The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
I don't care if feathered dinosaurs are more scientifically accurate. Science can suck it. Ancient dragon lizards all the way.
OT: 10,000 Pt XLIV - Guitar Things
- Thread starter WTFetus
- Start date
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
I know I sorta joked after Christmas that I got a rock tumbler for the holidays. And as nerdy as that is I got my first batch of stones out of it the other day after a full cycle of tumbling.
Again this is fantastically and incredibly nerdy but I don't know if I can express how weirdly satisfying it is to have these random stones (that I mostly picked up out of the driveway or planters or the roadside on walks, so it's not like it's stuff that any real geologist or lapidarist would think is worthwhile for tumbling.) come out glassy smooth and shiny. Even to just roll them around in your hand (the biggest couple are like the size of a golf ball)
Again this is fantastically and incredibly nerdy but I don't know if I can express how weirdly satisfying it is to have these random stones (that I mostly picked up out of the driveway or planters or the roadside on walks, so it's not like it's stuff that any real geologist or lapidarist would think is worthwhile for tumbling.) come out glassy smooth and shiny. Even to just roll them around in your hand (the biggest couple are like the size of a golf ball)
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
Unprompted except by a couple of courtesy likes to my last post, I decided to document my next round of rock tumbling from the beginning partially because I wanted to be able to trace the lineage and progress of my next end results and partially just because. I'm still not doing any particularly rare or interesting rocks, as most of these were pulled from a "rock garden" by my front steps what was put in a few years ago to replace the grass that used to be there because it was too annoying to lug the lawnmower up over the short retaining wall just to mow a tiny postage stamp of isolated lawn. The goal this time was to get some medium sized round or ovoid stones or some flat, disc-like ones just for the tactile experience of them.
First up the candidates. Not all of these stones will be used because there's a limit to what I can get in the tumbler at once. The smaller stones are there to help fill space and provide smaller pieces to get into gaps and create more surfaces for wear. And a lot of that is little granite pieces out of a drainage trench just because the little splinters of countertop material are fun when they're finished.
All the stones had to be washed first to get the unnecessary dirt out and some of the scum and algae that grew on a few because that rock garden is on the north side of the house and gets very little sunlight so things tend to go green and slimy during the colder/wetter months. (which, considering where I live, is basically every month that's not July and August)
Next up was measuring and weighing the stones. This is a 3 lb tumbler barrel, meaning it can hold about 3 lbs of stones. But weight is secondary to filling the thing to about 2/3rds to 4/5ths of capacity.
yes, the canister of Comet was from cleaning the rocks and all the equipment. Something that doesn't suds up is best for cleaning the barrel so that it doesn't get foamy, filmy deposits that cause problems in subsequent tumbles.
I hit my fill capacity at just under 2 lbs. That's good.
So after moving the unused stones aside this is what's going to get tumbled this time. (and as an easter egg, those that remember my "what is nem doing now?" Trade deadline coverage from a couple of years ago will remember those shoes.
)
Stones back in the barrel and now I add some ceramic "beads". These came with a tumbling kid with the other thing I'll be putting in shortly. They help to fill space in the barrel and provide more surface to grind against. This ziploc bag is ones that have been through previous tumbles and are already worn down a bit. I do have the purchased bag of fresh and unused beads as well.
that next thing into the barrel as mentioned above is the main driver of the process: silicon carbide "grit". Essentially like hardened and consistently sized "sand", this is the first of four stages of progressively finer particles that help to get us from rough stones to smoother stones to polished finish. This one is called 60/90 grit based on the size of the granules (bigger # = finer grains) 3 tablespoons of this goes into the barrel. It will be ground down and worn away in the process. The pack of grit jars I got with the tumbler should be enough to do a whole year's worth of tumbling.
Everything's in. except...
...water. Simple tap water, filled to about the bottom of the top layer of stones. This provides some erosion friction, facilitates stone movement and suspends the ground off particulate from the stones in a slurry to keep the erosion process going and make disposal and cleanup a bit easier.
So now we're ready for the lid. It's a metal disc with a rubber gasket around it that wedges down into the top of the inside of the barrel, even with the top edge. This should form a pretty watertight seal.
Like so.
Then to secure that on so it can't come undone during the tumbling a metal cap goes on and fits down snug over the top edge of the barrell (usually requiring a fair bit of pressure or some taps with a rubber mallet to get it down and secure) and then the washer and plastic lug go over top of the inner lid's threaded rod to hold everything together.
And then onto the tumbler itself. I keep it in this dollar store dishwashers' bin with some rubbery shelf liner under the tumbler and the bin itself to prevent things from sliding around due to vibrations and to dampen what little noise this thing makes. Then I put out a piece of paper to remind me when the cycle ends.
That end is a week from now. Though I will have to check at least a couple times over the next week just to ensure that everything is still in place, nothing comes loose, and that I didn't happen to put some stones in that release gasses during the tumbling/erosion process that might cause the barrel to deform (if that's happening I just have to crack it open to burp it like a tupperware container)
So we'll see where we're at next Wednesday.
