stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 8, 2014 14:30:53 GMT -5
It will spin a 6" flatlap.. barely...but you will have to use a VERY light pressure on the stone when polishing, or the motor will overheat. It will be slow polishing for sure. It's not the weight of the master lap (unless it's an inch thick and weighs 20 pounds) that affects anything after initial spin-up..it's the amount of "work" you will use from the motor pressing against the disks that counts. If you use a belt/pulley drive and reduce the rpm down about 3 to 1 at the disk it will have more torque...but polish "work force" is still only 1/8 hp worth. Better would be a 1/4hp motor. I used a 1/3hp 1725rpm motor on my home brew 8" flatlap and used 3 to one reduction on rpm at the disk(s) and can use 40 pounds of pressure if I would want to be plumb silly and trash the disks. But I don't. With a very light touch (good for the diamond disks and your fingertips and nails too!) it would work...again..barely.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 8, 2014 13:41:29 GMT -5
All of these went thru pre-polish and polish with used wine cork pieces (about 1/3 of total volume of barrel)....but different batches of cork cuz that stuff is porous! And the Cerium polish cycle had 1 cup of sugar added for a slightly better viscosity to the slurry soup. And snowmom ...I think that silvery/grey piece is Chert..or Granite?? ...it's medium grey with lighter grey spots. With lot of camera flash going on to make it look silvery, and it's *shiny*.. The "Carnelian" is a heavily stained (iron?) quartz I whacked out from all the quartz I got from North Little Rock dig....I think. And used my little diamond whizzer-grinder to knock off the deeper holes and cracks before starting tumbling at 120-220 grit. But there is some Carnelian in the mix...I think? And I forgot...there's a piece or two of North West Arkansas Marble in that mix too. I had picked up 20-25 pounds of it and ground it with whatever basic nature shaped outline it had and threw it into the pre-polish cycle barrel with the other stones to see how it would fare with slightly harder. It came out shiny. Most of the more/less shaped stones were put in a barrel in the pre-polish stage after using 150--> 1200 or 3K diamond lap disks. Agates...Jasper...marble.."I-don't-know-stones"<---Arkansas River stones. None of the stones have seen a 60-90 grit tumble though. I started at 120-220 grit in a rotary this time. One-half-full and 2 cycles of 5 days each with 3 tbsp of grit each time with no wash-out between. I used my fastest spinning barrel and motor combo I had for the full set of cycles. I was "experimenting"!
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 8, 2014 1:24:12 GMT -5
Just got a batch out of final burnish. A few almost cabs. Some of beefjello's slabs (about 4 pieces in this and NOT the really purty stuff yet...I'm going to wait till I am a bit more sure of what and how to do this polishing/cabbing before I ruin those) I acquired and cut/shaped and went to 3K on the diamond laps and a few turns on the buff wheel and finished in my rollin tumbler in polish with the river rocks and a few pieces of Brazilian Agate smalls. The Amethyst piece of course isn't local... dunno what the green speckled stones are...but I fished them out of the Arkansas gravel bank. Quartz was sawed or hammered from that Quartz rocks from down in North Little Rock I acquired back in Feb? Rose Quartz (iron stained?) same place. The quarter is in there for size reference and to make the pile at least worth "something".
