New idea? for pick finishing...

[triman247]

Good. I'm actually kind of excited to see what turns out. I also noticed the Sig edit. Pretty sweet.


triman

[mike-z]

i have 2 rock tumblers
1 metal
1 plastic
so i guess i could use them

[digital_blue]

Well, we're past day 3 now, and still turning. I would say that these picks have definitely smoothed out a bit, but they are nowhere near where I would get them to if I were doing it by hand. That's kinda my litmus test here. If I can achieve the same quality of finish without all the painstaking labour, then I will count this experiment as a success. Based on what I saw when I checked them earlier this evening, I would say that another 3 days or so will be necessary, assuming that I'll ever achieve what I am after.

I just wish this thing wasn't as loud as it is. I've got it down in the basement, but I am getting a little tired of the constant repetitive sound of the thing turning. It seems to be mostly the sound of the gears turning, not the actual contents, so if this works, you can be sure the unit I make will be much quieter.

I did notice that there are some marks forming that look as though I may have overheated the metal when I was grinding out the picks. That doesn't surprise me, as these were junk picks that were among the first I ever made. If these blemishes remain when it's all said and done, I will not really count that as a failure, as I am sure that any picks I make now would not suffer the same affliction.

So... I guess I keep waiting... and just turn the TV up louder.

db

[machinist]

Thats a brilliant idea to tumble them for a finish and just as I was thinking how clever that was I realized I had a rock tumbler on call, in my closet. I didn't have any sand but @ 3:00AM all the hardware stores are closed so I went down to the beach and scooped some up in a yuban coffe can. The sand is preety fine so I imagine this is going to take a while but still an interesting and free project.

2 of three mini picks going in the tumbler (AKA "before")
[img=http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/6082/img12199fq.th.jpg]

The rock tumbler, little rusty but it works just big enough for this project.
[img=http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/7447/img12250uu.th.jpg]

After an hour, no real progress.
[img=http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/5968/img12207lp.th.jpg]

closer look, like I said not much.
[img=http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/5372/img12247em.th.jpg]

on the otherside ( I think this was just scratched paint when I was grinding them and not polishing)
[img=http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/5889/img12232zs.th.jpg]

And thats the progress so far. I get the feeling digital_blue's are going to be a higher quality than me but I'm learing a bit about high carbon tumbling. I'll throw them back in tumbler for 5 more hours and take some pictures.

[Shrub]

How do you all finish your picks?

Personally i start with a file to deburr them then rub with a coarse emry paper then finish with a fine wet and dry pare then the last finish is an oiled wet and dry paper.

Do you start with the wet and dry paper and keep going until they are done? thats what your doing here, as ive already said you need to start with a coarse sand/grit, if you have a local engineering works see if they have a grit blaster, they may give you some of their coarse grit for the project if not try your local fish tank supplier and get some coarse sand, after a day with that you should notice a differance, once deburred and smoothing is taking over then swap sands to the silica stuff to finish them off and get a good finish.

The places that do this commecially dont have days upon days to finish somthing as cheap as that, they want it done quickly and that is how they do it.

Db if your picks are blued you may not get the heat marks off at all, it depends on how hot you got them, if you got them very hot and the material is very thin by the time you can see the marks going they could very welll be too thin, i wouldnt imagine a tumbler would remove deep heat colours.

Youlll find a tumbler wont give a mirror finish, thats not what they are for, they are used to remove the burrs, a polishing machine is then used to give a mirror finish if thats what your after,

A tumbler can however be expected to give a finish simular to SO picks minus the burrs they normally have on the edges

[machinist]

I usually get the fine sandpaper sanding drum set the dremel to full throttle (25K rpms) and "kiss" the edges after that I scrub them with 150 grit to clear all the paint off them and take some of the burrs of the tip where I can't get to with the drum after all that I switch to 400 grit and do the same. My finish is not very shiney in my opinion and is definately not a mirror but its better than brushed finish. lately I have been bluing them with $4.00 gun blue.

As far as the tumbling progress after 9 hours the edges have been rounded off and the picks are comfortable to handle but I get the idea this is the picks boucing off eachother because the only paint compleatly removed is on the edges.

after 9 hours:
[img=http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2440/img12273jr.th.jpg]


closeup:
[img=http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1397/img12280gr.th.jpg]


Not much, I'm going to see if I have some better tumbling media around here.

[Shrub]

It may work if you throw in a load of postage stamp sized bits of emry paper with the sand or your old sanding drums.

[HKW]

the Rock tumbler sounds like a typical "case cleaner" used for cleaning ammunition cases before reloading. It vibrates (some models tumble) with a medium to rub against the cases to remove debis and polish the cases...

HKW

[jellywerker]

As an amateur pyro, I have some comments. First, a better way to grind them would be a ball mill, used for making gunpowder and other pyro comps in smallish amounts. You can build them with a clothes washer motor (1/2 to 1/3hp) and pvc piping + a wood frame. That way you control the quality, and even a begginer will get a mill of much better quality than the kiddy rock tumblers.

Anyways though, the reason yours are taking so long Digital blue is that your milling media is too small and light. You need something a bit heavier and slightly more abrasive, and you'll want to do three passes, one with something like medium size fish gravel, another with heavy/rough sand, and one with fine sand/whatever you want to polish them. The gravel with smooth it, the heavy sand will take out and dings left by the gravel, and the fine sand with polish it.

[devnill]

This wouldnt work with my homemades. The metal is crappy, and would rust:(

off to get better sawblades...

[digital_blue]

Yeah,

Just to update... I have found the rock tumbler to be basically a bust. I did move to a courser grit sand (much coarser) and cut some new picks to try it out. After tumbling for a couple days like this, it became apparent that it only works marginally.

If you were not fussy about the finish, it seems to work ok. But the finishing was very uneven, and I just don't think I can achieve the same quality of finish in this manner as I can finishing by hand.

So, I've dropped the project. It's worth saying that if you're not very patient or tedious with your hand sanding, this might be a good option. But I'd rather put in the time doing it by hand to achieve an excellent finish than put in very little time to achieve an OK finish.

So there ya have it.

db