# Cleaning inside of neck area.



## jarhead jim (Jan 10, 2010)

Hey all,

 I've been using the Jar Doctor tube setup and the boddies of the whiskey bottles have been turning out great but the necks are still cloudy. I've tumbled them with copper and alum oxide for 4 days straight after the bodies were looking great in an attempt to clear up the necks but to no avail. Has anyone tried using an electric drill with a brush on the end using the aluminum oxide stuff to polish it up? I know the reason the necks take longer is because there isn't as much weight pressing the copper into the alum oxide but damn, this is getting frustrating.

 Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 Jim


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## BarbaraInCalif (Jan 20, 2010)

Hey Jim...have you gotten any PMs with advice?  If so, we'd sure like to know what you found out!
 Most advice on the forum is to simply "tumble longer"  
 I tape up the bottle tops with tumbling media inside, wrap the bottle in a towel, and stash it an empty canister to pre-clean the interior before tumbling the entire bottle. Tried my husbands Dremel, but the attachments are way too expensive, plus I sadly don't have the talent for one of those things.

 Ok tumblers...what do you do?


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## ombudsman (Feb 12, 2010)

Since no one who knows what they're talking about has responded (I mean since Barbara,) here's a thought from someone who doesn't. 

 What about putting the bottle cocked to one side in the cannister. As the cannister turns, the media will "surge" into and out of the neck area. You might have to rotate the bottle periodically to get even abrasion. I realize that with the conventional stopple/prongs bottle holders, this would not be practical. But with my patented "pack it all around with plastic grocery sacks" method a crooked placement would be easy.

 Take this idea for what it's worth.


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## BarbaraInCalif (Feb 26, 2010)

Good save David!

 Here is what happened when I tumbled interiors only, vertically (end over end) in a large pipe.  
 Notice that only the middle of the bottle is cleaned!
 Live and learn.....


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## BarbaraInCalif (Feb 26, 2010)

Here some are taped up and ready to roll.  I use electrical tape only: cut a square of 2" wide tape to seal the top, then tightly wind 3/4" tape from above the lip and down the neck, sealing in all of that initial square of tape.  Rectangular bottles are taking forever; any advice (other than using copper) to get these pesky polygons cleaned up?


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## ombudsman (Feb 26, 2010)

Barbara, you may have answered this before, but at what rpm are your cannisters turning?


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## ombudsman (Feb 26, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  BarbaraInCalif
> 
> Good save David!
> 
> ...


 
 Is this perhaps because the middle gets two passes of media per rpm, while the ends only get one?


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## BarbaraInCalif (Feb 26, 2010)

> Barbara, you may have answered this before, but at what rpm are your cannisters turning?


 

 You have asked before David, but I never answered!
 We bought a fourth pulley (2.5 inches) and have no idea of the RPM...guess I'll need to get out the stopwatch and count.

 Another variable for RPM is the size of canisters. 
 The three layers currently rolling are 

 Top 1: ____________10"__________
 Middle 2:_________4",  4"________
 Bottom 3:_______4", 5", 4"_____


 The top, doing interiors only, is very slow.


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## ombudsman (Feb 26, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  ombudsman
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 I believe my thinking here needs a little explanantion. I'm wondering if in the "endwise" orientation, and at the rpm you are turning (whatever that is [] ,) the media load is moving from one end to the other en masse instead of rolling and sliding down one side of the bottle. I don't know how else to explain the abrasion pattern your examples show.


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## BarbaraInCalif (Feb 26, 2010)

> media load is moving from one end to the other en masse instead of rolling and sliding down one side of the bottle


 
 That is the only scenario I can think of David...which is why your suggestion of having the bottle at an angle other than 90 degrees should be better.
 Other variables are quantity of media, amount of water, the grit causing too much friction thus not allowing the media to slide?


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## ombudsman (Feb 26, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  BarbaraInCalif
> 
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> 
> ...


 
 I don't think the small amount of grit we use is sufficient to cause the media to drag or set up. In rock tumbling the grit breaks down and mixes with ground rock to make a paste, which will get stiff without enough water. I don't think that is a problem with our glass beads.

 I have rotated a "loaded" bottle in my hand to observe the action at various rpm. As best as I could tell, at any speed I could achieve by hand, the beads/grit behaved the same way.

 Though I intend to continue using them, I believe the problem is the light weight of the beads. Perhaps as important, or more so, is the hardness and "slickness" of the beads. With copper, which is much softer than the glass beads, the grit is has more of a tendency to be scraped across the glass; The grit is able to "get a grip" on the copper as it is squeezed and moved across the glass of the bottle.

 Again though, until I find that I just can't make the beads work, they are the media I intend to use.

 I guess I got off of the how to clean the bottle necks topic. Sorry. 

 Not so sorry that I'm going to waste all this typing.[]


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## stumpknocker (Feb 28, 2010)

I have a friend that tumbles all of his bottles. He said that Novus 2 applied to a green scrub pad works very well. Put the scrub pad in the bottle and move it around in the bottle with a coat hanger for about five minutes. Has anyone tried this before? 

 http://www.micromark.com/NOVUS-2-FINE-SCRATCH-REMOVER-8-FL-OZ,8051.html?sc=WGB&utm_source=GoogleBase&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=GoogleBase


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