|
Post by gmitch067 on May 13, 2017 4:03:50 GMT -5
Well... 1.5 days into my first use of a vibe and I added too much water. The action slowed to a crawl and then froze to a stop with clumps of muddy rocks sticking to the sides of the UV-10. Water was pooled at the bottom of the barrel - which was visible because the rocks stayed glued to the sides. I turned off the power and thought "This is not good"(... duh!).
I ended up separating the rocks from the almost dry concrete like mud (soapy water works well for that) and then did the same for the almost 2 lbs of ceramic pellets. I placed the ceramics into a colander to drain, and put the rocks into a bath of soapy water. I also washed out the UV-10 barrel and lid, and dumped the waste water into the bushes (I noted a lot of unused 220 grit at the bottom of the wash bucket but decided to feed that also to the bushes... what a waste... Oh well...). It is past midnight here in California and the neighbors are lite sleepers. So... I will let the rocks bathe and the ceramics drain until I get up from my beauty sleep.
Question-1: Was my recovery solution correct, or is there an easier fix for too much water in the vibe (like throwing in a paper towel or dry sponge)?
Question-2: Why were the rocks still covered so heavily in the mud? (That is the reason I was adding more water in the first place - Yes... there was good cyclonic action going on, but it was slow, and the rocks were heavily covered in slurry.)
Question-3: Do the rocks and ceramics need to be dry before I start another 220 grit vibe, or can I add them still wet, start the unit, and then sprinkle the grit over the top?
As I think about it some more... Was my problem too much water - or - was the load close to binding up from NOT ENOUGH water and chose that moment to freeze motion; The water I sprayed in just bouncing off the thick mud and rocks stuck to the sides, and then pooling to the bottom... Too much thinking! Not enough sleeping! Tomorrow is another day of FUN! Good night All!
|
|
notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
|
Post by notjustone on May 13, 2017 8:36:27 GMT -5
Well... 1.5 days into my first use of a vibe and I added too much water. The action slowed to a crawl and then froze to a stop with clumps of muddy rocks sticking to the sides of the UV-10. Water was pooled at the bottom of the barrel - which was visible because the rocks stayed glued to the sides. I turned off the power and thought "This is not good"(... duh!). I ended up separating the rocks from the almost dry concrete like mud (soapy water works well for that) and then did the same for the almost 2 lbs of ceramic pellets. I placed the ceramics into a colander to drain, and put the rocks into a bath of soapy water. I also washed out the UV-10 barrel and lid, and dumped the waste water into the bushes (I noted a lot of unused 220 grit at the bottom of the wash bucket but decided to feed that also to the bushes... what a waste... Oh well...). It is past midnight here in California and the neighbors are lite sleepers. So... I will let the rocks bathe and the ceramics drain until I get up from my beauty sleep. Question-1: Was my recovery solution correct, or is there an easier fix for too much water in the vibe (like throwing in a paper towel or dry sponge)? Question-2: Why were the rocks still covered so heavily in the mud? (That is the reason I was adding more water in the first place - Yes... there was good cyclonic action going on, but it was slow, and the rocks were heavily covered in slurry.) Question-3: Do the rocks and ceramics need to be dry before I start another 220 grit vibe, or can I add them still wet, start the unit, and then sprinkle the grit over the top? As I think about it some more... Was my problem too much water - or - was the load close to binding up from NOT ENOUGH water and chose that moment to freeze motion; The water I sprayed in just bouncing off the thick mud and rocks stuck to the sides, and then pooling to the bottom... Too much thinking! Not enough sleeping! Tomorrow is another day of FUN! Good night All! next time add water and wait to see if action comes back after a few minutes. to much water shouldn't slow it down to much(unless its a huge amount). I put a huge amount of water, like 2 or 3 cups, and a squirt of dawn and run for a few minutes when I do a cleanout. which greatly reduces the amount of action. to thin out and help clean the slurry off without being so aggressive it chips or bruises the stones. they make a flat strainer for the uv-10 that you put your rough in barrel fill with water. hold strainer over opening flip drain off excess then just screw your bowl on start up and add grit. so your rough should not be dry when loading.
