Hello, We use small ceramic media or similar-hardness materials such as obsidian or landscape glass as cushioning. Rotary tumblers change the shape of the stones by "rounding" them. Vibratory tumblers generally do not change the shape as much. If you opal has soft spots the shape can change significantly if you don't keep an eye on what's happening in the tumbler. We have an article about tumbling opal on our blog (link provided in the video description).
Thanks for asking. If you use the Thumler's UV-10 or any other vibratory tumbler without water very little grinding will occur. The water causes the grit to stick to the stones. That turns every stone in the barrel into a piece of vibrating sandpaper. Without the water, the grit will fall to the bottom of the barrel and be ineffective.
Hello Fran, You are right... a lot less glass goes into the oceans today. More is recycled and less is dumped into the environment. That is good. :) Some people use beach sand when tumbling glass. If the sand is angular quartz grains it will work fine because the quartz (hardness 7) is able to abrade the glass (hardness about 5 to 6). If the sand has rounded grains the abrasion is slow. For faster results you can tumble the glass in silicon carbide (hardness 9+ and angular in shape).
I just bought a 5lbs rotary tumbler from your site for polishing my marble collection...can you please point me to information(step by step as it is my 1st time) that i need to complete this task...4step process and needed materials...thank you,charlie.
Hello Charlie, We have a blog post about polishing marbles here... rocktumbler.com/blog/polishing-marbles/ The post gives step-by-step details about how we polished marbles. Good luck.
We have three Thumler's vibratory tumblers at our warehouse. One (a UV-10) has been running about 50% of the time for the past 12 years. We have never needed a new motor, we have replaced the bowl twice. The others are about eight years old and we have not replaced a motor or a bowl. These are run about 20% of the time (a UV-18 and a UV-10 MiniBowl). We have sold a lot of these tumblers and hear very few complaints. The most common complaint is about the bowls wearing out. But, most people could change their habits and their bow would last a much longer time. We get several years of use out of our bowls. We have an article at the link below that explains how we get a long life out of our bowls. We also have other videos about how to use them in this channel. rocktumbler.com/tips/vibratory-tumbler-barrel-life/ These tumblers produce an excellent polish and we have always known the manufacturer to honor their warranty and help people who have problems.
Hello, I live near the ocean and I love glass beach but in France we don'tfind much because people now don't put their garbageeverywhere anymore and put their glass in special containers. I have such a vibrating tumbler, do you think that I can use some beach sand and little beach stones as cushioning to tumble glass. At least I don't want to harm my tumbler.
I was just about to ask if it's quieter than the usual kind of tumbler, then 2:10 appeared and answered that question lol. That's the only problem I have with tumbling, the constant noise would drive myself and several others close by a bit mad
My neighbors complained to the condo association that my rock tumbler is too noisy. Can you run a tumbler only during the daytime hours when they are at work, turning it off every night, or will the grit and water and rock slurry turn to concrete if it isnt continually moving?
This is one of the loudest tumblers I've ever heard - wouldn't purchase it. I got a LORTONE Model 3A and it's not silent but it's WAY quieter than this one. I'm in a 1bedroom apartment and I run it inside a closet where the little sound it makes is muffled well.
I accidentally added too much water. Process is going okay, but grit is clumped at the bottom and some rocks are "locked" in place. Is there a way to resurrect the batch (removing water, adding grit, more rocks, ceramic) or should I just start over?
Thank you Tracy, The ceramic media works great for tumbling opal or any other rock/gem material. The rotary tumblers will wear away a lot of opal. You could lose 30 to 50% of the weight in a rotary tumbler. To lose the least amount of weight and to preserve the original shape a vibratory tumbler works best. We recently wrote a blog post about tumbling opal. I'll post a link to it in our video description above.