All the stones had to be washed first to get the unnecessary dirt out and some of the scum and algae that grew on a few because that rock garden is on the north side of the house and gets very little sunlight so things tend to go green and slimy during the colder/wetter months. (which, considering where I live, is basically every month that's not July and August)
Next up was measuring and weighing the stones. This is a 3 lb tumbler barrel, meaning it can hold about 3 lbs of stones. But weight is secondary to filling the thing to about 2/3rds to 4/5ths of capacity.
yes, the canister of Comet was from cleaning the rocks and all the equipment. Something that doesn't suds up is best for cleaning the barrel so that it doesn't get foamy, filmy deposits that cause problems in subsequent tumbles.
I hit my fill capacity at just under 2 lbs. That's good.
So after moving the unused stones aside this is what's going to get tumbled this time. (and as an easter egg, those that remember my "what is nem doing now?" Trade deadline coverage from a couple of years ago will remember those shoes.
)Stones back in the barrel and now I add some ceramic "beads". These came with a tumbling kid with the other thing I'll be putting in shortly. They help to fill space in the barrel and provide more surface to grind against. This ziploc bag is ones that have been through previous tumbles and are already worn down a bit. I do have the purchased bag of fresh and unused beads as well.
that next thing into the barrel as mentioned above is the main driver of the process: silicon carbide "grit". Essentially like hardened and consistently sized "sand", this is the first of four stages of progressively finer particles that help to get us from rough stones to smoother stones to polished finish. This one is called 60/90 grit based on the size of the granules (bigger # = finer grains) 3 tablespoons of this goes into the barrel. It will be ground down and worn away in the process. The pack of grit jars I got with the tumbler should be enough to do a whole year's worth of tumbling.
Everything's in. except...
...water. Simple tap water, filled to about the bottom of the top layer of stones. This provides some erosion friction, facilitates stone movement and suspends the ground off particulate from the stones in a slurry to keep the erosion process going and make disposal and cleanup a bit easier.
So now we're ready for the lid. It's a metal disc with a rubber gasket around it that wedges down into the top of the inside of the barrel, even with the top edge. This should form a pretty watertight seal.
Like so.
Then to secure that on so it can't come undone during the tumbling a metal cap goes on and fits down snug over the top edge of the barrell (usually requiring a fair bit of pressure or some taps with a rubber mallet to get it down and secure) and then the washer and plastic lug go over top of the inner lid's threaded rod to hold everything together.
And then onto the tumbler itself. I keep it in this dollar store dishwashers' bin with some rubbery shelf liner under the tumbler and the bin itself to prevent things from sliding around due to vibrations and to dampen what little noise this thing makes. Then I put out a piece of paper to remind me when the cycle ends.
That end is a week from now. Though I will have to check at least a couple times over the next week just to ensure that everything is still in place, nothing comes loose, and that I didn't happen to put some stones in that release gasses during the tumbling/erosion process that might cause the barrel to deform (if that's happening I just have to crack it open to burp it like a tupperware container)
So we'll see where we're at next Wednesday.
LadyStanley
Registered User
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
Finally watched the Clone High revival. At least a couple episodes of it.
It's.... fine I guess?
Like most shows that come back as revivals years after the original ended, it just lacks some of the spark of the first go around and the elements of it that were very much of the period it was first made end up being changed to fit the evolution of TV/society and even if they are objectively better now (ie avoiding things we realize now were terribly offensive then but just didn't care about) it makes the show not the same.
Also they no longer involve Nelvana Studios in the animation side of things so the show no longer counts as Canadian Content for TV Laws, which is one of the big reasons that I got to watch it in the first place (Teletoon, the Canadian equivalent to Cartoon Network, used to show a bunch of the MTV Animation shows because the animation was farmed out to Canadian studios and it helped them fill their CanCon requirements.)
It's.... fine I guess?
Like most shows that come back as revivals years after the original ended, it just lacks some of the spark of the first go around and the elements of it that were very much of the period it was first made end up being changed to fit the evolution of TV/society and even if they are objectively better now (ie avoiding things we realize now were terribly offensive then but just didn't care about) it makes the show not the same.
Also they no longer involve Nelvana Studios in the animation side of things so the show no longer counts as Canadian Content for TV Laws, which is one of the big reasons that I got to watch it in the first place (Teletoon, the Canadian equivalent to Cartoon Network, used to show a bunch of the MTV Animation shows because the animation was farmed out to Canadian studios and it helped them fill their CanCon requirements.)
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
I just realized that I brought up the question of christmas gifts like a month and a half ago and people shared but then I didn't.
Whoops. So better late than never.
You've seen the rock tumbler already from my pics last week, so otherwise I got:
Some Star Wars books. A re-issue of a 90s trilogy that introduced the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn and then a new trilogy by the same author that is meant to serve as his history in canon with his appearances in Star Wars Rebels and the Ahsoka series
and I got a huge-ass Transformer. But one that is of particular significance since it is the source of my internet handle. It was in the original cartoon as the warship that carried the Decepticons to Earth. The (original) Nemesis
but the wonders of modern technology and Hasbro really liking money (Because they couldn't sell just a ship for nearly as much money) mean it's also actually a Transformer itself
and then its final home on my shelf, towering over its faction
(crap quality pic as this was from before I figured out how to better diffuse the light from my lamps.
Whoops. So better late than never.
