Entering the tumble scene, which setup to buy

[rockanoff]

Hello, I'm dialing in on buying my first tumbler. I'm thinking rotary, due to quietness and my beginner level.

Perhaps these double barrels would be okay (electric cost probably similar to run). They are simply a few dollars more than the single, I was thinking I could tumble in the first barrel and do my final tumble in the second barrel (the borax ao ceramic polish). 

I'm wondering if anybody has any insight in regard to this. I see tumble-bee has a nice little gizmo with a concealed timing belt.
Otherwise, I was looking at these (either 1 or two barrel) and I suppose a 3lb container would be satisfactory.

rocktumbler.com/thumlers/model-ar-2.shtml

kingsleynorth.com/lortone-model-33b-tumbler.html?queryID=fb8793caf36dd8abcd11d0b209c3fa73&objectID=7912&indexName=kingsleynorthenglish_products

hplapidary.com/products/rotary-tumbler-with-2-3-0-lb-barrels-capacity-110v?pr_prod_strat=jac&pr_rec_id=e78b87040&pr_rec_pid=8333931708645&pr_ref_pid=8516464509157&pr_seq=uniform

I have what I believe to be the general basics down when it comes to understanding the process. I ought to learn more about various rock hardness and what can be tumbled together.

Although it appears as though lortone may not be obtainable.

Thank you!

[chris1956]

Here is my 2 cents worth.

Thumler's AR-2.  I think (you should check to make sure) this unit has the white lid and streatch ring that holds the lid in.  I have had problems with the white lids failing in the past.  I recently glued a round rubber matt to the inside of one of their lids (AR-6) and have it running now.  Will see how it holds up.   I did see somewhere that they or someone else is offereing a better lid material.   The ring has always been a pain to get on but I saw a video the other day where you lean on the unit with your stomach to hold the ring on one side while you streatch to get the ring all the way around.  With my stomach, this should not be a problem any more.  

Lortone Model 33B.  Great tumblers.   With Lortone out of business it is hard to say when or if you will get one.   Although rumours are  flying about someone buying their product rights.  

Highland Park.   I don't have any experience with them but they seem well made from the comments I have seen on the forum.   I like this type of lid much better than the Thumler's.   There was a forum thread on this a while back but I couldn't find it.  Not sure if the following is what I was remembering.  

forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/103719/backward-first-rotary-lortone-barrel

Sure others will have some thoughts about this.  

[hypodactylus]

I have had Highland Park and Lortone tumblers; both have worked well for me.

Lortone is not currently in business, so you may not find any of their tumblers in stock for a while.

Never tried a Thumlers, but I am not a fan of their lid design.

[mirkee]

I have read that Thumblers has had problems with their barrel lids and it's easy to see why when you examine the design.  their larger tumblers have a totally different lid design which should be OK.  Lorton is nearly impossible to buy new as they are going out of business.  HP look real good and you can get lots of feedback.  I have a Lortone 33b which I've had for about six months and I have the feeling it will run forever.  I have two Harbor Freights similar to the Lorton 323b, which I bought new for $69 ea.  HF tumblers are also unavailable except for in a few cities.  I would get another one if I could and tinker with it (69$$$) I maintain them regularly (1 drop of oil) and so far they run just like the Lortone.  I also have a Rebel 17 which I like very much and I just bought a Lortone q6/12 for $145 which was a real deal with all three barrels.  The Highland Park sounds great for what is available right now.  The double barrel idea is a good one so do that, whatever you do.

[titaniumkid]

A lot of people advise starting out with a two-barrel rotary tumbler. It's great advice (that I didn't follow because I like to punish myself with ultra-slow tumbling). Lortone is good but there are supply issues, as mentioned above.

[mirkee]

Someone just published a picture of the "new" Harbor Freight"  Looks like same machine in a different box with different name for $80.  Something is going on as there are a couple of stores near me in CA that have some in stock whereas they had none a couple of days ago.

[rockanoff]

I appreciate the insight.

I'm about to order the HIGHLAND PARK RT3L ROTARY TUMBLER. I currently have a few random unid rocks at home I'd like to tumble,but am contemplating purchasing a mixed assortment package online for my first go.

