lapidary1234
spending too much on rocks
"If you like rocks you can't be all bad!!" ~ old timer quote
Member since October 2021
Posts: 325
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Post by lapidary1234 on Sept 10, 2024 4:15:11 GMT -5
So I'm not sure which forum to post this in but I chose this one as it seems to get more traffic...
I am looking for a wider than normal textured grinding wheel to do initial rough out with.
Alot of 8" wheels are available in both the standard 1.5" width as well as often times a 2" wide wheel.
Looking in the normal places, all I see available now are 1.5" width. Kingsley sells the 8x1.5 textured wheel for $109 which is a great price. I actually bought one for my genie and love the way it chews through rough.
However my genie is at my house and my slab saw and 8" setups are at my mother in laws.
I reached out to Darius at Baltic Abrasive about getting wider wheels made. He says they can do it but there are a couple of hang ups. First off there is a minimum quantity order of 5 pieces. Secondly the pricing is a bit steep if I say so myself. 8x2" wheels are $224 each and 8x3" are $325 each. Again minimum quantity of 5.
He can do sintered wheels with only a quantity of one ordered. An 8x1.5" sintered isn't overly expensive but as you add width the price goes up fast. An 8x3" sintered wheel is around $750. They last forever yes but the 8x3 sintered are effectively two 8x1.5" wheels fused together and have a wider mount. I know this because I bought one already. It barely fit on my raytech unit (originally expando drums).
The long short of it is twofold, I am only a pizza delivery guy so $750 is alot of money for me. Yes I can save and eventually get one but honestly I am just unsure of how it will perform. The 60 grit sintered I bought cuts like a 120-150 grit. I would be getting a 30 grit sintered if I go this route.
The other thought is maybe someone else makes an 8x2" textured wheel. I have seen the crystalite "turbine" wheels, don't remember if they are 1.5 or 2" but those also cost over $700.
While $325 seems steep compared to the $109 Kingsley charges for a 1.5" wide wheel, I would pay that just because I know that a 60 grit textured will perform how I want it to. I just can't justify buying 5 of them.
The end questions I guess are: either someone knows a different source for 2" wide wheels or else maybe there would be interest from other folks in getting an 8x3" textured wheel. I could buy the 5 but I would need to know at least a couple other folks would want one.
Also, he told me the textured wheels are all one piece, any bore width requested, so they wouldn't have the mounting problem I encountered with my wide sintered wheel.
I know that was alot to read so if you made it this far, thank you!
I look forward to the replies!
Josh
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rockbrain
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2022
Posts: 3,201
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Post by rockbrain on Sept 10, 2024 9:22:25 GMT -5
Hans Lapidary Glass Tools has them for $120. Likely they'll be shipped from China. I've ordered from one of the other many "Hans" companies and had good luck with them.
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Post by opalpyrexia on Sept 10, 2024 10:22:05 GMT -5
Just wondering ... if mounting two 1.5" wheels together (no spacers) would work for you.
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 10, 2024 12:44:09 GMT -5
Just wondering ... if mounting two 1.5" wheels together (no spacers) would work for you. I think I would want to cut a custom spacer to prevent the plastic cores from flexing very much, but the concept is intriguing for sure, don't see why it wouldn't work. |
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 10, 2024 12:50:37 GMT -5
Have you checked with Johnson Bros? I use their textured wheels on my cabmate 1 wheel mud creator, and pretty happy with them.
Lots of people have had good results from Han, but after buying plated wheels for the club shop and having the plated surface bubble off the wheel, then ghosted when I tried to contact them, I no longer do business with them. Plus, all their FB public sales pages are unmonitored and full of scammers.
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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: 325
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Post by lapidary1234 on Sept 10, 2024 14:09:33 GMT -5
opalpyrexia this is what I am considering doing. I just sent Darius at BA an email asking if he is willing to give me any info on how they "fused" the two 1.5" sintered wheels. Well see if he let's me know. My only concern with this is that the two wheels may not be spinning "together" and if that would present any problems. rockbrain I haven't actually checked mo han, I've heard the shipping is expensive and I've heard from more than one person that they've been ghosted if/when problems arise. Rockoonz I have also read more than a few reviews from folks not being satisfied with the JB company. Ranging from long ship times to poor quality control it makes me nervous ordering from them. Saying it out loud though I hear myself both complaining about expensive (but hopefully fast) shipping and also long wait times. I will say I am more than impressed with the quality and shipping time/rates from BA. Even the price for their wheels is not *overly* expensive, its just the minimum quantity of 5 that is the deal breaker. I'm also super happy with the 60 grit textured 6" I got from kingsley. The price is great, ship rates reasonable and ship time is excellent. Its seeming more and more likely that I will be investigating mounting 2x1.5" wheels right next to each other. I will be needing to have custom spacers made anyway to get my sintered wheels on this machine, so I may as well look into it!
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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: 325
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Post by lapidary1234 on Sept 10, 2024 14:15:47 GMT -5
rockbrain I just checked lapidarytool.com and only see 8x1.5" wheels. Do you have a link for the 8x2"? Maybe I'm on the wrong website... Thanks!
