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Post by Peruano on Aug 30, 2019 15:27:08 GMT -5
You can fab a new top and just position it on top of the original. A thin sheet of aluminum or even a tough plastic sheet with a slot for the blade would seem to meet your needs. We often use a plastic sheet with a slot cut by the blade itself to narrow the gap around the blade to keep rock slivers from falling in the tank.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 29, 2019 16:16:07 GMT -5
I've never had the courage to tumble it. Sometimes it takes awhile to polish through the chalky exterior but there are black and grey solid areas that take a good polish. On a cab main I can't push to aggressively oi it will pop concentric ( conchoidal) chips. Yours may be solder than most of what I have.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 28, 2019 20:41:19 GMT -5
The material is quite similar to the what I call opalized wood. It is not silicated and the opal bands can be variable in thickness. The material often is quite flakey on the outer layers, it can be heavily fractured (in NM because of freezing and thawing), but can be quite solid internally. The part that is most likely to be opal is black, and when worked up quite shiney. Often it follows a crack, or a growth band in the wood. You did a great job on shining it up. I have seen wood like this from New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada, but it probably occurs in lots of areas. Its a challenge to work with, because its soft and fractures, but it is truly unique when you are successful. Here's a link to some that I cut up recently. forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/88180/backing-opalized-wood-fossil-record?page=1&scrollTo=1060580
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Post by Peruano on Aug 21, 2019 18:02:53 GMT -5
Virginia (even the Potomac) rocks are spotty. Compared to the arid west, your area has too much dirt, that covers some of the good rocks (many of which are metamorphic and hence also spotty for lapidary purposes). But that is not to be negative, good rocks are where you seek them, learning to distinguish hard, from soft, and things that undercut versus those that don't will allow you to process many of your favorites. If you run out of good tumbling prospects from your stash, put out a shout and rocks will come your way. Rocks are forever.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 19, 2019 20:21:41 GMT -5
That makes my trim saw with oil a very economical machine. If I had a good Raytech 6" which was easy to clean, I might use water based fluids, but I"m going to stick with oil all the way except for special occasions.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 16, 2019 14:42:41 GMT -5
You are correct. I was not expressing what I did adequately. My delay in responding was in trying to dig out my calipers to measure slabs off of the three saws that I slab from. In point of fact I like slabs a bit short of .25" and with my one blade things end up at .22" using 6 turns of the vice cross thread. I am convinced that there is a thread count difference between my old HP and my old home made machine. Part of it could be kerf as you point out. Its hot, but in my new shop which is insulated, and stucco and which has occasional shade, it runs to tolerable temps even when its 95 or so outside. NO AC for me. I'm green.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 15, 2019 6:30:22 GMT -5
The kerf is always there and always the same. It seems to me it shouldn't affect calculations except for the first cut.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 14, 2019 17:44:59 GMT -5
You were a well rewarded friend, and tv repairman. The conversation was probably the best part.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 13, 2019 6:30:51 GMT -5
This post prompts me to note that I thought of Hachita when I saw your post trying to decipher a label that you thought might be a Montana site. Considering you have other material from Hachita, I'd consider that sample as like from there too. FYI
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Post by Peruano on Aug 13, 2019 6:25:32 GMT -5
There are several dimensions there. Like staring into space.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 9, 2019 6:53:13 GMT -5
On my one slab saw that has threads of 20/inch on the lateral feed of the vice. 5 turns of the handle give me the typical 1/4" slab thickness. If its something fragile or a big pattern, I sometimes give it 7 to give me flexibility. For earrings and things I will want lighter its 4 turns or a bit less, but certainly not 2 1/2 x. Strangely my other saw has a slightly different thread spacing so everything on that gets 6 turns of the lateral feed on the vice. Too thick is too much work, too thin is yes too much work.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 7, 2019 6:22:20 GMT -5
One wild guess is that it is a tumbled piece of hematite. Scratch the red part across a light rock and see if you get a red streak. It definitely had a botryoidal structure at one time.
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Post by Peruano on Aug 6, 2019 9:46:39 GMT -5
You may be looking for the real cobble job. Fasten some uprights (2x3's or so) to a 2x4 that is slightly wider than the spread of the angle iron legs. Then use hose clamps to clamp the uprights to the inside of your angle iron legs. Mount screw on wheels (flat plate with holes for screwing to the 2x4) to the sites under each of the four legs. When done you have two transverse struts supported by wheels and attached to your legs (no welding but not pretty). The key is everything has to be securely fastened.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 27, 2019 11:09:29 GMT -5
friendofbil, Welcome. By all means tell us about your rock shop. We like to hear about toys (equipment); tricks; and resources. We all have distinct ways of storing rocks, unique, sometimes vintage equipment, and tricks that we have devised. I'm also building a work shop, but anxiously awaiting the installation of the door and windows so I can begin moving in from a jam packed garden shed. I can't move the saws in because I don't want to get in the way of the windows install. I don't want to move in the storage cabinets and shelves because security would be minimal without a door, even tho the windows are high enough to discourage entry. Frustration!
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Post by Peruano on Jul 26, 2019 14:59:06 GMT -5
I've got to think that equivalent opportunities exist in Texas but it will take perserverence, smooth talking and luck to find them.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 23, 2019 20:01:06 GMT -5
When I was rebuilding my home-made saw, I needed a belt to be tighter and fabricated an idler pulley using a pulley salvaged from a junk washing machine. You can see it in the photos in the diy equipment section. The pulley stretches the belt circuit enough to tighten everything. It is just a plastic pulley with a bushing rotation point but it has run hundreds of trouble free hours. Of course there are pulleys that can be adjusted to achieve slightly different diameters (hence tightening or loosing the belt), but there is only so much you can do with them. (one side is threaded on the other side and can be adjusted inward or outward once the set screw is loosened).
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Post by Peruano on Jul 23, 2019 19:53:37 GMT -5
Lavas are porous and often have significant water dripping through major layers of rock. We at times would collect water from the drips in lava tubes and it was pure enough to drink without problems. Drop by drop it accumulates through time (water and the deposits it leaves).
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Post by Peruano on Jul 23, 2019 7:28:29 GMT -5
I've been in innumerable lava tubes (primarily Galapagos) and they never had smooth walls. There they typically form in pahoehoe lava types (the lava flows rather than solidifying and crumbling like the aa types). The tubes form where the ejection is fast enough that the lava flows underground before it can cool. Obviously it cools on the sides and top if it slows enough and that's where you get a surface of vesicles with jagged points like you find on just about every piece of pahoehoe lava (on the bottom surface). Many Galapagos tubes are close to the ground and the ceiling may be a thin layer or very thick, but when it collapses and hence provides an opening to the surface, it becomes an oasis of light, source of energy for mosses and ferns, and yes a source of rock rubble that can entirely occlude or merely pinch off the passage. Either the Lassen example has calcium solutions dripping on the walls to cover them with precipitate or the land managers plastered the wall for safety (doubt that).
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Post by Peruano on Jul 22, 2019 12:33:54 GMT -5
Its a deal.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 20, 2019 13:40:20 GMT -5
Yes I dop with super glue, but I dop on wooden blocks which I call stubs. Scaping works but removing all traces of the glue with a knife is tedious A few seconds on the 280 or 600 does it for me.
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