orneryboi
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2022
Posts: 99
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Post by orneryboi on Dec 21, 2023 16:19:37 GMT -5
I use a 6 inch Cabking and have shared all the adversity and blunders involved therein.. then I found the game-changer. I got a 600 grit hard wheel based on previous threads/responses I read from Brent ( Starguy) and I've gotta say this is the best hack I've found for this setup, hands-down. Millions of 6-ray-thanks, Brent- THANK YOU! I replaced the 220 hard wheel for 600 so my order is: 80hard/600hard/280Resin===600/1200/3000resin. It seems counterintuitive to move in that order but it is not- the 600 hard wheel is the finest-precision wheel you can use and it takes ALL THE WORK OUT for the 280 resin. (280 is basically the new 1200;) The rest just flow from there, easier than ever. This information is probably out there in a lot of places but I wanted to post this to keep it at the surface in case it can help anyone else. Sincerely, Patrick |
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller 
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,495
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Post by realrockhound on Dec 21, 2023 16:41:15 GMT -5
I’ll try it for $h1tz & gigs. But if I find I wasted money for unnecessary wheels, I’m coming for ya 😂
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Post by stardiamond on Dec 21, 2023 17:24:54 GMT -5
I dismounted my 220 hard. It wastes space. The biggest mistake is overusing the 280 soft. I use it as a sanding wheel not shaping. I am trying a 140 grit soft as a replacement to remove scratches. I bought a 60 grit soft that I may try later. A couple people have a 60 grit soft mounted.
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orneryboi
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2022
Posts: 99
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Post by orneryboi on Dec 21, 2023 17:34:58 GMT -5
I’ll try it for $h1tz & gigs. But if I find I wasted money for unnecessary wheels, I’m coming for ya 😂 Ha! I think you'll like it. If you use wheels, this is the way  |
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orneryboi
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2022
Posts: 99
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Post by orneryboi on Dec 21, 2023 17:51:09 GMT -5
I dismounted my 220 hard. It wastes space. The biggest mistake is overusing the 280 soft. I use it as a sanding wheel not shaping. I am trying a 140 grit soft as a replacement to remove scratches. I bought a 60 grit soft that I may try later. A couple people have a 60 grit soft mounted. I've often wondered about the course soft wheels so this is perfect! With the soft 60 and 140, where do they line up with the hard wheels in your setup? And. how is the 140 working out? Are they the resin wheels or the rough "REZ" wheels? |
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,495
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Post by realrockhound on Dec 21, 2023 17:54:32 GMT -5
I’ll try it for $h1tz & gigs. But if I find I wasted money for unnecessary wheels, I’m coming for ya 😂 Ha! I think you'll like it. If you use wheels, this is the way I do. Always used the standard 80, 220, 280, 600, 1200, 3000. I’ve personally never had any issues with it or over use of wheels. But I’m always up for trying new things. |
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Post by stardiamond on Dec 21, 2023 18:10:52 GMT -5
I dismounted my 220 hard. It wastes space. The biggest mistake is overusing the 280 soft. I use it as a sanding wheel not shaping. I am trying a 140 grit soft as a replacement to remove scratches. I bought a 60 grit soft that I may try later. A couple people have a 60 grit soft mounted. I've often wondered about the course soft wheels so this is perfect! With the soft 60 and 140, where do they line up with the hard wheels in your setup? And. how is the 140 working out? Are they the resin wheels or the rough "REZ" wheels? I am only using the 140 now. It is resin. The only rez wheel I have is the 280 soft and after use it is no longer rough but effective. I have a Genie and when the left side arbor froze. I bought an extra right side arbor. I like to grind fast so I have a textured 80 grit Lithuanian wheel, a worn textured and a 325 soft on that arbor. On the left I have a very worn 80 grit DP wheel for scratch removal and fine tuning the shape, the 140 and the 280 rez. The textured wheel melts rock but leaves significant scratches. I spend most of my time on the top and the DP. The left side arbor unfroze itself. |
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orneryboi
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2022
Posts: 99
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Post by orneryboi on Dec 21, 2023 20:06:13 GMT -5
I've often wondered about the course soft wheels so this is perfect! With the soft 60 and 140, where do they line up with the hard wheels in your setup? And. how is the 140 working out? Are they the resin wheels or the rough "REZ" wheels? I am only using the 140 now. It is resin. The only rez wheel I have is the 280 soft and after use it is no longer rough but effective. I have a Genie and when the left side arbor froze. I bought an extra right side arbor. I like to grind fast so I have a textured 80 grit Lithuanian wheel, a worn textured and a 325 soft on that arbor. On the left I have a very worn 80 grit DP wheel for scratch removal and fine tuning the shape, the 140 and the 280 rez. The textured wheel melts rock but leaves significant scratches. I spend most of my time on the top and the DP. The left side arbor unfroze itself. Good information, thank you! I have a 280 rez as well and that thing's a beast! The 280 rez was previously my "fix" for scratches but with the 600 hard (now) doing the fine-tuning I've been able to go back and get more use out of my old 280 resins. Also, I had no idea Genie arbors ran independently! What a stressful way to find out.. glad yours got its act together! |
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Post by stardiamond on Dec 21, 2023 20:22:33 GMT -5
They don't run independently. The left is fixed and the right is removeable. The left is remove the nut on the end and slide the wheels off the arbor. The right is rotated off the arbor and then a nut is loosened to replace wheels.
