -5
Thanks velodromedSo far with the exception of the 3 pounds of Mozarkite I ordered from T-Rocks in Quartzsite, the National Geographic refill packs is the only rocks I have right now. What I got from T-Rocks was 2 rocks one was 2.7 pounds and the other was 0.3 pounds. I as expecting rocks about the size of the smaller one. I an sure I can cut the smaller one on my tile saw, but the larger rock is too big for me to do anything with. But at least I got the 3 pounds After checking the 2 Madagascar mix boxes I found I had enough Rose Quartz to run in one of my 1 pound barrels on the modified National Geographic Hobby tumbler, so far I am finding the anything over 2/3 full in these barrels seems to cause issues with the tumbler or the batch does not do as well. So for now I am shooting for that 2/3 full mark on those barrels. LOL I just ordered a batch from vegasjames, he just informed me it will ship out tomorrow. And as I use up the National Geographic Grit I will be ordering My grit from the rockshed. |
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Post by velodromed on Sept 4, 2023 10:43:03 GMT -5
skmcconnell361I had to look up the Mozarkite and remind myself what it was. That’s a nice looking rock. It should tumble and shine well considering what it’s made of. Before I knew how to specify size with the rock vendors, I’d gotten quite a few pounds of rock that I couldn’t process yet because of size. But then I got a rebel 17 Tumbler that can handle some of the big rocks. As for the others that are even too big for it, someday I will have a better saw, so I just put them aside. Sounds like you’re fairly well set up now! That’s great. Looking forward to seeing pictures down the line of your efforts.
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 5, 2023 8:31:13 GMT -5
Here is the picture of the Mozarkite that I received.  Like I said the bigger piece is too big for me to do anything with. It is a display piece on the living room end table for now. |
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 5, 2023 19:08:17 GMT -5
This is the tumbler that quit working last month  I had to bypass the circuit board and wire the motor directly to the plug, Also replaced the power supply with a variable voltage P/S to control the RPM's. And now with this multi day event count down timer, I say it is better than new. I currently running a batch of Rose Quartz right now and volts set at 8 volts giving me right at 56 RPM's. I am hoping that will be much gentler for the Rose Quartz. |
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
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Post by dillonf on Sept 5, 2023 19:18:00 GMT -5
This is the tumbler that quit working last month I had to bypass the circuit board and wire the motor directly to the plug, Also replaced the power supply with a variable voltage P/S to control the RPM's. And now with this multi day event count down timer, I say it is better than new. I currently running a batch of Rose Quartz right now and volts set at 8 volts giving me right at 56 RPM's. I am hoping that will be much gentler for the Rose Quartz. Very cool how you made that machine more functional! |
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 5, 2023 19:37:31 GMT -5
Very cool how you made that machine more functional! I was an Electronics Tech in the Navy so this was an easy fix for me. The circuit board on this one was bad, so I unplugged the power to the Circuit board. cut the wires at the circuit board plug and soldered them directly to the motor terminals matching the wires that was there. With the DC motor the volts control the speed of the motor, but the unit now starts as soon as I plug it in. It was on when I took the picture, As you can see the timer will reach 0 in 6 days 00 hours 25 minutes and 5 seconds and a alarm will sound reminding me I need to check the rocks. The tumbler will keep running till I unplug it. So it will not set idle if I am not home at the time. Before It was running at about 90 RPM give or take. but now at 8 volts it is right at 50 rpms give or take. |
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Post by velodromed on Sept 5, 2023 19:50:41 GMT -5
