herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Mar 28, 2012 14:16:33 GMT -5
Bump for update to OP
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 28, 2012 14:39:47 GMT -5
John, DP lists the weight capacity of the 65T as 90 lbs. Barrel looks a little different in the catalog. Polyethylene with full face lid/gasket. If you are concerned with overloading you can use ceramic media as filler. It is lighter than rock. I have never weighed a tumbler but just filled by volume. That 40 lb. drum of mine was awfully heavy loaded. Then again 40 lbs. weighs a lot more than it did 40 years ago. Inflation, I guess.
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Mar 28, 2012 14:58:52 GMT -5
Yeah that is crazy, I was just reading that.
90# of rock, that sounds insane to me. I owned approximately 1/2 pound of rock at the beginning of this year.
OK, so what do I do with 90# of tumbled rock?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Mar 28, 2012 14:59:56 GMT -5
Holy cow, I couldn't afford to put grit in that thing!
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 28, 2012 15:05:03 GMT -5
John I looked again at the DP catalog. Back when I had mine they had a 12T, 40T, and 65T. The 12T was 12 lbs. and the 40T was 40 lbs. I always assumed the 65T was 65 lbs. Apparently not. The 40 T is 40 lbs. and 4 gallons. The 65T is 90 lbs. and 8.5 gallons. They don't list barrel dimensions.
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Mar 28, 2012 15:42:25 GMT -5
Strange that it is not in the catalog. On the websites where this is sold, it lists the barrel as 16" Diameter and 16" long - that is the same as mine.
On the retail websites it does not list that loaded capacity, that only shows up in the catalog as far as I can tell and it says that "loaded capacity depends on material used" or something like that.
It seemed to be handling 90# pretty well when I left. If the breaker is tripped or there is smoke when I get home I'll know that I may have an issue.
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Mar 28, 2012 15:44:27 GMT -5
yeah jugglerguy I may need to set up a booth at the craft fair this summer and sell some of the stuff I'm producing (assuming it is ready by then) to offset some of this. This has become an expensive hobby.
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Post by susand24224 on Mar 28, 2012 17:49:45 GMT -5
Herchenx, Big Huey is the name (christened by Connrock) that belongs to the monster tumbler that I received for Christmas last year. I have no idea what it is, or even what technical size it is. The first load I put in I weighed--and the 1 TB per pound of rocks came to almost two cups, so I've done that ever since.
My friend found it at a yard sale accompanied by a rather older fellow who said his father used it for rocks, but he used it for reloading. It was built to hold two big barrels, but running both of them got a bit daunting to my rock supply and my pocketbook (grit), plus they often omitted a horrible squeaking sound when the barrels touched noses.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 28, 2012 18:50:32 GMT -5
John, DP used to use metal drums with liners up until this year except the 65T. They bought the 12 lb. from True Square (same as model B Thumler's) as did Contempo and HP. They always had the liner and barrel dimensions listed. I'll have to find about the new polyethylene drums. They must be either less expensive or more readily available.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,341
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Post by quartz on Mar 28, 2012 21:20:17 GMT -5
Nice find, that's a good looking machine. We run a double 5-gallon unit, one barrrel for rough and semi, and one for polish and soap burnish. We start the really rough stuff in 16 grit for 2 weeks, open the lid, add another 5 cups of 16 for another 2 weeks, open the lid and add 5 cups of 80 for another 2 weeks. Then I wash everything and run 220 for two weeks. One thing I found helps pad the 220 run is an inner tube cut into 1/4-3/8 inch squares; tedious as heck to cut up, but it seems to work quite well. I put in about a gallon of the chunks. This works for us, thought I'd toss it out for you to think about. The thing is heavy, each barrel goes at near 100# loaded.
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Mar 29, 2012 16:55:53 GMT -5
Thank quartz, the majority of what is in here is not very rough at all, mostly lake superior agates that are pretty well rounded, just need the surface worn off.
I'll have to do samples in a day or so and make sure nothing is getting beat up too badly, then I will let it run and run and run.
I was going to move it to the vibe in 10# chunks for 120/220 on, but given the volume I may opt to finish it all the way to pre-polish in this barrel (I don't have a separate barrel for polishing)
After that I will have to sit it aside for the 10# vibe to have room for it. I think this batch may take me the rest of the year!
