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Post by cookie3rocks on May 18, 2004 21:23:40 GMT -5
Hi all, I've finally got a decent batch to polish and it's intresting and confusing. The first 2 days I had a leak. I kept recharging, adding water and cleaning the lid, trying to make sure it was a solid seal. Tonight (3rd day) I checked it and there was no leak but almost no moisture, very thick. I cleaned some stones and darned if they are not showing a shine! I added water. I'm still confused, only a few tablespoons of water? Just doesn't seem like enough. I'm also wondering if my silicone pellets are absorbing the moisture and mucking it up. They were setteled at the bottom where it was the thickest. I'm using a RaytechVibe #5 and cerium oxide.
cookie
cookie
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on May 18, 2004 23:01:08 GMT -5
Cookie, you had a leak in your vibe tumbler? I'm confused. I have the same vibe tumbler but there is no seal on the lid, just a screw that keeps the lid on. If it's throwing polish all over the place, you probably either have too much in it or too much water. I never had a problem with the polish, but when I put some slabs in coarse, it splashed everywhere. I cleaned everything out, recharged and added only 2 tablespoons of water (because the rocks were wet).
I haven't used cerium oxide polish in mine, so it could be the difference in polish. But if you kept adding water, ya' probably got too much water in it.
I put my rocks in, then 2 teaspoons of polish and 2 tablespoons of water if the rocks are wet and 4 if they are dry.
I'll find the directions for the tumbler, scan them and send them to you if you want me to.
llana
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James
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 876
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Post by James on May 19, 2004 2:44:36 GMT -5
I purpose of silcone pellets is to keep moisture out of various products. They must be absorbing the watter.
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Post by puppie96 on May 19, 2004 3:07:00 GMT -5
Hi, I am also using that Raytech model, glad to see this thread since people rarely discuss them. I'm very confused by some things -- especially the using of 4 tablespoons of water. My Raytech directions said to use 2 TEASPOONS of water with wet rocks and 4 teaspoons if they are dry. I've been using the thing for long enough that I've done some experiments and I can tell you that with that much water in it, it would be a complete mess. I seem to be getting results with this ratio of liquid. So...this is really confusing. In the vibe I've never used a thickening agent; the big problem is adding water at the right intervals or starting with the right amount so that it doesn't stiffen up into cement. I have used plastic pellets a coupld times even though everything you read tells you that they don't do anything in a vibe. My reason was that I didn't have a lot of small stones in this batch and so I thought that plastic pellets would be an assist in getting polish to all of the surfaces. It worked and was an improvement over the previous polish attempt. If you haven't seen it already, therockshed.com has a great section on vibe tumblers and instructions that you might want to look at. About polishes, I've tried aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, and tin oxide in the vibe. At this point everything seems to have done best with the Raytech proprietary product that comes with the starter kit, which evidently is aluminum oxide! At the moment I've got backyard rock in mine which has been in 100-120 for about 2 weeks and in 120-220 now, for a couple days. This stuff makes me crazy. It tumbles beautifully, but it has pits and crevices and it's really hard to get a good surface. The last batch polished up great, pits, crevices, and all, but I'm anal enough to want to get the beautiful flawless surface too, so I'm grinding the heck out of it. Meanwhile, the ones that are smooth are in danger of disintegration and the overall volume has shrunk enough that I'm afraid it soon won't be enough for a vibe load. If I had a free barrel I'd switch it over and see if I got better results on smoothing it. Wow, how I do run on. Sorry about the length. Good Luck!
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Post by cookie3rocks on May 19, 2004 11:44:27 GMT -5
Puppies, I'm experiencing almost all of what you are talking about. Geuss I just have to trust that The thick consistancy just is what it is. The leak I'm getting, it's like the slurry is all going up one side of the vibe and creeps out at that point. It' not slinging but oozing. Some of my stones just disinagrate befor others but it's all a learning proccess for me in hardness.
cookie
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Post by puppie96 on May 20, 2004 4:42:16 GMT -5
Hi Cookie, I've got that leak/trickle thing going on at the top a lot of the time. It will just run down one side and puddle on the platform next to one of the rubber washers. I just wipe it off every time. That seems to be indicative of too much water. The problem is that if you use recommended amounts it will run dry long before 12 hours. If you aren't in a position to add water after 8 or so you have to make a judgment about how much to put in, and this is where it gets tricky. But I have always used the 2 teaspoon measurement as the baseline and gone from there. Don't know how long you've been using yours, but I have gotten excellent results with the vibe. You'll like it! I was in the position of trying to shine up some beach rock that was already nicely shaped, so it didn't need a rough grind -- I wanted to get it polished in about a week, to give for gifts and I was able to accomplish that. Good Luck!
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on May 20, 2004 8:14:51 GMT -5
Cookie, you do need to check for dehydration about every 8 hrs. according to the directions. When mine gets dry I just add another couple of teaspoons of water.
I have been trying to find my directions to scan and send to you. I have NO idea where I have put them! I'm afraid they got accidently stuck in some other folder. Soon as I find them, I will scan a copy and email them to you.
llana
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Post by cookie3rocks on May 20, 2004 19:16:43 GMT -5
Thanks Llana and Puppie, My vibe didn't come with instuctions and when we called the place we ordered if from they said "Hardly anyone uses them for rock tumbling, usually for getting burrs off medal" Whatever. And they had no instructions. I think we talked to the night janitor. I'll just keep my eyes peeled, though I often work 10 hour days. I guess it won't hurt to leak a little and so far the stones are loking pretty good. Thanks
cookie
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Post by puppie96 on May 21, 2004 1:15:53 GMT -5
Cookie, you could call Raytech and ask them to send them. I had an 800 number for them at one point, don't know whether I still have it or not. Or one of the dealers, they are pretty nice about this stuff, maybe they could fax or email it.
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