J Diamond
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2018
Posts: 12
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Post by J Diamond on Dec 22, 2018 19:35:23 GMT -5
So I’m looking at the Covington wet belt sanders to mainly sand and polish agate nodules/eggs and thicker display slabs (agate, petrified wood, some jasper). Can’t decide if the vertical or horizontal would be better. Anyone on here with pertinent experience?
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Post by parfive on Dec 23, 2018 1:29:49 GMT -5
Should be easier to work on the horizontal one. Ergonomics.
I’d think long and hard before buying one of these, and certainly wait for some feedback from a few current owners.
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J Diamond
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2018
Posts: 12
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Post by J Diamond on Dec 23, 2018 15:05:10 GMT -5
Why do you say to think long and hard about these? I’ve actually been weighing many options, this is just one of them. The Covington website mentioned that the horizontal ones weren’t as popular as the vertical, but didn’t say why. I found a post somewhere last night that mentioned the horizontal ones tended to spray water towards you, as opposed to the vertical which sprayed more down into the pan.
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upliftcrazy
having dreams about rocks
Married
Member since August 2016
Posts: 63
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Post by upliftcrazy on Dec 23, 2018 20:10:25 GMT -5
I have one not sure of who made it and I thought it was easier to control the Rock and more comfortable position. Also I am stronger up and down then left to right. I don't have it hooked up this moment but here a pic of it sitting in front of my computer. With this forum page up with the last post (for the doubters) I hope I can get the pic
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Post by parfive on Dec 24, 2018 1:11:30 GMT -5
A friend gave me a horizontal sander over ten years ago. Not a Covington. At first, I thought it would be handy for saw nubs, but it’s more convenient just to zap ‘em with the cab grinder. Plus my saw cuts really smooth slabs, so I don’t need the sander to clean them up either. Buried deep in the back corner of the workshop, it might as well be a mooring anchor – I couldn’t even see it when I went looking tonight.
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Post by Rockoonz on Dec 24, 2018 2:31:48 GMT -5
I would tend to agree that there isn't much need for a belt sander with cabochons, even though the jewelry shop in high school had them and they worked. If you're looking to make display pieces like smallish thunder eggs or Brazilians and have the bench space they can be very useful. Personally I would prefer vertical as well, for water spray and also if the rock gets away from me it doesn't fly across the room.
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upliftcrazy
having dreams about rocks
Married
Member since August 2016
Posts: 63
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Post by upliftcrazy on Dec 24, 2018 23:31:22 GMT -5
I used the one in the picture for about 2 weeks before it lost it's appeal. I could see it as a low cost way for someone to cab maybe but I thought it worked best with small uncut stones that I thought had interesting features, and didn't want to change the natural contour only shine'm up. Standing in front of it seem more natural seemed more natural. But if doing larger items horizontal is lot easier
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J Diamond
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2018
Posts: 12
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Post by J Diamond on Dec 27, 2018 11:43:42 GMT -5
I don’t intend to use it to make cabs, just sand/polish thunder eggs, petrified wood, agate nodules and thicker slabs for display. I’m considering this, a vibrating flat lap, dry sanders and whatever else works and is reasonably cost effective and not too much of a PITA. I’ve seen amazing results with the dry sanders but don’t really want all that dust in my basement so would have to put it on a cart that I can keep in the garage and roll outside when the weather is decent. They’re not so good with slabs, either. The flat laps seem like they’re a real pain to get good results with. Lots of cleaning between grits and being careful not to damage the nodules or slabs and keep them perfectly flat. Not sure what I’m going to go with.
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Post by Rockoonz on Dec 27, 2018 14:08:48 GMT -5
I don’t intend to use it to make cabs, just sand/polish thunder eggs, petrified wood, agate nodules and thicker slabs for display. I’m considering this, a vibrating flat lap, dry sanders and whatever else works and is reasonably cost effective and not too much of a PITA. I’ve seen amazing results with the dry sanders but don’t really want all that dust in my basement so would have to put it on a cart that I can keep in the garage and roll outside when the weather is decent. They’re not so good with slabs, either. The flat laps seem like they’re a real pain to get good results with. Lots of cleaning between grits and being careful not to damage the nodules or slabs and keep them perfectly flat. Not sure what I’m going to go with. The item you didn't mention is a large rotating flat lap. I have a 16" Nelson, so far I'm only using it with 220 grit to remove saw marks and flatten pieces to get them ready for an angle grinder with a water swivel and diamond counter top pads, or diamond belts on expandos on my arbor for things that are smaller. The club has a 16 inch rotating lap with magnetic nova type laps, pretty spendy but they appear to be lasting quite awhile. I think I might stop in and check it out Friday, I haven't tried them and I'm curious.
