Time
starting to spend too much on rocks
Making something positive out of COVID restrictions by learning to create jewelry out of stones.
Member since September 2021
Posts: 154
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Post by Time on Feb 22, 2023 23:31:50 GMT -5
Starting a big adventure on slab saw restoration. I ended up buying an old rusty rock saw on a trip that started with a plan to buy a 7 inch trim saw blade from a guy that was scaling back his eBay inventory. After purchasing a couple of saw blades and a few other items he said “you need to buy this old saw”. It was setting out back of his rock shed and it was rusty big and heavy and I said “I don’t know”. He told me he had bought it from an old rock hound that had cancer and needed to get rid of it. He thought it was well built but home made and had a lot of good parts. He said he and friend would help me move it so I had me a large saw. Studying a lot of pictures and asking questions has convinced me I have one of the earliest generation Lortone LS-18 slab saws. My hope is putting a piece of history back in shape and use will be fun and rewarding. Sand blasting will be in the future.
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geoff59
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2022
Posts: 278
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Post by geoff59 on Feb 23, 2023 4:57:43 GMT -5
Starting a big adventure on slab saw restoration. I ended up buying an old rusty rock saw on a trip that started with a plan to buy a 7 inch trim saw blade from a guy that was scaling back his eBay inventory. After purchasing a couple of saw blades and a few other items he said “you need to buy this old saw”. It was setting out back of his rock shed and it was rusty big and heavy and I said “I don’t know”. He told me he had bought it from an old rock hound that had cancer and needed to get rid of it. He thought it was well built but home made and had a lot of good parts. He said he and friend would help me move it so I had me a large saw. Studying a lot of pictures and asking questions has convinced me I have one of the earliest generation Lortone LS-18 slab saws. My hope is putting a piece of history back in shape and use will be fun and rewarding. Sand blasting will be in the future. I’d love to see a pic or 2 of the beast.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Mar 13, 2023 14:11:18 GMT -5
Cool. Nice thing is there are still a lot of Lortone parts available. Their old saw design was pretty straight forward and they were built very well.
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Post by manofglass on Mar 13, 2023 15:44:00 GMT -5
Lortone don't sell LS18 saw parts anymore Hp took over the saw line check there for parts www.hplapidary.com/
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Time
starting to spend too much on rocks
Making something positive out of COVID restrictions by learning to create jewelry out of stones.
Member since September 2021
Posts: 154
|
Post by Time on Mar 13, 2023 22:59:38 GMT -5
I have gotten most of the saw parts removed from the base for sandblasting. The only area retaining any Lortone blue is the belt tension arm for the vice drive screw. The base has some interior pitting but no leaks with water so that is good. It is definitely an item that once you get it in a good spot you don’t want to move it. I think with vice, motor, blade, and hood it weighs about 500 pounds.
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Post by Rockoonz on Mar 13, 2023 23:21:31 GMT -5
Interested in pics as well. I maintained and rebuilt a Lortone 18 in the clubs shop. Good saws, the only real downside is the tub is made from thinner steel and will flex more than others, throwing the blade alignment off. Adding corner bolsters and/or picking a spot on the floor and bolting it down will remedy that. manofglass is right about Lortone no longer having parts, don't know if HP has 18" parts since they only make copies of the 10/12/14 bench top saws. I would save an ebay search, old stock parts surface a lot.
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Time
starting to spend too much on rocks
Making something positive out of COVID restrictions by learning to create jewelry out of stones.
Member since September 2021
Posts: 154
|
Post by Time on Mar 14, 2023 10:33:41 GMT -5
I will have to learn how to do pictures, it is on my list, but I am not there yet. The metal for the base looks like it is about 1/8 inch thick some rust pits but not too bad. I am just wrapping the saw arbor up to keep blasting media out of it I am hoping the alignment will be ok.
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Post by Rockoonz on Mar 14, 2023 22:57:46 GMT -5
Saw alignment 101 You won't have the fancy adjustors but you can check this way and if it's way off there's always a way.
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Post by Mel on Mar 22, 2023 10:59:56 GMT -5
I'd really love to see pics. I have an old Lortone drop saw I want to refurbish, but just don't have time/space for yet.
After you sandblast it are you going to put it back to the Lortone blue, or go with something crazy and one of a kind? A rockshop I used to deal with would buy those Lortone combo units, and powder coated their last unit hot pink. Was a huge hit with the buyer.
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Post by Rockoonz on Mar 22, 2023 12:43:35 GMT -5
My hobby prior to lapidary and a little overlapping (pun intended) was vintage Volvo restoration. A couple early on rebuilt saws were Swedish flag Yellow and blue two tones.
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Post by parfive on Mar 22, 2023 14:36:26 GMT -5
My hobby prior to lapidary and a little overlapping (pun intended) was vintage Volvo restoration. A couple early on rebuilt saws were Swedish flag Yellow and blue two tones. Two mints in one these days or buy one, get one free? Slava Ukraini. : )
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Time
starting to spend too much on rocks
Making something positive out of COVID restrictions by learning to create jewelry out of stones.
Member since September 2021
Posts: 154
|
Post by Time on Mar 22, 2023 15:25:59 GMT -5
I'd really love to see pics. I have an old Lortone drop saw I want to refurbish, but just don't have time/space for yet. After you sandblast it are you going to put it back to the Lortone blue, or go with something crazy and one of a kind? A rockshop I used to deal with would buy those Lortone combo units, and powder coated their last unit hot pink. Was a huge hit with the buyer. After I sandblast it I am going to cold galvanize the inside and Lortone blue on the outside. I am taking pictures but learning how to post them requires some study and I am not there yet. I will just be cutting slabs for fun and plan to use water for cooling to make it easy (that is why I am going with galvanized interior). I know most cutters say oil (and they may right) I don’t want to use it, MK blades are used on concrete saws cutting up curbs, roads, and floors, they use water so I am going to give it a go. I was a member of a rock club for a while and could use the saws on work night but with other people wanting to use them I was lucky to cut out one slab. It will be great to have a saw to use when I want.
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Post by Rockoonz on Mar 22, 2023 16:14:45 GMT -5
I'd really love to see pics. I have an old Lortone drop saw I want to refurbish, but just don't have time/space for yet. After you sandblast it are you going to put it back to the Lortone blue, or go with something crazy and one of a kind? A rockshop I used to deal with would buy those Lortone combo units, and powder coated their last unit hot pink. Was a huge hit with the buyer. After I sandblast it I am going to cold galvanize the inside and Lortone blue on the outside. I am taking pictures but learning how to post them requires some study and I am not there yet. I will just be cutting slabs for fun and plan to use water for cooling to make it easy (that is why I am going with galvanized interior). I know most cutters say oil (and they may right) I don’t want to use it, MK blades are used on concrete saws cutting up curbs, roads, and floors, they use water so I am going to give it a go. I was a member of a rock club for a while and could use the saws on work night but with other people wanting to use them I was lucky to cut out one slab. It will be great to have a saw to use when I want. Lots of materials are better cut with water, good on you. Most lapidary blades are oil only and will suffer rapid wear in water, but the MK agate eater AKA MK Hotdog stone tile blade is made for water and high rotational speeds if they are available in that size, the Hotdog generally costs less even though they are identical. Plan to use one with the drop saw when I get it going for my chryssocolla and opal or anything that can stain from oil. A touch of borax or an aqueous additive may also be used for rust prevention and bearing life, still working those details out.
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