Why do you use a little water with a rotary Tumbler? I’m looking into one right now I have a regular but I’m looking to do my polishing a little faster and possibly get through a couple of stages quicker
@@MACorrupt I used very little water with the vibrating tumbler so that it will work properly.I used a lot of water with the rotary tumbler, rotary tumbler need a lot of water to work properly
Hi Ronaldrider, Thumler's UV-10 rock tumblers have not been available for over a year. Manufacturing of the round tumbler base will be done by a new company. When they have that worked out, production should begin. We don't know when that will occur. If you would like to be on our waiting list please let us know by email. We will notify you as soon as we have them. contact@RockTumbler.com
i just bought one of these and i am tumbling some quartz and some agate. i didnt have any ceramic media so i used plastic beads. my rocks are all 3-4 inches and they dont move like yours do. they very slightly move around but not top to bottom. will this work or should i use the rotary tumbler to knock some size off them first before i use rotary? also, i filled past blue line but nowhere near as full as you have it. thanks
after posting this comment, i remembered that i hd some partially polished quartz that was smaller and a few pieces of untumbled that were also small. as soon as i added them, it started working better.
If you fill the bowl of rough about 3/4 full the amount of grit used per step is.... Step 1: 6 tablespoons Medium (150/220) Step 2: 3 tablespoons Find (500 ot 600) Step 3: 3 tablespoons TXP aluminum oxide polish You can see how we use this tumbler in our article here rocktumbler.com/blog/operating-the-thumlers-uv-10-rock-tumbler/
Hello Wanderlinse, The tumbling cycle depends upon the condition of the rocks going in and how picky you are during the first step. But generally, if you allow three or four days for medium grit (step 1) and about two days each for fine and polish... So, the total tumbling time will typically be about a week. If you start with really rough rocks and are picky you might spend a few days more in medium grit.
hi Sir sorry for my englisch i am italian and work red coral do you think that regular rotary tumblers would work for this without wearing to much of the original stone away? Do you think that vibratory tumblers would be better? Do you think that tumbling would work for corals at all? Thanks for your help!
Hello, I'm from Florida. I polish agatized coral in this machine and It works very well. The amount of material you loose will depend on the length of time you tumble the coral on the first stage with the medium grit. Most of my pieces stay roughly in the same shape as when they were originally placed in the vibratory tumbler rather than becoming completely rounded and greatly reduced in size as in a rotary tumbler. I usually let it go for 2-3 days for the first step depending on the quality of the rough stone and if it has any cortex remaining on the outside. The pre-polish and polish steps only take one day each. It's really nice to have a finished batch of polished stones in 4-5 days instead of weeks.
I noticed you have screws going through the base. Are these for the rubber feet? Do you level your machine with them? I have drilled through the plastic and added screws to aid in leveling as my center threaded rod was getting hot. Is is ok to have the machine a little off? (I have mine on my kitchen counter which is not level at all).
Hello, I am looking into tumbling some wello opal rough and was wondering if the small ceramic tumbling media you sell on your website would work as filler for this. Also I am trying to keep as much of the shape of the original stone as possible, do you think that regular rotary tumblers would work for this without wearing to much of the original stone away? Do you think that vibratory tumblers would be better? Do you think that tumbling would work for opal stones at all? Thanks for your help!
This video is very deceptive. It looks like you're putting 9 tablespoons full of water in the barrel, which is way too much. As a newbie, this ruined my first attempt. I took advice from someone else, used a spray bottle instead, and it worked. You should say something about how full those spoons of water are, it's impossible to tell from the video.
We have the exact model and we followed your video but our tumbler does not move the rocks/media like that at all, it's very slow. The grit is getting stuck to the sides, not pooling at the bottom. Could you maybe give us some advice as to what we may of done wrong? Thank you!
"Rough" is a word that is used for the unpolished stones that are placed in the tumbler. "Media" is a word used for small pieces of round or cylindrical ceramics that are used as filler or cushioning. We have an article that explains how to use the UV-10 tumbler for polishing rocks here.... rocktumbler.com/blog/operating-the-thumlers-uv-10-rock-tumbler/ ... and an article that explains "media" here... rocktumbler.com/tips/using-the-right-tumbling-media/
Hmm that's LOUD maybe put the tumbler inside a plastic bin? You can close the top over it and just pinch the electric cord a little bit it won't damage the cord.
Hi Word of Mouth, Thanks for your comment. Tumbler motors are air-cooled. If a tumbler is placed in a bin or under a box, the motor will likely cause a build-up of heat in the enclosure. That could cause the motor to be damaged. The amount of noise that you hear early in the tumble will decrease as the stones are worn down by the grit and a mud develops - they stones run smoother then. Also, when the lid is closed, the amount of noise that you hear will drop.
