quartzilla
Cave Dweller 
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,240
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Post by quartzilla on Nov 9, 2022 8:38:53 GMT -5
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Post by jasoninsd on Nov 9, 2022 9:23:31 GMT -5
Good to see you got some time on the wheels Quartz!  Tiger Iron's a sonofa...! I always think it should be a better finish than what the end result is. Yours really do look great though! The polish on those Cady Mountain cabs is fantastic! Great capture on the druzy!! Love me some druzy! What is it about the girdle that's giving you fits? |
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Post by liveoak on Nov 9, 2022 9:27:14 GMT -5
I like the small tiger eye & the druzy ( of course), nice job. I have to ask why use the vibe if you're on the wheels already ? But maybe it's because the club & too many people wanting to use the wheels ?
For the girdle you can get (or the club might have one) a cab rest. My husband made me one out of wood.
Basically it's a rest that lets you grind the perfect girdle angle every time.
Patty
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Post by jasoninsd on Nov 9, 2022 9:45:49 GMT -5
I like the small tiger eye & the druzy ( of course), nice job. I have to ask why use the vibe if you're on the wheels already ? But maybe it's because the club & too many people wanting to use the wheels ?
For the girdle you can get (or the club might have one) a cab rest. My husband made me one out of wood.
Basically it's a rest that lets you grind the perfect girdle angle every time.
Patty
Are you able to use the cab rest on an inside curve? I can't for the life of me picture how that's possible... That link to the one at Kingsley North is made specifically for a Genie. Cab rests are reliant on being very height specific for the machines they're used on. If a machine is a different height than a Genie (measured from the bottom of the tray where the cab rest sits to the center point of the arbor), the angle being cut on the girdle won't be right. If a person's machine is shorter, the angle will be too much toward the dome. If their machine is taller, then the angle will be ground flat, or the wrong way completely (away from the dome) if it's a lot higher. The only reason I said all that...I really want to redneck engineer one myself...but I need to factor in the specific height required for my machine... |
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Post by liveoak on Nov 9, 2022 10:22:13 GMT -5
Are you able to use the cab rest on an inside curve? I can't for the life of me picture how that's possible... That link to the one at Kingsley North is made specifically for a Genie. Cab rests are reliant on being very height specific for the machines they're used on. If a machine is a different height than a Genie (measured from the bottom of the tray where the cab rest sits to the center point of the arbor), the angle being cut on the girdle won't be right. If a person's machine is shorter, the angle will be too much toward the dome. If their machine is taller, then the angle will be ground flat, or the wrong way completely (away from the dome) if it's a lot higher. The only reason I said all that...I really want to redneck engineer one myself...but I need to factor in the specific height required for my machine... You're absolutely right Jason the block has to be adjusted so that the bottom edge of the cab is slightly below the center of the wheel. At least that is true for the type of block I'm using.
When I first got my cabber , Tom figured it out with a protractor and a ruler- it's all in the math (good thing for Tom).
I can't for the life of me remember what the exact girdle angle comes out to - but it works pretty well.
And if you're really interested I can grind a girdle & measure the angle.
But to save you all of that heavy math, here's the block that works for my KN 6" wheels.
It's 3 13/16" tall exactly.
Basically just a 2 X 4 block with a piece of plywood for a wide base, so it's stable. It's heavily varnished.
The one thing that makes my block different than the "cab rest" is that I grind the girdle with the cab facing up.
I believe from what I've read the "cab rest" grinds it with the face down.
To grind it with the face up, the block has to be below the center of the wheel . To grind it with the face down, it has be above the center of the wheel.
It works for me & was free Patty
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Post by liveoak on Nov 9, 2022 10:24:15 GMT -5
I forgot to add that if you figure out the correct height of the block, you don't need to cut it at an angle. My block is square.
The angle comes from the height where it contacts the wheel ( remember the math).