Very cool how you made that machine more functional! I was an Electronics Tech in the Navy so this was an easy fix for me. The circuit board on this one was bad, so I unplugged the power to the Circuit board. cut the wires at the circuit board plug and soldered them directly to the motor terminals matching the wires that was there. With the DC motor the volts control the speed of the motor, but the unit now starts as soon as I plug it in. It was on when I took the picture, As you can see the timer will reach 0 in 6 days 00 hours 25 minutes and 5 seconds and a alarm will sound reminding me I need to check the rocks. The tumbler will keep running till I unplug it. So it will not set idle if I am not home at the time. Before It was running at about 90 RPM give or take. but now at 8 volts it is right at 50 rpms give or take. Glad that worked! But did you add a fan lol (just playin’)? It’s easy though, just run tails off the main wires to a 12 V, one amp server fan, glued to the base with a little e6000 and aimed at the motor. Also, 56rpms is still twice as much as the 20 to 25rpm that works best for polishing. I’ve got a 6v power supply I use that gets really close to that Mark.  |
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 5, 2023 20:10:15 GMT -5
I was an Electronics Tech in the Navy so this was an easy fix for me. The circuit board on this one was bad, so I unplugged the power to the Circuit board. cut the wires at the circuit board plug and soldered them directly to the motor terminals matching the wires that was there. With the DC motor the volts control the speed of the motor, but the unit now starts as soon as I plug it in. It was on when I took the picture, As you can see the timer will reach 0 in 6 days 00 hours 25 minutes and 5 seconds and a alarm will sound reminding me I need to check the rocks. The tumbler will keep running till I unplug it. So it will not set idle if I am not home at the time. Before It was running at about 90 RPM give or take. but now at 8 volts it is right at 50 rpms give or take. Glad that worked! But did you add a fan lol (just playin’)? It’s easy though, just run tails off the main wires to a 12 V, one amp server fan, glued to the base with a little e6000 and aimed at the motor. Also, 56rpms is still twice as much as the 20 to 25rpm that works best for polishing. I’ve got a 6v power supply I use that gets really close to that Mark. No I did not add a fan to this one but I have not noticed the motor getting hot neither. I did get a small clip on fan for my Harbor Freight duel 3 pound barrel tumbler because that got hot almost to the point of burning my finger when I turned it off. |
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 6, 2023 8:06:29 GMT -5
This is the thick foam I was talking about earlier. is this normal?  Yes, I am using the cheap Nat Geo grit yet, will use it up till gone. Will be ordering more grit from the rock shed soon. |
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Post by velodromed on Sept 6, 2023 10:23:05 GMT -5
This is the thick foam I was talking about earlier. is this normal? Yes, I am using the cheap Nat Geo grit yet, will use it up till gone. Will be ordering more grit from the rock shed soon. I’ve had foam plenty of times, but rarely is it that thick. I don’t worry about it though unless it builds up pressure inside the barrel, and I’ve never had that happen bad enough to blow out. Typically its a reaction with organic material, I understand. I’ve heard of people putting a tiny bit of bleach, a teaspoon of vinegar, or some thing to help control it. I’ve never worried about it enough to try anything, but if I had a barrel blowout, then I guess I would worry about it lol. Out of curiosity, which rocks are you tumbling again? Just in that batch, that caused so much foam. |
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 6, 2023 14:53:11 GMT -5
velodromed The first time it happened was with the Nat Geo Gemstone mix which had a mix of everything. Rose Quartz, Aventurine, Dalmations, Sodalite, Agates, and Jaspers. I have set those aside for the time being and went through all the remaining rocks I had from Nat Geo and regrouped them. I found I had enough Rose Quartz or Pink rocks to run them by themselves and that is what I am running now. The barrel was just under 2/3 full and water was to the top of the rocks. But I did not put in ceramics till this morning after I read on rocktumbler.com that using ceramics from the start was recommended for Rose Quartz. I was a bit rushed this morning so I just grabbed a couple small handfuls of ceramic pellet's in and hoping for the best, I will make adjustments to the ceramics in 5 days. I have the second one pound barrel with Aventurine, Dalmations, And Sodalite ready to go just need to add the water and grit then I will have both 1 Pound barrels going on the Harbor Freight tumbler..