I'm learning if adding ceramics or fish pea gravel is worth it. guess it is to take up space after first tumble. small or large hmm

I was also linked this by one of the support staff- hplapidary.com/products/tumbling-grit-and-media-kit-for-small-tumblers?_pos=1&_sid=2adec81e2&_ss=r
At glance it looks good, my own research made my tumble stages come up with something similar to this - first two stages silicon carbide grit or boron.
third stage 500 aluminum oxide. polish stage, cerium or tin oxide or real fine AO- 3 microns.

Seems like the biggest alteration between the kit and what I found is the ceramic additions throughout. vs their walnut at end.

stage one ~70 grit for a week or so. if not happy do again with silicon carbide
second run. ceramic media with 120/220 silicon carbide.

stage 3- tiny bit of 500 grit with some borax.
stage 4- borax. polish (ao), ceramics. optional burnish borax/ hand soap mix.

Curious to opinions. I'm fairly confident with my tumbler choice at this point. next up is the gritstuff considerations and perhaps some MoH reading.

Cheers!

PS: If going with the store suggested grit kit, is seems like it's a simple 5 stage. each stage containing the following.. though I assume not to put a lb of the grit in at a time. probably a few tbsp.
This is all from the same site. theres other websites of course that offer deals for large amounts of 4 stage tumbles and such, yall know

 1 lb of 60-90 grit coarse grind Silicon Carbide

1 lb of 220 grit medium grind Silicon Carbide

1 lb of 600 grit fine grind Silicon Carbide

1/4 lb of 2500 grit (5 micron) High Purity Aluminum Oxide Polish

0.9 lb of Walnut Shells tumbling media

[stonemitch]

I bought two Vevor brand barrel tumblers after researching for a week or two, because they are 'direct drive' bases and nice rubber drums. And not too expensive. No belts to replace is what sold me. After running them both for stage 1 loads, I was a little underwhelmed with the motor power on both of them, but after breaking them in for a week or so, they seem to have come around.

My biggest problem is ordering stuff and getting it delivered. I remember years ago, someone said that the health of a country can be judged by the value of it's government services, and being born in the first half of the last century, I can say that when their was no UPS or FedEx, the USPS was pretty good considering what it has become today. I mean, I have ordered items that took weeks to arrive. After a month or so, I so far have two rotary tumblers, I vibratory tumbler, a 8" flat lap machine, a 7 inch Vevor tile saw, a couple sets of 5 stage grits, and all being held up by either slow or lost ceramic tumbling media.

After my so far 'limited' experience, I can say that I did use some stage 1 grit of SiC #36, and wow, after only 2 days tumbling, it really reduced the size, points and edges on the rocks I tumbled. Might want to try that, just watch it close.

[rockanoff]

May 22, 2024 20:17:46 GMT -5 stonemitch said:

I bought two Vevor brand barrel tumblers after researching for a week or two, because they are 'direct drive' bases and nice rubber drums. And not too expensive. No belts to replace is what sold me. After running them both for stage 1 loads, I was a little underwhelmed with the motor power on both of them, but after breaking them in for a week or so, they seem to have come around.

My biggest problem is ordering stuff and getting it delivered. I remember years ago, someone said that the health of a country can be judged by the value of it's government services, and being born in the first half of the last century, I can say that when their was no UPS or FedEx, the USPS was pretty good considering what it has become today. I mean, I have ordered items that took weeks to arrive. After a month or so, I so far have two rotary tumblers, I vibratory tumbler, a 8" flat lap machine, a 7 inch Vevor tile saw, a couple sets of 5 stage grits, and all being held up by either slow or lost ceramic tumbling media.

After my so far 'limited' experience, I can say that I did use some stage 1 grit of SiC #36, and wow, after only 2 days tumbling, it really reduced the size, points and edges on the rocks I tumbled. Might want to try that, just watch it close.

no belt. that's nice. does it get hot?

[stonemitch]

That is the problem I had at first, one would get hot and shut itself off. This model, the first I bought, held up and worked good unless I loaded it too heavy;

www.vevor.com/rock-tumbler-c_12100/vevor-rock-tumbler-kit-3lb-rock-polisher-rough-gemstones-4-polishing-grits-p_010624948434

This model, would run 10 minutes or so, get hot and shut down. You could feel the motor, cause it's right there on top, and that sucker would burn you if you grabbed it.

www.vevor.com/rock-tumbler-c_12100/vevor-rock-tumbler-kit-3lb-rock-polisher-rough-gemstones-4-polishing-grits-p_010182101417

[chris1956]

There are a lot more knowledgable tumblers out there than me but here is my 2 cents worth.