Patty
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2022 10:24:22 GMT -5
Awesome job! |
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Post by jasoninsd on Nov 9, 2022 12:59:51 GMT -5
jasoninsd the height can change, you just need to change the angle of the cab rest accordingly to get the right angle for your girdle. I made one out of a couple pieces of wood, with a crosscut 4x4 being the rest platform. I picked a height then tinkered with the angle on a few small pieces of scrap 4x4 cut to my chosen height. I really am having way too many "DUH!" moments! Of course this would have worked! I should have thought of that! Thanks for chiming in and helping me see the forest for the trees! LOL Are you able to use the cab rest on an inside curve? I can't for the life of me picture how that's possible... That link to the one at Kingsley North is made specifically for a Genie. Cab rests are reliant on being very height specific for the machines they're used on. If a machine is a different height than a Genie (measured from the bottom of the tray where the cab rest sits to the center point of the arbor), the angle being cut on the girdle won't be right. If a person's machine is shorter, the angle will be too much toward the dome. If their machine is taller, then the angle will be ground flat, or the wrong way completely (away from the dome) if it's a lot higher. The only reason I said all that...I really want to redneck engineer one myself...but I need to factor in the specific height required for my machine... You're absolutely right Jason the block has to be adjusted so that the bottom edge of the cab is slightly below the center of the wheel. At least that is true for the type of block I'm using.
When I first got my cabber , Tom figured it out with a protractor and a ruler- it's all in the math (good thing for Tom).
I can't for the life of me remember what the exact girdle angle comes out to - but it works pretty well.
And if you're really interested I can grind a girdle & measure the angle.
But to save you all of that heavy math, here's the block that works for my KN 6" wheels.
It's 3 13/16" tall exactly.
Basically just a 2 X 4 block with a piece of plywood for a wide base, so it's stable. It's heavily varnished.
The one thing that makes my block different than the "cab rest" is that I grind the girdle with the cab facing up.
I believe from what I've read the "cab rest" grinds it with the face down.
To grind it with the face up, the block has to be below the center of the wheel . To grind it with the face down, it has be above the center of the wheel.
It works for me & was free Patty
Patty, that just saved me a bunch of headache! Thank you for giving me the height! I thought I remembered the cab rest being designed to cut the girdle "first"...and I always like to do my girdle last...so having the cab upright is a necessity for me. Good point on that! I forgot to add that if you figure out the correct height of the block, you don't need to cut it at an angle. My block is square. The angle comes from the height where it contacts the wheel ( remember the math). Patty Yep...exactly! quartzilla...sorry for kinda hijacking the thread...but it is related to girdles...which makes it a lot closer to topic than most of my derails! LOL |
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Post by stardiamond on Nov 9, 2022 13:37:07 GMT -5
When entering a cabochon making contest, the goal is a perfect girdle. I only strive to have the girdle even and don't have any idea of what the perfect angle is. Being self-taught, the main purpose of having a girdle is to avoid cutting into the face. For a long time, I struggled with even girdles, not the height but they tended to be wavy and required a lot of effort. I finally found a technique that works for me. I have the girdle wider at the top and after doming is complete, I work the stone vertically to square it off. The bottom was ground when I made the preform so I need to square the top to it.
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quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,240
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Post by quartzilla on Nov 9, 2022 19:45:09 GMT -5
I like the small tiger eye & the druzy ( of course), nice job. I have to ask why use the vibe if you're on the wheels already ? But maybe it's because the club & too many people wanting to use the wheels ?
For the girdle you can get (or the club might have one) a cab rest. My husband made me one out of wood.
Basically it's a rest that lets you grind the perfect girdle angle every time.
Patty
. I noticed my cabs were not as shiny as the ones on here. I also remember some members saying they would do the final polish in a lot o or a vibe so I tried it. I even ran the first 3 cabs I made months ago thru the vibe and all were a major improvement. |
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rockbrain
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2022
Posts: 3,176
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Post by rockbrain on Nov 9, 2022 20:01:22 GMT -5
I polish my cabs in a vibe. I had an almost identical experience to quartzilla . I do have a buffer that I'll be putting on line at some point. I did a lot of searches for polishing on here. It seems to be an area that's hard to get good solid info on. |
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quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,240
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Post by quartzilla on Nov 9, 2022 20:47:39 GMT -5
@jasonsd you are welcome to hijack my threads anytime lol. I’ve done some thread swiping myself so who’s to judge?
