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Post by johnjsgems on May 9, 2015 12:33:18 GMT -5
I only carry .3 micron and a 3-4 micron AO. 3-4 works great for anything that will polish in a rotary tumbler and for any hard rock on a buff that cerium will polish. The .3 works in the vibe and on a buff for a wide range of hardness. Linde A is a lab grown AO crystal. The .3 I carry is ground down to .3 so much less expensive to produce than Linde A. You don't say if you are buffing or tumbling but I think you are wasting money to go through so many steps. A good pre polish followed by a good polish works pretty well. In my own experience with diamond compounds and Vibra Dry compounds I can't see any difference with a naked eye beyond 14000 in most cases and certainly after 25000. Maybe with a loupe but that is pretty excessive if you are making jewelry to be worn not studied.
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Post by johnjsgems on May 7, 2015 16:15:13 GMT -5
I got my dad's old home made cab unit from the guy that bought his rock shop when I first got in the hobby. It had mostly split drums and one really old expanding drum. I stripped everything down, painted, installed new motor and belt. Thought it looked amazingly good for what it was. Couldn't wait to turn it on to see how smooth it ran. Forgot I had removed the belt from the expando. If you ever want to hear something scary, turn a 20-30 year old drum without a belt with a Lortone tin pan and hood around it. Thankfully the hood caught most of the shrapnel and I was not standing in front of it. I found pieces of rubber in the garage for years.
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Post by johnjsgems on May 7, 2015 10:51:24 GMT -5
No problem Bill. I would not buy one for me either. My 18" slab saw has not cut a rock in three years and the oil is filtered and in buckets from when I removed it from the HP24 I sold 2 years ago. For a serious cutter that is running multiple slab saws it makes sense. Most hobby cutters get by just fine with the paper bag/bucket filter systems. For the record, HP Lapidary came out with their system first. The BD guy had me pick up the HP literature the first year they had it at Quartzsite. Then he bought one for one of his saws. He didn't like many things about it and got Phil to design a larger, portable, and much better made system. BD guy wants to see a 5 gallon system but I doubt it will ever happen. I think both systems would work best if they ran whenever saw was cutting to keep clean oil clean rather than stirring up sludge and expecting the system to spin out everything.
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Post by johnjsgems on May 7, 2015 10:41:26 GMT -5
Does the belt stay in place when running? I had a "lapidary expert" with 20 plus years experience order some new drums from me. He called shortly after to say for 20 years he has been cursing his old drums because the belts would slide off when working. When he saw the arrows on the new drums he realized he had the old drums on backwards all those years. Of course, the amazing thing is he actually called to admit he was wrong about something. The old drums do get stiff and won't expand as far too. Scott Murray was bought out by Lortone and I had not heard they were same as Expand Lortone drums but Tony should know. He buys and sells a lot of old equipment.
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Post by johnjsgems on May 6, 2015 10:51:39 GMT -5
I get to see Shawn's dad every year at Tucson and had a nice chat with Shawn at Denver show last year. Really nice folks.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 30, 2015 11:17:26 GMT -5
I have a customer with a Frantom 18". He brought a unit to me for repair and was drooling over the HP24 I had at the time. I considered working out a trade because the HP24 took up too much garage space. Later when I saw his Frantom it was every bit as large a foot print as my HP 24. Some saws were built using old Sherman tanks I think. Blade space to back wall looks right for 24" to me. You would never get another 3" back there for 30" let alone 6" for 36". 24" is a good size with 9" tall about the maximum.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 29, 2015 11:33:19 GMT -5
Where we used to live, we had a guy that joined our club after buying a house. In the basement was a lot of lapidary and silversmithing tools left behind by previous owner (or more likely their heirs). He decided he would check out the club since he had the equipment. He got really involved in the club and within a couple of years was teaching class at the club workshop.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 24, 2015 13:47:47 GMT -5
Yes. HP came out with one that bolts on the saw and has a much smaller canister. I don't know if they have since come out with a portable version or not. The BD guy bought one of the HP units when they first came out and installed it on one of his slab saws. He said the canister filled up too quickly and overall quality was poor. Of course as a manufacturer of made in USA products they will likely be biased against any Chinese competition. Both systems are basically centrifuges that spin the oil to separated solids.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 23, 2015 12:54:07 GMT -5
