wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Apr 8, 2018 14:43:24 GMT -5
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Feb 7, 2018 21:25:11 GMT -5
Very nice sphere!
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Feb 6, 2018 11:59:57 GMT -5
Just a little obituary for my trusty little plastic screaming banshee of a tile saw. MK-145 - solid made, proper little worker that one! I was using it, and it was whining away as usual, and then it was making a different sort of whine, even when I pulled my rock out, and then it made a couple "chunk chunk"ing noises, and started to smell that overhot engine smell, and then it went into another different death moan, and then I shut it off. No obvious problems with blade stuck or spinning on shaft or anything like that. Don't know much about motors, and am certainly not going to take it apart and start tinkering around inside. I think this might just be its time. It has given me 5 1/2 years of good use, cutting unknown hundreds of preforms and small rough. I guess that's enough for a $100 saw. RIP my first saw! PS - Should I bury it in the back yard? That would sure confuse somebody in 50 years digging a flowerbed! (PPS if anybody wants it for parts or likes tinkering, I could bring it to Quartzsite.) I recently had the same thing happen to me. My Rigid tile saw of 7 years did the whine-kerchunk. Being the handy guy I am( and cheap), I took it apart to find pieces of the bearing by the brushes. By chance I had the same size bearing in some old bicycle parts, swapped it out, and fired it up. It's purring like a kitten again, and should be good for another 7 years!
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Feb 4, 2018 21:19:05 GMT -5
I recently purchased a set of 1-1/2" core bits to use as rough cups for my sphere machine. Until now I have been using pvc cups with 50 grit diamond pads to round out my preforms. It was a very time consuming process, not to mention the wear on the pads. I was always having problems with keeping the spheres true.
I installed the new bits and was surprised to find that my cups were way out of alignment! With the pvc cups it was hard to tell how far out of whack they actually were. They were +- 1/4" out! Thus the eggy spheres.
I re-aligned the cups, and ran through some preforms I had kicking around. The first one was pretty soft and only took about 45 seconds to be spherical! Checked with the callipers, and was less than .5mm out on a 2" sphere. I ran through the rest, the longest being a rose quartz preform, that was probably the worst preform I've ever made, at around 15 minutes.
I'm ordering some 3" core bits for my bigger spheres (3"+). I can't believe how fast they round out my preforms. I've run through a couple of really rough 4" preforms with the 1-1/2" core bit with great results, but lots of babysitting for the first 5-10 minutes.
I'm making a start to finish video of a sphere process that I will post soon.
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Feb 4, 2018 19:51:28 GMT -5
The first few minutes I had to babysit it, nudging it back into the cups, but then once it rounded out it stayed put. Kind of. It popped out a few times and rolled on top of the cups until I pushed it back in. Turned out quite nice. Less than .5 mm out of round.
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Feb 3, 2018 18:56:41 GMT -5
Lol! Though I'd push the envelope.
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Newbie
Nov 30, 2017 22:00:52 GMT -5
Post by wader on Nov 30, 2017 22:00:52 GMT -5
Welcome from the East Kootenays in BC Canada!
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 29, 2017 21:25:35 GMT -5
Wow! That colla wood sphere is incredible!
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 28, 2017 21:26:57 GMT -5
Here's my latest spheres, a 6" conglomerate, and a 3" rose quartz
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 27, 2017 18:37:53 GMT -5
Took me a second to sort that out. Hilarious! Nice video. I guess you have a pin under your jig set at the diameter you desire? Could work for larger size as long as it doesn't hit the blade guard. Good thunking! I have a larger version that is adjustable from 4" to 9". Takes a lot longer to cut the preform, but ends up quite round. I'll try to make a sped up video or some picks of some larger finished performs as well.
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 27, 2017 9:34:01 GMT -5
Very impressive. What type of rock was that? seemed like it cut very easily when you sliced the core. Chuck Not sure what it was, I just picked a random core sample. It was fairly soft compared to some of the others. Could be the blade as well. It's a Mikita 10" segmented blade. My original one is 4 years old, and still has about 60% of the diamond left on it. Use for work and have cut a lot of stuff with it. Highly recommended
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 26, 2017 22:20:50 GMT -5
Its my winter coat 😁
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 26, 2017 21:12:04 GMT -5
Finally got around to making making a video of my sphere preform jig in action.
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 8, 2017 18:40:40 GMT -5
My machine is basically a high speed machine. You can really crank out the spheres. Definitely agree with running in batches. I usually have about 5 performs and run through the grits swapping each sphere for its turn. Can have them done in a weekend.
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 8, 2017 10:45:41 GMT -5
I use a china marker for marking tile, doesn't spray off with the water from the wet saw, but wipes off easily after. Not sure how it would work on more porous rock. Works fine on slate tile. You can get them at most craft stores.
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 8, 2017 9:59:15 GMT -5
Most of them are pretty bland looking, if you're in my neck of the woods you're welcome to grab a couple, my wife would appreciate it. Lol Where is your neck of the woods? I'm in central Texas, but I have Marine Corps buddies everywhere :-) You say some look bland, however I made a limestone sphere from random pond rock and it turned out pretty well. Gonna have to change my quote to "give ugly rocks a chance". I'm in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. I agree that some rocks that don't look like much, can become quite stunning once polished. Love the quote!
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 7, 2017 20:49:00 GMT -5
Would you show us a video of how this works? Again, impressive simple elegant designs that I want to learn from. Thank you I might have some time this weekend to make a video of its use. Getting crazy busy again for work 😃
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 6, 2017 22:38:54 GMT -5
Interested in selling any of those core samples? ;-) Always looking for more material. Most of them are pretty bland looking, if you're in my neck of the woods you're welcome to grab a couple, my wife would appreciate it. Lol
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 6, 2017 22:30:07 GMT -5
Have you thought about a gusset on that top corner in front over the axle? If so, what was your reasoning? I'm impressed and want to learn from you. Thanks for sharing! The front face is essentially the gusset for the side with the axle. If anything, I think I would add a gusset on the back corner where the pulley tension is. I was thinking of cutting some of the front off, but it protects the motor from overspray.
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wader
starting to shine!
Member since November 2017
Posts: 39
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Post by wader on Nov 6, 2017 20:31:22 GMT -5
24" would be over 500# everything would likely fail. Lol 12" is over 100#. That is 33+# per head. Not too bad, probably... Only one way to find out ;-) Just kidding. I'd just build another one 😃
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