The F(r)antom!

Hey! Thanks for the comments everyone!

I got a really nice email from Isiah at Cigar Box Rocks. Hopefully I'll be able to make a visit on one of our holiday trips to Portland this year. Here is my initial email:

"Hi guys, I found your website through the rock tumbling hobby forum page. I am just getting into the rock hounding hobby and I happen across an 18 inch. Frantom slab saw for cheap. I grabbed it and I’m cleaning it up. I want to get a new blade for it. I also have some questions about maybe getting some of the brass parts re-machined. The rods that the carriage ride on have a little etching from rust, and the rods that vice moves laterally on seem pretty loose in their brass (bronze?) brackets. Do you think having the brass brackets drilled and sleeved and having the rods cleaned up at a machine shop is a good idea? Is that a service you offer? Also do you have a good recommendation for an 18” blade on a 5/8” arbor for a beginner? Thanks a lot!"

And here is his reply:

"Good morning Ben,

Thanks for contacting us. That machine looks to be in excellent condition. You've done well by taking it apart and cleaning up the pieces. In my experience with Frantom saws, the carriage fits pretty snugly to the rails even with some etching. I wouldn't worry about doing anything to the brass sleeves. And as far as the cross feed (lateral movement), a little slop is totally fine. When the saw is in use, there is a constant forward pressure from the blade pushing against whatever is being held in the vise. I would suggest tightening some set screws and see if you can get a tighter fit, but some clearance in those parts is necessary to allow smooth travel left and right. We do offer machining services, but we are a minimum of 6-8 weeks out on those jobs. As far as a blade, most 18" blades will be cut with a 1" arbor. They will typically come with a set of blade bushings to drop it down to either 3/4" or 5/8". We also sell blade bushings.

Blade styles are a whole other topic. Generally speaking, a more expensive blade will leave a cleaner finish on your slabs. If you expect to cut big, hard rocks, a segmented blade like the picture in our logo is probably the best. The cutouts in the rim allow for more oil to be brought to the cutting surface. It also clears the debris away from the cut more effectively than other blade types. A continuous rim will give the smoothest finish, but will likely need to be sharpened more frequently and they don't seem to perform quite as well cutting big stuff. A notched rim is a hybrid of the two styles and tends to be the cheapest. I would opt for one of those to begin with. Get a feel for clamping rocks securely and operating your saw before you risk ruining a $500 blade. If something goes wrong, it just takes one cut to destroy a blade.

That's my advice, hope it helps!"

Super cool! What a nice guy!

I also asked him about pulling apart the arbor and he suggested not doing it. I got rid my old harbor freight grease gun a couple years ago because I never used it, but now I need a new one. The lesson is: Never throw tools away.

This one, right? My 14 and 18 have this style, in fact all 4 of the FranTom saws I have owned has them.

I think those are the most common half nuts. I think HP China makes replacements for them.

Yes I think you are correct (saw is at different location then I am). I guess y'all probably mentioned this style, I was recently looking over the saw and admiring how robust it is...when I lift that lever it clamps with a good amount of force and is easy on the hands!

Those frantom saws seem to be built really well, I wish I could find other segmented blades for it, I have one that I'm scared to use just in case something dumb happens...

demihuman those are the blades I've been using with great success. What he said in the email is all too familiar! In all honesty I really can't tell a difference between these and the mk blades. I've had the last one on my saw for over 6 months now!

I have used the crimped edge blades for trim saws, The price is compelling for sure. The ones I tried on slab saws definitely don't compare to sintered though, the 303S I bought for a HP saw about 12 years ago is in it's 3rd slab saw with about 75% left.
With the slab saw basket I brought back from the NW with me there is one of the green sintered/notched HP China blade, can't remember 16 or 18. They also sell 303 clones, sphereguy Matt likes them.

When using an adapter with a budget blade, if it doesn't fit tightly, you should stake it in. Just learned this with a Chinese sintered blade vs Blue Mt Jasper, some serious hard stuff.

The adaptor did fail, but Blue Mt is really hard and tough stuff.
To stake it in I laid it flat on a heavy steel table top, and carefully tapped on a center punch on the adaptor, close to the blade. Only takes a little, I did 3/6/9/12 o clock then flipped it and did the other side.

Nice build so far. Your feed speed seems really fast, you want around 7 min per inch. Rockoonz

That still seems really fast!  Is that using the largest pulley on back pulley?  What is the diameter of the pulley on your arbor that used for the feed mechanism?  On my 18" Frantoms, it is 5".