As far as girdle problems apparently my problem is not putting a line around it to go off of. For some reason I didn’t do this on the first few cabs even though it was suggested to me. I think I was kind of in a hurry to work with the genie and just kinda forgot.
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Post by jasoninsd on Nov 9, 2022 21:18:32 GMT -5
@jasonsd you are welcome to hijack my threads anytime lol. I’ve done some thread swiping myself so who’s to judge? As far as girdle problems apparently my problem is not putting a line around it to go off of. For some reason I didn’t do this on the first few cabs even though it was suggested to me. I think I was kind of in a hurry to work with the genie and just kinda forgot. I've tried a couple times to do the girdle without a line...and it just turned out to be junk (as far as I'm concerned). NOT saying yours are junk...just referring to mine. LOL It drives me crazy if a cab breaks a tip and I have to try and do a rescue...and there's no girdle line. I totally get that some people have no issues with it...but I like having that "line of no return" carefully drawn out! |
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,498
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Post by realrockhound on Nov 9, 2022 21:21:02 GMT -5
@jasonsd you are welcome to hijack my threads anytime lol. I’ve done some thread swiping myself so who’s to judge? As far as girdle problems apparently my problem is not putting a line around it to go off of. For some reason I didn’t do this on the first few cabs even though it was suggested to me. I think I was kind of in a hurry to work with the genie and just kinda forgot. I've tried a couple times to do the girdle without a line...and it just turned out to be junk (as far as I'm concerned). NOT saying yours are junk...just referring to mine. LOL It drives me crazy if a cab breaks a tip and I have to try and do a rescue...and there's no girdle line. I totally get that some people have no issues with it...but I like having that "line of no return" carefully drawn out! I have literally given away nice cabs because of this. |
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Post by stardiamond on Nov 9, 2022 22:19:29 GMT -5
I mark all my girdles in pencil and grind to the line. Since I finish the girdles vertically, I can follow the edge as I rotate the cab when something goes wrong and I lose part of the line.
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Post by Rockoonz on Nov 10, 2022 0:44:56 GMT -5
I usually cut for a bezel setting, so unless it's a huge heavy cab, rare for me, I like to keep the girdle short, which also makes for more dome. I like to keep it crisp and easy to see through the 80 and 220 hard wheels, then just add a little redius to remove the sharp edge on the 280 soft. That pretty much eliminates any chance for little flat spots right at that transition, which used to be a huge problem for me.
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textiger
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since May 2005
Posts: 946
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Post by textiger on Nov 15, 2022 15:00:52 GMT -5
I have always struggled with girdles and cannot believe I haven't heard of a cab rest until now. My question is, when do you cut the girdle? After perfecting the dome? Before?
I imagine this varies from cabber to cabber. What works best for you?
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,498
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Post by realrockhound on Nov 15, 2022 15:21:24 GMT -5
I have always struggled with girdles and cannot believe I haven't heard of a cab rest until now. My question is, when do you cut the girdle? After perfecting the dome? Before? I imagine this varies from cabber to cabber. What works best for you? Girdle is technically cut when you shape your preform. Then you dome from a point around the girdle. For simplicity, Let’s say you have a 1/4 inch preform. You split that down the center all the way around the preform. Top half gets domed down to the line, bottom half stays as is. A cab rest isn’t required. I just recently started using one just because I’m lazy and it helps keep my preform true. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 15, 2022 15:40:06 GMT -5
I dop my preform and shape it vertically on the wheel (at an angle for the smithies). Then I eyeball the height of the girdle as I cut into the dome from the edge. I don't draw a line or use a rest. Don't know why, but I never have. I threw my rest away.
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Post by opalpyrexia on Nov 15, 2022 19:06:51 GMT -5
Why bother cutting girdles? Let me know if you'd prefer that I make this question a separate thread.
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