loupain
off to a rocking start
Member since July 2020
Posts: 15
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Post by loupain on Jul 26, 2020 16:21:28 GMT -5
Hi every one, a question from a beginner : when you look at your rock after the step 1 and you said « i will do step 1 again for another week » Do you clean all and start over with new grid or you continue to use the same barrel with the « old » grid inside?
i hope my english is enough readable ! thanks you for your help.
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,422
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Post by Wooferhound on Jul 26, 2020 17:36:21 GMT -5
If you tumble for a week then almost all of your grit has been ground down to a powder and not much use anymore. Pull out the rocks that look good to you and then restart the barrel again like from the beginning possibly adding more rough rocks to keep the barrel properly filled. No need to do any washing in Stage 1 since any grit carried through the cleaning will not hurt anything.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Aug 1, 2020 14:59:09 GMT -5
After my first stage, which is usually longer than a week, I usually wash out the barrel, media, and rocks so I can get a good look at them. During the summer a big bucket and garden hose does the job. Then when everything is clean and reloaded I add the grit and off we go for another stage one cycle. It doesn't take any time at all to do this cleaning. You get a good feel about what is happening to the rocks.
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dkurtz
having dreams about rocks
Tumbling to de-stress from my work. :)
Member since February 2010
Posts: 66
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Post by dkurtz on Aug 1, 2020 15:50:42 GMT -5
I wash everything down at the end of a cycle and using a lot of buckets 5 gal & 2.5 gal, I then sort them. Ones which I feel are done with stage 1 go into one bucket and the others go into another bucket. I save up my stage 1 done rocks to either fill a 12 lb barrel for stage 2 or my UV-18 for stage 2. I then reload the rocks which didn't make the cut add them back into the barrel and add more rocks to the fill level, plus grit and some slurry from earlier batches. It's a machine, my process. Keep in mind I have 6 tumblers running and an UV-18 and UV-10MB. I seem to always have buckets of rocks waiting to be tumbled.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Aug 2, 2020 7:03:15 GMT -5
I wash everything down at the end of a cycle and using a lot of buckets 5 gal & 2.5 gal, I then sort them. Ones which I feel are done with stage 1 go into one bucket and the others go into another bucket. I save up my stage 1 done rocks to either fill a 12 lb barrel for stage 2 or my UV-18 for stage 2. I then reload the rocks which didn't make the cut add them back into the barrel and add more rocks to the fill level, plus grit and some slurry from earlier batches. It's a machine, my process. Keep in mind I have 6 tumblers running and an UV-18 and UV-10MB. I seem to always have buckets of rocks waiting to be tumbled. Ditto on this. I also separate the rocks after each stage 1 into those going back into the stage 1 mix, and the others going into the ready for stage 2 tumble. I do this type of sorting for every stage except for the polish. I don't use my UV-18 vibe for stages 1 and 2 because I don't want to have to check it every three hours and tweak the slurry. My two TT-B's at 15 lbs each do a great job on stages 1 and 2, so those are my work horses.
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dkurtz
having dreams about rocks
Tumbling to de-stress from my work. :)
Member since February 2010
Posts: 66
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Post by dkurtz on Aug 2, 2020 10:00:13 GMT -5
Agree datorflash1at each stage I check each rock and if I find something I don't like in stage 2, 3, or 4 I send it back to stage 1.
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reeniebeany
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rotary Only
Member since January 2020
Posts: 125
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Post by reeniebeany on Aug 2, 2020 11:43:44 GMT -5
I open the barrel, drain the contents through a sieve into a bowl and pour it back into the barrel. Rinse and check the rocks. Anything that needs more time goes back in the barrel. Sometimes the whole lot go back, sometimes only a few need more time. Add more grit, rocks, and water, depending on how much is ready for stage two. Bag and label the ones ready for stage two
I run a few batches through stage one before doing a complete scrub down and moving to stage two. Most times I run them though a few cycles in a vibratory cleaner to clean any sneaky crevices. Same thing with the next stages.
This works because I have the Chicago Electric two barrel so my volumes are small. The two barrels are usually running successive batches of different steps.
You don't get quick results that way. But, you have a bigger assortment at any given stage to sort out into batches. I am new at this, so there is still a lot of learning what tumbles well together.
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