You've seen the rock tumbler already from my pics last week, so otherwise I got:
Some Star Wars books. A re-issue of a 90s trilogy that introduced the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn and then a new trilogy by the same author that is meant to serve as his history in canon with his appearances in Star Wars Rebels and the Ahsoka series
and I got a huge-ass Transformer. But one that is of particular significance since it is the source of my internet handle. It was in the original cartoon as the warship that carried the Decepticons to Earth. The (original) Nemesis
but the wonders of modern technology and Hasbro really liking money (Because they couldn't sell just a ship for nearly as much money) mean it's also actually a Transformer itself
and then its final home on my shelf, towering over its faction
(crap quality pic as this was from before I figured out how to better diffuse the light from my lamps.
The Nemesis Transformer is bad ass!!I just realized that I brought up the question of christmas gifts like a month and a half ago and people shared but then I didn't.
Whoops. So better late than never.
You've seen the rock tumbler already from my pics last week, so otherwise I got:
Some Star Wars books. A re-issue of a 90s trilogy that introduced the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn and then a new trilogy by the same author that is meant to serve as his history in canon with his appearances in Star Wars Rebels and the Ahsoka series
View attachment 822109
View attachment 822110
and I got a huge-ass Transformer. But one that is of particular significance since it is the source of my internet handle. It was in the original cartoon as the warship that carried the Decepticons to Earth. The (original) Nemesis
View attachment 822106
but the wonders of modern technology and Hasbro really liking money (Because they couldn't sell just a ship for nearly as much money) mean it's also actually a Transformer itself
View attachment 822108
and then its final home on my shelf, towering over its faction
View attachment 822105
(crap quality pic as this was from before I figured out how to better diffuse the light from my lamps.
I present to you, Grand Admiral Thrun. Merry belated xmas!
Pretty smurfy...
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
The Nemesis Transformer is bad ass!!
I present to you, Grand Admiral Thrun. Merry belated xmas!
View attachment 822263
Pretty smurfy...
This is almost as terrifying as the Elon Musk version.
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
It's been a week, so we're onto phase 2 of the rock tumbler run.
Because we're dumping the tumbler contents out and have to clean it, I have to use my cleaning setup because you can't just dump this stuff down the drain. This is a high quality rig made of only the most discerning equipment
That equipment being a 5-gallon bucket with lid (not pictured) for $6 from, and I know this is shocking given the image, Canadian Tire and a 3-stage straining/draining setup made of a plastic slotted colander, a stainless steel colander with medium sized holes, and a stainless steel fine mesh strainer. Only the best quality stuff that I could get from a dollar store for less than $8 total
Anyway we crack open tumbler barrel to see what's inside:
Yep, it's gray and soupy. This is why the bucket. Because in addition to potentially still having the tumbling grit left over (there wasn't, but there could be) which could scratch and damage drains and pipes as it washes through, the particulate ground off the stones ends up mixing into the water to form a slurry. Depending on what stones are being tumbled that slurry could conceivably function like concrete. You can see where that would go bad.
So everything gets dumped into the strainer setup and hosed off with hot water (I have a little 3 foot long hose made from a destroyed old garden hose that hooks to this garage washbasin's faucet so I can hose everything off.) into the bucket.
The slurry water from the cleaning gets dumped out in the yard in a corner where my lawn meets the hedge row separating me from the neighbor. Here it won't do anything bad if it sets and it's even possible that some of the minerals could have beneficial effects.
After dumping the first bucket of water out this is the thicker slurry sediment that was left in the bottom of the bucket:
but eventually that gets cleaned out and here are the rocks sorted out on a paper towel before they go back into the tumbler
For comparison, here is the original layout of those stones before they went into the tumbler the first time. I did my best to try and put the same locations this time compared to the first picture for ease of comparison
It's hard to see a difference at this phase as the first tumble is designed to smooth the surfaces and polish away sharp edges but not actually produce a finely polished finish. So they mostly look the same (lighting differences aside) except that the little granite pieces seem to have gained a fair amount of definition and the little rock that sits in the top row just left of center (immediately left of the stone with the thick white band) has gained some interesting little speckled elements that are hard to see here.
The other surprising thing is that for some of these stones the discoloration is inherent in the stone itself. I had figured that they might be leftover algae and other junk and would clean off in the tumble, but I guess not.
Anyways next everything gets loaded back into the tumbler barrel on the scale again for illustrative purposes
The total batch of stones weighs 1 lb, 12 3/4 oz compared to 1 lb, 14 5/8 oz initially. So the whole thing has ground off about 2 ounces of matter in the last week.
In goes the stage 2 grit. That one was 60/90 and this one is 180/220 grit. Finer grit granules designed to further smooth things down and wear away some of the large scars and scratches that remain in the stones or were caused by the first tumble. It takes 3 tablespoons of grit for this stage.
I also loaded it up with more ceramic beads to fill space and provide more erosion surfaces inside, and filled the water to the bottom of the uppermost stones in the barrel. It now fills to just over halfway full instead of three quarters, but I don't have additional 1st stage stones to fill things out with so this will have to do. Maybe what I need to do in the future is tumble a bunch of random small-ish stones and then leave them after stage 1 so that they can work as barrel filler later on.
From there you've seen how this works. The lid is put on, the cap is fitted down and the plastic lug is screwed into place to seal the barrel together and then it is set on the tumbler.