@@RockTumblerdotcom Ah well you'd have to be very careful to allow the warmer air to totally escape while you still could arrange a system which could in part muffle the sound. Thanks. ..
Rotating rock tumblers are a lot quieter, but they're also a lot slower. The motor humming noise they make can easily be quieted by placing them on a concrete floor. If that's not a option for you (e.g. upstairs apartment living,) placing the tumbler on some hard foam packaging material should do the trick. Good luck!
*impressed with quality. my unit came 🔎🔍 **allabout.wiki/Lyman** with a pound or so of what looks like stainless steel shot and more importantly a spare o-ring for the access hatch and a toothed-belt for the motor-drum drive. Nice touch.the drum and base are both larger than I expected and heavy.the materials and build quality seem good to very good.it's been running on the slowest speed for the last couple of hours with2 pounds or so of my steel parts to be deburred,4 pounds or so of 1" ceramic stars andwater with a little bit of dawn soapfilled to 1/2 the drum volume.I weighed the drum half filled with the previous mentioned items and it came out a little under 9 **pounds.like**: I like the way the drum hatch gets locked.the robustness of the build and motor.con: no instructions that I can see on how to work the base dials/controls, but I got it running by just turning the knobs.grin.not sure if the timer is on or what the 1/0 switch does (it's not on/off to the motor), timer use maybe ??I'll have another look in the box for the instructions or maybe on line .... this is not a big enough of an issue to take rating stars off my initial 5 star rating.update 10.1.2017: ran it 24hrs/day for 4 days straight with 4 different batches of parts and it worked without issues. My a36 steel parts came out as expected with a nice even finish.BTW not mentioned but as I state in the previous line, I've been running it without a 'timer' limit. I suspect the '1/0' switch when switched to '0' disables the timer ... however I got it to work this way, it's the way I wanted, so I can run it overnight without a 3hr reset of the timer.*
Hello Moogie, If you add a specific amount of water you will have the wrong amount every time. The amount of water needed depends upon the amount of material in the tumbler bowl, the particle size of the rocks/media in the bowl, the smoothness of their surfaces and how much water is attracted to them. Your goal is to add enough water to wet the surfaces of all particles in the bowl enough that the grit sticks to them. If you add a little too much water, no problem. Just operate the machine with the lid off for a short period of time. The water will evaporate rapidly.
I have never tumbled coral so I can't speak with experience. Since coral is so soft I think that it will wear away rapidly. Also soft materials are usually difficult to polish in a tumbler.
Hello,
We use small ceramic media or similar-hardness materials such as obsidian or landscape glass as cushioning.
Rotary tumblers change the shape of the stones by "rounding" them. Vibratory tumblers generally do not change the shape as much. If you opal has soft spots the shape can change significantly if you don't keep an eye on what's happening in the tumbler.
We have an article about tumbling opal on our blog (link provided in the video description).
Thanks for asking.
If you use the Thumler's UV-10 or any other vibratory tumbler without water very little grinding will occur.
The water causes the grit to stick to the stones. That turns every stone in the barrel into a piece of vibrating sandpaper.
Without the water, the grit will fall to the bottom of the barrel and be ineffective.
Hello Fran,
You are right... a lot less glass goes into the oceans today. More is recycled and less is dumped into the environment. That is good. :)
Some people use beach sand when tumbling glass. If the sand is angular quartz grains it will work fine because the quartz (hardness 7) is able to abrade the glass (hardness about 5 to 6). If the sand has rounded grains the abrasion is slow.
For faster results you can tumble the glass in silicon carbide (hardness 9+ and angular in shape).
Great video 👍
Thank you, Peaceful Scrimp. We are glad that you liked Brad's video.
Can.you use cores sand and then use play sand for the last time to tumble.
i don't understand the final , polisching , which material use for it
I just bought a 5lbs rotary tumbler from your site for polishing my marble collection...can you please point me to information(step by step as it is my 1st time) that i need to complete this task...4step process and needed materials...thank you,charlie.
Hello Charlie,
We have a blog post about polishing marbles here... rocktumbler.com/blog/polishing-marbles/
The post gives step-by-step details about how we polished marbles.
Good luck.
How has this tumbler held up? I'm considering going to this brand of vibratory tumbler?
