# Polishing Bottles



## Mjski (Jun 4, 2005)

I am a fiber optics tech and spend my days assembling units and hand-polishing the glass fibers to a flat 1 micron finish (a higher polish than your eyeglass lenses) for clients such as NASA and various medical diagnostic equipment manufacturers.  I have also made polymer clay beads for sale at local craft shows, which involved finishing the beads in a Thumbler's Model A-R2 tumbler.  

 I wonder if anyone has used this rock tumbler (rubber canister) with the aluminium oxide polishing compound to polish small bottles? My thinking is that the slow speed of the tumbler and the rubber canister will protect the bottle from damage while polishing with a minimal loss of glass.  Comments?

 mjski


----------



## Bottle tumbler (Jun 5, 2005)

hello mjski
 I would not tumble anything unless it is held in place, but I do tumble glass lids inside tupperware bowls. small ones, but they are packed with barley any room for them to move, as the copper tumbles around them, but they are flat... round bottles I'm not sure of.
 if you join this group and post the same question you will get some good answers.
 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bottletumblers/

 rick


----------



## WhiteLighting (Jun 5, 2005)

the aluminum oxide is good to use,but the weight of the copper inside the bottle and outside and the bottle not being held which "Tumbler mentioned", would break the bottle in pieces!.....,
  if you could come up with a way for the canister to hold the bottles in place then you would be set!.....


----------



## Mjski (Jun 6, 2005)

I meant to use the aluminium oxide as it arrives from our supplier, as a thick slurry.  Looks like Pepto Bismol only a bit thicker. I was not going to use bb's, just the polishing compound.  The tumbler I have rotates slowly so a round bottle doesn't rattle around; it just sorta rolls along the bottom.  I have a small sick common bottle in the tumbler now and plan to check it after 24 hours.  I haven't tested a square bottle yet, but my thinking is to loosely pack polyester fiber fill around the square bottle, add the liquid compound, and tumble.


----------



## Bottle tumbler (Jun 6, 2005)

the oxide will not polish the bottle with out copper with it. you need the weight to push the oxide against the sides of the bottle to make it work.  you could use styrofoam and place it in such a way and close it up and it would hold your bottle in place, 

 rick


----------



## sikakila (Jul 7, 2005)

Hi there from new zealand...speakin of polishers and tumblers,i just built one out of a standard clothes dryer fitted with an 8-inch plastic pipe in the centre...the bottle just rolls inside at about 60 RPM...a plastic end-cap stops the bottle and contents from spilling....tho i havent actually pollished anything yet,still unsure what to use as a polishing agent...it needs to be a dry mix...any ideas?? cheers~sika


----------



## WhiteLighting (Oct 29, 2005)

Yes you do need copper,either BB's or cut wire in certin lengths...

 but a pep bismo slurry?......also a rock tumbler is not the same as a bottle tumbler,..
 and infact much differnt in many ways,
 #1-IMO-JArDOC's tumblers are the best,especialy the canister's and holders which i thik he's got a PATENT on,
 #2- if you used a Rock tumbler with a bottle you would end up with a broken bottle ..
  there is certin math to tumblers i have been figuring out,theres also math tho the oxide's you have to put in and water.also then theres mixtures of oxides just for glass that you can make....

 #3- I know most cannot afford 600 bucks for a tumbler,but i couldnt either at the time and had to sell some of my fav bottles off to get one,and they are well worth the money paid due to the amountof sick bottles in my area,and if cleaned the amount thie worth are 3 fold!....and im in the area where some of the oldest and most wanted bottles are "near Saratoga/Ballston Spa",so save them nickles and dimes cause if you dig or even go to dirt malls or flea markets or garage sales and find a sick bottle thats worth 600 alone but you need that tumbler to remove the sickness then .....get my point...
  thereis really no way around cleaning a sick bottle without cutting layers of glass perfectly...and thats in laymans terms....,
    BISMO SLURRY- that would of been a good name for a quak bottle way back...
  but hope i answered afew questions for ya...


----------



## WhiteLighting (Oct 29, 2005)

I missed your post "sikakila" sorry,..
  But thats very inventfull!....
 afew mixtures are Tin Oxide,Aluminum Oxide,Cerium Oxide, and a few more thats hardwr to work with,but remember you need copper for the oxide to attach to and then it cuts the glass or polish...
  Can you post a picture?......


----------