It's the 21st to day so we check back in a week on the 28th to see how smooth things are. It might be that I have to do a second stage 2 tumble if I'm not happy with the results or we may move onto stage 3.
That equipment being a 5-gallon bucket with lid (not pictured) for $6 from, and I know this is shocking given the image, Canadian Tire and a 3-stage straining/draining setup made of a plastic slotted colander, a stainless steel colander with medium sized holes, and a stainless steel fine mesh strainer. Only the best quality stuff that I could get from a dollar store for less than $8 total
Anyway we crack open tumbler barrel to see what's inside:
Yep, it's gray and soupy. This is why the bucket. Because in addition to potentially still having the tumbling grit left over (there wasn't, but there could be) which could scratch and damage drains and pipes as it washes through, the particulate ground off the stones ends up mixing into the water to form a slurry. Depending on what stones are being tumbled that slurry could conceivably function like concrete. You can see where that would go bad.
So everything gets dumped into the strainer setup and hosed off with hot water (I have a little 3 foot long hose made from a destroyed old garden hose that hooks to this garage washbasin's faucet so I can hose everything off.) into the bucket.
The slurry water from the cleaning gets dumped out in the yard in a corner where my lawn meets the hedge row separating me from the neighbor. Here it won't do anything bad if it sets and it's even possible that some of the minerals could have beneficial effects.
After dumping the first bucket of water out this is the thicker slurry sediment that was left in the bottom of the bucket:
but eventually that gets cleaned out and here are the rocks sorted out on a paper towel before they go back into the tumbler
For comparison, here is the original layout of those stones before they went into the tumbler the first time. I did my best to try and put the same locations this time compared to the first picture for ease of comparison
It's hard to see a difference at this phase as the first tumble is designed to smooth the surfaces and polish away sharp edges but not actually produce a finely polished finish. So they mostly look the same (lighting differences aside) except that the little granite pieces seem to have gained a fair amount of definition and the little rock that sits in the top row just left of center (immediately left of the stone with the thick white band) has gained some interesting little speckled elements that are hard to see here.
The other surprising thing is that for some of these stones the discoloration is inherent in the stone itself. I had figured that they might be leftover algae and other junk and would clean off in the tumble, but I guess not.
Anyways next everything gets loaded back into the tumbler barrel on the scale again for illustrative purposes
The total batch of stones weighs 1 lb, 12 3/4 oz compared to 1 lb, 14 5/8 oz initially. So the whole thing has ground off about 2 ounces of matter in the last week.
In goes the stage 2 grit. That one was 60/90 and this one is 180/220 grit. Finer grit granules designed to further smooth things down and wear away some of the large scars and scratches that remain in the stones or were caused by the first tumble. It takes 3 tablespoons of grit for this stage.
I also loaded it up with more ceramic beads to fill space and provide more erosion surfaces inside, and filled the water to the bottom of the uppermost stones in the barrel. It now fills to just over halfway full instead of three quarters, but I don't have additional 1st stage stones to fill things out with so this will have to do. Maybe what I need to do in the future is tumble a bunch of random small-ish stones and then leave them after stage 1 so that they can work as barrel filler later on.
From there you've seen how this works. The lid is put on, the cap is fitted down and the plastic lug is screwed into place to seal the barrel together and then it is set on the tumbler.
It's the 21st to day so we check back in a week on the 28th to see how smooth things are. It might be that I have to do a second stage 2 tumble if I'm not happy with the results or we may move onto stage 3.
slocal
Dude...what?
LadyStanley
Registered User
Richard Lewis, Comedian and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Star, Dies at 76
Richard Lewis, the stand-up comedian who also starred alongside Larry David in “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” has died due to a heart attack, Variety has confirmed. He was 76. Lewis announced last April he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and was retiring from stand-up comedy. He most...
Ditto
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
Maybe if you delivered this bad news in a good way it wouldn't sound so bad.
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
Another week another look at where the rock tumbler is at. Spoilers, it's not a whole lot different than last week.
Stage 2, as I said above, is just a slightly finer grit. The intent of it was to continue to grind down the stones and to smooth out some of the larger scratches and roughness from the first tumble. So things are a little finer, a little smoother but there's no sign of polishing yet and everything mostly just looks a bit crisper and smoother as we progress into stage 3, which is an even finer grit (500 grit silicon carbide, compared to 220 last time and 60/90 the first time) to smooth everything out ahead of the polishing stage.
Stage 2, as I said above, is just a slightly finer grit. The intent of it was to continue to grind down the stones and to smooth out some of the larger scratches and roughness from the first tumble. So things are a little finer, a little smoother but there's no sign of polishing yet and everything mostly just looks a bit crisper and smoother as we progress into stage 3, which is an even finer grit (500 grit silicon carbide, compared to 220 last time and 60/90 the first time) to smooth everything out ahead of the polishing stage.
Barrel open and we appear to have lost a fair bit of mass as the rocks now barely come up to about the halfway point of the barrel. I didn't take images of dumping the slurry out and washing the rocks because that's the same as last time. Besides washing the rocks I also have a container of Comet cleaner and use it to scrub out the barrel so that it's clean.
And here's where the cleaned off rocks are at this point. Again you can't see a lot of difference from last week, but everything is smoother.
For reference where's where things were last week.
