Tumbling question

[catsarthouse]

Is it pretty loud?

[losthelm]

Not really though media, type and model varie a lot.
I have a 33b loratone that's just a little louder than microwave.
I have it on a small piece of carpet.
On a hard surface it's a bit louder.

A friend of mine has a gyroc that's a lot louder.

[Eileen]

Mine is like my dryer, maybe a little louder.

[catsarthouse]

The carpet is a good idea. I want to tumble glass beads for the sea glass effect. I read the old posts but the tumble times were all over the place. Anywhere from an hour to 24 hrs. Then I thought will that be very loud. I could plug it in my garage. I understood that you put pony beads, water and 1000 grit silicon carbide and run. I have used etch all but it's so toxic, messy and expensive.

[Eileen]

Glass beads, I tried plastic & tumbled way longer than when I put some of my smallest ones that I didn't want in there.

[catsarthouse]

Good to know. So rather than pony beads add some orphans and it will etch quicker?

[Eileen]

It did for me for sure. I couldn't find any glass pony beads, so used my teeny weeny beads about that size, and my tumbling time dropped appreciably. The plastic ones I was using, I tossed out as useless.

[catsarthouse]

That kind of makes you wonder about cutting up rods to murrini size to use ......

[Eileen]

I don't know if that would work as well or not. Would they rub the beads as well as a round surface? hmmmm...

[catsarthouse]

Well they would eventually would get rounded I would think. Sounds like an experiment, doesn't it Eileen?! Lol

[pjBeads]

I used large frit that I had laying around that I knew I wouldn't want to use anymore. Worked much better than the pony beads.

Pat

[catsarthouse]

I think I have a jar of 90 big size frit that I had from fusing.
This is a cool idea!

[Alaska]

Have used small ceramic cylinder pellets with good results in a vibrating tumbler with excellent results.



http://www.therockshed.com/grit2.html

As a side note, they also make great pie weights!!!!

[Eileen]

Let us know what you discover

[Winter Fire]

I used pony beads at first, but went to using decorative glass chips I bought at Michael's. It's much easier to sort out your beads from the chips than it is from the pony beads, and they do a fine job of etching the glass beads.

Also, be sure to count how many beads you have when you put them into the tumbler so you know when to stop looking for them among the silicone carbide grit when you're done.

[Eileen]

Someone mentioned the idea of putting them on fishing line (as a group, loosely strung so the stuff could get between them) but I haven't tried it yet. I plan to do it though as a test.

[ingetraud]

Has anyone tried shot? I've used it with silver clay items and have some.

[KJohn]

Any tricks to getting steel shot out of bead holes?

[Winter Fire]

I think steel shot would just beat the crap out of your beads--you're better off with silicon carbide grit.

[Eileen]

I've only ever read that steel shot is for metals to polish them.

[Angie09]

Originally Posted by KJohn

Any tricks to getting steel shot out of bead holes?

Run the beads in the tumbler with just water for about an hour or so. Usually gets most of,them out.

[KJohn]

Thanks Angie, I'll try that!

[killerbeedz1]

I only use steel shot in my lortone for polishing silver. The way to get steel shot out of the holes is to put either those bread twisties loosely through the holes or zip ties. I use 1000 grit silicone and put unwanted beads in there with them.