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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Nov 1, 2017 11:53:29 GMT -5
Great idea, John! johnjsgems I've only been using one. It never occurred to me to get a second bucket. LOL I have the same unit, paid $300 for it 10 years ago. I replaced the SiC wheels and the expanding drums were shot, so I replaced those, too. The only challenge now is that the belts are so tight on the expanding drums that it's hard to replace them (even with vaseline under the belt). FYI: the same unit is available on cigarbox for $1150 with motor and table. I use a 1/2 hp capacitor start motor on mind. Gets up to speed immediately.
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Nov 1, 2017 11:42:14 GMT -5
I have two of them, one with autofeed and one with gravity feed, and love them. I had a hood for the autofeed one until a big rock fell off the shelf and shattered it. Now I use Sterilite containers. I got the autofeed one $200 about 10 years ago and thought it was a good deal. I got the gravity feed one for $50 and it was a steal. Granted it was in Ohio and I live in Minnesota; fortunately my ex brother-in-law lives in Ohio and was able to pick it up for me. The downside was that it was filled with kerosene sludge that I had to clean out.
The blade on the one you bought looks good with a lot of life on it. Those notched rim blades are loud, though. Use mineral oil, available at farm stores as horse laxative.
You may need to make a new gasket (fits between the table top and the sump that holds the oil). I used a piece of cork board from an office supply store. These saws are very reliable and easy to maintain. If you want to make yours work on gravity feed, just hook a braided wire to the screw sticking out of the vise, over the pulley, and to a small bucket to hold weight.
Once you start using it you'll forget all about what it cost. You're going to have fun!
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Oct 31, 2017 13:01:16 GMT -5
To answer your question regarding removing the vise carriage, there are two L-shaped brackets under the carriage that keep it from lifting off the rails. Each bracket is held in place by 2 bolts, 7/16". The only thing to watch out for is that you don't drop the bolts and washers into the sludge in the sump. Otherwise, it's easy to do. Remember to remove the weight first.
Chuck
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Oct 25, 2017 12:49:42 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip, Tony! catmandewe I've found that it is easy to use too much weight; I'll have to weigh what I'm currently using. Some rough is very slow/difficult to cut, but most goes through easily with a BD 303 segmented blade. I have the same saw and have taken it apart for a thorough cleaning and tried to plug leaks in the sump. It's very easy to maintain, but I haven't had to do anything with the hydraulics, so I can't speak to that.
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on May 18, 2017 13:07:52 GMT -5
I second (third?) the support from John at jsgems
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Jul 23, 2014 14:54:37 GMT -5
Ouch. Some of that rough looks like it will best be used as a tool for polishing the better pieces. Hope they're finishing better than they're starting!
Chuck
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Jul 8, 2014 12:45:41 GMT -5
I think those are the nicest pieces you've posted!
To answer your question about clay fill, many Keokuk geodes, especially from the Jacobs bed, are filled with kaolinite. When I lived in Georgia I read that poor people would eat kaolin as either a folk remedy or to have something in their stomachs. They'd often end up with impacted bowels.
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Jul 8, 2014 12:34:47 GMT -5
Back to the topic at hand (rocks and requests), I haven't seen any x-rated rocks for a while James...
Chuck
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Jul 8, 2014 12:30:16 GMT -5
Well, I wanted something memorable that had to do with rocks. I also like the idea of my avatar photo being just such a place.
Chuck
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Magic
Jul 8, 2014 12:24:18 GMT -5
Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Jul 8, 2014 12:24:18 GMT -5
Nice!
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Jul 1, 2014 15:03:44 GMT -5
Wow, that looks like a museum piece.
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Jul 1, 2014 14:40:51 GMT -5
Beautiful!
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Apr 29, 2014 12:51:30 GMT -5
Nice finds! Does anybody else think some of them look remarkably like Lake Superior agates?
Chuck
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Apr 21, 2014 12:43:54 GMT -5
Congrats Darryl! It's so much more fun to find something like that than quartz...
Chuck
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Apr 15, 2014 12:33:04 GMT -5
Good luck Don! It looks like a lot of fun. Going to take it to the track, too?
Chuck
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Apr 15, 2014 12:31:28 GMT -5
Just a few comments from another UV18 owner. 1. You can fill the bowl all the way to the top if you have enough material. The only drawback is you have to be careful taking off the lid because small pellets like to cling to it. 2. I don't know how much grit or polish you're using, but you may try cutting back quite a bit. I've been able to get good results with 3 tsp. 3. You're limited to 2-3 goose egg size rocks in a UV18, otherwise the action slows too much. 4. Yes, your rocks will hammer each other if you have too much water or not enough rock to get the cyclical action.
It sounds like things are going well! It's really a treat when you've got it figured out.
Chuck
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Apr 14, 2014 14:38:20 GMT -5
I don't have pictures, but I have a story... When I was a kid of about 12, my school took a trip to a local 4H camp in Iowa. One day we went down to the river and we dug crystals out of the river bank mud. They were up to 6 inches long and mostly clear, but had some muddy inclusions and they were very brittle. I had a great time and brought some home to show my parents. As a result, my father got me a rock pick, which I still have. Now fast forward roughly 35 years. I learned that the crystals were selenite and I happened to be spending a weekend near the 4H camp. I decided to go back to see if I could find more crystals. I went to the camp and it looked very different from what I remembered, but I found my way down to the river. Once I got there, I thought I remembered going to the right years ago, so I walked down stream and could not find the river bank that I remembered. Oh well, I thought, I'll see if I can find any agates or at least interesting jaspers. After wondering for an hour and nothing to show for my effort, I headed back up stream to where I came down to the river. Just for fun I decided to go a little farther up stream, and lo and behold, there was the muddy bank! And there were crystals sticking out of it! I worked for a while and dug some nice crystals out of the dirt. I had found enough to satisfy me when I turned around to leave and spotted a boulder about 3 feet in diameter with a layer of mud and crystals 3 inches thick. And some of the crystal clusters were 10 inches long! I looked up the bank and could see where the boulder had been; it must have fallen relatively recently. In the end, I had filled 2 five gallon buckets of mud and crystals. Poor me! I had to lug them back up to the top of the river bank and back to my car. I guess it's sort of a story about the one that got away, but caught it again. Chuck
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Apr 10, 2014 13:15:24 GMT -5
Thanks, Kap! I wish I had known that before I went. I should have checked here first! Maybe someone else will benefit from this thread.
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Apr 10, 2014 10:16:50 GMT -5
Eye agates are my favorites, followed by skip an atom and shadow agates.
Chuck
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Apr 10, 2014 8:59:52 GMT -5
I love the first one! I've never seen one like it. The second one has some nice sagenite tubes. I also really like the gray/black floater.
Chuck
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