Most things appear to be progressing nicely. The rocks in the bottom right and top right may ultimately not take a polish as they are quite rough and pitted and might not smooth out enough. But that's the risk and a learning experience. Only the bottom right one is disappointing as I like its faint white lines and marks. I'm also not 100% that the black stones will end up shiny by the end as I have a couple of small black stones that might be similar from my last tumble run that are smooth but ended up kind of satin finish instead of glossy. We'll see.
Anyway, here's the leftover silty residue in the bottom of the bucket after a couple of washes. (this is not everything I washed off. It's what stuck in the bucket after dumping it.
Meanwhile I realized that I forgot to really look at how the lid functions. It's a metal lid with a rubber gasket that sleeves over top so that it sits snug inside the barrel. The rubber face that ends up inside can sometimes get some air trapped inside, necessitating burping it a bit to ensure it doesn't dislodge.
And here's a blurry image of me kind of putting it back together.
Anyway time to weigh in.
Last time around we were at about 1 lb, 12 3/4 oz. So that means we've lost another 4 ounces and 6 overall since we started. Almost a half pound has come off these stones in two weeks. But how much will we lose this time? We'll see as we add the next stage of grit:
It's not quite as sparkly as last time because it's finer. But it goes into the tumbler with some water. Also on the right side of the next image you can see some small round beads. These are "zirconia" beads that replace the ceramic oblong ones from the first two stages. They're designed to help the polishing process. And unlike those ceramic beads they don't break down so I can keep using them indefinitely it seems.
I'm skipping the process of sealing up the tumbler because you've seen that already, but I will show one small alteration I've made to the tumbler. The thing doesn't sit dead level on the workbench and so the barrel tends to walk to one end of its space or another and as a result will grind against the side of the tumbler housing. This would mean either grinding the metal lid and putting a big scuffed ring into it or rubbing the rubber base on the edge of the heatsink from the motor which could eventually weaken it.
So to fix that I bought a cheap pack of those stick-on foam pads for putting on the bottom of furniture and stuck it to the housing. This sticks out enough so that the barrel just rubs on the soft felt instead of the sharp metal.
This is also a good chance to look at how the tumbler functions. The top/right bar extending across that cavity is the drive bar. When its powered on that turns and causes the barrel to turn. The lower left bar is free spinning and is just there to keep the barrel in place and allow it to roll smoothly.
And so finally we back up as the tumbler is on and I've got it in its plastic bin (in case the barrel leaks) with some of that foamy shelf liner to dampen the vibration and prevent it from moving around.
The barely visible containers on the right are where I'm storing rocks I've picked up and prepped for tumbling. Yes, it is a ketchup tin and a box from dishwasher detergent packs
Also my lazy date-marking sign where I just cross out previous dates and write the new one in. Maybe one day I'll spring for a tiny whiteboard so that I don't have to rely on a stack of promotional notepads that my dad gave me like 10 years ago that he got... somewhere, I don't know.
Anyway as that says we'll be back on March 6 to either set up for the polishing stage or re-run stage 3 of everything isn't smooth enough.
And here's where the cleaned off rocks are at this point. Again you can't see a lot of difference from last week, but everything is smoother.
For reference where's where things were last week.
Most things appear to be progressing nicely. The rocks in the bottom right and top right may ultimately not take a polish as they are quite rough and pitted and might not smooth out enough. But that's the risk and a learning experience. Only the bottom right one is disappointing as I like its faint white lines and marks. I'm also not 100% that the black stones will end up shiny by the end as I have a couple of small black stones that might be similar from my last tumble run that are smooth but ended up kind of satin finish instead of glossy. We'll see.
Anyway, here's the leftover silty residue in the bottom of the bucket after a couple of washes. (this is not everything I washed off. It's what stuck in the bucket after dumping it.
Meanwhile I realized that I forgot to really look at how the lid functions. It's a metal lid with a rubber gasket that sleeves over top so that it sits snug inside the barrel. The rubber face that ends up inside can sometimes get some air trapped inside, necessitating burping it a bit to ensure it doesn't dislodge.
And here's a blurry image of me kind of putting it back together.
Anyway time to weigh in.
Last time around we were at about 1 lb, 12 3/4 oz. So that means we've lost another 4 ounces and 6 overall since we started. Almost a half pound has come off these stones in two weeks. But how much will we lose this time? We'll see as we add the next stage of grit:
It's not quite as sparkly as last time because it's finer. But it goes into the tumbler with some water. Also on the right side of the next image you can see some small round beads. These are "zirconia" beads that replace the ceramic oblong ones from the first two stages. They're designed to help the polishing process. And unlike those ceramic beads they don't break down so I can keep using them indefinitely it seems.
I'm skipping the process of sealing up the tumbler because you've seen that already, but I will show one small alteration I've made to the tumbler. The thing doesn't sit dead level on the workbench and so the barrel tends to walk to one end of its space or another and as a result will grind against the side of the tumbler housing. This would mean either grinding the metal lid and putting a big scuffed ring into it or rubbing the rubber base on the edge of the heatsink from the motor which could eventually weaken it.
So to fix that I bought a cheap pack of those stick-on foam pads for putting on the bottom of furniture and stuck it to the housing. This sticks out enough so that the barrel just rubs on the soft felt instead of the sharp metal.