I would avoid the mixed assortment of rocks from a supplier.  You will likely end up with some that won't polish or are so soft they disappear.   Lots of people get discouraged because they try the rocks that come with the tumblers and some of them just don't tumble.  Try somthing hard first like clear quartz or maybe a hard jasper.  Down side of that is that it may take longer in the 1st stage to get them rounded.  

I don't know about HP but most manufacturers will send along a sheet with suggested amounts of grit for each stage.   If not, you can probably find examples for Lortone's recommendations on the internet.   These are likely too much grit.  It you use the search function on this forum, you should be able to find different recipes for tumbling with grits and amounts.  Ask again if you can't find anything.  

A lot of people on this forum use 500 aluminum oxide in place of the 600 Silicon Carbide grit.  I do this and seems to work well.  

Your aluminum oxide polish at 5 microns might be a little high.   I looked at Kingsley North and Rock shed polishes and if I read correctly they are in the area of 1-3 microns.   

[stonemitch]

Naaa, I still got the little packs of rocks that came with those tumblers. My first three barrels of stage 1 were rocks I had collected, plus, there is a rail road bed about half a block away to scrounge more from, and I am waiting on my buddy Mike who is on vacation in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado, with a 5 gallon bucket I sent him off with, bringing me an assortment when he get's back.

And I almost forgot, my local wally world has little areas at the end of every parking row, filled with their own landscape rocks. Nice stuff. )

[rockanoff]

I chose Highland Parks Model RT3L Tumbler.
60/90 sc
220 sc
500 ao
8000 ao
bag of large ceramic media and a medium mix of 3lb rocks
3 in one oil

I found myself looking for rocks earlier today, while my identification needs improvement, I did have a natural curiosity to break some of the bigger ones open.

This has me contemplating that a rock pic would be a suitable purchase. Something similar to this www.estwing.com/product/rock-pick-pointed-tip/ and I can also purchase a chisel of sorts to hit with the hammer. Not sure what the pointy side would be used for. I feel a handheld chisel would provide better accuracy. Suppose any ol' metal chisel would suffice.

[chris1956]

May 25, 2024 19:23:30 GMT -5 rockanoff said:

I chose Highland Parks Model RT3L Tumbler.
60/90 sc
220 sc
500 ao
8000 ao
bag of large ceramic media and a medium mix of 3lb rocks
3 in one oil

I found myself looking for rocks earlier today, while my identification needs improvement, I did have a natural curiosity to break some of the bigger ones open.

This has me contemplating that a rock pic would be a suitable purchase. Something similar to this www.estwing.com/product/rock-pick-pointed-tip/ and I can also purchase a chisel of sorts to hit with the hammer. Not sure what the pointy side would be used for. I feel a handheld chisel would provide better accuracy. Suppose any ol' metal chisel would suffice.

I bought a similar pick when I was in college.  It is almost 50 years old now so a good one will last a long time.  

[iamchris]

rockanoff

I tried the same thing when I started. You're right, get a cold chisel and a hand sledge for breaking things. The pointy end of the rock hammer is more for digging through dirt and prying. It will dull fast if you bludgeon with it.

[rockbrain]

May 22, 2024 18:57:58 GMT -5 mirkee said:

Someone just published a picture of the "new" Harbor Freight"  Looks like same machine in a different box with different name for $80.  Something is going on as there are a couple of stores near me in CA that have some in stock whereas they had none a couple of days ago.

My Harbor Freight shows the new one in stock for $69.99  When I looked the other day it said the old one would be in stock soon, now it shows it in stock at a neighboring store.  Don't know what's going on here.  I bought their hanging rotary tool (Foredom type grinder) about a year ago.  It said it was on clearance.  It's still on clearance!  I've been thinking about picking up a second one.

[mirkee]

I would like to buy one of the Hanging rotary tools from HF.  Just checked with my local store and they are not in stock, being a clearance item.  They checked nearby stores and zero as well.  Thinking of getting one on Amazon for a similar pricee.  Im struggling whether to get that or a drill stand for my Dremel.  I want to drill holes in rocks but not get too close to the water with a wired tool.