I just became a dealer for the Easy Clean Oil Recovery System. It is basically a portable cleaning system that spins sludge out of oil and deposits it in one gallon canisters. Complete system is $1250 plus shipping. Effective and practical for commercial or serious cutters and can be used on multiple saws. Made in USA too. Just added it to my website.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 23, 2015 12:49:36 GMT -5
The old 10" Lortone is highly regarded and would need oil to last. Any of the aluminum bodied saws would be OK with water or water soluble as long as you drain sump after use and dry the blade. Diamond Pacific is still making the old Beacon Star Mel likes but pretty expensive saw. Blade extra too. The BD10 works well with water or water soluble. Biggest downside is the limited cutting height. Anything above 10" would be best to use with oil. I have customers using the EZ Cut coolant in 12" saws and BD's 14" saws.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 22, 2015 17:46:42 GMT -5
The MK101 is the tile version and MK100 is same saw with lapidary blade and vise. The vise bolts on either saw and does have a cross feed. Have you checked the belt on your saw? It could be stretched and slipping causing it to stop turning. The 1 1/2 hp motor is pretty rugged so check for loose belt or pulley set screws first.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 22, 2015 12:09:06 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 22, 2015 12:07:12 GMT -5
Slab saw covers a lot of saws. $1000 new means 8" or 10" and then choices are limited. 10" saws effectively will cut about 3" rocks. Except BD which is a great saw but vise is so thick it cuts 3" hand cutting with vise out of way and around 2 1/2" with vise. It is over $1000. Add 1" for 12", another 1" for 14", etc. For used don't buy unless you can see the saw (or buy from someone like Tony that you can trust). Most 14" or larger slab saws will be over $1000 in good shape. My favorite small slab saw for under $1000 is the MK100 (or MK101). It is a heavy duty 10" tile saw (MK101) that is marketed to lapidary customers with 301 lapidary blade and vise (MK100) and will cut 4" rocks by sliding the table through and up to 7" by "plunge cutting". It cuts with plain water, is noisy, throws water to both sides, hand feed only, but cuts 4" agates like a bread slicer.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 21, 2015 12:08:55 GMT -5
I have had no problems going from 220 to 280 to 600. Since DP uses the same sequence on all their machines (and have done so for last 15 years or so) I'm guessing it works for most people. The closer to shaped at 220 the less wear on the 280 but it always is first wheel to wear out
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 20, 2015 19:25:00 GMT -5
I know Mike. He is THE JADE MAN. If he is involved it will be very worthwhile.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 20, 2015 11:18:40 GMT -5
I've seen rotisserie motors set up with one of the old restaurant type metal salt shakers or cans with holes in lid for sphere machines.
At the shop where I used to live we had the metal salt shakers loaded with the different grits and sprinkled by hand as needed on the old HP rotating laps. I would be leery of feeding grit to vibrating laps. You would need to monitor too much to keep slurry consistent.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 16, 2015 12:34:19 GMT -5
I use a chop saw to cut 1" schedule 40 PVC for spacers. It has to be completely straight to work. A 2' piece from Home Depot buys a lot of spacers.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 15, 2015 13:27:38 GMT -5
Blades arrived and on website. I have them for $24.95 for one blade plus shipping or three pack for $59.95 with free shipping in US. They are supposed to cut twice as fast as normal lapidary blades but of course won't last as long as a good sintered blade.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 15, 2015 13:22:03 GMT -5
As far as your question about comparing Hi Tech to Ameritool they are very similar. I heard the owner of Hi Tech passed company on to his son. Son sold the company in a divorce. Son's sister and her husband opened Ameritool. The son still does shows for them and is very involved with Ameritool. The next owner of Hi Tech got a terrible reputation for customer service. They sold the company about two years ago to Reentel that makes the Cab King units and imports many of the Chinese wheels and blades everyone sells. Their customer service is terrific and they keep the still made in USA Hi Tech units in stock and ready to ship. Ameritool also has wonderful customer service but sometimes run out of stock.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 14, 2015 11:07:42 GMT -5
Shipping from US about $65. Priority Mail International.
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