This is also a good chance to look at how the tumbler functions. The top/right bar extending across that cavity is the drive bar. When its powered on that turns and causes the barrel to turn. The lower left bar is free spinning and is just there to keep the barrel in place and allow it to roll smoothly.
And so finally we back up as the tumbler is on and I've got it in its plastic bin (in case the barrel leaks) with some of that foamy shelf liner to dampen the vibration and prevent it from moving around.
The barely visible containers on the right are where I'm storing rocks I've picked up and prepped for tumbling. Yes, it is a ketchup tin and a box from dishwasher detergent packs
Also my lazy date-marking sign where I just cross out previous dates and write the new one in. Maybe one day I'll spring for a tiny whiteboard so that I don't have to rely on a stack of promotional notepads that my dad gave me like 10 years ago that he got... somewhere, I don't know.
Anyway as that says we'll be back on March 6 to either set up for the polishing stage or re-run stage 3 of everything isn't smooth enough.
My pick-to-click...Another week another look at where the rock tumbler is at. Spoilers, it's not a whole lot different than last week.
Stage 2, as I said above, is just a slightly finer grit. The intent of it was to continue to grind down the stones and to smooth out some of the larger scratches and roughness from the first tumble. So things are a little finer, a little smoother but there's no sign of polishing yet and everything mostly just looks a bit crisper and smoother as we progress into stage 3, which is an even finer grit (500 grit silicon carbide, compared to 220 last time and 60/90 the first time) to smooth everything out ahead of the polishing stage.
Barrel open and we appear to have lost a fair bit of mass as the rocks now barely come up to about the halfway point of the barrel. I didn't take images of dumping the slurry out and washing the rocks because that's the same as last time. Besides washing the rocks I also have a container of Comet cleaner and use it to scrub out the barrel so that it's clean.
View attachment 827549
And here's where the cleaned off rocks are at this point. Again you can't see a lot of difference from last week, but everything is smoother.
View attachment 827550
For reference where's where things were last week.
View attachment 827559
Most things appear to be progressing nicely. The rocks in the bottom right and top right may ultimately not take a polish as they are quite rough and pitted and might not smooth out enough. But that's the risk and a learning experience. Only the bottom right one is disappointing as I like its faint white lines and marks. I'm also not 100% that the black stones will end up shiny by the end as I have a couple of small black stones that might be similar from my last tumble run that are smooth but ended up kind of satin finish instead of glossy. We'll see.
Anyway, here's the leftover silty residue in the bottom of the bucket after a couple of washes. (this is not everything I washed off. It's what stuck in the bucket after dumping it.
View attachment 827551
Meanwhile I realized that I forgot to really look at how the lid functions. It's a metal lid with a rubber gasket that sleeves over top so that it sits snug inside the barrel. The rubber face that ends up inside can sometimes get some air trapped inside, necessitating burping it a bit to ensure it doesn't dislodge.
View attachment 827552
And here's a blurry image of me kind of putting it back together.
View attachment 827553
Anyway time to weigh in.
View attachment 827554
Last time around we were at about 1 lb, 12 3/4 oz. So that means we've lost another 4 ounces and 6 overall since we started. Almost a half pound has come off these stones in two weeks. But how much will we lose this time? We'll see as we add the next stage of grit:
View attachment 827555
It's not quite as sparkly as last time because it's finer. But it goes into the tumbler with some water. Also on the right side of the next image you can see some small round beads. These are "zirconia" beads that replace the ceramic oblong ones from the first two stages. They're designed to help the polishing process. And unlike those ceramic beads they don't break down so I can keep using them indefinitely it seems.
View attachment 827556
I'm skipping the process of sealing up the tumbler because you've seen that already, but I will show one small alteration I've made to the tumbler. The thing doesn't sit dead level on the workbench and so the barrel tends to walk to one end of its space or another and as a result will grind against the side of the tumbler housing. This would mean either grinding the metal lid and putting a big scuffed ring into it or rubbing the rubber base on the edge of the heatsink from the motor which could eventually weaken it.
So to fix that I bought a cheap pack of those stick-on foam pads for putting on the bottom of furniture and stuck it to the housing. This sticks out enough so that the barrel just rubs on the soft felt instead of the sharp metal.
View attachment 827557
This is also a good chance to look at how the tumbler functions. The top/right bar extending across that cavity is the drive bar. When its powered on that turns and causes the barrel to turn. The lower left bar is free spinning and is just there to keep the barrel in place and allow it to roll smoothly.
And so finally we back up as the tumbler is on and I've got it in its plastic bin (in case the barrel leaks) with some of that foamy shelf liner to dampen the vibration and prevent it from moving around.
The barely visible containers on the right are where I'm storing rocks I've picked up and prepped for tumbling. Yes, it is a ketchup tin and a box from dishwasher detergent packs
Also my lazy date-marking sign where I just cross out previous dates and write the new one in. Maybe one day I'll spring for a tiny whiteboard so that I don't have to rely on a stack of promotional notepads that my dad gave me like 10 years ago that he got... somewhere, I don't know.
View attachment 827558
Anyway as that says we'll be back on March 6 to either set up for the polishing stage or re-run stage 3 of everything isn't smooth enough.
Super exciting stuff, Nem!
