Post by charles kuchar on Jun 12, 2011 15:36:21 GMT -5
when i got the saw it had a 1/3 horse motor with a 10" mk301 gem saw blade. it was running at about 1100 rpm. it was so slow... now a lot has changed.
the motor is 3/4 horse running at 1725. there are two driving pulleys for the blade. 2.5 and 1.75 inches. yesterday i finally got a multiple pulley for the motor with 4, 3.5, 2.5 and 2 inch steps. i can simply raise the motor on it's swivel and change the belt to get different speeds. with different pulley combinations i can run from 1380 to 3942 rpm blade speeds.
i also have 3 different blades to experiment with. first, the mk301 10", a chinese blade i purchased for 50 from a club member that uses this blade in oil with a continuous diamond edge, and a dewalt 8" tile blade that is continuous diamond.
i find that the mk301 works best at 3450 rpm. the 8" dewalt is running at that same speed but it is good at 3942 also. the 10" chinese blade is not working up to my expectations yet but maybe that is because i am using water with a diamond coolant added that i got from therockshed.com from shawn. i did try the chinese blade in oil and was not happy that way either but i didn't have the various speeds possible. mark, who i got the blade from, said it should be running about 2000 rpm in oil but i have to cut about 100 cuts to break it in... i am not sure it i am running the blade in the right direction also. the dewalt and mik301 blades have a blade direction indicator and i run them the way they say.
a while ago i posted a pix of the saw and i think jack said it looked like an old hp saw. it is real easy for me to change the blades now. less than a minute to remove one and install another. i like that feature. anyway, it is nice to saw up some rocks that had imperfections in them and just cut them up in slabs. charlie
the motor is 3/4 horse running at 1725. there are two driving pulleys for the blade. 2.5 and 1.75 inches. yesterday i finally got a multiple pulley for the motor with 4, 3.5, 2.5 and 2 inch steps. i can simply raise the motor on it's swivel and change the belt to get different speeds. with different pulley combinations i can run from 1380 to 3942 rpm blade speeds.
i also have 3 different blades to experiment with. first, the mk301 10", a chinese blade i purchased for 50 from a club member that uses this blade in oil with a continuous diamond edge, and a dewalt 8" tile blade that is continuous diamond.
i find that the mk301 works best at 3450 rpm. the 8" dewalt is running at that same speed but it is good at 3942 also. the 10" chinese blade is not working up to my expectations yet but maybe that is because i am using water with a diamond coolant added that i got from therockshed.com from shawn. i did try the chinese blade in oil and was not happy that way either but i didn't have the various speeds possible. mark, who i got the blade from, said it should be running about 2000 rpm in oil but i have to cut about 100 cuts to break it in... i am not sure it i am running the blade in the right direction also. the dewalt and mik301 blades have a blade direction indicator and i run them the way they say.
a while ago i posted a pix of the saw and i think jack said it looked like an old hp saw. it is real easy for me to change the blades now. less than a minute to remove one and install another. i like that feature. anyway, it is nice to saw up some rocks that had imperfections in them and just cut them up in slabs. charlie