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Post by rmf on Dec 21, 2023 20:48:26 GMT -5
This is an interesting thread. I have been experimenting with some new wheels as well. orneryboi are these plated 600 or sintered 600? I have purchased a 600 sintered which puts a finer finish on the stones than a 600 plated. So I move to the 600 Nova after that then use Novas to 3000 or 8000 depending on the material then polish. The result of using hard wheels down to 600 is that I do not have to push as hard to get faster cutting. |
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Post by Starguy on Dec 21, 2023 23:07:56 GMT -5
orneryboi . I’m glad you gave it a try Patrick. The 600 grit hard wheels cut remarkably fast don’t they? When I first tried one I thought it would be slower than the seven year itch. I was pleasantly surprised. They seem to last too. I’m sure a 220 hard would last longer but there are advantages to the finer grit. Mine is electroplated.
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Post by Rockoonz on Dec 21, 2023 23:44:58 GMT -5
They don't run independently. The left is fixed and the right is removeable. The left is remove the nut on the end and slide the wheels off the arbor. The right is rotated off the arbor and then a nut is loosened to replace wheels. My Genie has adaptors on both sides, I have an extra left side and 2 right sides, still in the packaging. Left side is left hand threaded, got to turn in the direction of rotation to remove. Yours is older perhaps? |
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Post by stardiamond on Dec 21, 2023 23:53:01 GMT -5
Mine is about 20 years old. I have the trim saw attachment so I remove the right side frequently. The left side is left hand threaded and was rarely removed. When the blade jams on the saw, sometimes the left side unscrews. I couldn't get it loose. One day when using the saw the left side unfroze and I lived happily ever after.
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Post by liveoak on Dec 22, 2023 7:18:30 GMT -5
I replaced the 220 hard wheel for 600 so my order is: 80hard/600hard/280Resin===600/1200/3000resin. So my question is what if you have a soft stone to grind and don't want to start on the 80. I would think 600 would be too fine to shape with ?
Patty
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orneryboi
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2022
Posts: 99
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Post by orneryboi on Dec 22, 2023 11:45:34 GMT -5
This is an interesting thread. I have been experimenting with some new wheels as well. orneryboi are these plated 600 or sintered 600? I have purchased a 600 sintered which puts a finer finish on the stones than a 600 plated. So I move to the 600 Nova after that then use Novas to 3000 or 8000 depending on the material then polish. The result of using hard wheels down to 600 is that I do not have to push as hard to get faster cutting. Thanks for the feedback!! I have the plated 600 right now but I enjoy it so much I'll likely spring for the sintered wheel (especially if it's a finer finish yet). I still have to experiment with moving directly from 600 hard to 600 soft.. I tried this on a few stones and they looked pretty bad (poor shaping/material?) so I'm using the 280 soft as the middleman until I course-correct. |
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Post by rmf on Dec 22, 2023 12:10:13 GMT -5
This is an interesting thread. I have been experimenting with some new wheels as well. orneryboi are these plated 600 or sintered 600? I have purchased a 600 sintered which puts a finer finish on the stones than a 600 plated. So I move to the 600 Nova after that then use Novas to 3000 or 8000 depending on the material then polish. The result of using hard wheels down to 600 is that I do not have to push as hard to get faster cutting. Thanks for the feedback!! I have the plated 600 right now but I enjoy it so much I'll likely spring for the sintered wheel (especially if it's a finer finish yet). I still have to experiment with moving directly from 600 hard to 600 soft.. I tried this on a few stones and they looked pretty bad (poor shaping/material?) so I'm using the 280 soft as the middleman until I course-correct. At the time I purchased my wheels (Dec 22) the US Dollar and the Euro were about 1:1. The Baltic Abrasive wheels have 6mm about 1/4" of sintered material on them. I am sure I will never wear one out in the remaining years of my life. anyway they were on par price for plated wheels so there was no $$ penalty. Sintered wheels appear to be finer than plated wheels which has caused me some problems. a 30 grit Sintered is about equal to a 60 grit plated wheel when it is new out of the box. After the 60 grit plated wheel has cut 100 - 150 stones it slows down (I have tested both hex and smooth wheels). The 30grit sintered has continued to eat agate at the same rate or faster than new out of the box after 300 stones. As for the 600 sintered I am assuming it would be more like a 1200 grit plated wheel but I have not had a chance to pursue that yet. I have only had time to do general test and timed tests on the coarse wheels.