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Post by velodromed on Sept 6, 2023 15:04:31 GMT -5
velodromed The first time it happened was with the Nat Geo Gemstone mix which had a mix of everything. Rose Quartz, Aventurine, Dalmations, Sodalite, Agates, and Jaspers. I have set those aside for the time being and went through all the remaining rocks I had from Nat Geo and regrouped them. I found I had enough Rose Quartz or Pink rocks to run them by themselves and that is what I am running now. The barrel was just under 2/3 full and water was to the top of the rocks. But I did not put in ceramics till this morning after I read on rocktumbler.com that using ceramics from the start was recommended for Rose Quartz. I was a bit rushed this morning so I just grabbed a couple small handfuls of ceramic pellet's in and hoping for the best, I will make adjustments to the ceramics in 5 days. I have the second one pound barrel with Aventurine, Dalmations, And Sodalite ready to go just need to add the water and grit then I will have both 1 Pound barrels going on the Harbor Freight tumbler.. Sounds like you have things going well! I would say that ‘foam happens’, and not to stress about it. Unless there’s pressure associated, then stress about it so you don’t get a blowout. I’ve heard those are really messy. I used a lot of ceramics the couple of times I did amethyst. It was when I first started early last year. The first time, they came out looking awful. So it started over and used half ceramics to rock and filled it up to 80%. I had the water right below the level of the rocks. When I tumble quartz again, I’ll try out small aquarium type rounded agate instead of ceramics. They’re supposed to be softer than ceramics, which are around mohs nine, I understand. They make clean outs pretty cool looking also. My my stepdaughter loves the small polished rocks. |
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 6, 2023 19:52:59 GMT -5
velodromed The first time it happened was with the Nat Geo Gemstone mix which had a mix of everything. Rose Quartz, Aventurine, Dalmations, Sodalite, Agates, and Jaspers. I have set those aside for the time being and went through all the remaining rocks I had from Nat Geo and regrouped them. I found I had enough Rose Quartz or Pink rocks to run them by themselves and that is what I am running now. The barrel was just under 2/3 full and water was to the top of the rocks. But I did not put in ceramics till this morning after I read on rocktumbler.com that using ceramics from the start was recommended for Rose Quartz. I was a bit rushed this morning so I just grabbed a couple small handfuls of ceramic pellet's in and hoping for the best, I will make adjustments to the ceramics in 5 days. I have the second one pound barrel with Aventurine, Dalmations, And Sodalite ready to go just need to add the water and grit then I will have both 1 Pound barrels going on the Harbor Freight tumbler.. Sounds like you have things going well! I would say that ‘foam happens’, and not to stress about it. Unless there’s pressure associated, then stress about it so you don’t get a blowout. I’ve heard those are really messy. I used a lot of ceramics the couple of times I did amethyst. It was when I first started early last year. The first time, they came out looking awful. So it started over and used half ceramics to rock and filled it up to 80%. I had the water right below the level of the rocks. When I tumble quartz again, I’ll try out small aquarium type rounded agate instead of ceramics. They’re supposed to be softer than ceramics, which are around mohs nine, I understand. They make clean outs pretty cool looking also. My my stepdaughter loves the small polished rocks. So far I have not had any problems with pressure building up but have had a good vacuum develop where the bottom was sucked in quite a bit. I had trouble getting the lid off then. |
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Sept 14, 2023 18:08:58 GMT -5
After 7 days in step 1, I was inspecting the batch of Rose Quartz I had started. I was sure they would need at least 2 to 3 weeks, I noticed one piece had a deep fracture and set it aside to bust it at the fracture. Moments later I heard something hit the concrete floor. I looked and that piece is now about 8 new pieces. Oops, may not be a bad thing though.
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 125
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Feb 17, 2024 10:33:31 GMT -5
   Well I thought I posted this last night, must have not hit the create post button. Anyway I have been busy refining my process the last few months. the Rose Quartz took the longest with 4 weeks in stage 1 and stages 2 - 5 was 10 days each for a total of 70 days start to finish. Still did not have a good shine after National Geographic step 4 polish on any of my batches. So I use the Aluminum Oxide Polish 1 to 3 Microns size, I believe that translates to 8000 grit, from the Rock Shed for step 5. I also through in the ones from the first batch that already been through step 4 but no shine. My conclusion is the Nat Geo step 4 polish is far better as a pre polish. These are from the National Geographic Madagascar and Gemstone mixes. I took the 2 kits(actually it was 2 of each kit, 4 pounds in all) and separated the rocks into piles according to similar types and hopefully hardness. So I believe the combination of the 5 stage process and separating the rocks gave me the great results I was looking for to begin with. I ordered me a Diamond Pacific Mini-Sonic MT-4 and two extra hoppers but there is a 4 to 12 week lead time before it actually gets shipped from the Manufacture. Well at least I know I am getting one fresh of the assembly line. |
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Post by chris1956 on Feb 17, 2024 11:52:50 GMT -5
Looks like you got some great polish on some hard to polish stuff. Like the color of the rose quartz.
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
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Post by dillonf on Feb 17, 2024 12:04:36 GMT -5
Looking good! Nice job!
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