robbiejohn
starting to shine!
Member since July 2010
Posts: 36
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Post by robbiejohn on Apr 30, 2012 21:16:05 GMT -5
Hello to all experienced rock sawyers. I have recently acquired a Lortone LS-14 balance arm slab saw. It looks to be in great shape. The last owner bought it 14 years ago and let it sit in his basement. He never started it. Said he got married and gave up playing with stones. Today I took out the old oil and scraped out over an inch of old sludge in coloured layers---looks like soft shale. There were two metal rectangles on the bottom near the vise. I looked them up on the parts list and it seems they're "scoring jigs or guides" and instructions given for how to score the slabs. It's the first time I've run in to the idea of scoring rock. Is it meant to be a way of preparing a slab for later breaking or nipping into various shapes of rectangle? The other question concerns a metal pan in the oil reservoir. It's about 4''x10' and 1.75' high. It's covered with a heavy wire screen that fits over the opening. It contained about 0.75" of very fine sludge. It's painted the same blue colour as the rest of the machine, but isn't mentioned or shown in the parts list. Would greatly appreciate any advice or explanation from slabbers in the know. Thanks in advance and cheers! Robbiejohn
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Post by deb193redux on May 1, 2012 0:25:12 GMT -5
neither one strikes a bell with me ... hopefully someone
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shermlock
has rocks in the head
Member since August 2011
Posts: 612
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Post by shermlock on May 1, 2012 20:19:19 GMT -5
I have the same saw and it did come with the scoring piece. I don't know what that would be used for and when I searched for it on the internet, I couldn't find anything on it. I gave up looking. I have no idea where that piece is now. I've never seen a box. The only thing I can think of is a place to put the slabs so the oil drains off them...like a dish rack. Scott
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Post by helens on May 1, 2012 22:07:25 GMT -5
I have never tried this with rocks... but when I think about it, there's no reason it wouldn't work the same way with a slab of glass or a slab of rocks the same thickness (not very thick).
You 'score' glass by running a line down a sheet of glass, wet the score, then 'tap' it and the glass just snaps in half down the score line. It works the same way with ceramic tile and marble/granite too, though relatively thin pieces. The identical principle as a tile cutter (the kind you slide down the 'scoring diamond' then press on the 2 sided pressure piece and it 'snaps' the tile into 2 halves).
Can't think of any other possible explanation... but I've never tried this on slabs.
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Post by parfive on May 3, 2012 2:45:48 GMT -5
Just a guess about the metal pan – Could be a homemade remedy for keeping the oil cleaner, longer, before having to clean out the whole oil pan.
Sitting under the blade and favoring the back side, a good deal of the swarf, sediment and chips would settle in the small pan, rather than fouling the big one.
Much easier to clean out the little tray a few times before having to deal with the entire saw.
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