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Post by 1dave on Jun 14, 2024 11:25:56 GMT -5
I experimented with mounting a dop stick on a drill motor, but never tried to sell. For me, this was all about FUN and learning.  |
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Post by glennz01 on Jun 14, 2024 12:34:35 GMT -5
I experimented with mounting a dop stick on a drill motor, but never tried to sell. For me, this was all about FUN and learning. Yeah, I still do it for fun a bit, but I still like my speed lol. I ordered a 60 and 80 grit textured wheel, had to get a new 1k grit wheel which I chose the 1200 grit someone mentioned on here. |
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lapidary1234
spending too much on rocks
"If you like rocks you can't be all bad!!" ~ old timer quote
Member since October 2021
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Post by lapidary1234 on Jun 15, 2024 21:51:25 GMT -5
Once I post videos of going 80 to 1,000 grit hard to hard. I suspect many people that care about time (or at least that see $70 for the wheel as cheap) will be ordering 1000 grit. I'm I'm hoping BA will make a 1000 grit, maybe if there's enough demand they will since I like their quality as I've only ever found 1k grit on Amazon usually 1 inch width instead of 1.5 inch I tried your 1000 grit method long ago. It worked well but diamond wheels were very expensive then and demand for my cabs was low so I developed other more economical techniques. I may try it again when the need arises. You can find 800 and 1200 x 1.5 inch plated wheels at Treasure Hong Kong <https://www.thk.hk> for $49 plus shipping. I think the total is around $65. I've used their wheels for years and like them a lot. Maybe those gits will work for you. Hey gemfeller I've been eyeing up the the site lately as well...esp their magnetic flat laps. How long did their shipping time take from when you placed your order until they arrived? Mo jan also has cheaper magnetic wheels but I've heard his shipping is quite costly. For everyone else commenting in this thread, it seems the more I learn about cabbing the more it seems that the standard wheel progression may work just fine although there are better sequences once you have the general feel. I also bought a custom order 8x3" sintered wheel from Baltic Abrasive. Heads up for anyone considering doing this....aside from being very expensive, an 8x3 sintered wheel is two 1.5" wheels welded (or fused) together resulting in a much wider mounting area (close to 2"). My raytech machine just barely fits it (need to use a jam nut). In retrospect i should have probably ordered a 30 grit as my intentions are to use it to hog off material fast. The 60 grit BA wheel cuts more like a 100 grit galaxy id suppose (seems slower than an 80 grit galaxy). My plan is to invest in either a 60 or 80 grit hex wheel along with a 46 grit magnetic endplate. I am hoping to go from 60 grit hex to 60 grit sintered, followed by the polysint 120 grit (whenever they come back in stock). I've read that you can go from the 120 grit polysint wheel to 280 nova with great results but I've also been tossing around the idea of going to a 600 or 1000 grit hard wheel. From the final hard wheel, I've read about great success in dropping back to a lower grit soft wheel (60 or 140 grit nova) and then proceeding on normal... One thing g that's a saving grace for me is the fact that the genie can spin an extra right hand adapter quickly! The other method that may or may not speed up the overall time csbbing that im surprised no one else has mentioned is throwing your preforms in a vibe tumbler... So far I've only ever experimented with throwing finished cabs in the vibe using rapid polish #61 (75,000 grit equivalent). I've had great results with this method and id suppose one could add preforms into a vibe starting at 220 even and finish them that way. Lmk your thoughts, thanks! ~Josh |
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Jun 16, 2024 12:16:56 GMT -5
lapidary1234 I can't comment on all the points in your post. As to shipping time from Treasure HK, I don't recall exactly but it wasn't unusually long for an overseas order. Quite prompt in fact. But I haven't ordered for several years so things could have changed. Seems like it was a couple of weeks. Thanks for the tip on the Baltic sintered wheels. I use the 60 grit Neosint which was sold by Kingsly but has been discontinued. I don't know who's selling 60 grit sintered now. Looked recently and all I found were 80 grit as recall.
