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Post by Rockindad on Jun 7, 2019 12:56:36 GMT -5
Thinking ahead a bit as to where we seem to be headed in the hobby and both our current and future setup. I'm pretty sure we will be getting into cabbing (with an actual cabbing machine) within a year as we enjoy creating them with our modified methods already. At the same time we will continue our tumbling. With that info, I am wondering about using the coarse wheel on a cabbing machine to do preshaping/touching up of tumble material. All opinions welcome. We currently do this in our unheated garage which makes it somewhat uncomfortable 4-5 months a year, with 2-3 of those being absolutely miserable. The goal is to be able to do everything in our basement workshop. So, is this feasible, unwise, a good idea? What about the use of a sacrificial wheel or two for just tumbles. I do not want to spend good money on a machine just to put unnecessary wear and tear on it. Also, used equipment is rare around here as this is not a hotbed of the lapidary world.
Thanks, Al
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 7, 2019 13:11:57 GMT -5
Couple things- Sure, use your first 2 hard wheels for tightening up your tumbles. BUT- and this is cool because of shipping issues- you can use a glastar or gryphon type machine to do the rough forming on edges. I don't know how much work you do on tumbles, but you can do a lot with the 1" grinding bits. Drummond Island Rocks uses his. I just ordered the 3 grits of grinding bit in the Twofer packs. (A company called twofer sells 2 to a pack.) I intend to do the edges of my precabs to get them ready for tumbling with my old glastar. www.glastar.com/catalog/grinding/allstar.cfm I got a used one on ebay pretty cheap. They are easier to get and ship to us east coasters. It can be used in the house. I even use my genie and one of my saws in the house.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jun 7, 2019 13:26:00 GMT -5
Plenty of options here. I do use my cabbing setup to finesse a lot of my tumbles and to create my tumble cabs. I do not use separate wheels for this purpose. I use the same wheels that I use for all my other cabbing. Yes it will put some wear and tear on the first hard wheel but that is just the price of making better tumbles faster. I have a Lortone lu6X that I think is just about the best piece of equipment made for someone that wants to up their tumbling game. It has a 6" trim saw, an arbor that holds two wheels and a pad on the end. So trim saw, 80 grit hard wheel, 220 grit hard wheel and a 280 soft nova pad on the end. Everything needed for top notch tumbled cabs. My entire tumbling and cabbing setup has been in a finished basement for 7 years. No issue at all. I did move some stuff to the garage recently to enjoy the weather but come fall it will go back to the basement. This picture is 5 years old now but still pretty relevant to my current basement setup. Chuck
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NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,630
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Post by NRG on Jun 7, 2019 14:54:38 GMT -5
Don't let the picture above this post fool you. Chuck actually uses his equipment. 😜
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Post by Rockindad on Jun 7, 2019 15:44:45 GMT -5
Don't let the picture above this post fool you. Chuck actually uses his equipment. 😜 Wouldn't believe it if I didn't see all of his results here . I'm actually pretty organized myself so I can definitely appreciate his setup. Al
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Post by Rockindad on Jun 7, 2019 15:53:38 GMT -5
Couple things- Sure, use your first 2 hard wheels for tightening up your tumbles. BUT- and this is cool because of shipping issues- you can use a glastar or gryphon type machine to do the rough forming on edges. I don't know how much work you do on tumbles, but you can do a lot with the 1" grinding bits. Drummond Island Rocks uses his. I just ordered the 3 grits of grinding bit in the Twofer packs. (A company called twofer sells 2 to a pack.) I intend to do the edges of my precabs to get them ready for tumbling with my old glastar. www.glastar.com/catalog/grinding/allstar.cfm I got a used one on ebay pretty cheap. They are easier to get and ship to us east coasters. It can be used in the house. I even use my genie and one of my saws in the house. Ah, was actually considering getting a glass grinder, just not for this. Hmm...something to think about. We have a large workbench we are building in our unfinished basement so noise and even some water is not an issue. The ultimate goal will be to have everything lapidary down there on that bench with the exception of our drill press as it is 6' tall and a beast, that will stay in the wood shop. Al
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Post by Rockindad on Jun 7, 2019 16:01:51 GMT -5
Plenty of options here. I do use my cabbing setup to finesse a lot of my tumbles and to create my tumble cabs. I do not use separate wheels for this purpose. I use the same wheels that I use for all my other cabbing. Yes it will put some wear and tear on the first hard wheel but that is just the price of making better tumbles faster. I have a Lortone lu6X that I think is just about the best piece of equipment made for someone that wants to up their tumbling game. It has a 6" trim saw, an arbor that holds two wheels and a pad on the end. So trim saw, 80 grit hard wheel, 220 grit hard wheel and a 280 soft nova pad on the end. Everything needed for top notch tumbled cabs. My entire tumbling and cabbing setup has been in a finished basement for 7 years. No issue at all. I did move some stuff to the garage recently to enjoy the weather but come fall it will go back to the basement. This picture is 5 years old now but still pretty relevant to my current basement setup. Chuck Your workbench with the Lortone is kind of what I thought we might end up doing. Getting a two wheeler (with a saw would be even better) that would get us by for some time and add a six wheeler down the road. Thanks for the pics! Al
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jun 7, 2019 16:26:45 GMT -5
Plenty of options here. I do use my cabbing setup to finesse a lot of my tumbles and to create my tumble cabs. I do not use separate wheels for this purpose. I use the same wheels that I use for all my other cabbing. Yes it will put some wear and tear on the first hard wheel but that is just the price of making better tumbles faster. I have a Lortone lu6X that I think is just about the best piece of equipment made for someone that wants to up their tumbling game. It has a 6" trim saw, an arbor that holds two wheels and a pad on the end. So trim saw, 80 grit hard wheel, 220 grit hard wheel and a 280 soft nova pad on the end. Everything needed for top notch tumbled cabs. My entire tumbling and cabbing setup has been in a finished basement for 7 years. No issue at all. I did move some stuff to the garage recently to enjoy the weather but come fall it will go back to the basement. This picture is 5 years old now but still pretty relevant to my current basement setup. Chuck Your workbench with the Lortone is kind of what I thought we might end up doing. Getting a two wheeler (with a saw would be even better) that would get us by for some time and add a six wheeler down the road. Thanks for the pics! Al That tumbler in the picture was version two. Version one had one row of barrels. My current tumbler is version three with three rows and fully enclosed. I still have all the original Lortone bases for those barrels so if things get slow and I only need to run one or two 12 pound barrels I don't have to run that large motor. Chuck
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Post by Rockindad on Jun 7, 2019 16:59:57 GMT -5
Your workbench with the Lortone is kind of what I thought we might end up doing. Getting a two wheeler (with a saw would be even better) that would get us by for some time and add a six wheeler down the road. Thanks for the pics! Al That tumbler in the picture was version two. Version one had one row of barrels. My current tumbler is version three with three rows and fully enclosed. I still have all the original Lortone bases for those barrels so if things get slow and I only need to run one or two 12 pound barrels I don't have to run that large motor. Chuck I knew it looked different! Long before I ever signed up here I started reading tumbling posts from as far back as the forum goes to the present day, then I signed up. I remember seeing your tumbler build along the way. Very nice. Al
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