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 7, 2014 23:18:54 GMT -5
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 7, 2014 23:10:20 GMT -5
The Linux Anti-virus boot disk does not connect to the internet...it probably can... but you have to "allow"/give permission and set it up for it to connect... it's a layer of protection to keep a potential virus from connecting to the internet and hiding itself or replicating itself again. Just be aware!... if the virus checker cannot "heal" the file...it most certainly WILL delete it if you click on either Auto or manually tell it to get rid of it. IF the infected part is part of the network/internet connection DLL's used by Windows... you WILL have to do a complete re-install of windows... but the drive will be squeeky clean from virus's...lol Including the dreaded boot sector virus's.. I can download it and burn the iso image so it will boot... I normally use the "AVG Rescue Disk" free version..Google that and read up on it!. but I have the "Kaspersky Rescue CD" in my drive to burn a CD from if I ever wanted to use Kaspersky stuff... Either one of these "rescue disks" is a good inverstment...when ya boot into that CD it goes into Linux...and won't mess with the hard drive unless ya tell it to get rid of the virus/trojans/adware. Take the CD out and reboot into Windows if ya don't have faith in the disk. The network Guru's use it for cleaning... I trust the big name Anti-virus folks versions... little Johnny's version from somewhere out on the internet ...not so much! Those with a slow limited internet (within reason..I don't need to burn a whole 100 count CD stack! and pay shipping) just PM me and I can send ya one freebies if a neighbour or friend/family close by can't help ya out. The downloaded ISO file MUST be burnt to a CD as an IMAGE...something Windows didn't or still won't do natively, so ya have to use a 3rd party burning app.. several will.... Linux does it natively and quite easily. I started using "linux/unix" a while back...way back before it had a GUI desktop even.. cut my teeth on Slackware...also pulled my hair OUT with Slack..lol When I finally changed to Red Hat (or clones) it was like a new day for me. I found that Fedora Linux was the leading (bleeding edge at times way back) edge of Red Hat development I switched to Fedora...tried a few other distros...but prefer Fedora. Although I do run a dedicated BSD based firewall computer..unbreakable/unhackable hunk of firewall that faces the great unwashed internet.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on Jun 7, 2014 10:50:29 GMT -5
Clean cookies....clean out history...download and use spybot..it's an adware sweeper/cleaner.... and online virus cleaners (free or pay type) are a joke...they usually INSTALL their own trackers. Download a good virus checker and use it...enable the "real-time" feature and it will slightly slow your computer a bit...but catch the bad boys before they can harm your computer...usually. Installing free online desktop pictures is a NO-NO! The Windows firewall is a joke...disable it after downloading and installing a decent free one that will continue to work for more then 2 days. Better yet buy a Firewall Appliance to go between your computer and the great unwashed internet. Even easier is to use one of the Linux distros in place of Windows. I have been using Linux mostly exclusively for over a decade (except for tax time and Turbo-Tax). Less to no problems with viruses or adware. I have all sorts of business/office apps available that work with windows files...graphic programs that are "almost" equal to Photoshop....etc. Everything from surfing to emailing to office apps just works! And it's all free! If you aren't familiar with Linux...I would suggest Ubuntu Linux...it's usually easiest for new users....but read a lot online before installing. It is possible to do a "dual-boot" with Windows and Linux..choose either one at the boot up screen. There are a few things with the newest computers using the new UEFI/BIOS settings you might have to change (some of those using windows 8)..but it's normally easy to do. AND...there are Anti-Virus Linux live boot disks (CD's) that you can download and boot from that WILL sweep viruses your computer quite efficiently (and remove parts of Windows totally with a bad deep windows virus! aka..the old network virus)... when they get done you can reboot from the hard drive and Windows should work a lot better. Unless the virus has embedded into the network DLL's and the backup cabs too....then it's reinstall time. But that would be required anyway. I use Linux boot anti-virus CD's to clean my friends/family Windows computers. They find adware..trojans..viruses...and clean them out. Some have many many virus problems. And run very slow to not at all.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 30, 2014 21:06:51 GMT -5
Exactly what John said... testing with an ohm-meter is quick n easy...but that pic is worth 1000 words! in this case.. There's 1000's of switch configurations.. But you had an across the line short when the switch made. All white wires tied with a wire nut...not to any terminal. The incoming power cord black under the TL terminal all by itself.. saw motor black and feed motor black wire tied together at terminal TR grounds (green wires) can be wire nutted together with a short pigtail wire cioming out of the wire nut to a screw somewhere in the little bracket/box...NOT to any terminal screw .
