randy
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2008
Posts: 117
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Post by randy on Mar 30, 2009 19:51:11 GMT -5
I am fairly new to cabbing, but I have a used Genie and a dop pot that I made from a Hamilton_Beach iron that I bought at the local Goodwill. I have noticed that the wax seems to be OK for several heatings, but before too long it won't even melt down. I scrape out the wax. Replace with a couple of chunks (about 1/2 of a stick), and everything melts down nicely again. I don't know what I can be doing wrong. It is wax, not some exotic substance?  Any ideas? Thanks in advance folks. Randy |
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Post by Tweetiepy on Mar 30, 2009 20:34:22 GMT -5
There are different types of dop wax (they melt at different temperatures) there's green & black and I think red too.
Maybe you're heating the wax too hot? I used to heat mine on the stove in a tin can on a pie plate - it seemed to go okay for the first while then it too took a while to heat up - but now I have a dop pot and that same wax (I think) seems okay.
Maybe try melting and keeping it at a lower temp? At my rock club they used a warming plate with a tuna can for the wax - the warming plate was great too for heating the stones.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 30, 2009 21:25:26 GMT -5
Dop wax has a shellac content to give it strength. Overheating is the biggest culprit in ruining it. Every time it is heated it loses a little strength also. The best thing to do is get everything ready. Dop as many stones as needed (heating stones also). Dop. Turn off heater. A lot of people leave the heater on and dop a little, grind a little. Your wax will last a lot longer if you don't. The different colors are different temperatures. Green is the standard for lapidary. Black is a little hotter so used for faceting. Brown is actually colder but stickier so used for faceting heat sensitive stones. Temperatures are green 150, black 170, brown 145. I've heard of red but never seen it.
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WarrenA
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2003
Posts: 1,530
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Post by WarrenA on Mar 30, 2009 22:13:56 GMT -5
I goofed the other day and left the dop pot on for a couple of days and had to throw that wax out
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,979
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Post by khara on May 20, 2024 4:14:17 GMT -5
Came here to find the difference btwn green and red dop wax. Johns info above is really great, except, there actually is red on the market right now! From the Kingsley North website both green and red have the same description... "provides good adhesion for general lapidary work, softens at 150°F". So what gives? Why the difference? Just so we have a color choice? I didn't know about heating it over and over making it slightly less strong each time. That's good info... thanks johnjsgems though I'm sorry we haven't seen you here for a while. |
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Post by rockjunquie on May 20, 2024 6:25:16 GMT -5
Came here to find the difference btwn green and red dop wax. Johns info above is really great, except, there actually is red on the market right now! From the Kingsley North website both green and red have the same description... "provides good adhesion for general lapidary work, softens at 150°F". So what gives? Why the difference? Just so we have a color choice? I didn't know about heating it over and over making it slightly less strong each time. That's good info... thanks johnjsgems though I'm sorry we haven't seen you here for a while. I'd stick with the green. I add a little bit of fresh wax to old wax. It seems to be all I need to bring new life to old wax. |
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Post by chris1956 on May 20, 2024 9:03:46 GMT -5
Dop wax has a shellac content to give it strength. Overheating is the biggest culprit in ruining it. Every time it is heated it loses a little strength also. The best thing to do is get everything ready. Dop as many stones as needed (heating stones also). Dop. Turn off heater. A lot of people leave the heater on and dop a little, grind a little. Your wax will last a lot longer if you don't. The different colors are different temperatures. Green is the standard for lapidary. Black is a little hotter so used for faceting. Brown is actually colder but stickier so used for faceting heat sensitive stones. Temperatures are green 150, black 170, brown 145. I've heard of red but never seen it. So if you are having problems with stones coming off because of cold water, you would want to use the brown? Thanks. |
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,979
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Post by khara on May 20, 2024 18:48:43 GMT -5
chris1956 I’m not sure. Would be a good experiment to try. But I also don’t use super cold water to cab. In the winter when the outdoor faucet water is really cold, I’ll fill my clean water bucket mostly with tap and then run inside for a couple pitchers of hot water to warm it up a bit. That might solve the cold water problem with your wax and also be much nicer to work on your hands.
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Post by liveoak on May 21, 2024 5:54:40 GMT -5
I have a tip I do, to remember to turn the dop pot off (and the pickle pot),
I have it plugged into a dedicated outlet strip, the strip also has a nightlight plugged into it.
So when I turn on the dop with the outlet strip, it also turns on the light.
Then, when I go to leave the room & the light is still on, I can't forget.
Works for me, of course you could use a larger light, but the night light seems to work.
Patty
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rixrocks
having dreams about rocks
Member since September 2019
Posts: 51
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Post by rixrocks on May 26, 2024 0:15:15 GMT -5
I never had good luck with dop wax personally. What works well for me is to super glue a small screw to the back of the cab. I apply the super glue to the cab, spray it with accelerater and place the screw in it. It bonds within a minute or three. I have wooden dowles with a hole drilled into an end that I screw the cab into. When finished cabbing, I heat the screw with a small torch and it falls off the cab. If you keep having trouble with dop wax like I did, you might try this
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,979
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Post by khara on May 26, 2024 6:12:23 GMT -5
I do the same thing as rixrocks for smaller cabs where a wooden dowel and dop wax would just be too big. And initially when I tried dop wax years ago I also didn’t have good luck with it, cabs flying off too often. But, initially I didn’t know to also heat the cab on the dop pot before adding the wax. That helped immensely. Also, I used to cab on a flat lap and there may be something to that, where working on a flat lap might be more problematic for dop wax vs an upright cabbing machine, I’m not sure. |
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