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on Mar 29, 2012 17:37:30 GMT -5
Cool score John. Good luck lugging that barrel around. Take some before and after pictures of your arm muscles I see no reason not to go all the way through polish - especially with a hard plastic barrel, just make sure you throughly clean it out - you may have to throw in a whole bar of ivory soap. The vibes with rubber barrels certainly need a seperate polish barrel. While nice, it's not quite as important for the rotaries. Forget paying for the grit - I certainly wouldn't want to pay for the polish for a 90 pounder. See if you can get bulk TiO2 from a local paint or soap manufacturer. Steve
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on May 11, 2012 15:26:34 GMT -5
bump for update
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MrCoffee
has rocks in the head
Member since December 2005
Posts: 634
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Post by MrCoffee on Dec 22, 2013 17:11:47 GMT -5
Well, another good old thread to dig up, about BIG tumblers. An interesting read about grit, and speed. So, herchenx... How are your Lake Superior agates now? Have you managed to get any finished? I am wondering about a 40 pounder myself, but may opt for a Lortone C20 instead, because of my smaller living space. Let me know what you think.
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Dec 22, 2013 22:26:39 GMT -5
MrCoffee unfortunately my big tumbler suffered some damage when the barrel popped a leak in the bottom and wrecked a batch of petrified wood, tearing up the drive belt in the process. I have repair plans but it is in the frozen garage for now. I have finished quite a few lakers, putting them in the vibratory to finish them all. I still have quite a few that I need to get through the vibe to finish, threads with them are scattered in the rock tumbling photos section.
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MrCoffee
has rocks in the head
Member since December 2005
Posts: 634
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Post by MrCoffee on Dec 23, 2013 0:46:44 GMT -5
Bummer! Is the barrel still OK, or will that need to be replaced? Were the bearings or any other parts affected? I am sure that will be quite a repair. Hope you get 'er a rollin' again soon.
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herchenx
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Dec 23, 2013 4:15:45 GMT -5
I've had a lot of great input on trying to repair the barrel. The bearings seem ok but I need a new belt as well. Given the absolute cold garage and lack of a suitable heated alternative this will have to wait for warmer weather to resolve.
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MrCoffee
has rocks in the head
Member since December 2005
Posts: 634
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Post by MrCoffee on Dec 23, 2013 5:54:43 GMT -5
I am sure you'll have it running some time this Spring. After the repairs, a good cleaning will help it look nice, so you'll be more willing to take it for another spin! Lately, I've been diving through lots of slabs, cut rocks, and botched projects. I am quite reasonably sure, I can come up with a good 20 pounds of rock to run through a machine. Looks like I owe Lortone about $700.00.
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Jan 4, 2014 9:25:35 GMT -5
One heck of an adventure, I missed this thread the first time through. Thanks
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The Dad_Ohs
fully equipped rock polisher
Take me to your Labradorite!!
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,860
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Post by The Dad_Ohs on Jan 16, 2014 21:31:42 GMT -5
Please keep us informed as your repairs progress, and a little food for thought from my tumbling experiances.
I have a QT66 double barrel tumbler and when I need to do a clean out I keep a 5 gallon bucket next to it on the floor and a plastic colander sitting on the top of the bucket. I just pour out as much as I need to do and when the colander is full, I set it aside and grab a second one to empty out the rest of the rock into. The 5 gallon bucket, if I am going to continue tumbling the same rocks, I just pour back into the barrels when I am ready to continue the tumble. But, if I am going to do a full clean out I set the bucket aside and let the grit settle out in it, pour off the water, and set the remainder out in the sun to dry/harden. I then use this remainder material to act as a slurry/thickener for the next rough batch I do. I can get away with a little less ceramic, and I know I will have a slurry the first day of tumbling. I add 1TB/pound of rock in addition to the new grit. Never had a problem and I can even get away with a little less grit too as the slurry contains grit too!! And if you are interested in trying it I have an extra pound or so of it that I can send you for the cost of shipping if you want to try it.
Just thought I'd throw it out there for ya!!
Good Luck, Mario
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