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If you keep shredding up the rubber belts on your rock tumbling machine, then this article is for you. Listed below are common reasons why you might keep wrecking the belt. Rock Tumbling Instructions Rock polishing is a properly rewarding hobby provided that you have working equipment and a bit of knowledge behind you. For knowledge you can visit our rock tumbler instructions blog. For troubleshooting why your belt keeps breaking, you are in the right place. Why are my Rock Tumbling Belts Breaking? There are a few reasons. Let’s troubleshoot. 1 – Age Rubber has a shelf life regardless of how much you have used the belt. You could have a spare on a shelf for years, finally have the opportunity to use it, and find that it barely lasts a day. It’s just degradation of the rubber and there’s nothing you can do for this one. I don’t want to link to a bunch of rubber companies so let me sumarise quickly instead. Heat, oxygen, and light all degrade rubber faster. The rubber belt on your rock tumbling machine will degrade faster if it is in use than if it is on the shelf. Keep your spare belts in a dry, dark place. I also keep mine in a sealed baggy so that the air doesn’t get in. 2 – Oil on the Rubber One of the first rock tumblers we got had an instruction manual in it which said to touch oil to the heads once a week or so, but to make sure the oil does not get on the belt as this can degrade the rubber. I am still not sure which part the heads is/are? Easy solution for this one. Clean your rock tumbler machine with a mostly dry cloth while it is turned off at the mains. Soapy water gets rid of oil but you don’t want to get your motor wet, and you want the parts that move to be a little oiled. 3 – Overweight Barrels This is probably the most common reason why the belt in your rock tumbler has broken. Your rock tumbler instructions will have the maximum weight which your tumbler can hold at one time in them. Usually this goes up 0.5lbs at a time. Most tumblers hold between 1.5lbs and 3lbs. Our machines both take 2.5lbs. Some models, like the STEM rock tumbler, will not turn at all if the barrel is overweight. Overfilling your rock tumbler presents multiple problems. Your belt might shred under the weight. You might not get the polish you want because the rocks have no room to move and therefore no friction. You might also overheat and break your motor, which is what powers the belt. The best way to solve this problem is by weighing your barrel before you put it on your machine. Remember that water weight is very real and that you should weigh the barrel when it also contains water and grit. 4 – Lack of Space I once shredded a belt to actual inch long pieces because I didn’t give it enough room. It was touching one of my other polishing machines. Every rotation it was touching the metal of the other machine. The rock tumbler belt could not cope with it. I don’t know how long it was running that way but the belt was the worst I have seen. 5 – Environmental Extremes Speaking of giving your rock tumbler space on the shelf, you should also be aware of the extremes in temperature that might affect them. We have two tumblers running at the moment, both on the same shelf, both inside a closed cabinet which we need to do to prevent the noise from reaching downstairs. Now. The cabinet gets hot on normal days, so on extremely hot days, we often switch them off. You run the risk both of burning out the motor in your rock tumbler and/or wrecking your belt. This goes the same for freezing temperatures. Anyone who has ever watched Gold Rush knows that you have to turn the equipment off to protect it from breaking when it gets too cold. If you keep your tumblers in the house, then they are likely fine. If you keep them in the garage or shed, then consider switching them off when it’s too hot or too cold. Where to Buy a Replacement Rubber Rock Tumbler Belt? I don’t know for sure which size of belt your rock tumbler takes so these are just suggestions. You can always return them if they don’t work, which is the beauty of Amazon. UK Replacement Rock Tumbler Belts If it is a Nat Geo hobby tumbler or the equivalent then these Dan & Darci rubber belt replacements should fit it. Most hobby sized rock tumblers will take these belts. US/CA Replacement Rock Tumbler Belts You can view a full list of available replacement rock tumbler belts on Amazon.com here. This set of 4 rock tumbler rubber belts are cheap and cheerful. They go with National Geographic tumblers and Dr. Cool Rocks. If you have a Leegol rock tumbler then they take specific belts. You can find replacements for the Leegol Electric belt here. The Leegol Electric 6lb rock polishing machine is another league but it is not compatible with our outlets here in the UK. I still want one. Further Troubleshooting a Broken Belt in Your Rock Tumbler If you get through this article and none of the fixes work, then you should contact your rock tumbler’s manufacturer for additional information. They may even give you a replacement belt or two.