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 30, 2014 12:44:32 GMT -5
Stage one 60-90 grit looks like a no-no to me.. I would start those at a graded 220 grit and even then watch them close. Fill up to 3/4--85% full with lots of plastic media...I would think ceramic media might even be a bit hard on the softer stones. And then again that soft may never be able to rotary tumble...but filling to nearly full (1/2 full of stones) the reswt with plastic media and starting with finer grit will give ya at least a shot at doing it. Last batch of rough quartz-ish stuff (but mohs of 6.5 to 7) I started was with 9 days of 120/220 (one grit recharge at 5 days) after roughing to shape with my whizzer grinder....no 60-90 stage at all. I'm about to give up totally on using 60-90 grit in my rotary tumbler. Even Agates very roughly pre-shaped came out lookin good with an almost double dose and time of 120-220 grit. Softer stones would be even less time.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 30, 2014 11:30:21 GMT -5
The "B" terminal looks more like a "common" (hot) terminal to me. On a travel reversing microswitch. If you can find an ohm meter... ohm from the "B" terminal to either the TL or TR terminal..one should show a short (continuity/a closed circuit)...the other terminal should read open until you move the external lever to the other position.. with no continuity ever from TL to TR. .---only from B to TL ....or B to TR. Depending on which way the operating lever is moved.
*Ground (green) wire should have a terminal screw (or just a #10 threaded hole where it used to be) on the frame (the U shaped bracket with the threaded nipple sticking out).*
If ya find the switch is configured like I stated... then all white wires (neutrals) go wire-nutted together (as long as the main power plug in is using a polarized neutral blade!!..i.e....it has a wider blade on one side to fit the receptacle you will plug the saw into for power..if the cord does not have a polarized plug...GET ONE!) main incoming power cord black wire (HOT) to the "B" terminal. the saw and feed motor black wires will go to which ever terminal is "made"/has continuity in the normal "OUT" position of the feed carriage. Set the distance to where ya move the lever to the other position at a certain carriage travel and the switch will move to "OFF" position and saw motor/carriage motor quits. Ohmmeter is kinda required to make sure the switch is a normal single pole--double throw switch (possibly with custom terminal markings for a customer...travel left (TL)..travel right (TR) reverser switch). But with Sq D making 1000's of configurations of switches, it's better to check the configuration out first before making SWAG's.. A little $5 Radio Shack or Harbor Freight multimeter will do just fine..or any home center should have a cheap one too.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 23, 2014 23:43:28 GMT -5
Well...it's coming in low over the north pole...might be a show. Shouldn't be much big stuff in an old comet track.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 23, 2014 22:32:04 GMT -5
The Camelopardalid metor shower is supposed to make a show tonite...peak time is forecast to be between 1am to 3am CDT (Saturday 24th) possible 100's per hour rate....maybe... since it's the very first time this old rocky ball has passed through it. Look close to the North Star (Polaris) for it to show coming straight at ya.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 23, 2014 21:53:55 GMT -5
The collagen in pork breaks down at approx 210 deg F internal temp.. producing a quite literally "pulled apart" pork..using forks, not knives. Hard to do without wrapping the meat up at about 4-5 hours into smokin...and finishing the last 25-30 degrees covered so ya don't get dried out meat. Pork (and beef, chicken) will start losing moisture at 174 degrees like a sieve. I *never* use aluminum foil next to any meat...if ya use a rub, the salt content will corrode parts of the alum foil away and guess where it ends up? I use several layers of parchment paper or a brown paper sack even, then the aluminum foil. I never seem to take Beef past medium rare so it's usually not a problem child like true pulled pork can be. And I gotta get my smoker barrel fixed...it's smokin time again.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 22, 2014 22:43:00 GMT -5
Looks good...they make 4"-4 1/2" different grit granite polishing wheels that would probably work on that setup with a shaft adapter.. Looks good...except for using that towel to catch drips.... fine stone dust and grit will take the bearings and seals out of a washing machine in half a heartbeat.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 22, 2014 21:10:03 GMT -5
What kind of picture hosting site do you have? Pics won't directly post to the forum... you will have to use PhotoBucket or similar.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 22, 2014 21:00:25 GMT -5
Got any Pics? Sounds like a good project...editing this I see there's some pic links that aren't working..
