# Can I tumble a glued bottle?



## chosi (Mar 29, 2008)

I've got a sick bottle that I'd like to tumble, but the blob has been repaired.  A chunk of the blob has been glued back on (see photo).  It was like that when I purchased it, so I don't know what kind of glue was used or how sturdy it is.  

 Anyway - if I try to tumble this bottle, is that chunk gonna break off?  
 Is there any way to re-inforce it during the tumble?
 Or should I just not tempt fate and leave it un-tumbled?


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## GuntherHess (Mar 29, 2008)

Try soaking in hot water, if its something like elmers glue the piece will fall off.
 If it stays on then it may stay on during tumbling.


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## Bottleman (Apr 8, 2008)

Itâ€™s not good to tumble a bottle with an epoxy repair because copper is harder than the epoxy and it will eat away at the repair. It may not pop it out but after itâ€™s tumbled it will look like a foggy spot on your bottle. Maybe if you used plastic pellets it would work.


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## chosi (Apr 9, 2008)

I've never used plastic before, but that sounds like a good idea.
 I just ordered some plastic pellets, and when I get them I'll give them a try and let you know how it works out.


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## Bottleman (Apr 9, 2008)

The only problem with plastic pellets is they take a long time to clean the bottle but in this case it's worth it.


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## Bottle tumbler (Apr 10, 2008)

If the top has the right epoxy it can be tumbled and it will polish to a clean shine. I have done many with epoxy repairs and the come out real good.
 But if the epoxy is a cheap type it will come off and could break the rest of the bottle in to many pieces, contact me if you need any more help.
 Plastic pellets take for ever to work, just remember they float so the water level is important. only enough to cover them is good
 rick


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## chosi (Apr 17, 2008)

Well, I tumbled it with plastic pellets, and it didn't break.  I don't think it turned out as clean as it would have if I'd used copper - there's still a little bit of cloudiness in the bottle.  Maybe I just need to tumble it longer, as you hinted at.  I guess the glued area actually looks more pronounced now (i.e. it's more obvious than before that it was glued), but that's probably as to be expected, since there's less cloudiness covering the glued area.

 Are plastic pellets good for anything else?  Is there any reason to use plastic, other than for a delicate bottle?


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## jagee44 (Apr 19, 2008)

Is it ok to tumble a cracked bottle?


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## Gunsmoke47 (Apr 19, 2008)

No jagee, it is not. At least not with copper. Not unless you want to take a VERY LARGE chance of ending up with a whole lot of pieces of glass in your copper. [] Kelley


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## BottleneckSlide (Mar 26, 2009)

I have yet to use a tumbler. But I am in the process of creating one now. The items I want to tumble will be glass tubes (bottlenecks) with stones inlayed into them using a bonding agent called Hxtal. This is a serious museum quality epoxy.  After application and curing it needs to be ground and sanded off. leaving the glass around it sctratched from the abbrasion. The epoxy actually bonds to the glass so strong that if ground too fast it will tear small pieces of the glass out.

             I am working a tumbler to suspend the tube(bottleneck) so it wont just tumble around and crack or chip. I am assuming I will want to use plastic pellets on this since it is something I spend a lot of time and effort on to create. I would like to get as close to a lens quality finish as possible on the outside of the tube. The inside already has the desired finish. 

            I was wondering if anyone here might have some advice on polishing media grit choices and steps to take to achieve my goal? Any help would be appreciated.

 ....................BottleneckSlide


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## GuntherHess (Mar 26, 2009)

I am surprised that plastic pellets work at all since they float and they have very little mass.  They dont seem to be a good choice for tumbling most stuff.
 Glass beads are fairly cheap. Not as fast as copper but they dont weigh a ton and you dont end up with black gunk all over the place. But you do end up with glass beads everywhere.[]
 All things being equal I would use copper.


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## BottleneckSlide (Mar 27, 2009)

Heres some pictures of the Bottleneck I was talking about a couple posts up.
http://cid-3a6a5b52ef470df5.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/June%2019/Turquoise%20Inlay?uc=3 
     Maybe I could experiment with copper first on another neck. But I am afraid copper might damage the turquoise. I just want to be careful i have spent a lot of time on this already. I plan to make many more similar bottlenecks as well.


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