mirkee
starting to spend too much on rocks
Started tumbling a couple of months ago but now have four tumblers. Very interested in the hobby.
Member since March 2024
Posts: 128
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Post by mirkee on Sept 17, 2024 2:21:53 GMT -5
All I do is tumble at this time and of course I'm having fun. Like everything else, I'd like to move up. I'm also taking a jewelry making class at the local community college. It seems like I would make better use of my rocks by having a flat surface on them and being able to use a bezel. I have made one cab at a local club but it's a 4 hour drive 2+2 for a 3 hour session in the shop. I'm think9ng of getting a 8" flat lap and maybe even keeping it if a later go to a cabber. The cabber is expensive and most of all takes up a lot of room. Is that a logical baby steps thing or is making cabs with a flat lap pretty much a waste of time? By the way, I'm 74 and even though I'm not at the end, I can see it from here. Healthy but still...
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 17, 2024 2:59:06 GMT -5
*These are just my opinions.
It seems that people who start with a flat lap, quickly move on to a cabber. Yes, they are bigger and cost more, but you are going to get better results quicker and more immediate satisfaction with a cabber. The learning curve on the flat lap is steeper. Wouldn't seem like it, but the flat lap is more difficult to use. I've seen a lot of people here transition from flat lap to cabber after a short amount of time. Better just to start with a cabber if you can.
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gunsil
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2023
Posts: 357
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Post by gunsil on Sept 17, 2024 9:05:43 GMT -5
I agree with rockjunqie, cabbing machines do cost a lot but they are so much better and easier to use. You will make a cab many times faster on a cabber than a flat lap and I believe it is much easier to form a nice flat free surface on a dedicated cabbing machine.
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Post by chris1956 on Sept 17, 2024 9:44:34 GMT -5
*These are just my opinions.
It seems that people who start with a flat lap, quickly move on to a cabber. Yes, they are bigger and cost more, but you are going to get better results quicker and more immediate satisfaction with a cabber. The learning curve on the flat lap is steeper. Wouldn't seem like it, but the flat lap is more difficult to use. I've seen a lot of people here transition from flat lap to cabber after a short amount of time. Better just to start with a cabber if you can.
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 17, 2024 10:18:54 GMT -5
I agree, in the many lapidarists I have met, I know only one dedicated flat lap cab cutter, and I think he only sticks with it so he can teach others. A 2 wheel arbor can be farly inexpensive and only uses a little more space than a lap. Put a 180 grit hard diamond wheel on the left side and an expanding drum for sanding belts on the right, and it will do everything a 6 wheel cabber will, just a little more slowly since you are changing belts as you go. I started with one arbor set up like that, and later added another, with 80 and 220 hard wheels on one, and 2 expandos on the other, and used that arrangement for years till a great deal on a used Genie dropped in my lap.
For the expandos I used the inexpensive SiC sanding belts for many years, a little slower than diamond but friendlier with a lot of hard to cut materials. Good diamond belts can last a decent amount of time as well, and cost less than the nova type wheels. Some people like the softness of the rubber better than the foam on the novas.
End plates for polishing with cerium on leather, felt or whatever you prefer are also available for the arbors, I personally never used them since I got the 12" richardsons slow polisher early on, and I have always had a decent amount of bench space.
I even have a 1 wheel machine called a Graves Cabmate that can switch out entire wheels pretty quickly, it is dedicated to a textured 80 grit wheel I use for preforming and shaping with fresh water, since the genie reuses water and requires frequent cleaning if you do heavy grinding with it. It uses very little bench space. Somewhere in the last couple years I did a video walkthrough of my setup as it looked then, on my YouTube if you want to look it up.
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 17, 2024 10:32:02 GMT -5
Okay, I checked to see if the video was still up, and it is. It also shows my rotating space saver bench that might be of interest for people with limited space or too many tools. All of this has been moved to the other end of the even more cluttered shop space since that is the end with the AC unit. Maybe I'll clean things and post a new one after the show in October.
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mirkee
starting to spend too much on rocks
Started tumbling a couple of months ago but now have four tumblers. Very interested in the hobby.
Member since March 2024
Posts: 128
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Post by mirkee on Sept 17, 2024 19:04:47 GMT -5
Thank you all for your input, very valuable for me! A two wheel grinder sounds like the way to go for me. My previous hobby was tropical fish and I set up a full fish room 15x18' until the hobby essentially died and I had nobody to share it with so I took down my fish room $$$. Unfortunately it is now full of exercise equipment which is never used and lots of my wife's quilting material. Hey, she claimed it first. A two wheeler I could fit elsewhere by moving things around for the time being. So, what is a good two wheel arbor? I don't want to tinker too much. Where do I find one? What to look for? I assume water is a must. Thanks. I think this post is shaping up nicely for beginners like me. It's all getting clearer. So easy to get bogged down.
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 17, 2024 19:53:48 GMT -5
Thank you all for your input, very valuable for me! A two wheel grinder sounds like the way to go for me. My previous hobby was tropical fish and I set up a full fish room 15x18' until the hobby essentially died and I had nobody to share it with so I took down my fish room $$$. Unfortunately it is now full of exercise equipment which is never used and lots of my wife's quilting material. Hey, she claimed it first. A two wheeler I could fit elsewhere by moving things around for the time being. So, what is a good two wheel arbor? I don't want to tinker too much. Where do I find one? What to look for? I assume water is a must. Thanks. I think this post is shaping up nicely for beginners like me. It's all getting clearer. So easy to get bogged down. Tagging Rockoonz for ya. He's the man. |
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Post by chris1956 on Sept 17, 2024 20:42:32 GMT -5
I have a Covington Grinder that has two wheels. It was expensive but has worked well. I had some issues connecting water tubing because of compression vs regular size fittings. Other thing to be aware of with this unit and possibly others is that it only has space on the shaft for 1-1/2 inch wide wheels. I use it for 80 and 220 grit metal wheels so ok for me. I don't know if there is an option for longer shafts on it.
This will be hard to tell if ok but good size drainage connections are important because you will generate a lot of sludge using 80 grit wheels.
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Maybe you can post some pictures here