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Post by chris1956 on Sept 10, 2024 15:20:03 GMT -5
Have you checked with Johnson Bros? I use their textured wheels on my cabmate 1 wheel mud creator, and pretty happy with them. Lots of people have had good results from Han, but after buying plated wheels for the club shop and having the plated surface bubble off the wheel, then ghosted when I tried to contact them, I no longer do business with them. Plus, all their FB public sales pages are unmonitored and full of scammers. Thanks for that info. Always good to know when someone has had issues, especially ones that don't get resolved. |
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Post by parfive on Sept 10, 2024 15:54:17 GMT -5
I’m wondering . . . Why the need for such a wide wheel when cab grinding?
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 10, 2024 17:15:11 GMT -5
lapidary1234 I have heard the reports too, so I only purchase from J-Bros in Quartzsite, or more accurately from the dealer who sells for them at the PowWow and at the Keno show in Tucson. They stopped doing the shows a couple years age, hopefully to keep more people at their warehouse so they could ship orders faster.
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rockbrain
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2022
Posts: 3,201
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Post by rockbrain on Sept 10, 2024 19:10:01 GMT -5
It's weird I went to the site and couldn't find it. Had to go back into my history from this morning. They're calling it an 8"x1"x2". It's for a 1" shaft but they come with 3 different size bushings. Here |
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Post by stardiamond on Sept 10, 2024 21:13:39 GMT -5
I buy a lot of textured 80 grit wheels from Baltic. I like their aggressiveness without chipping. I had a machine with 8x2 soft wheels and the arbor froze. I started using my Genie and don't need the extra width. A cab can be worked or vertically as well as horizontally.
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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: 325
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Post by lapidary1234 on Sept 11, 2024 3:32:31 GMT -5
I’m wondering . . . Why the need for such a wide wheel when cab grinding? The wide wheel would be for initial rough out. I use a slab grabber when possible and often times it is faster to just flatten a surface off instead of securing an odd shaped rock in the vise and having to cut a good chunk off to get a large enough flat surface to mount in the grabber. I invested in the 8x3 60 grit sintered after reading everywhere that you should get one grit size lower with sintered wheels so I ordered a 60 hoping it would cut like an 80. It cuts more like a 120-150 making it less than ideal for what I'm wanting to do. Its now either get a 30 grit sintered (which i don't know how it will actually perform or go with a 60 grit textured which I know will do what I want it to. 8" wheels often are available in 2" wide wheels so I'd happily settle on that width but a 3" wide wheel would be a bonus. That is the size of expandable drums and those definitely allow for working larger pieces. |
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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: 325
|
Post by lapidary1234 on Sept 11, 2024 3:46:20 GMT -5
It's weird I went to the site and couldn't find it. Had to go back into my history from this morning. They're calling it an 8"x1"x2". It's for a 1" shaft but they come with 3 different size bushings. HereThat looks like the wheel I'm after. Interestingly it doesn't specify what grits are available, maybe thats because its for glass? Unfortunately it also says minimum quantity 10 pieces. I am going to look more into mounting two 1.5" wheels right next to each other. If it doesn't work then I'll just have a spare and have to work with what I got. I also wonder how long a textured wheel will cut aggressively. I know all electroplated wheels cut faster when brand new and then slow down. It might be more economical to just pay the extra price for a sintered wheel as it will last forever. That is the other reason I'm considering trying my luck with a 30 grit sintered. Another user told me that his calculations were sintered wheels cut effectively like twice the grit rating plus a little bit i.e. a 30 grit will cut like an 80 electroplated. This is in line with my experience as my 60 grit sintered cuts like a 120 or finer. |
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Post by chris1956 on Sept 11, 2024 7:43:38 GMT -5
It's weird I went to the site and couldn't find it. Had to go back into my history from this morning. They're calling it an 8"x1"x2". It's for a 1" shaft but they come with 3 different size bushings. HereThat looks like the wheel I'm after. Interestingly it doesn't specify what grits are available, maybe thats because its for glass? Unfortunately it also says minimum quantity 10 pieces. I am going to look more into mounting two 1.5" wheels right next to each other. If it doesn't work then I'll just have a spare and have to work with what I got. I also wonder how long a textured wheel will cut aggressively. I know all electroplated wheels cut faster when brand new and then slow down. It might be more economical to just pay the extra price for a sintered wheel as it will last forever. That is the other reason I'm considering trying my luck with a 30 grit sintered. Another user told me that his calculations were sintered wheels cut effectively like twice the grit rating plus a little bit i.e. a 30 grit will cut like an 80 electroplated. This is in line with my experience as my 60 grit sintered cuts like a 120 or finer. Whatever you go with, let us know how it works. Interesting discussion. |
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rockbrain
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2022
Posts: 3,201
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Post by rockbrain on Sept 11, 2024 9:46:50 GMT -5
That's weird. On another page they have all the grits listed but they're 1 1/2". You might want to try emailing them. They actually have about half a dozen on line stores with different names.
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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: 325
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Post by lapidary1234 on Sept 11, 2024 18:25:47 GMT -5
That's weird. On another page they have all the grits listed but they're 1 1/2". You might want to try emailing them. They actually have about half a dozen on line stores with different names. Thanks, I looked for a contact email on the website but couldn't find one. I sent him a message via ebay. Now to see if he responds! |
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rockbrain
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2022
Posts: 3,201
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Post by rockbrain on Sept 11, 2024 19:08:41 GMT -5
Yeah I've had some minor issues after ordering from them in the past. Little bit of communication problems but it all worked out in the end
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