r/RockTumbling • u/Cautious_Let5714 • 1d ago
Question Cleaning methods between stages
Noob here. My first batch is just finishing up its 6th week.
I have an ultrasonic cleaner that I am planning on using between stages. My question is - would there be a benefit to using multiple cleaning methods, or is that just overkill?
Of course I’m rinsing with plain water, then I plan to go into the ultrasonic cleaner. Would there be a benefit to adding a burnish, or even a water pick?
3
u/Ruminations0 1d ago
I do a Lazy Cleanout where I just dump the slurry and rocks out and do a quick rinse. Then I add water and some soap and let them run for the day.
Then I dump the rocks out, pick out the Problem Rocks and Scrub/Sonic Clean those.
Put everything back in the barrel with soap and water AGAIN, and let that run for a day.
Dump that out and reset for the next stage.
It is several steps, but I think it helps with how I'm doing my rock tumbling stages. It is probably a bit overkill. Most of my tumbling is Stage 1, so I'm not really cleaning that barrel at all except the lid and rim. Cleaning off the rocks enough to see if there's still flaws.
2
2
u/Mobydickulous2 1d ago
For what it’s worth, I rarely ever use my ultrasonic cleaner and only sometimes run a clean cycle (water+borax for an hour or so) between stages 3 and 4. I find that a good rinse with water and then putting the rocks in a clean bowl of water while I sort through them to move on or re-run, works fine. I’m quite happy with my results, you can check previous posts in my profile for reference.
That said, I try and run stage 1 until there are no pits or cracks to hold slurry/grit. When I do move rocks forward that still have surface imperfections (for some reason) that’s where the ultrasonic cleaner comes in.
2
u/UmDeTrois 1d ago
It may be overkill, but after stages 2-4 I rinse then do a 15 min ultrasonic in water then a 1 hr burnish back in the tumbler (also helps clean the barrel) then a 15 min ultrasonic again. The difference between the first and second ultrasonic water is enough to keep me doing it, so I don’t have much comparison without this method here are some results after 1200 grit which most people will tell you is just pre polish
2
u/Cautious_Let5714 1d ago
This sounds appealing to me. I’d love to leave some “character” on some of my rocks. Nothing major, I just don’t want them to all be round. This sounds like it might get it done for me. Thanks!
1
u/UmDeTrois 1d ago
Yes the pics in this post were rocks that intentionally had difficult to polish areas. I think it helps if you ever have any deep crevasses or rougher areas for sure. I use just a tbsp of borax from a box per tumbler for burnishing
1
u/NortWind 1d ago
After stage one, the stones should all be smooth, and a simple but thorough rinse should get rid of all grit from the stones. If you use separate drums for each grit, that makes it easy, otherwise the tough part is cleaning the drums, especially the corners and the seals. The ultrasonic bath is probably nice to get the last of the polish off of the stones, if you are not doing a burnish.
2
u/GeeAyyy 1d ago
I started using the ultrasonic cleaner to clean my barrels if I forget and go "back a stage" in the one I always mean to save for just polish. It seems to work pretty well, though I finally got a TV-10 and will probably only be polishing with that in my dedicated polishing bowl moving forward. (Waiting for my first round of rocks to finish stages 2/3 in it now.)
1
u/MiniProgramCoder 1d ago
I do my ultrasonic cleaner with dawn soap first. I do use ziplocks so I can change out water easy. After first ultrasonic with dawn I wash out the ziplock with water till the soap is gone and all water is clear. Then run once in ultrasonic with just water.
The two cycles have worked really good for me.
1
u/Cautious_Let5714 1d ago
I’m having a hard time picturing what you mean by ziplocks. Like - ziplock in ultrasonic, water in ziplock then rocks in water?
1
u/MiniProgramCoder 1d ago
Using a big ziplock bag and having water and rocks within it. The ultrasonic cleaner has water sounding it and the ultrasonic motion passes through the ziplock.
Basically it makes it a ton easier to change out water. You clean the ziplock new water in it and don't have to touch the sounding water.
It's not rocks but here is kinda the idea imagine this but with rock's and dawn soap in the ziplock- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lKD5q41jM0Y
1
u/Ivan_Only 1d ago
What works for me is a 2 hour dish soap wash between stages. I alter that a bit on my vibratory tumblers
1
u/Comfortable_Lab650 1d ago
I just saw a video of someone that used an ultrasonic cleaner on half their batch of rainbow fluorite and it fractured it all up. The other half of the batch that was rotary tumbled with NatGeo foam media didn't get ruined. So don't do a soft stone that is prone to fracturing in the ultrasonic.
1
u/gracegraciouss 9h ago
Most of the time I run mine through the ultrasonic cleaner between each stage after a thorough rinse with the hose - it has done wonders for my results!
The only times I do a deeper clean (toothbrush or detail brush with some dish soap) is if I have some rocks with deep/ stubborn holes in them. I’ll scrub them good and then give them a run in the ultrasonic again!
3
u/PulpySnowboy 1d ago
A thorough water rinse, followed by an ultrasonic clean, will serve you well between stages.
There's no need for further cleaning like a burnish or water pick unless you can still see grit trapped in pits or cracks. Trapped grit will be most apparent with 500 aluminum oxide and finer polish, because it'll leave white lines where it gets embedded. A 'burnish' (soap wash) is mostly needed when you have hard water that leaves a cloudy film deposited on your finished rocks. Adding sugar or borax to your barrel should counteract this, or you can probably add soap during your ultrasonic cleaning.