rykk
spending too much on rocks
Member since September 2011
Posts: 428
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Post by rykk on Dec 6, 2012 23:24:06 GMT -5
Hi, all - I picked up this 8 inch trim/slab saw for super cheap on ebay - $65 and only $20 shipping from Nevada! The label says "Gemstone Equipment Manufacturing" but I didn't find a lapidary eqpt company when I googled that. Anyhow, I haven't done much with it except to verify that it works fine. (All the junk in the 2nd pic is from my ongoing from scratch, no "saw" parts except the blade 14-18 inch saw I'm building. Just finished the vise carriage 2nite!) What I'm wondering about is the hose that seems like it is to feed coolant(?) onto the blade on the back of the blade splash guard. There is also a 1/2" exit fitting on the front of the sump. I'm guessing this might not be a stock setup but can't find any info. Anybody ever seen one of these? Thanks, Rick
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Dec 7, 2012 6:51:01 GMT -5
never seen that one before but it seems like you should be able to just make that 1/2 hose a drain valve and just fill the tank so that 1/4" of the blade is under water. cant really tell without seeing it with the table top off to see inside.
You got a great price and as long as the bearings are good should be a nice trim saw.
Chuck
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Post by jakesrocks on Dec 7, 2012 11:34:06 GMT -5
You might research the Gemstone Shop, West Bend, Indiana. They're no longer in business, but had equipment built for them to sell.
Don
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jspencer
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2011
Posts: 929
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Post by jspencer on Dec 7, 2012 11:47:23 GMT -5
You could use a system like I built for my cab machine water supply. Go to Harbor Freight or Home Depot (more money/better product) and get a small submersible water pump used to recirculate water in fish ponds and water fountains. You may have to buy some tubing and fittings to reduce the hose size to adapt to your blade guard. Then use anything you have on hand to make a reservoir to hold water. Have your drain going right back into the reservoir that your pump is in. I made use of an old plastic water tub from a humidifier that stopped working. Holds about 1.5 gallons of water. Been working for years now.
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Post by phil on Dec 7, 2012 12:04:26 GMT -5
Looks like they designed it (redesigned?) to avoid having to constantly clean out the sump, add coolant etc. Actually, looks like it will work really well and better than the few sump saws (8 and 10 inch) that we have. They constantly fill up with sludge and need topping off. We've been looking at converting them to pump fed coolant similar to what you show. Ours has two sumps. One is supposed to be a reservoir, one the actual saw sump. We're planning on taking but sump plugs out, putting in nipples and hose so everything drains immediately to a bucket below then saws where we will put a Swamp cooler pump to pump oil back up and onto the blade from both sides. Like i said, similar to what yours shows. Many advantages to this type of set up. Easy to filter/clean the oil when needed, lots of coolant so no constant refreshing, and a well cooled, lubricated blade which will make it last a lot longer! My advice, Go with the setup you got rather than revert to the old sump system. Phil
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Post by Rockoonz on Dec 7, 2012 17:02:34 GMT -5
You got a deal on it, that's for sure. A hose into a bucket with a pond pump suspended so it doesn't suck mud from the bottom is the way to go with that. I would also remove the home made spray guard from the front of the saw, the saw top with the waffle iron groove around the edge allows you to trim large slabs that hang off the edge of the table. add a little cutting additive to the water and you're good to go.
Lee
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