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lapidary1234
spending too much on rocks
"If you like rocks you can't be all bad!!" ~ old timer quote
Member since October 2021
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Post by lapidary1234 on Jun 17, 2024 1:52:04 GMT -5
lapidary1234 I can't comment on all the points in your post. As to shipping time from Treasure HK, I don't recall exactly but it wasn't unusually long for an overseas order. Quite prompt in fact. But I haven't ordered for several years so things could have changed. Seems like it was a couple of weeks. Thanks for the tip on the Baltic sintered wheels. I use the 60 grit Neosint which was sold by Kingsly but has been discontinued. I don't know who's selling 60 grit sintered now. Looked recently and all I found were 80 grit as recall. Good to hear about thk! I'm definitely gonna order some stuff from them. As far as a 60 grit sintered, Baltic abrasive sells them. They told me they can do any custom grit size you'd want. I'm quite happy with the quality of the wheels I got from them I just should have ordered a lower grit to hog off material like I want. Regarding the neosint wheel, is that just a standard sintered wheel or is it one of the "resin back" sintered wheel? I ask bc kingsley now (kinda) carries these "resin backed" sintered wheels under the name "polysint". I say kinda bc they are out of stock on the lower grits that people actually use. I called and talked to them about it and they said they will be reordering once they sell what they have which includes wheels up to 1200 grit I believe. They said hopefully toward the end of the year... I'm also hopeful about these polysint wheels as they weigh only slightly more than a galaxy so they are safe to mount on a genie (the 8x3 sintered wheel from Baltic abrasive weighs 17 lb i believe). |
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Jun 17, 2024 10:45:38 GMT -5
lapidary1234 I can't comment on all the points in your post. As to shipping time from Treasure HK, I don't recall exactly but it wasn't unusually long for an overseas order. Quite prompt in fact. But I haven't ordered for several years so things could have changed. Seems like it was a couple of weeks. Thanks for the tip on the Baltic sintered wheels. I use the 60 grit Neosint which was sold by Kingsly but has been discontinued. I don't know who's selling 60 grit sintered now. Looked recently and all I found were 80 grit as recall. Good to hear about thk! I'm definitely gonna order some stuff from them. As far as a 60 grit sintered, Baltic abrasive sells them. They told me they can do any custom grit size you'd want. I'm quite happy with the quality of the wheels I got from them I just should have ordered a lower grit to hog off material like I want. Regarding the neosint wheel, is that just a standard sintered wheel or is it one of the "resin back" sintered wheel? I ask bc kingsley now (kinda) carries these "resin backed" sintered wheels under the name "polysint". I say kinda bc they are out of stock on the lower grits that people actually use. I called and talked to them about it and they said they will be reordering once they sell what they have which includes wheels up to 1200 grit I believe. They said hopefully toward the end of the year... I'm also hopeful about these polysint wheels as they weigh only slightly more than a galaxy so they are safe to mount on a genie (the 8x3 sintered wheel from Baltic abrasive weighs 17 lb i believe). I think the Neosints are made somewhere in Europe. They are steel-cored and very heavy. I use a Genie made in the late 80s and for a time I ran 2 Neosints on the left side with no problems at all. Careful balancing is key. The 60 grit hogs off quartz materials pretty fast but leaves a lot of edge fracturing. I'd keep that factor in mind in using coarser grits than 60 as well as the fact that larger grits can leave internal fracturing that doesn't show up until the later stages of polishing. I have no experience with the resin-backed wheels. |
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lapidary1234
spending too much on rocks
"If you like rocks you can't be all bad!!" ~ old timer quote
Member since October 2021
Posts: 293
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Post by lapidary1234 on Jun 18, 2024 13:02:53 GMT -5
gemfeller its interesting that you say the neosint wheels are European. The guy i spoke with at kingsley said he sources the polysint wheels from a European vendor but didn't say whom. The polysint wheels are described as having a "hard resin backing" not soft like a nova. But they are listed as plastic core weighing 3.3 lbs i believe. He also said when he reorders he's gonna get a thinner diamond matrix (not sure why, price probably) and have them drill out more holes for better balance. Also, I remember seeing kingsley carried the neosint wheels a few years back but now a Google search doesn't bring up anything lapidary related for neosint... Thanks for the reply!