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 13, 2017 10:54:51 GMT -5
Sooo... Just add water? Should I pry the rocks and mud off the sides of the drum and mix it with the pooled water below to help it along?
|
|
notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
|
Post by notjustone on May 13, 2017 11:16:28 GMT -5
Sooo... Just add water? Should I pry the rocks and mud off the sides of the drum and mix it with the pooled water below to help it along? if they are stuck that securely in a uv-10 you definetly are not running enough water. and yes pull off sides so it will mix in. add water slowly and let it run for a few min. don't add huge amounts unless your basically washing b4 switching grits.
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 13, 2017 11:39:07 GMT -5
Thank you for your advice. In the future, for the initial 220 grit run, I will make sure to check the action more frequently than three times per day. If (when?) this happens again, I will try your solution first before going through all the disassembly and cleaning. I will also try to take some pictures to share (geee... after all the fun I just went through learning how to post pictures... and I forgot to take any! Oh well... 'Heat of the moment forgetfulness... I will work on that too! Lol!)
|
|
notjustone
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2017
Posts: 426
|
Post by notjustone on May 13, 2017 11:42:36 GMT -5
Thank you for your advice. In the future, for the initial 220 grit run, I will make sure to check the action more frequently than three times per day. If (when?) this happens again, I will try your solution first before going through all the disassembly and cleaning. I will also try to take some pictures to share (geee... after all the fun I just went through learning how to post pictures... and I forgot to take any! Oh well... 'Heat of the moment forgetfulness... I will work on that too! Lol!) I'm assuming since your getting that thick a slurry with 220 your doing all stages in the vibe?
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 13, 2017 11:56:31 GMT -5
Actually NO. I did one 80 grit stage in a 12 lb barrel on my QT66 - to knock down on the sharp edges - before porting the rocks over to the UV-10. That should have cleaned them a bit. I am told that the UV10's 220 grit run is "vigerous" but did not foresee so much free abraded material (all of the ceramics were also pre-used). The load consisted of 4 lb Amazonite and about 2 lbs of Moonstone. These pictures shows both after removal from the 80 grit run.
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 13, 2017 12:11:08 GMT -5
I only ran the 80 grit load for a little over 2 days, thinking that by knocking off the sharp edges first, it would save the UV-10s drum from scoring and extend its life expectancy. I now think (with the advice of the other members) that for future loads I will continue a full course of 80 grit tumbling (7 days each for the the rocks harder than 6 Mohs) - until the rocks are free of pits and cracks - before shifting over to use the UV-10.
|
|
|
Post by Rockoonz on May 13, 2017 12:11:35 GMT -5
When things get sluggish in our UV10's Elizabeth uses a spray bottle with it running and just sprays until the action picks back up. I wonder if the feldspars create the thick mud, I'll ask her later if she's experienced a difference when we do sunstones.
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 13, 2017 16:46:21 GMT -5
In my case, I was using a spray bottle also. The rocks were heavily coated++ in slurry and the action seemed sluggish. As I sprayed the action became even slower (!!!), and then froze up - leaving the rocks, ceramics, and mud thickly plastered to the sides of the UV-10. There was a puddle of water showing at the bottom of the drum. Because of that puddle, I (wrongly) jumped to the conclusion that I had sprayed in too much water. Now, as you can see from this thread, I didn't use enough. It surprises me that so much abrasion occurred at the UV-10's 220 grit stage. I thought the 80 grit tumble on my QT66 would have reduced the rocks already... NOT! I guess the 2+ days in 80 grit was not adequate to do that. This weekend I will evaluate my next step... send the rocks back to the 80 grit tumbler for a few weeks before attempting the UV-10 again - or - Forge ahead with the UV-10 (damn the torpedoes! DBF!!... ARGH!!!... where is that darn parrot?)