For grit equivalent (approx)
Sintered Plated 30 60 60 120 140 280 280 600 600 1200
This is what I got from the vendor after some prying not sure it holds up completely. I hope to research this more to verify.
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orneryboi
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2022
Posts: 99
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Post by orneryboi on Dec 22, 2023 12:44:08 GMT -5
orneryboi . I’m glad you gave it a try Patrick. The 600 grit hard wheels cut remarkably fast don’t they? When I first tried one I thought it would be slower than the seven year itch. I was pleasantly surprised. They seem to last too. I’m sure a 220 hard would last longer but there are advantages to the finer grit. Mine is electroplated. 10/10 Pro-tip, Brent- this was so beneficial I had to shout it from the mountaintop. I read your post about 8 months ago and I'd been chewing on it for so long it seemed.. on Black Friday it all came together, financially. They cut material much faster than expected and it's fine-tuned all the while.. like the difference between a roller-brush vs fine-tip sharpie (but combined). The former has obvious advantages but now I'm better suited to fine-tune as I shape or correct- it's perfect for tamping down high spots without worry of leaving skid marks. It's juust right, like the Goldilocks wheel  |
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Post by stardiamond on Dec 22, 2023 12:53:14 GMT -5
Thanks for the feedback!! I have the plated 600 right now but I enjoy it so much I'll likely spring for the sintered wheel (especially if it's a finer finish yet). I still have to experiment with moving directly from 600 hard to 600 soft.. I tried this on a few stones and they looked pretty bad (poor shaping/material?) so I'm using the 280 soft as the middleman until I course-correct. At the time I purchased my wheels (Dec 22) the US Dollar and the Euro were about 1:1. The Baltic Abrasive wheels have 6mm about 1/4" of sintered material on them. I am sure I will never wear one out in the remaining years of my life. anyway they were on par price for plated wheels so there was no $$ penalty. Sintered wheels appear to be finer than plated wheels which has caused me some problems. a 30 grit Sintered is about equal to a 60 grit plated wheel when it is new out of the box. After the 60 grit plated wheel has cut 100 - 150 stones it slows down (I have tested both hex and smooth wheels). The 30grit sintered has continued to eat agate at the same rate or faster than new out of the box after 300 stones. As for the 600 sintered I am assuming it would be more like a 1200 grit plated wheel but I have not had a chance to pursue that yet. I have only had time to do general test and timed tests on the coarse wheels. For grit equivalent (approx)
Sintered Plated 30 60 60 120 140 280 280 600 600 1200 This is what I got from the vendor after some prying not sure it holds up completely. I hope to research this more to verify.
I mentioned this to John Rowland and he disagreed. The cutting speed difference might be by manufacturer or he is wrong. I've seen a lot of posts here and they mention two things; they like their sintered wheel and the difference in cutting speed. I've never used sintered and from a cost standpoint they look good. I like to cut fast. |
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orneryboi
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2022
Posts: 99
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Post by orneryboi on Dec 22, 2023 13:27:42 GMT -5
I replaced the 220 hard wheel for 600 so my order is: 80hard/600hard/280Resin===600/1200/3000resin. So my question is what if you have a soft stone to grind and don't want to start on the 80. I would think 600 would be too fine to shape with ?
Patty
Hi Patty! Great question- in this scenario the 600 has to be the answer unless I want to swap the other (220) back in. My main conundrum in this was whether to keep the 80 vs 220- sided on 80, but can always modify. The 600 cuts efficiently enough on hard rocks (jasper) so for soft stones I feel like it would be the perfect solution. Yesterday, on opalized wood, I used the 80 to crudely grind off the corners then moved to 600 to shape them- it was lovely, and didn't seem to take longer than usual. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Dec 22, 2023 13:59:24 GMT -5
Very interesting read. I swapped my 80 plated for 60 sintered and love it. I switched my 180 soft for a 220 soft and absolutely will not go back.
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