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Post by HankRocks on Dec 27, 2018 16:40:43 GMT -5
I don’t intend to use it to make cabs, just sand/polish thunder eggs, petrified wood, agate nodules and thicker slabs for display. I’m considering this, a vibrating flat lap, dry sanders and whatever else works and is reasonably cost effective and not too much of a PITA. I’ve seen amazing results with the dry sanders but don’t really want all that dust in my basement so would have to put it on a cart that I can keep in the garage and roll outside when the weather is decent. They’re not so good with slabs, either. The flat laps seem like they’re a real pain to get good results with. Lots of cleaning between grits and being careful not to damage the nodules or slabs and keep them perfectly flat. Not sure what I’m going to go with. I polish an assortment of larger flats surfaces on my Vib Lap. It is a bit of an issue cleaning up between grits, not so much the pan but the rocks. There is also the issue of weighting rocks properly without which they would take forever to grind and polish. I glue/caulk lead weights to any that need extra. For slabs I usually polish the flat surface on the whole rock first and then slab off that polished side. This method works great for larger pieces of Petrified Wood. Any rocks less than about 2 1/2 to 3 inches get worked on the 8 inch Expando drums with SiC and Diamnond belts. If my assumption is correct, the dry method you reference is called "Hot polishing". Have a friend who uses it. He said he uses spent 220 SiC belts to polish. It does create lots of rock dust and lots of heat on the surface of the rock. Good luck
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J Diamond
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2018
Posts: 12
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Post by J Diamond on Dec 27, 2018 21:41:59 GMT -5
I don’t intend to use it to make cabs, just sand/polish thunder eggs, petrified wood, agate nodules and thicker slabs for display. I’m considering this, a vibrating flat lap, dry sanders and whatever else works and is reasonably cost effective and not too much of a PITA. I’ve seen amazing results with the dry sanders but don’t really want all that dust in my basement so would have to put it on a cart that I can keep in the garage and roll outside when the weather is decent. They’re not so good with slabs, either. The flat laps seem like they’re a real pain to get good results with. Lots of cleaning between grits and being careful not to damage the nodules or slabs and keep them perfectly flat. Not sure what I’m going to go with. The item you didn't mention is a large rotating flat lap. I have a 16" Nelson, so far I'm only using it with 220 grit to remove saw marks and flatten pieces to get them ready for an angle grinder with a water swivel and diamond counter top pads, or diamond belts on expandos on my arbor for things that are smaller. The club has a 16 inch rotating lap with magnetic nova type laps, pretty spendy but they appear to be lasting quite awhile. I think I might stop in and check it out Friday, I haven't tried them and I'm curious. Does the rotating flat lap work any faster than the vibrating lap? From what I’ve read, it can take anywhere from 40-60 hours to run 3 grits and a polish. Granted much of it can be done mostly unattended, but still.
