WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Sept 5, 2003 21:21:00 GMT -5
Greetings All, Another update, just started the combined first and second batch of green aventurine in the 3rd stage, prepolish, tonight. I still have some ready for second stage, but not enough to run and I haven't gotten any plastic pellets yet. But, I finally have more coarse grit so I started the final batch of green aventurine in the first of two first stage runs, so...I've finally got both barrels of the QT66 going at the same time Exitement abounds! As I've mentioned in another post I'm getting at least one and possibly three new tumblers (well, new to me that is but second-hand) from Ebay, including at least one 12 pounder which I plan to dedicate to coarse grit runs only (when I get the dual barrel 3 pounder I can do comparisons of different polishes . I was very pleased at the difference at the difference in the rocks after the second stage, many of the surface defects I had noticed after the two first stage runs seemed to have smoothed out better than I thought they would. So I'm thinking between two and three runs with coarse grit will be plenty to shape and smooth the rocks. I should be getting 5 lb buckets of 46/70 and 60/90 grit next week, so I'll try one week with each and see how that looks. I can tell I need to start keeping better notes, so I got a lab notebook now that I'm keeping track of things in. Just need to exert a little more effort to the record keeping for now WilliamC
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WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Sept 14, 2003 14:40:45 GMT -5
Greetings All, Just a quick update. On Friday I finally started the first batch of green aventurine in the polish stage Now this was the polish I originally got from the rock store when I bought the tumbler and the rocks, and all it is is a paper bag with the word polish on it. So I don't know what it is, but I'm guessing cerium oxide since it seems the most commonly used for rock tumbling. I'll just call it mystery polish Anyway, I also used all of the walnut shell I was given from the store too, as filler (which means I need to get some of those plastic pellets, seeings how they are reusable). So that is going until Wednesday or Friday, depending on my spare time. Then I'll see finally see what all the work was for. And I'll take some pictures to send to Andy too In the second barrel I put up the second batch of green aventurine for the second run through coarse grit. Again, this was the last of the grit from the rock shop, bag just says coarse on it. That will come out same time as the first batch being polished. AND, I should finally receive the 5lb buckets of 46/70, 60/90, 220 and 600 grit and 5lb bucket of cerium oxide I ordered from Dad's Rock Shop three weeks ago (turns out I had the wrong address on the envelope, so I had to resend my check SO, from now on I should be running both 6 lb barrels continuously, and since I'm getting the 12-pounder next week I'll be able to have 24 lbs of rocks going at a time ;D Anyway, like I said, I'll send pictures for posting in a week or so, and then I'll "retire" this thread since I will officially no longer be a first timer. But don't worry, I'm having too much fun tumbling and talking about it to stop posting, so ya'll won't be seeing the last of me or my rocks for a while WilliamC
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Post by docone31 on Sept 14, 2003 16:55:56 GMT -5
Cerium oxide is orange colored. Aluminum is white, and corundum is grey. Tin oxide is also grey. I mix my cerium oxide with aluminum oxide and that seems to work without cleaning out most of my cerium which I use mostly for polishing when I facet. Keep tumbling, enjoy
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WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Sept 14, 2003 18:06:41 GMT -5
Greetings All,
Ah, so the mystery polish is aluminium oxide, not cerium oxide. Thanks Doc.
WilliamC
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WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Sept 18, 2003 20:56:19 GMT -5
Greetings All, Well, Wednesday night was it, I finished a 5 day run of the green aventurine in aluminum oxide polish (will walnut shell for cushion) and the results were.....not too bad. But by no means what I would call great. Methinks the rocks can get a bit more polished, a bit more shiny, and a bit more of a mirror-like finish to them. I brought home some small plastic tubes from work today since I don't have any walnut shell left and since I don't have any plastic pellets yet. But the tubes are polypropylene, just like the pellets, and I have both 1.5 ml and 0.5 ml so the size isn't that different, and they are capped so they won't trap the polish slurry in them. So tomorrow night I'll put up the aventurine for one final polish run, let it go 7 days this time, and call it quits for this batch. It is very obvious to me now how crucially important it is to sort the rocks from one stage to the next, especially before putting them in the polish stage. Most of the rocks are perfectly smooth from the previous stages but there are a few with rough edges that could either trap grit or be abrasive in their own right. So I will separate them out before the second (and last) polish stage. In terms of washing the rocks between stages I am lucky in that I have a drainage ditch at the edge of my property and the street so I just use my hose and my wifes plastic spaghetti strainer (well it was before I started using it ) to wash out the grit slurry. But I need something better since I'm losing little flakes of rock. What I'd eventually like to get is a set of graded sieves (see www.geology.sdsu.edu/classes/geol552/seddescription.htm) of 2 inch, 1 inch, 1/2 inch, number 4 and number 10. Not only would these "automatically" do some size sorting (which will become very important when I start doing larger runs someday) but I'll also be able to recover some of the rock-generated sand to use as filler for other runs. Or I can use the "coarse" sand of 2 to 4.5 mm diameter for filling decartive sand bottles (see www.ebottles.com/showbottles.asp?familyid=1365). Hey, if I'm ever to want to make some profit doing this I've got to waste as little of the rock as possible, right? So for now the tumbler is quiet, the barrels are still, and the rocks are patiently waiting, as they have for eons of geologic time. But only until Saturday when I SHOULD be getting my order of grit delivered. And I BETTER have my new 12 pounder by then or I'll start to wonder about the person on Ebay who sold it to me. For now though I will look at what I have made, run them through my hands, and ponder as to how to do it better next time. Oh, I did take some of the polished rocks up to my lab today and gave a few away (well only to the ladies that I work with, if the guys want any they have to pay me 50 cents, I'm not in the habit of giving pretty things to guys . I got some oohs and ahs and thank you's, they really were appreciated by someone other than me. And that's all for now WilliamC
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Post by docone31 on Sept 18, 2003 21:16:40 GMT -5
William wonderful. I especially like the donations to the feminine gender, with cost to the masculine. It is the proper order. Why only five days on final polish? I usually go either 10, or sometimes three weeks. I do flush between weeks, and I am careful of water. It is R/O only for final polish. Sometimes in the second week, I add Cerium oxide with the Aluminum oxide. I have been confounded by the final polish sometimes, and have even had to go back to prepolish and start over. One other thing I do, is to flush the bbl untill the water is clear before I strain. I use a fine mesh strainer for food preparation, and what falls through, oh well. Good for you, a gift of a gem can brighten someone's spirit.
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WilliamC
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2003
Posts: 416
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Post by WilliamC on Sept 19, 2003 13:54:49 GMT -5
Greetings All, Hey Doc, you asked why only 5 days for the polish? I plead impatience . I will let them go 7 days next, and after that maybe 7 more. But from now on I need to pay more attention to sorting between stages rather than just transferring everything after cleaning. So more patience and a couple of extra runs through the polish stage give better results? Why am I not surprised WilliamC
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Post by docone31 on Sept 19, 2003 16:57:28 GMT -5
I want my patience, and I want it now!!!!!! Hard isn't it. It gets easier after results start coming in.
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