We have three Thumler's vibratory tumblers at our warehouse. One (a UV-10) has been running about 50% of the time for the past 12 years. We have never needed a new motor, we have replaced the bowl twice. The others are about eight years old and we have not replaced a motor or a bowl. These are run about 20% of the time (a UV-18 and a UV-10 MiniBowl).
We have sold a lot of these tumblers and hear very few complaints. The most common complaint is about the bowls wearing out. But, most people could change their habits and their bow would last a much longer time. We get several years of use out of our bowls. We have an article at the link below that explains how we get a long life out of our bowls. We also have other videos about how to use them in this channel.
rocktumbler.com/tips/vibratory-tumbler-barrel-life/
These tumblers produce an excellent polish and we have always known the manufacturer to honor their warranty and help people who have problems.
Hello, I live near the ocean and I love glass beach but in France we don'tfind much because people now don't put their garbageeverywhere anymore and put their glass in special containers. I have such a vibrating tumbler, do you think that I can use some beach sand and little beach stones as cushioning to tumble glass. At least I don't want to harm my tumbler.
I was just about to ask if it's quieter than the usual kind of tumbler, then 2:10 appeared and answered that question lol. That's the only problem I have with tumbling, the constant noise would drive myself and several others close by a bit mad
My neighbors complained to the condo association that my rock tumbler is too noisy. Can you run a tumbler only during the daytime hours when they are at work, turning it off every night, or will the grit and water and rock slurry turn to concrete if it isnt continually moving?
This is one of the loudest tumblers I've ever heard - wouldn't purchase it. I got a LORTONE Model 3A and it's not silent but it's WAY quieter than this one. I'm in a 1bedroom apartment and I run it inside a closet where the little sound it makes is muffled well.
Will this work for larger agate chucks?
What size ceramic media? Is it best to use a combination of large and small? Also is it true not to use plastic pellets in a vibratory tumbler?
I accidentally added too much water. Process is going okay, but grit is clumped at the bottom and some rocks are "locked" in place. Is there a way to resurrect the batch (removing water, adding grit, more rocks, ceramic) or should I just start over?
hello I am from venezuea I have one but I will not use it
Thank you Tracy,
The ceramic media works great for tumbling opal or any other rock/gem material.
The rotary tumblers will wear away a lot of opal. You could lose 30 to 50% of the weight in a rotary tumbler.
To lose the least amount of weight and to preserve the original shape a vibratory tumbler works best.
We recently wrote a blog post about tumbling opal. I'll post a link to it in our video description above.
thanks , we use the rotary polisch machine with abrasive sand
It was tumbling before you added any water. Is water really necessary?
Yes
I used only two table spoon of grit ,and it work just great, and very little water.
Why do you use a little water with a rotary Tumbler? I’m looking into one right now I have a regular but I’m looking to do my polishing a little faster and possibly get through a couple of stages quicker
@@MACorrupt I used very little water with the vibrating tumbler so that it will work properly.I used a lot of water with the rotary tumbler, rotary tumbler need a lot of water to work properly
@@bigstars2 Thank you. I think I’m going to look into a rotary can you recommend a good brand? Is this the brand you like?
Where do I buy a Thumler UV 10
Hi Ronaldrider, Thumler's UV-10 rock tumblers have not been available for over a year. Manufacturing of the round tumbler base will be done by a new company. When they have that worked out, production should begin. We don't know when that will occur. If you would like to be on our waiting list please let us know by email. We will notify you as soon as we have them. contact@RockTumbler.com
اريد الحصول على مثل هذا الجهاز كيف 👍؟
i just bought one of these and i am tumbling some quartz and some agate. i didnt have any ceramic media so i used plastic beads. my rocks are all 3-4 inches and they dont move like yours do. they very slightly move around but not top to bottom. will this work or should i use the rotary tumbler to knock some size off them first before i use rotary? also, i filled past blue line but nowhere near as full as you have it. thanks
after posting this comment, i remembered that i hd some partially polished quartz that was smaller and a few pieces of untumbled that were also small. as soon as i added them, it started working better.
rob robert Thanks for letting me know. Nice work!
Will this work for raw amber chunks
Is there a rule of thumb as to how much grit per pound of rough and media?
If you fill the bowl of rough about 3/4 full the amount of grit used per step is....