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J Diamond
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2018
Posts: 12
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Post by J Diamond on Dec 27, 2018 21:52:48 GMT -5
I don’t intend to use it to make cabs, just sand/polish thunder eggs, petrified wood, agate nodules and thicker slabs for display. I’m considering this, a vibrating flat lap, dry sanders and whatever else works and is reasonably cost effective and not too much of a PITA. I’ve seen amazing results with the dry sanders but don’t really want all that dust in my basement so would have to put it on a cart that I can keep in the garage and roll outside when the weather is decent. They’re not so good with slabs, either. The flat laps seem like they’re a real pain to get good results with. Lots of cleaning between grits and being careful not to damage the nodules or slabs and keep them perfectly flat. Not sure what I’m going to go with. I polish an assortment of larger flats surfaces on my Vib Lap. It is a bit of an issue cleaning up between grits, not so much the pan but the rocks. There is also the issue of weighting rocks properly without which they would take forever to grind and polish. I glue/caulk lead weights to any that need extra. For slabs I usually polish the flat surface on the whole rock first and then slab off that polished side. This method works great for larger pieces of Petrified Wood. Any rocks less than about 2 1/2 to 3 inches get worked on the 8 inch Expando drums with SiC and Diamnond belts. If my assumption is correct, the dry method you reference is called "Hot polishing". Have a friend who uses it. He said he uses spent 220 SiC belts to polish. It does create lots of rock dust and lots of heat on the surface of the rock. Good luck Yeah, that sounds like fun lol. The dry method I was referring to is the Richardson Ranch setup or similar. I know a couple of guys online that use it. It gets impressive results on thunder eggs and nodules, but is a bit more difficult and dangerous to polish slabs with it. This may require 2 solutions, but I can only afford 1 now so I’d have to prioritize what I want to polish. There’s got to be a decent compromise out there.
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Post by parfive on Dec 28, 2018 1:03:53 GMT -5
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Post by Rockoonz on Dec 28, 2018 2:36:54 GMT -5
The item you didn't mention is a large rotating flat lap. I have a 16" Nelson, so far I'm only using it with 220 grit to remove saw marks and flatten pieces to get them ready for an angle grinder with a water swivel and diamond counter top pads, or diamond belts on expandos on my arbor for things that are smaller. The club has a 16 inch rotating lap with magnetic nova type laps, pretty spendy but they appear to be lasting quite awhile. I think I might stop in and check it out Friday, I haven't tried them and I'm curious. Does the rotating flat lap work any faster than the vibrating lap? From what I’ve read, it can take anywhere from 40-60 hours to run 3 grits and a polish. Granted much of it can be done mostly unattended, but still. They are a lot faster than a vibe. The first step can be quite time consuming no matter what you use if the rock was cut with a tile saw or a poorly set up lapidary saw, for large flats the saw cut is the most important step. My grit and water dropper will remove all the saw marks and sand a 3 or 4 inch brazilian agate half in about 30 minutes, and that's with 220 grit, I don't go coarser because I don't want to wear out the plates on my old Nelson. With Diamond laps you can do it even faster, if you want to spend the cash.
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Post by Rockoonz on Dec 28, 2018 2:38:02 GMT -5
BTW my grit dropper has a frame to hold the rocks, I don't do it by hand,
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Post by Rockoonz on Dec 28, 2018 2:40:02 GMT -5
An estate I'm helping with has a 24 inch lap, too bad I'm on the opposite end of the US.
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J Diamond
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2018
Posts: 12
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Post by J Diamond on Dec 28, 2018 10:22:32 GMT -5
An estate I'm helping with has a 24 inch lap, too bad I'm on the opposite end of the US. Yeah, there is nothing lapidary available around here. Ever. I watched a video last night of someone who had built a jig to hold his pieces on the lap while they polished. Do they still need to be weighted on a rotating lap?
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J Diamond
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2018
Posts: 12
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Post by J Diamond on Dec 28, 2018 10:42:24 GMT -5
BTW my grit dropper has a frame to hold the rocks, I don't do it by hand, I googled it with no luck, so what is a grit dropper? BTW, nice video you posted.
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Post by woodman on Dec 28, 2018 10:56:44 GMT -5
rotating lap is great, but for what you are doing a bull wheel would do a good job but you will still need apolisher of some sorts.
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Post by HankRocks on Dec 28, 2018 11:04:29 GMT -5
An estate I'm helping with has a 24 inch lap, too bad I'm on the opposite end of the US. Yeah, there is nothing lapidary available around here. Ever. I watched a video last night of someone who had built a jig to hold his pieces on the lap while they polished. Do they still need to be weighted on a rotating lap? You will still need to add weights if the rock itself does not have enough mass to create the pressure required to grind, example - those pesky slabs. There is no easy way to polish one side of a flat slab. I have tumble polished slabs up to 5 inches, but that's obviously not a one sided polish.
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