Is it worth using a TV-5 as a polisher?

[gemfreak95]

I've been following Steve Hart's recipe for final polish in a rotary tumbler for a few years now, which is 2 weeks continuous in cerium oxide followed by 2 weeks continuous in tin oxide. It does make for a fine finish, but good Lord, does it take forever! Especially when I go from grinding 8-10lb batches in the Model B to polishing it 3lbs at a time in my Lortone. I got an Ultratech TV-5 off here a while ago (thanks again QuailRiver ), thinking it would speed things up, but I've never really had the time to test it out. Now that I have the time I realize I have no real idea how to use it. I know the rules & recipes for vibratory tumbling are radically different from those for rotary, but that's about it. Any advice and recipes would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

[pebblesky]

Since you already have a TV-5, it is definitely worth giving it a try. The recipe I use for my TV-5 base and UV-10 mini bowl is two days and two teaspoons of grit for each stage (120/200 SiC, 500 SiC and polish). The norm of the amount of water used is not too much to form a puddle at the bottom the bowl, but also should be enough so that the slurry shouldn't dry up and you shall see the stones run smoothly. For the stage 2 you might want to babysit the tumbler every 4 hours one the first day, adding water gradually and slowly as you see fit. Also use a lot of mixed sized fillers, preferably small stones of similar hardness as your tumbling subjects. This recipe works for me, but I don't have a super high standard, not as high as many of you more experienced tumblers.

Here is an old discussion of TV-5 plus UV-10 mini bowl: forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/100421/ray-tech-vib-tumbler

[mirkee]

I use the vibe 5 successfully and yes, I think it's worth using.  I used too much stage 2 grit at one time and things didn't work out.  I suggest you experient by using too little at the start and go from there.  Many recipes call for 1/2 tsp polish and I just can/t relate.  I use 1/2 tsp and then follow up with another 1/2 tsp (no cleanout) 24 hrs later for a total of two days of polish.  I like the results.  Since you already have it, give it a go.  I'm sure it will speed things up for you.

[adam5]

Another vote here for the TV-5. But it does need to be tended to every few hours if used for stage 2 grinding. I can't do that, so I only use the vibe tumbler for pre-polish and polish. And I second pebblesky that it is well worth pairing a UV minibowl with the TV-5 base.

[mirkee]

I do check it often but then again, I check my rotaries also even to see that they are still running.  I get the TV5 over-wet before I go to bed and it works well for me.  Water evaporates and gets to the right level while I sleep.

[pebblesky]

I could only check more often over the weekends so I usually start stage two at Saturdays. Otherwise I will need to overfill the water before I go to bed because the next time I could check would be next day at 6PM. In my experience, if you have no other choice, to begin with a little bit of too much water splashing a bit is better than the slurry drying up and the rocks barely moving during the day.

[gemfreak95]

Sept 6, 2024 17:42:32 GMT -5 mirkee said:

I use the vibe 5 successfully and yes, I think it's worth using.  I used too much stage 2 grit at one time and things didn't work out.  I suggest you experient by using too little at the start and go from there.  Many recipes call for 1/2 tsp polish and I just can/t relate.  I use 1/2 tsp and then follow up with another 1/2 tsp (no cleanout) 24 hrs later for a total of two days of polish.  I like the results.  Since you already have it, give it a go.  I'm sure it will speed things up for you.

Thanks for the tips.  Is that 1/2 tsp per pound or total?