talkinmonkey
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2015
Posts: 3
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Post by talkinmonkey on Jan 12, 2015 13:47:17 GMT -5
hi everyone, my son and i are first time tumblers, and we're trying to figure everything out. we got a raytech tumble-vibe for christmas, as well as 3 lbs of assorted rocks, and the various grits and polishes i think we'll need to get started. however, we've got some questions: 1. the raytech is (notoriously, i've discovered) light on instructions. from what i've read elsewhere, it seems you need 4 lbs of rocks to make it work best. is this accurate? will less than that be problematic? 2. i understand that we should polish rocks of similar hardness in a single batch...but is there a range? can a rock with a 6 hardness safely be tumbled with a rock of 7 hardness? or 7.5? 3. we got a nice gift of 3 lbs of rocks (from amazon, i think), but the stones weren't identified in the packaging. can anyone help identify the rocks pictured below? thanks for any and all your help! photos:
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talkinmonkey
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2015
Posts: 3
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Post by talkinmonkey on Jan 12, 2015 13:52:56 GMT -5
whoa, sorry about the huge pictures.
i should note that the package of rocks listed the following as included: Amethyst, Labradorite, Septarian, Rose Quartz, Green Opal, Girasol Opal, Desert Jasper, Blue Apatite, Red Jasper, Petrified Wood, Yellow Jasper & Chrysocolla.
using google image search, we've identified samples of each, but the photos i posted don't seem to match any of those types.
help!
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 12, 2015 21:34:40 GMT -5
Welcome....if you go to the tumble page,towards the top of the page,they will get you all the information on tumbling.... Thumbs up...
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 12, 2015 21:38:31 GMT -5
Hi talkinmonkey. Welcome to the forum. I have a Lot-O vibratory tumbler and it should be run with a full barrel, but the barrel is completely different, so I don't know about yours. You should get some ceramic media to run with your rocks and you can use it to make up for your shortage of rocks. I usually use about 30% ceramics.
I'm not great at identifying rocks, and I don't recognize any of yours.
As for tumbling rocks of mixed hardness, the softer rocks will suffer. I'd just run whatever you have together. If something doesn't turn out, you can always run them again later.
A lot of us with vibratory tumblers run our rocks in rotary tumblers for the first stage and then move them to the vibratory tumbler to finish them up. Rotary tumblers are much better at rounding your rocks and getting out the imperfections.
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talkinmonkey
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2015
Posts: 3
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Post by talkinmonkey on Jan 13, 2015 2:26:46 GMT -5
great, thanks for the info!
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Post by snowmom on Jan 13, 2015 5:59:21 GMT -5
welcome to the forum!
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