Geologists, archaeologists, rockhounds, gem collectors, and miners the world over are all familiar with gone to the effort of hunting for rocks then they are displaying the keenness needed to become a true rockhound

We didn’t just start out as rockhounds knowing about how to test minerals for hardness or specific gravity You can support me as a writer and rockhound by donating to www.buymeacoffee.com/katrionawrites. Every penny helps me produce more articles like this one, to help other UK rockhounds find their feet

We all have to start somewhere with rock identification as baby rockhounds, but identifying minerals Can you Rock Hunt for Aventurine in Scotland? would like to say no to this, but we have actually found two separate pieces of green aventurine in Scotland

There, he met other rockhounds who were experienced enough to show him the ropes. A few years ago, she decided to go gold panning in the hills of Scotland for the adventure of it. she can about chalcedony , quartz , amethyst , and all the other wonderful crystals you can find in Scotland Special Skills: Author, TikToker, Reiki Healer, Tarot Reader, Rockhound, Gold Panner

All smoky quartz from Scotland that we sell has a known hardness of 7.

The Stone Circle buys and sells preloved and second-hand crystals, rocks, and minerals. Unfortunately, we cannot buy every crystal collection that we come across. If you are looking to sell your crystal collection online, read this first! A Flower Agate Tower we recently bought up on eBay Here at The Stone Circle, we have recently taken a step back to look at how we can improve the ethics of crystal collecting. We know that the best pieces are mined, and we know that mining takes a huge toll on the environment, and as rock hunters we know that even hunting crystals in the UK in areas local to us takes an environmental toll. It is our aim to keep that toll as low as possible. We Buy and Sell Preloved Crystal Collections Recently, we decided to expand into the purchasing and reselling of unwanted crystal collections. Do you ever wonder what happens to all the rocks that people collect? Rather than being put in a suitcase and forgotten about, we would love those old crystal collections to end up here. We will rehome them and they will find love in the end. How We Work Out Preloved Crystal RRPs Since preloved crystals come to us second hand, we check the RRP against the first few pages of Google shopping. If we don’t believe what we see (because the price is too high) we check Etsy, then eBay. We take the average cost across the different marketplaces to be the actual RRP. After we have a Recommended Retail Price, we can work out what the resale value is for the crystal as a second hand, pre-loved mineral. We promise to keep the prices on the cheapest side possible. After all, do we own the rocks or do the rocks own us? Would The Stone Circle Buy Your Old Crystals? We might. Here is what we are looking for – in fact, it is easier to tell you what we do not want, instead. We are open to any and all offers of minerals, be they donations or offered for sale. However, we do not want  to buy the following: Fake minerals – if it is glass, we won’t buy it. Lab grown is acceptable, but we need to know. Dyed minerals – especially dyed agates or geodes. If it is neon, then it is fake. Anything ‘Aura’ – aura quartz and rainbow crystals have been coated with a mix of other minerals. We do not want to encourage this market in any way, shape or form. We see these as vandalism… like spray painting over a DaVinci or scrubbing a Banksy off a wall… Heat treated agates or heat treated “citrine” (amethyst). If you have a few of the above but have an otherwise natural crystal collection, then we won’t mind. If your crystal collection is mostly dyed or rainbow aura coated, then we won’t buy it. It’s not that we are judging your taste but more that our customers expect rough rocks and natural crystals when they shop with us. Also, we haven’t perfected a formula for removing the dye from agates yet. We stopped experimenting just shy of trying bleach. What is Your Crystal Collection Worth? This is a tricky question. If you want to sell it all at once, you will make less money. Selling items individually on the website is how we make a small profit (we hope!) If you trust us, we will make a fair offer that makes everyone happy – especially the people who get new rocks! When selling your crystal collection, you might do better selling all of your towers or spheres at once and selling your tumble stones separately. Tumbles are worth less than other minerals. Prices fluctuate based on what is popular at that time on the market. The best way to find out how much your crystal collection might be worth is to ask. Drop us an email at thestonecircleshop@gmail.com with some photos and we will make an offer if we can. We are not rich so please don’t approach us with meteorites. Where to Buy Cheap Crystals Second Hand? You can rehome crystals, rocks, and minerals through the Stone Circle’s preloved crystals program. Donate or sell your old crystal collection and pick up new (old) crystals second hand at www.thestonecircle.co.uk .

Other rockhounds providing us with amethyst are from Dumfries & Galloway, Fife, Ayrshire, and the north of Scotland. Mineral and crystal hunting in Scotland has a long history going back to crofter times. Although we have limited quantities of amethyst here in Scotland, you can get it from Brazil, China,

Taking up rockhounding isn’t the hobby for everyone. In Scotland the main one is in Edinburgh. It is the Scottish Mineral and Lapidary Club.

Scottish tumbled stones from the Stone Circle  to help pay for articles like this one, which help other rockhounds

We buy minerals second hand from other collectors, we go out into Scotland and we find them ourselves , and we create Rockhounding content so that you can see for yourself how the crystals we sell are found You can also read about the meaning of agate already, or learn about Hagstones freshly picked from Scotland

We started tumbling in the 2020/21 season of rockhounding, so we have a few years under our belts now