LadyStanley
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Thought of @The Nemesis when I found this
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WTFetus
Marlov
I just baked a dozen of the refugiados that I ordered online. Still pretty fire.
598 days in the freezer and still tasty? That guava/cream cheese sitch is intriguing. The potato balls look pretty bomb too. I have a little room in the freezer. (APT life) Maybe I'll give them a shot.
WTFetus
Marlov
I just got the delivery last week so I guess they’re still fairly fresh. Will try the chicken croquettes in the next few weeks.
And freezer space is a real problem. I have two fridges in my kitchen and still struggled
Oh, I'd assumed these were in the freezer from when you originally posted.I just got the delivery last week so I guess they’re still fairly fresh. Will try the chicken croquettes in the next few weeks.
And freezer space is a real problem. I have two fridges in my kitchen and still struggled
My fridge/freezer is the literal smallest and still be over/under setup. Dozen pack of struedels and dozen pack of potato balls shouldn't be take too much space... My 2 cubic square foot freezer...
I think I'm gonna give 'em a shot.EDIT: do they come in like a styro cooler ala Omaha Steaks w/ dry ice and whatnot?
Last edited:
WTFetus
Marlov
They awere wrapped in like plastic with some dry ice.Oh, I'd assumed these were in the freezer from when you originally posted.
My fridge/freezer is the literal smallest and still be over/under setup. Dozen pack of struedels and dozen pack of potato balls shouldn't be take too much space... My 2 cubic square foot freezer...
EDIT: do they come in like a styro cooler ala Omaha Steaks w/ dry ice and whatnot?
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
Just saw that Akira Toriyama passed away. I don't have the time or willpower to try to watch through anything Dragon Ball again but I'm strongly tempted to either play through Chrono Trigger again or pick back up my attempt to get through all (or almost all) the Dragon Quest games.
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
I did this on Wednesday but didn't get to fix the pictures for upload until now. So for the hundreds dozens ones of people that are interested in this, the rock tumbler was cleaned out after stage 3 and proceeds onto the last stage of this run.
So chances are the next round of images will be up in like 5 days instead of 7 and we'll potentially be able to see the finished products. then I just need to figure out how to monetize this
It's still gray and soupy
So into the rinsing bucket goes everything:
The rinse and sort are fairly normal so here's where things stand right now:
Some of the stones obviously show significant imperfections or issues. The top and bottom right corner stones are quite rough and probably won't end up taking a polish in the end. One other stone, the triangular dark one that is below the top left, also has some pretty healthy cracks and deformations in it that will probably prevent it from coming out nicely.
The one from the top left, however, is coming along nicely with just a few small pits
and that round one with the big white band that @landshark likes is looking good, though it has some divots and inclusions on the underside of one end:
The granite bits look good though:
and one of the white ovoid stones has stated to pick up a bit of translucence around its edges:
So before we prep to seal things up it's time to weigh in again:
this batch checks in at 1 lb, 5 7/8 oz
After the previous stage it was 1 lb, 8 3/4 oz
After the first stage it was 1 lb, 12 3/4 oz
And intitially it was somewhere around 1 lb, 14 5/8 oz
So we're down almost 9 ounces from where we started and just under 3 ounces from the previous stage. That means that the tumbling process has ground off close to a third of our starting mass.
(the trowel is how I open up the tumbler. It's the easiest thing I've found for prying off the lid)
So now it's time to add our particulate to this step. No longer silicon carbide grit, this time it's an aluminum oxide polishing powder. As we've gone along the granule size has shrunk significantly. I don't know what the scale is called, just that larger numbers = finer particles. But we've gone from 60/90 to start with to 180/220 to I think somewhere around 500 for stage 3. this polish is marked as 1500 so it's super, super fine. It looks and feels kind of like powdered sugar or baking soda.
2 tablespoons go in. The nice thing this time is that unlike the grit, which wears away through use the polish doesn't vanish in the process. It's too fine to save for re-use afterwards but if I take the stones out to check on them and they aren't polished enough I can just drop them back in and keep going without adding anything.
So then everything gets loaded back in the tumbler. stones are in, polish is in, those polishing beads go back in, and then the water goes in. I weighed things out to check the final weight just because apparently I was wrong about the loading capacity of the tumbler. I thought 3 lbs was a notation about how heavy the load of stones could be, but it's supposed to be the weight of everything including water. I should be fine but just to check it went on the scale. It came out that the water and everything only counted for like 7 ounces, which is well within tolerance.
And then the lid goes on and it went back onto the tumbler for a week from Wednesday. So I'll check on things on Wednesday the 13th and the polishing stage could extend for a few more days if I want.
So into the rinsing bucket goes everything:
The rinse and sort are fairly normal so here's where things stand right now:
Initially:
After Stage 1:
After Stage 2:
After Stage 1:
After Stage 2:
Some of the stones obviously show significant imperfections or issues. The top and bottom right corner stones are quite rough and probably won't end up taking a polish in the end. One other stone, the triangular dark one that is below the top left, also has some pretty healthy cracks and deformations in it that will probably prevent it from coming out nicely.