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Jun 18, 2024 13:10:37 GMT -5
gemfeller its interesting that you say the neosint wheels are European. The guy i spoke with at kingsley said he sources the polysint wheels from a European vendor but didn't say whom. The polysint wheels are described as having a "hard resin backing" not soft like a nova. But they are listed as plastic core weighing 3.3 lbs i believe. He also said when he reorders he's gonna get a thinner diamond matrix (not sure why, price probably) and have them drill out more holes for better balance. Also, I remember seeing kingsley carried the neosint wheels a few years back but now a Google search doesn't bring up anything lapidary related for neosint... Thanks for the reply! That's just a guess on my part. I wondered if they were still available so did a search. I finally found one for sale in a German shop as I recall. It was priced in Eros at the equivalent of $1,500 or so dollars as I remember. I really have no idea where they're made but at that price new ones are out of reach for me. |
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Post by glennz01 on Jun 18, 2024 18:00:46 GMT -5
I tried your 1000 grit method long ago. It worked well but diamond wheels were very expensive then and demand for my cabs was low so I developed other more economical techniques. I may try it again when the need arises. You can find 800 and 1200 x 1.5 inch plated wheels at Treasure Hong Kong <https://www.thk.hk> for $49 plus shipping. I think the total is around $65. I've used their wheels for years and like them a lot. Maybe those gits will work for you. Hey gemfeller I've been eyeing up the the site lately as well...esp their magnetic flat laps. How long did their shipping time take from when you placed your order until they arrived? Mo jan also has cheaper magnetic wheels but I've heard his shipping is quite costly. For everyone else commenting in this thread, it seems the more I learn about cabbing the more it seems that the standard wheel progression may work just fine although there are better sequences once you have the general feel. I also bought a custom order 8x3" sintered wheel from Baltic Abrasive. Heads up for anyone considering doing this....aside from being very expensive, an 8x3 sintered wheel is two 1.5" wheels welded (or fused) together resulting in a much wider mounting area (close to 2"). My raytech machine just barely fits it (need to use a jam nut). In retrospect i should have probably ordered a 30 grit as my intentions are to use it to hog off material fast. The 60 grit BA wheel cuts more like a 100 grit galaxy id suppose (seems slower than an 80 grit galaxy). My plan is to invest in either a 60 or 80 grit hex wheel along with a 46 grit magnetic endplate. I am hoping to go from 60 grit hex to 60 grit sintered, followed by the polysint 120 grit (whenever they come back in stock). I've read that you can go from the 120 grit polysint wheel to 280 nova with great results but I've also been tossing around the idea of going to a 600 or 1000 grit hard wheel. From the final hard wheel, I've read about great success in dropping back to a lower grit soft wheel (60 or 140 grit nova) and then proceeding on normal... One thing g that's a saving grace for me is the fact that the genie can spin an extra right hand adapter quickly! The other method that may or may not speed up the overall time csbbing that im surprised no one else has mentioned is throwing your preforms in a vibe tumbler... So far I've only ever experimented with throwing finished cabs in the vibe using rapid polish #61 (75,000 grit equivalent). I've had great results with this method and id suppose one could add preforms into a vibe starting at 220 even and finish them that way. Lmk your thoughts, thanks! ~Josh I just got mine the other day, really fast postage time! |
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 18, 2024 19:06:52 GMT -5
I've been following this as best I could. Has anyone else duplicated Glenn's process?
