Post by herchenx on Mar 15, 2012 1:21:08 GMT -5
Hi folks,
There seems to be a number of posts recently from new folks about how to get the slurry right.
I've referred folks time and again to Don's great post on how to get a great shine using a Lortone QT66 here (go about 5 or 6 posts down the page):
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=trtphoto&action=display&thread=22055&page=4
If you haven't seen it yet, you need to. It is posted at the top of the Rock Tumbling Photos section as "Newbies, some inspirational tumbles."
Given all the recent struggles, I thought I might help fill what may be a tiny hole in the readily available information for new folks.
I will show how I have been charging my 1.5# Lortone barrels. I have found that to get a good slurry (the first goal in any new batch) the 6# recipe of Don's needs a little tweaking.
One important thing I have learned with all my tumbles in the coarse stage is that the Lortone instructions have you add way too much water, or at least every time I have followed them all I get is runny water, no nice slurry.
So here, with way overkill photos, is my process for charging 1.5# Lortone Barrels:
First, the empty barrels:
Next, the 3# of rock I will charge with. Here I have 1# quartz crystals, 1# smoky quartz, and 1# of rutilated quartz, all from therockshed.com (I highly recommend them if you need tumblers, tumbler parts, grit or tumbling rough - they sell lots of other stuff but that is all I Have bought from them):
I added the crystals to one barrel, and the rutilated quartz to another, which basically filled each barrel:
I put a few pieces of smoky quartz in just to fill it up and add some variety:
Next I got a bag of coarse grit. I am using 60/90 Silicon Carbide, also from therockshed.com:
I add 3Tb SiC to these barrels. Technically, if i was scaling, I could use less, but this has been working for me:
Next, and this is a key for me, I add 1/4 cup of water:
a barrel tipped just to see how little water is in there:
I close everything up:
And, if you haven't seen barrels spinning, here are barrels spinning:
NOW, I will crack open these barrels in a couple days just to see if I have a good slurry or if I am completely full of it.
UPDATE:
I opened the barrels yesterday. The slurry was a little thin so I added some chips of rhyolite, dumped out a teaspoon or two of water, sprayed the rim of the barrel so it would seat cleanly and put it back on the tumbler.
I add rhyolite because it seems to grind a little faster and helps the slurry.
UPDATE 2, two days more. I opened it and the slurry seems thin, but coming asking, and the volume had decreased significantly:
There is some definite rounding happening:
I removed a little more water and added some carnelian from thereckshed.com:
UPDATE 3, 6 days total:
The slurry is still thin, so I dumped out even more water:
The I added just a couple chips of aventurine (it is smaller pieces and I wasn't trying to fill this, just keep it up to 3/4 full) then closed it up and put it back on.
There seems to be a number of posts recently from new folks about how to get the slurry right.
I've referred folks time and again to Don's great post on how to get a great shine using a Lortone QT66 here (go about 5 or 6 posts down the page):
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=trtphoto&action=display&thread=22055&page=4
If you haven't seen it yet, you need to. It is posted at the top of the Rock Tumbling Photos section as "Newbies, some inspirational tumbles."
Given all the recent struggles, I thought I might help fill what may be a tiny hole in the readily available information for new folks.
I will show how I have been charging my 1.5# Lortone barrels. I have found that to get a good slurry (the first goal in any new batch) the 6# recipe of Don's needs a little tweaking.
One important thing I have learned with all my tumbles in the coarse stage is that the Lortone instructions have you add way too much water, or at least every time I have followed them all I get is runny water, no nice slurry.
So here, with way overkill photos, is my process for charging 1.5# Lortone Barrels:
First, the empty barrels:
Next, the 3# of rock I will charge with. Here I have 1# quartz crystals, 1# smoky quartz, and 1# of rutilated quartz, all from therockshed.com (I highly recommend them if you need tumblers, tumbler parts, grit or tumbling rough - they sell lots of other stuff but that is all I Have bought from them):
I added the crystals to one barrel, and the rutilated quartz to another, which basically filled each barrel:
I put a few pieces of smoky quartz in just to fill it up and add some variety:
Next I got a bag of coarse grit. I am using 60/90 Silicon Carbide, also from therockshed.com:
I add 3Tb SiC to these barrels. Technically, if i was scaling, I could use less, but this has been working for me:
Next, and this is a key for me, I add 1/4 cup of water:
a barrel tipped just to see how little water is in there:
I close everything up:
And, if you haven't seen barrels spinning, here are barrels spinning:
NOW, I will crack open these barrels in a couple days just to see if I have a good slurry or if I am completely full of it.
UPDATE:
I opened the barrels yesterday. The slurry was a little thin so I added some chips of rhyolite, dumped out a teaspoon or two of water, sprayed the rim of the barrel so it would seat cleanly and put it back on the tumbler.
I add rhyolite because it seems to grind a little faster and helps the slurry.
UPDATE 2, two days more. I opened it and the slurry seems thin, but coming asking, and the volume had decreased significantly:
There is some definite rounding happening:
I removed a little more water and added some carnelian from thereckshed.com:
UPDATE 3, 6 days total:
The slurry is still thin, so I dumped out even more water:
The I added just a couple chips of aventurine (it is smaller pieces and I wasn't trying to fill this, just keep it up to 3/4 full) then closed it up and put it back on.