The one from the top left, however, is coming along nicely with just a few small pits
and that round one with the big white band that @landshark likes is looking good, though it has some divots and inclusions on the underside of one end:
The granite bits look good though:
and one of the white ovoid stones has stated to pick up a bit of translucence around its edges:
So before we prep to seal things up it's time to weigh in again:
this batch checks in at 1 lb, 5 7/8 oz
After the previous stage it was 1 lb, 8 3/4 oz
After the first stage it was 1 lb, 12 3/4 oz
And intitially it was somewhere around 1 lb, 14 5/8 oz
So we're down almost 9 ounces from where we started and just under 3 ounces from the previous stage. That means that the tumbling process has ground off close to a third of our starting mass.
(the trowel is how I open up the tumbler. It's the easiest thing I've found for prying off the lid
)So now it's time to add our particulate to this step. No longer silicon carbide grit, this time it's an aluminum oxide polishing powder. As we've gone along the granule size has shrunk significantly. I don't know what the scale is called, just that larger numbers = finer particles. But we've gone from 60/90 to start with to 180/220 to I think somewhere around 500 for stage 3. this polish is marked as 1500 so it's super, super fine. It looks and feels kind of like powdered sugar or baking soda.
2 tablespoons go in. The nice thing this time is that unlike the grit, which wears away through use the polish doesn't vanish in the process. It's too fine to save for re-use afterwards but if I take the stones out to check on them and they aren't polished enough I can just drop them back in and keep going without adding anything.
So then everything gets loaded back in the tumbler. stones are in, polish is in, those polishing beads go back in, and then the water goes in. I weighed things out to check the final weight just because apparently I was wrong about the loading capacity of the tumbler. I thought 3 lbs was a notation about how heavy the load of stones could be, but it's supposed to be the weight of everything including water. I should be fine but just to check it went on the scale. It came out that the water and everything only counted for like 7 ounces, which is well within tolerance.
And then the lid goes on and it went back onto the tumbler for a week from Wednesday. So I'll check on things on Wednesday the 13th and the polishing stage could extend for a few more days if I want.
So chances are the next round of images will be up in like 5 days instead of 7 and we'll potentially be able to see the finished products. then I just need to figure out how to monetize this
The white band one... that end has some serious pitting. The big sides look nice tho.I did this on Wednesday but didn't get to fix the pictures for upload until now. So for thehundredsdozensones of people that are interested in this, the rock tumbler was cleaned out after stage 3 and proceeds onto the last stage of this run.
It's still gray and soupy
View attachment 833564
So into the rinsing bucket goes everything:
View attachment 833565
The rinse and sort are fairly normal so here's where things stand right now:
View attachment 833566
Initially:
View attachment 833586
After Stage 1:
View attachment 833585
After Stage 2:
View attachment 833584
Some of the stones obviously show significant imperfections or issues. The top and bottom right corner stones are quite rough and probably won't end up taking a polish in the end. One other stone, the triangular dark one that is below the top left, also has some pretty healthy cracks and deformations in it that will probably prevent it from coming out nicely.
View attachment 833567
View attachment 833568
The one from the top left, however, is coming along nicely with just a few small pits
View attachment 833569
and that round one with the big white band that @landshark likes is looking good, though it has some divots and inclusions on the underside of one end:
View attachment 833570
View attachment 833571
The granite bits look good though:
View attachment 833572
and one of the white ovoid stones has stated to pick up a bit of translucence around its edges:
View attachment 833573
So before we prep to seal things up it's time to weigh in again:
View attachment 833574
this batch checks in at 1 lb, 5 7/8 oz
After the previous stage it was 1 lb, 8 3/4 oz
After the first stage it was 1 lb, 12 3/4 oz
And intitially it was somewhere around 1 lb, 14 5/8 oz
So we're down almost 9 ounces from where we started and just under 3 ounces from the previous stage. That means that the tumbling process has ground off close to a third of our starting mass.
(the trowel is how I open up the tumbler. It's the easiest thing I've found for prying off the lid
So now it's time to add our particulate to this step. No longer silicon carbide grit, this time it's an aluminum oxide polishing powder. As we've gone along the granule size has shrunk significantly. I don't know what the scale is called, just that larger numbers = finer particles. But we've gone from 60/90 to start with to 180/220 to I think somewhere around 500 for stage 3. this polish is marked as 1500 so it's super, super fine. It looks and feels kind of like powdered sugar or baking soda.
View attachment 833575
2 tablespoons go in. The nice thing this time is that unlike the grit, which wears away through use the polish doesn't vanish in the process. It's too fine to save for re-use afterwards but if I take the stones out to check on them and they aren't polished enough I can just drop them back in and keep going without adding anything.
So then everything gets loaded back in the tumbler. stones are in, polish is in, those polishing beads go back in, and then the water goes in. I weighed things out to check the final weight just because apparently I was wrong about the loading capacity of the tumbler. I thought 3 lbs was a notation about how heavy the load of stones could be, but it's supposed to be the weight of everything including water. I should be fine but just to check it went on the scale. It came out that the water and everything only counted for like 7 ounces, which is well within tolerance.
View attachment 833576
And then the lid goes on and it went back onto the tumbler for a week from Wednesday. So I'll check on things on Wednesday the 13th and the polishing stage could extend for a few more days if I want.
So chances are the next round of images will be up in like 5 days instead of 7 and we'll potentially be able to see the finished products. then I just need to figure out how to monetize this
The granite bits are shaping up nicely!
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