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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 3, 2018 20:49:12 GMT -5
I got what I believe is a refurbished Lortone NS8 arbor with two expando wheels, motor etc. at Quartzsite. It's very cute. Quaint looking - looks like this one, with both splash guards looking like the left hand one in the pic. I want to use it to ease the sanding step in making cabs. Need advice about what grit belts to get and whether to get Diamond or SiC. On my Cab King I have the following: I use an 80 diamond wheel for preforming only. It's too coarse for any shaping. I should swap it out for something. I dome on the 220 diamond hard wheel. Then I have a 220 diamond soft wheel (not expando, just a Nova wheel). [Don't tell anyone - Genie wheels fit on Cab Kings too!] This replaced the old soft 280 which wasn't quite up to the task. Then it skips to diamond 600 soft. Then I have diamond 1200 soft. Then diamond 3000 soft. Then I polish using spin-on discs. My 260 soft wheel (before I recently replaced it) and my 600 wheel wear out the fastest, and flats are annoying me. I was getting a lot of big scratches from the 220 showing up at around 1200, but hopefully the 220 soft wheel will fix that. --- 1. So I was thinking to get a 400 and a 600 for the expando drums. But ? Any thoughts? 2. Also, should I get diamond or SiC? Diamond belts are $79 at JSGems (more elsewhere); SiC belts are (!) approx. $2.50 each ( not a typo) at Kingsley North. Aside from wearing out faster, are SiC belts THAT MUCH worse than diamond resin belts? Cut differently? Thanks all!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 1:10:55 GMT -5
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Post by Peruano on Jan 4, 2018 9:25:29 GMT -5
Yes, diamond belts should last much longer than the cheaper silicone carbide belts. And in my view, you should not mix silicone carbide with diamond or do so carefully to avoid carrying grit forward that would contaminate an expensive diamond belt. You can polish things with fine grit diamond belts that you can only achieve with harder to use polishes. We all use what we have, but if I were to start with a brand new work bench, I'd have a hard 80 grit diamond wheel (or a 100 grit); a hard 200 or 220 grit diamond wheel; and appropriate diamond belts from 280 to 50,000. Mind you I don't have that array, but its tempting. The nice thing about expandos is they let you run in a special belt for special material or if you are doing something that may contaminate a belt, you can put on a cheaper silicon carbide or aluminum oxide belt. Some of the latter are really durable and last much longer than their cheaper silicone carbide cousins. Washing stones between grits no matter what you use is essential, and washing wheels to make sure they are clean of residue and thoroughly wet before using them are equally desirable. I hope this helps your reasoning.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 4, 2018 19:05:10 GMT -5
Thanks. I'm thinking I'll get a few SiC ones to play around with and see what grits I want to have before spending $$ on diamond. Question Peruano - you mentioned to be careful about using SiC wheels in between Diamond wheels so that you don't have a piece of grit come off and contaminate the next wheel. Is this a greater concern with SiC than with diamond? Or is it the same consideration? That's a good point about the belts being easily swapped out for special material.
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Post by Peruano on Jan 5, 2018 8:27:57 GMT -5
Of course have some silicone carbide to play around with and use for special situations. I'm no expert, but belts can do everything the finer nova wheels can do and more. 1. They can be changed easier. If you have a worn 3000, try using it after you use your good one and it will go just a bit further with the polish. 2. The expando wheel is softer than the nova and hence your stone will not chatter or bounce as much and you will get better results without dimpling that occurs on some stones (read jade?). 3. You can change out for for special high end stones. I would not cut an opal on the finer grit belts that I have been grinding agates on. 4. SiC belts do not come in finer grits so you have to go to aluminum oxide or diamond for your belts. 5. I believe the resin belts sold by Johnson Bros are aluminum oxide (intermediate in price, and suitable for some situations where you don't have or want to use diamond. 6. A 400 grit trizact belt will do a lot of shaping on softer stones and is relatively cheap. They last a long time. 7. If you were doing knife handles or had other risks of metal contamination you would not want o risk a nova or a diamond belt. 8. I use 3M diamond belts; I'm not sure the microfinishing versions are as appropriate for straight lapidary work. I always rinse my work between wheels or belts, but especially so when I have a sic belt in the mix. You can see that they don't last as long and the grit has to go somewhere. That said, worn sic belts were used for many years as suitable polishing agents and just because they are worn does not mean they should be thrown away.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 5, 2018 10:50:43 GMT -5
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capt38
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 45
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Post by capt38 on Jan 5, 2018 13:23:37 GMT -5
After the 3000 Nova wheel, I used to use 14000 diamond paste on a polishing pad. I started using 14000 & 50000 diamond belts on an expanding drum, and I have seen a big improvement.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 7, 2018 20:32:40 GMT -5
Interesting, that's a thought too.
Turns out it came with a 400 and a 100 belt. I guess I might as well try using the 100 belt for . . . what? doming? Can you dome on an expando?
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minerken
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2013
Posts: 466
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Post by minerken on Jan 7, 2018 20:55:45 GMT -5
I have never used nova wheels strictly expando's and have always wondered about the drape. Does it cause more flat spots I know that using the expando's doesn't have a problem that way, at least for me. I have toyed with the idea of Nova's but think I'll stick with expando's.
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cigarboxrock
starting to shine!
Member since December 2017
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Post by cigarboxrock on Jan 10, 2018 12:02:13 GMT -5
Nova Wheels are great for faster production but the expense is far greater, what I tend to use is expando silicon carbide all the way up to 1000 grit then a 8000 to 14000 Nova wheels. Keep on Rocking!! CigarBoxRock
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Post by bobby1 on Jan 15, 2018 1:00:58 GMT -5
I have been using S/C belts for all of my 45+ years of lapidary work. I use belts from 80 grit down to 600 grit. I never throw away a worn belt. For me they work the best when they are worn and flexible. I do a lot of dry sanding on them especially for sanding slabs and for making my very large cabs (6"+ across the long way). I do have two Genis but I only use them when I an teaching lapidary. Bob
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Feb 1, 2018 20:06:00 GMT -5
Thanks all. I wondered how you made those big ones bobby1!
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Post by orrum on Feb 2, 2018 9:55:29 GMT -5
Hey Susan you can put the 6 inch diamond hard wheels on the arbor and put higher grit diamond on the Genie. Or what I would do is put a super grinder on the left of the arbor using 6 inch saw blades spaced with old CDs between. The 6 inch with the 8 inch arbor would give you lots of room to work. Then I would put one of Johns, JSGems leather belts on the right hand expando for polish. Johns belts are totally awesome!!!
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Feb 3, 2018 16:49:31 GMT -5
That's a thought Bill orrum. So many choices!
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