# Tumbling quandary



## Slowmovangogh (Jan 24, 2022)

So, I finally got my machine up and running. After a few months of trying to figure out how to rig my own stopples and failing, I broke down and purchased a pair of 4" ones from the jar doctor. So far I am happy with the results but I am finding that the bottoms of the bottles are not fully polishing or are remaining a little hazy or lightly scratched. This is pretty much the bottom 3/4" or so on the side that sits in the stopple with the fingers. I am using about 75% cut copper wire and 25% plastic tumbling pellets because I currently don't have quite enough wire to use just that. Maybe it's the mixed media I'm using, but I can't really think why that would affect it.  Does anyone have any advice to get the bottles to polish consistently from top to bottom?


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## webe992 (Jan 24, 2022)

Do you have enough copper/pellets to cover the entire bottle about half way when it is lying on its side? It could be that the lower part of the bottle has more pellets and isn’t tumbling as well as the copper


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## embe (Jan 24, 2022)

Is the machine sitting level?  I imagine the plastic being lighter than copper would cause it to migrate, to the top or an end.


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## Slowmovangogh (Jan 25, 2022)

The machine is level. I have enough medium to fill to about 2/3 up on the bottle when sitting vertically, but unfortunately I am currently using a regular white pvc pipe so I can't see the level when it's on it's side. I ordered a length of clear pipe but it has not been delivered yet. As far as the plastic sitting on top, again I can't see, but when I dump it out the plastic does tend to come out first so it probably is on the top. I guess for now I will try to get ahold of some more copper and take out the plastic to see if that helps.


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## Merle (Jan 25, 2022)

Fishnemesis said:


> The machine is level. I have enough medium to fill to about 2/3 up on the bottle when sitting vertically, but unfortunately I am currently using a regular white pvc pipe so I can't see the level when it's on it's side. I ordered a length of clear pipe but it has not been delivered yet. As far as the plastic sitting on top, again I can't see, but when I dump it out the plastic does tend to come out first so it probably is on the top. I guess for now I will try to get ahold of some more copper and take out the plastic to see if that helps.


I was having the same issue until I got the clear tubes and realized that a lot of copper was going in the void of the stopples causing the bottom not to be cleaned proper on my end too. I sure do get my exercise now when it’s time to doing all 7 tubes in one night. It’s like lifting weights. And I’m about to get another machine that can do another 4. I’ll have to do them different days so I’m not doing 11 in one night.


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