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 22, 2014 20:47:11 GMT -5
Don't get discouraged...rocks are hard...but a bit of time, grit and patience will wear them down to a more purty shape and shine. It takes a slightly artistic eye ...which you have already shown.. to display or mount stones... don't worry..you will learn what you need to get this done. Just remember this... if it was rocket surgery this forum would be mostly empty.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 22, 2014 20:27:37 GMT -5
And you can quit calling yourself "dumb as hell" right now!...ain't a person in this forum or the world that was born tumbling rocks...or born with a set of blueprints in their hands like some Mechanical Engineer's seem to think.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 22, 2014 20:24:10 GMT -5
Just weighed a barrel I had tumbling..only "1/2 full" with stones to start..1/3 cup water start..3 tbsp grit start...added 3 tbsp more grit and it now weighs 1384 grams or about 48.7 oz or just barely over 3 pounds. I did not clean out the barrel, just left all the stuff in it and added more grit. This barrel started with thumb sized stones (1" x 1 1/2" size) to finger sized (at mid joint) sized stones...and maybe a small handful of smaller stuff down to maybe 3/8" or so. And that's just barely below bottom of top rocks level of water in a 1/2 full barrel. It works in a rough 60-90 grit stage if ya don't have any softer stones then *most* quartz in the mix....softer stones will chip! @ tumbelon...I think I would use 1/2 full with mixed sizes stones (25% or less with really small stuff) and fill rest up to 2/3 full with those light BB's to stay under 3 pounds if you are tumbling softer stuff.
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 22, 2014 20:06:00 GMT -5
My chinese 3 lb tumbler (blue instead of a red HF but basically the same) with "barely" over *1/2 full* (certainly not 2/3 or more) of 3 bigger thumb size stones and the rest filled with "smalls" from 3/8" to 3/4" sizes weighs 1228 grams (43.3 oz)...1/3 cup water (5 1/3 tablespoons water..a measuring cup I had handy) weighs about 70 grams...3 tablespoons of grit weighs 18 grams..1228+70+18= 1316 grams or 46.4 oz...or just barely under 3 pounds (48 oz). Measuring cups were not included in weight...I used "net" setting on the scale. Same barrel about 3/4 full weighs 1540 grams with just stones...no water at +70 g...nor grit at 18g more...then the total is about 57.4 oz or over 3 1/2 pounds with it all thrown in...I added the top/lid/nut into the weight when I measured. Seems the smalls will pack tighter and make it slightly over weight. Use less smalls and don't shake them down...loose fill with rocks..big stuff first...then add water and grit. And I used a rather accurate for it's age Edlund electronic weight scale. ..it's still within less then =/- 2 grams. I've been meaning to weigh my barrels for months now...seems I have been tumbling at over 3 pounds for a bit too. Maybe it's a good thing I cut back to 1/2 full with stones a couple loads back in rough grit to get a more aggressive tumbling action..
|
|
stephent
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2014
Posts: 213
|
Post by stephent on May 17, 2014 11:56:42 GMT -5
I have no doubt we are changing most of the processes of this earth...but in a minuscule insignificant way. Local changes are hardly accountable in a global scope. With the sun providing about 1kw of energy per square meter...our energy production and usage pales in comparison. Solar/wind power production was hailed as the way of the future...but has fallen prey to the "NOT in MY backyard!" or in eagle/bird/groundhog/desert tortoise/chipmunk/worm/slug pathways. If there was far less money and fame to be made with the *issue* of global warming...it wouldn't even make the back page of the newspapers or show up on the talking head shows. And if it's not on the media..neither will politicians gather. Water usage/disposal should be common sense....but alas...it too becomes just another hog at the trough of $$ and fame. But in our currant society there's way too much money to be spent on asinine frivolous studies like "Why do mountains rise and fall a few centimeters a decade?" ...all with taxpayer $$. And mostly by highly educated folks who believe mountains never rose before man walked on earth...or sprinkled his lawns. And fully knowing that the average temperature of this old ball of rocks has been several degrees warmer then our average temps lately...they have independently and collectively come to the conclusion that "The earth is warming...the earth is warming!!..it's gotta all be our fault since *WE* are the center of the universe."
|
|