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I'm looking for some help with tumbling small cabs and beads to impart an etched finish.

I recently purchased 120 grit silicon carbide to do the job, placed it in a tumbler with water (about an inch over the carbide and glass) and proceeded to tumble.

I tumbled for 4 hours with absolutely no result whatsoever! I'm using fused BE and Moretti and had been hoping for instant success - of course. I'm not really into buying huge amounts of tumbling material with no success rate.

Can anyone say what I am doing wrong? Wrong medium? Wrong grit size?

Thanks for any advice!

Sadie

not sure about the types of grit, but i think the time required is much, much longer... perhaps a couple of days. rio grande has all the tumbling stuff, and they have a technical support team. why dont you call them up and ask them how to do it. or ask the people you bought the tumbler from ... they might very well sell the grit you require.

sadiesjewels wrote:I'm looking for some help with tumbling small cabs and beads to impart an etched finish.

I recently purchased 120 grit silicon carbide to do the job, placed it in a tumbler with water (about an inch over the carbide and glass) and proceeded to tumble.

I tumbled for 4 hours with absolutely no result whatsoever! I'm using fused BE and Moretti and had been hoping for instant success - of course. I'm not really into buying huge amounts of tumbling material with no success rate.

Can anyone say what I am doing wrong? Wrong medium? Wrong grit size?

Thanks for any advice!

Sadie

I posted a lot of stuff on tumbling recently on craftweb n mayB here

Ur biggest problem is fracturing

Try adding news paper

Use a thicker mix like mud / creme mayB a finer grit ??

Longer

sadiesjewels wrote:I'm looking for some help with tumbling small cabs and beads to impart an etched finish.

I recently purchased 120 grit silicon carbide to do the job, placed it in a tumbler with water (about an inch over the carbide and glass) and proceeded to tumble.

I tumbled for 4 hours with absolutely no result whatsoever! I'm using fused BE and Moretti and had been hoping for instant success - of course. I'm not really into buying huge amounts of tumbling material with no success rate.

Can anyone say what I am doing wrong? Wrong medium? Wrong grit size?

Thanks for any advice!

Sadie

I used to do quite a bit of rock polishing when we were "rock Hounds"

First, for the look that you want, use a larger grit. I would suggest 60 or 90.

Then you have to let the tumbler run for at least 2 days, preferably 3.

Fill the barel about 2/3 rds full of small bits of glass and then just barely cover the glass with water. Then add about 3 0r 4 tablespoons of grit and shake up to distribute it throught the glass.

Jim

120 seems awfully coarse to me, unless that's the texture you want. 220 to 400 would be my choice for a finer etch. - Barbara

Thanks for all the help,

The general consensus seems to be that I am not filling my tumbler enough, and should add some extra material (newspaper or plastic filler beads, rice husks) to take up the empty space.

I'm also going to move to a finer grit for a smoother more satin finish

Oh and time .... lots more time!

Sounds like I could be grinding for weeks!

Sadie

Barbara Cashman wrote:120 seems awfully coarse to me, unless that's the texture you want. 220 to 400 would be my choice for a finer etch. - Barbara

I am doing this right now, and 60 grit gives a very nice matt finish. For glass you are not trying to get a fine polish like you would if you are polishing rocks.

I don't know about any other filler to take up space. the polishing/etching action comes from the glass and grit sliding across one another. It seems to me that if you fill up the empty space the glass and grit will not be able to work.

lok at the glass thet has been "etched" at the beach. That grit is a lot larger than 60 and has been "etching" for a LONG time

Jim

Give it two or three days. Even 120 grit should give you nice etched surface. As long as you fill your tumbler at least half full you shouldn't need any filler. If it's not full enough, you won't get enough abrading action. You can always use bits of scrap glass as filler or you can buy various tumbling mediums from Rio Grande.