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 14, 2017 22:28:30 GMT -5
I decided to forge ahead and run the Amazonite and Moonstone in a 2nd attempt using my new UV-10. To make up lost volume from my 1st attempt, I added a pound of already shaped Lapis (which failed to polish in a past 3A load because of contamination). This brought the material level up almost to the top of the UV-10's center cone. I might have to remove the Lapis prior to the polish stage because of a need to use a different polish for that type of stone (maybe not... researching the topic I have found all 3 stones react well to Tin Oxide < >)
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 16, 2017 7:47:59 GMT -5
It happened again. After almost 2 days in 220 grit in my new UV-10 the cyclonic action stopped - with the contents welded together in a thick mud... Not enough water. I had checked the load 4 hrs prior, noted a good cyclonic action (although slowing a bit), added a TBS of water and watched as the action picked up. I put the cover back on again and let it run. When I came into the garage prior to going to bed I found the load action had stopped. This time I added a TBS water and used a plastic stir stick to poke and prod the mix. I had to add 2 TBS more before the action resumed. After a minute or two the action slowed and once again stopped. Further additions of water only succeeded in creating a lake around the center cone (now I think I can ID a case of adding too much water! LOL!). Even after adding too much water, there was still a very thick coat of mud over all the contents about the consistency of toothpaste. The water just ran over the rock surfaces without thinning the mud coating. I decided to wrap it up for the night with cleaning out the drum, rocks, and ceramics with soapy water (even gave the rocks a scrub down with a toothbrush). This is what it looked like:
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 16, 2017 17:54:04 GMT -5
My third try at using my new UV-10 in the 220 grit run... I'm thinking the load was too high and heavy for the unit's motor to keep the action going when it thickens up.
I removed the Amazonite rocks. That left 3lb Moonstone and 1lb of Lapis and enough ceramics to fill just above the blue center stripe on the drum's outer shell (still 1.5" below the top of the center cone).
Instead of using 6 TBS of 220 grit, I used only 3 TBS.
The vibe action is certainly livelier than the last 2 failed runs. I hope the increased action will keep the slurry from thickening to the point the sprayed-in water can mix better. We'll see...
|
|
|
Post by MrP on May 16, 2017 18:01:54 GMT -5
My third try at using my new UV-10 in the 220 grit run... I'm thinking the load was too high and heavy for the unit's motor to keep the action going when it thickens up. I removed the Amazonite rocks. That left 3lb Moonstone and 1lb of Lapis and enough ceramics to fill just above the blue center stripe on the drum's outer shell (still 1.5" below the top of the center cone). Instead of using 6 TBS of 220 grit, I used only 3 TBS. The vibe action is certainly livelier than the last 2 failed runs. I hope the increased action will keep the slurry from thickening to the point the sprayed-in water can mix better. We'll see... I have a UV-4, UV-10, UV-18, and a UV-45. I run all of them 98% full, rocks and ceramics................................MrP
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 16, 2017 19:57:37 GMT -5
Thank you MrP. I sometimes get confused when researching formulas that I get the UV-10's instructions crossed with the UV-18 (which I almost bought). I was thinking that the UV-18's larger motor handled a full load better than the UV-10. So that is one less concern.
I also removed the Amazonite from the mix. We'll see if the thick slurry doesn't return as prevalent.
This is definitely an interesting hobby!
|
|
|
Post by Rockoonz on May 16, 2017 23:01:42 GMT -5
There are 2 versions of the UV10 Regular UV10 for dry tumbling in corn cob or walnut shell, reloaders but them for their brass, too weak for rocks. UV10 IND, industrial strength for rocks.
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 17, 2017 0:44:36 GMT -5
Right Lee - I got the Industrial UV-10. the barrel has the blue stripe around it's girth.
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 17, 2017 7:02:15 GMT -5
To further investigate what Lee had to say...
Is the MOTOR for the Industrial UV-10 the same as for the NON-Industrial UV-10 (used for ammo shell casings)?
All the web searches I have done so far do not answer that question - only pointing out the color band around the drum as an indicator of which one is which.
|
|
grayfingers
Cave Dweller
Member since November 2007
Posts: 4,575
|
Post by grayfingers on May 17, 2017 8:22:51 GMT -5
I have both models. The yellow striped case tumbler has a smaller motor (un-shrouded). The springs under the bowl base are much smaller, shorter and wimpier.
|
|
|
Post by gmitch067 on May 17, 2017 11:14:33 GMT -5
Thank you for your reply grayfingers. 'Looks like I have the Industrial UV-10. I can see the name plate data on the side of the motor, but the vibration makes it impossible to read. The springs are good sized also.
|
|