Step 1: 6 tablespoons Medium (150/220)
Step 2: 3 tablespoons Find (500 ot 600)
Step 3: 3 tablespoons TXP aluminum oxide polish
You can see how we use this tumbler in our article here
rocktumbler.com/blog/operating-the-thumlers-uv-10-rock-tumbler/
Are these being manufactured anymore? Where might I find one?
The UV-10 tumbler is still being manufactured by Thumler's. They are waiting for components to be manufactured.
Use Google
How long is one tumbling cycle?
Hello Wanderlinse,
The tumbling cycle depends upon the condition of the rocks going in and how picky you are during the first step.
But generally, if you allow three or four days for medium grit (step 1) and about two days each for fine and polish... So, the total tumbling time will typically be about a week.
If you start with really rough rocks and are picky you might spend a few days more in medium grit.
OK, thanks. Is a vibrating tumbler faster than a stone mill/ball mill?
Wanderlinse I have never used a stone mill/bill mill. Sorry.
Hobart King Thanks a lot anyway :-)
I read somewhere that these vibratory tumblers are faster.
Where can buy one of that rocks tumbler
Got mine on Amazon.com
hi Sir
sorry for my englisch
i am italian and work red coral
do you think that regular rotary tumblers would work for this without wearing to much of the original stone away? Do you think that vibratory tumblers would be better? Do you think that tumbling would work for corals at all? Thanks for your help!
Hello, I'm from Florida. I polish agatized coral in this machine and It works very well. The amount of material you loose will depend on the length of time you tumble the coral on the first stage with the medium grit. Most of my pieces stay roughly in the same shape as when they were originally placed in the vibratory tumbler rather than becoming completely rounded and greatly reduced in size as in a rotary tumbler. I usually let it go for 2-3 days for the first step depending on the quality of the rough stone and if it has any cortex remaining on the outside. The pre-polish and polish steps only take one day each. It's really nice to have a finished batch of polished stones in 4-5 days instead of weeks.
how about the result ?🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
I noticed you have screws going through the base. Are these for the rubber feet? Do you level your machine with them? I have drilled through the plastic and added screws to aid in leveling as my center threaded rod was getting hot. Is is ok to have the machine a little off? (I have mine on my kitchen counter which is not level at all).
Please tell me powder name
Hi Mohammed, We use three abrasive powders. Step 1: Silicon Carbide 150/220 mesh. Step 2: Silicon Carbide 500F mesh. Step 3: TXP aluminum oxide polish (approximately 3 microns).
what about course grit?
what did you use for the media???
كم هو سعر هذه الاله
Hello, I am looking into tumbling some wello opal rough and was wondering if the small ceramic tumbling media you sell on your website would work as filler for this. Also I am trying to keep as much of the shape of the original stone as possible, do you think that regular rotary tumblers would work for this without wearing to much of the original stone away? Do you think that vibratory tumblers would be better? Do you think that tumbling would work for opal stones at all? Thanks for your help!
Looks like you filled it almost full, not 3/4s
I need this how can I find this...
I was hoping 2 C the finished rocks. Also show filling the barrel from start 2 finish. Video lacked alot.
Good Mythical Morning sent me on this adventure
This video is very deceptive. It looks like you're putting 9 tablespoons full of water in the barrel, which is way too much. As a newbie, this ruined my first attempt. I took advice from someone else, used a spray bottle instead, and it worked. You should say something about how full those spoons of water are, it's impossible to tell from the video.
hi I am Baarq
I want this machine but I'm from Iraq
Is there a link to the Amazon site
Gun shops
We have the exact model and we followed your video but our tumbler does not move the rocks/media like that at all, it's very slow. The grit is getting stuck to the sides, not pooling at the bottom. Could you maybe give us some advice as to what we may of done wrong? Thank you!
its an optical illusion. pause the video after watching the tumbler and it expands
What is rough and media? I just bought one a Thumbler UV-10 Rock tumbler and the directions do not mention anything about using rough and media.
"Rough" is a word that is used for the unpolished stones that are placed in the tumbler.
"Media" is a word used for small pieces of round or cylindrical ceramics that are used as filler or cushioning.
