bonkaboy
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2010
Posts: 12
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Post by bonkaboy on Feb 18, 2010 13:56:16 GMT -5
:help: dear fellow rockers I have been a rock-hound all my life, but I've finally joined my local rock club last year and began slabbing and cabbing and enjoyed being a guest on your site for at least as long if not longer. All your members cabs and their tremendous creativity that your members have shown with rocks and gems have me in absolute awe. My question is :what advice can you give me as to which used flat lap should I buy that costs the least, and will still do a decent job on the two beautiful Brazilian agates that I've managed to slab. There is such a wide difference as to how much the older flat laps weigh (want to put the sucker in my basement-quieter i hope) and of course, there's an even wider difference, as to how much each one costs versus another, and Ive never even seen one in use! Help! Any information or advice given, I would be extremely grateful to receive. Thanks, Kevin
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Feb 19, 2010 11:45:38 GMT -5
I don't know much about used ones but building one is really easy. Check out some of the ones in this section. I built mine for about $30. The diamond disks cost about $100
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Post by rockmanken on Feb 19, 2010 16:15:03 GMT -5
To clarify this, are you talking about vibrating flat laps? Or horizontal rotating flat laps?
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rockhound97058
freely admits to licking rocks
Thundereggs - Oregons Official State Rock!
Member since January 2006
Posts: 760
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Post by rockhound97058 on Feb 19, 2010 22:46:15 GMT -5
I agree - we need to know if your looking for a vibra-lap or a flat lap. I myself have both varieties. I have a 20" Lortone Vibra-lap which I have set-up as polish only. Then I have a 20" Highland Park Vibra-lap which I run 220 & 600 grit on. Then I also have a 20" flat lap.
My opinion the lortone vibra-lap is the most quiet machine for the vibra-laps however I always had problems with it tearing certain stones up. Thundereggs with a coarse grained matrix such as Lucky Strike Mines tend to under cut very bad.
The Highland Park works great and is very quick at flattening out the stones, however if you do not set the machine up just perfect the dang thing makes a heck of a noise and wants to take off walking down the floor!
Now the standard flat lap is quiet and doesn't go anywhere! It works great and is quick. I run it only with 220 then sand my stones to get ready for polish. The flat lap is a modified unit I personally built, and over the past few months I've slowly been building a 24" flat lap for a good buddy of mine.
Some materials I lap out flat, then sand and then polish. Other stones I vibra-lap 220, 600 and straight to polish and the stones are very flat, great polish however they have a different texture/look than my sanded stones.
Also these types of machines seem to work the best with heavier stones. If you plan to do slabs with them, you'll need bumpers and weights.
Oh another thing - The Lortone machine has a very fine vibration which cannot be adjusted it is what it is. The Highland park is a very hard, coarse shake. Also the Highland Park can also be adjusted by moving the weight in or out and flipping the direction it points. Also I find the lortone polishes much better than the Highland park.
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bonkaboy
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2010
Posts: 12
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Post by bonkaboy on Feb 20, 2010 11:47:07 GMT -5
ok thanks so much for all the input, i am interested in buying a
vibratory lap , and since it will be in the basement noise isn't that
much of an issue. what is however, is an idea posed by a friend--
that perhaps a flat lap doesn't polish as well as a vibe-lap since it
only polishes the stones in one direction , and the vibe-lap
posishes in all directions. What do you think?
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on Mar 6, 2010 10:32:29 GMT -5
We have done both vibe and rotary lapping and find the finish on a rotary to be of better flatness than a vibe finish, granted, a lot more labor intensive. The rotary, ours is 30", has to be babysat and a seperate polishing unit built, but the flatness is much better. A close look, to us, is that a vibe lap leaves a surface much like looking at the ocean from an airplane, the rotary is FLAT. WE lap quartz mtls. Please, no flak, this is presented as an opinion.
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drjo
fully equipped rock polisher
Honduran Opal & DIY Nut
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,581
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Post by drjo on Mar 7, 2010 5:18:43 GMT -5
30" rotary, belt or solid? pix please?
Dr Joe
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on Apr 3, 2010 10:44:30 GMT -5
To put a pic. here would really be a waste of space, the thing is a 3' square box w/30" dia. flat table in it. Belt driven from underneath, absolutely ancient, but in very good shape. The fun part was getting it home and located for use. I lag bolted 2x12's to the legs and w/a couple helpers got it started up into the pickup, finished the loading with a come-along. At home, we pulled it out as far as safe, using a high lift jack to let the end down,then used the jack to hold the high end up while driving the pickup out from under it. Had to roll it on pipes about 90' across to the shed where it runs with our slab saws and tumblers. My wife is a great pipe mover, I pushed, nothing to pull from.
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drjo
fully equipped rock polisher
Honduran Opal & DIY Nut
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,581
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Post by drjo on Apr 3, 2010 10:54:35 GMT -5
OOHhh...30" flat lap, I understand now.
Thanks,
Dr Joe
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Apr 3, 2010 18:45:38 GMT -5
To answer the op's question about vibe vs. rotary and polishing direction, you turn the stone as you're sanding and polishing on a rotary, so it's effectively multiple directions.
The biggest difference is manual (rotary) vs. automatic (vibe). With a vibe you'll also have to weight your slabs (not a big deal, just wanted to make sure you knew).
Chuck
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 3, 2010 19:13:16 GMT -5
I've found flat laps much faster than vibratory laps since you hold the rock down and can feel the grind. Hands on is as mentioned more labor intensive.
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Apr 4, 2010 20:39:50 GMT -5
I've never used the vibe-lap before and just began using the flat lap what, maybe three or four weeks ago. I love the darned thing! I have an 8" HiTech unit, which is a funny name as it's the most low-tech machine I've ever seen. Dead silent, and like Ken said to me earlier, you can use it in your living room, it's that clean! I mean I'm having a total blast with it.
And if you get used to slowly turning your cab as you grind, it takes very little time to polish it up. Mine came with 5 wheels, and I'm buying a couple of extras (the 180 starter isn't hard enough to knock down some of the harder stones I'm working) and I want an in-between stage after my 1200. Have the 40000 diamond polish for final, but to go from 1200 to 40000 seems to be too big a step for some of the stones I'm turning.
Anyway, I don't think, as a beginner, I would have had fun with the vibe-lap like I am with the flat-lap, and would have had to have more equipment to complete the entire cabbing process. With the flat lap I don't need anything more than my trim saw....
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 4, 2010 21:17:01 GMT -5
Robin, you are talking flat cab machine. Question was on flat laps (generally much larger and use silicon carbide grit) vs. vibrating laps Both machines are used for flat surfaces only. Your High Tech can do a great job on small flats or domes by turning the stone.
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Apr 7, 2010 19:32:50 GMT -5
I didn't know that, it's listed as a flat lap as are the cheaper Inland all-in-one's. Regardless, I'm having fun with it and that's all that matters to me. Not sure I'd be so interested in a vibe-lap after starting with this machine.
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