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
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Post by realrockhound on Jun 18, 2024 19:37:46 GMT -5
I've been following this as best I could. Has anyone else duplicated Glenn's process? I tried for fun on a random piece. Essentially what you get is a stone with buffed/polished out scratches that aren’t noticeable at a distance but stick out like a sore thumb upon examination. At least that was my experience. Maybe others have had a different experience. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 18, 2024 19:40:13 GMT -5
I've been following this as best I could. Has anyone else duplicated Glenn's process? I tried for fun on a random piece. Essentially what you get is a stone with buffed/polished out scratches that aren’t noticeable at a distance but stick out like a sore thumb upon examination. At least that was my experience. Maybe others have had a different experience. Thanks! I remember one cab from when I first started. It had some 280 scratches in it. I didn't see them and just polished normally. I had a shiny surface with scratches underneath. That's what I keep thinking about this. |
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Post by glennz01 on Jul 8, 2024 1:13:55 GMT -5
I tried for fun on a random piece. Essentially what you get is a stone with buffed/polished out scratches that aren’t noticeable at a distance but stick out like a sore thumb upon examination. At least that was my experience. Maybe others have had a different experience. Thanks! I remember one cab from when I first started. It had some 280 scratches in it. I didn't see them and just polished normally. I had a shiny surface with scratches underneath. That's what I keep thinking about this. I've had other things keeping me away from rocks I've yet to install new wheels. This is the exact reason I cab in batches, I do corse grit than 1000 or now 1200 grit hard wheel, I then inspect every cab after that step and every further step, then going back to 280 grit soft wheel.. else you'd normally go from 220 hard wheel to 280 soft wheel... so if tour not taking out scratches going from 1200 or so after your 280 grit wheel, there's something wrong in your process. Onice I'm able to get back to my batch, I've got about 40 cabs on rough grind 80 grit, though I'll be trying textured corse grinds both 60 and 80 to test... I've got a feeling for cabs the 80 textured will be what I stick with but I'm not sure for hogging material out... and depends if 60 to 1200 is as fast as 80 to 1200. Whenever I make that jump in my process I'll see about doing a video so you guys can see... but as of now 1000 to 1200 is set in stone for my 2nd wheel. Everything else I'd like to speed up. Especially having to make cabs in summer when it's lower priority But if your wondering about the 1200 grit. If you cab with a heavy hand, honestly just buy a wheel and you won't regret it lol. If you were following my Facebook group in winter you can see how quickley I can turn out basically flawless batches in groups of 60 cabs about lol.. I've still got ones I've yet to post I made a while back lol. I think after I get grits down, the only way to get faster would be going from 6 inch wheels to 8 inch setup |
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Post by glennz01 on Jul 11, 2024 13:07:01 GMT -5
I tried for fun on a random piece. Essentially what you get is a stone with buffed/polished out scratches that aren’t noticeable at a distance but stick out like a sore thumb upon examination. At least that was my experience. Maybe others have had a different experience. Thanks! I remember one cab from when I first started. It had some 280 scratches in it. I didn't see them and just polished normally. I had a shiny surface with scratches underneath. That's what I keep thinking about this. Should also note my cab machine is overhead constant water thus any speed I need |
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Post by glennz01 on Aug 24, 2024 0:22:05 GMT -5
lapidary1234 I can't comment on all the points in your post. As to shipping time from Treasure HK, I don't recall exactly but it wasn't unusually long for an overseas order. Quite prompt in fact. But I haven't ordered for several years so things could have changed. Seems like it was a couple of weeks. Thanks for the tip on the Baltic sintered wheels. I use the 60 grit Neosint which was sold by Kingsly but has been discontinued. I don't know who's selling 60 grit sintered now. Looked recently and all I found were 80 grit as recall. Finally had a min to test my new wheels, 80 grit textured and 1200 hk grit wheel. 80 grit textured seems to cut as fast as I'd like but will see when I get it broke in more. I got 60 grit textured, if all else for large specimens. 1200 grit works good |
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Post by glennz01 on Aug 24, 2024 0:33:13 GMT -5
I've been following this as best I could. Has anyone else duplicated Glenn's process? If you were wanting to see it in action I put together a little video. Unfortunitally it cut in stage 1 but I spent 2 or 3 min rough grinding. |
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Post by glennz01 on Aug 25, 2024 23:26:52 GMT -5
If anyone wants to see side by side 80 to 120 grit comparison on same stones, that will be a few weeks out likiley
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Post by glennz01 on Nov 21, 2024 4:22:28 GMT -5
NDK That was just an estimate from memory. I just checked the site and it looks like a 6-inch diameter 1.5 inch width 80 grit will cost $73 shipped: $59 for the wheel and $14 shipping. I've found their plated wheels to be longer-lasting than any domestically manufactured wheels I've used, but wear depends so much on user techniques and the material being cut. Hope it works for you. So I done a batch with the Hong Kong wheel, I find since they aligned all the diamond or didn't mill flat the surface before adding diamond, it gives deeper scratches than I'd like still and their only next size is 3k. So I'm still searching for a 1.5 inch wheel of 1500 I guess |
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