We have an article that explains how to use the UV-10 tumbler for polishing rocks here....
rocktumbler.com/blog/operating-the-thumlers-uv-10-rock-tumbler/
... and an article that explains "media" here...
rocktumbler.com/tips/using-the-right-tumbling-media/
Parabéns pelo equipamento aqui no Brasil e muito caro eu não tenho condições de compra então eu fico aqui só sonhando
Olá Eduardo. Obrigada. Um empresário no Brasil deve ter comprado da fábrica. O alto custo de envio dos EUA é o que você vê no preço.
@@hobartking386 nossa e muito caro eu acho uma área ótima para trabalhar ainda mais agora que eu estou desempregado
Uma hora eu conquisto o meu pois aqui tem muitas pedras bonita
where is your grit bro
He adds the grit at 1:15
What a waste, no finished product to see. .?
Hmm that's LOUD maybe put the tumbler inside a plastic bin? You can close the top over it and just pinch the electric cord a little bit it won't damage the cord.
Hi Word of Mouth, Thanks for your comment.
Tumbler motors are air-cooled. If a tumbler is placed in a bin or under a box, the motor will likely cause a build-up of heat in the enclosure. That could cause the motor to be damaged.
The amount of noise that you hear early in the tumble will decrease as the stones are worn down by the grit and a mud develops - they stones run smoother then. Also, when the lid is closed, the amount of noise that you hear will drop.
@@RockTumblerdotcom Ah well you'd have to be very careful to allow the warmer air to totally escape while you still could arrange a system which could in part muffle the sound. Thanks.
..
Some people do use this type of machine for jewelry polishing. However, I am only able to give advice about polishing rocks. Sorry
(psst; you might want to cut that center rod down a bit)
Im in that part of youtube again.
João Rodrigues 😂
I wish there was a quiet rock tumblr. I want one so bad but I think my neighbors would kill me.
Rotating rock tumblers are a lot quieter, but they're also a lot slower. The motor humming noise they make can easily be quieted by placing them on a concrete floor. If that's not a option for you (e.g. upstairs apartment living,) placing the tumbler on some hard foam packaging material should do the trick. Good luck!
If you have questions, save your breath. Zero response to the people asking questions.
I had to buy ear protection to watch this video
id pay extra for better wingnuts...lol
I have one too it’s on Rock PolisherWatch it
*impressed with quality. my unit came 🔎🔍 **allabout.wiki/Lyman** with a pound or so of what looks like stainless steel shot and more importantly a spare o-ring for the access hatch and a toothed-belt for the motor-drum drive. Nice touch.the drum and base are both larger than I expected and heavy.the materials and build quality seem good to very good.it's been running on the slowest speed for the last couple of hours with2 pounds or so of my steel parts to be deburred,4 pounds or so of 1" ceramic stars andwater with a little bit of dawn soapfilled to 1/2 the drum volume.I weighed the drum half filled with the previous mentioned items and it came out a little under 9 **pounds.like**: I like the way the drum hatch gets locked.the robustness of the build and motor.con: no instructions that I can see on how to work the base dials/controls, but I got it running by just turning the knobs.grin.not sure if the timer is on or what the 1/0 switch does (it's not on/off to the motor), timer use maybe ??I'll have another look in the box for the instructions or maybe on line .... this is not a big enough of an issue to take rating stars off my initial 5 star rating.update 10.1.2017: ran it 24hrs/day for 4 days straight with 4 different batches of parts and it worked without issues. My a36 steel parts came out as expected with a nice even finish.BTW not mentioned but as I state in the previous line, I've been running it without a 'timer' limit. I suspect the '1/0' switch when switched to '0' disables the timer ... however I got it to work this way, it's the way I wanted, so I can run it overnight without a 3hr reset of the timer.*
Holy Psalm91 Rocks Cry out Holy Luke19:40
Holy Psalm91 Rocks protect HolyLuke19:40
Hello Moogie,
If you add a specific amount of water you will have the wrong amount every time.
The amount of water needed depends upon the amount of material in the tumbler bowl, the particle size of the rocks/media in the bowl, the smoothness of their surfaces and how much water is attracted to them.
Your goal is to add enough water to wet the surfaces of all particles in the bowl enough that the grit sticks to them.
If you add a little too much water, no problem. Just operate the machine with the lid off for a short period of time. The water will evaporate rapidly.
I have never tumbled coral so I can't speak with experience. Since coral is so soft I think that it will wear away rapidly. Also soft materials are usually difficult to polish in a tumbler.