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Post by sheltie on Sept 26, 2012 14:15:24 GMT -5
Is there any reason why a person can't use degreaser, such as is used on a car engine, to get rid of the oil on slabs and especially inside the slab saw cabinet?
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Post by deb193redux on Sept 26, 2012 14:31:38 GMT -5
I think this is commonly done.
I put all slabs into a bucket with Dawn and a degreaser (or sometimes TSP) as soon as they are cut. While some prefer cat litter, I like the detergent. When I empty the bucket, I rinse with warm water and scrub as necessary with Dawn and a TSP substitute.
After I drain the oil from the saws for cleaning, I use the same mixture, sometimes stronger, to scrub out the saw. Actually about every other cleaning. In between times I just remove the sludge and refill with filtered oil.
The big caution is water and rust. After I drain the soap and degreaser, I fill with oil ASAP and run the saw for 10 minutes without cutting to make sure the insides get well coated with oil.
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Post by catmandewe on Sept 26, 2012 15:29:01 GMT -5
No reason to get the oil off the inside of the saw cabinet.
I keep a bucket of water mixed with a degreaser called "totally awesome" beside my saw. As they finish cutting I throw them in the bucket, when the bucket gets full then I clean them all off in the sink with a spray bottle of more concentrated totally awesome, most of them come out really clean.
Have you got a pile of slabs yet? Have a great day.............Tony
There are some types of stone that don't clean up well with this method and those go in the kitty litter.
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Post by deb193redux on Sept 26, 2012 15:51:02 GMT -5
Tony, I agree there is not reason to get "clean" oil off of th inside of the cabinet, while there is a reason to get it off slabs.
But, I use the detergents to get the dirty greasy pudding off of the inside of the saw box, as well as the underside of the carriage and the rails.
On a related note, for slabs that look to soak up more oil (e.g some rhyolites, some copper oxides), I try to soak them in water for days before I cut. This helps prevent oil form penetrating the rock.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 26, 2012 16:26:32 GMT -5
On the rare occasion that I give my saws a good cleaning, I drain the oil into double paper bags, scrape out the sludge and put it in the paper bags to recover as much oil as I can. I then remove the blade. I wrap the motors and power switch in plastic and tape them off. Then I hit everything with the pressure washer. I soak up as much water as possible with old rags, then let the saw sit in the hot sun all day with the lid open.
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fwfranklen (Mike)
spending too much on rocks
Rock-ON--Have you kissed your rock today?
Member since August 2012
Posts: 379
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Post by fwfranklen (Mike) on Sept 26, 2012 17:13:13 GMT -5
On the rare occasion that I give my saws a good cleaning, I drain the oil into double paper bags, scrape out the sludge and put it in the paper bags to recover as much oil as I can. I then remove the blade. I wrap the motors and power switch in plastic and tape them off. Then I hit everything with the pressure washer. I soak up as much water as possible with old rags, then let the saw sit in the hot sun all day with the lid open. I also do the same as jakesrocks. No matter what some slabs or geode halves just get oil contaminated. If you heat them up around 200F it will burn off the oil if you do this in your ketchun oven...well it gets smokey :blush: . I have also boiled them and the contamination floats to the top. After either of these treatments I put in my vacume system to remove all moisture. I can if neccessary stabilze with glues/epoxys by heating them to 150F then put them in a container cover them with the solution and then put the container under pressure (25psi) while it cools.
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Post by jakesrocks on Sept 26, 2012 17:57:00 GMT -5
Mike, we used to do something similar with aluminum castings. But instead of pressure, we used vacuum. The castings were put in a tank. The lid was sealed and the tank filled with epoxy. Then we'd draw a vacuum on the tank. The vacuum would draw all trapped air out of imperfections in the casting, and draw epoxy in. After a couple minutes we'd release the vacuum and drain the remaining epoxy. The castings went through a wash to remove external epoxy. (Trychloroethane). Then the castings went into a curing oven.
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fwfranklen (Mike)
spending too much on rocks
Rock-ON--Have you kissed your rock today?
Member since August 2012
Posts: 379
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Post by fwfranklen (Mike) on Sept 26, 2012 18:10:54 GMT -5
Don, I tried that with the superglue stuff and the vacume boiled of the super gluee. I was worried what would happen to my vacume pump with superglue fumes passing through it. I will try that with the epoxy.
thanks Mike
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Post by Woodyrock on Sept 27, 2012 0:03:22 GMT -5
I throw my slabs in a bucket of sawdust overnight, then into a bucket of orange degreaser. The oily sawdust is changed frequently, then mixed with hot wax to make fire starter balls. Woody
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Post by sheltie on Sept 27, 2012 8:15:18 GMT -5
No reason to get the oil off the inside of the saw cabinet. I keep a bucket of water mixed with a degreaser called "totally awesome" beside my saw. As they finish cutting I throw them in the bucket, when the bucket gets full then I clean them all off in the sink with a spray bottle of more concentrated totally awesome, most of them come out really clean. Have you got a pile of slabs yet? Have a great day.............Tony There are some types of stone that don't clean up well with this method and those go in the kitty litter. Tony, Thanks for the advice and to the others as well. I've been using oil absorbent (basically the same as kitty litter) to this point but think I will try your method as well. As far as the inside of the saw cabinet, I'll just clean it by hand as best I can and keep going. I cleaned it fairly well yesteray - don't wan to lose the new look, you know! ;D - but that will probably get real old real quick and I'll just clean it when I change the oil. I did some Gary Green (I think) and Mexican Lace yesterday and the GG REALLY made the oil dirty as well as a lot of the matrix fell off further messing up the oil. My guess is that it will get a lot dirtier. How ofter should I drain and clean the oil before I totally replace it with new oil? Denny
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Post by deb193redux on Sept 27, 2012 9:12:40 GMT -5
there is some loss when filtering. it also helps to stop when the sludge is a little damp, because the time it takes to get the last ounce of oil will never be worth it.
just top off with fresh oil as needed. if you are using a good quality mineral oil, you never need to throw it out.
as for cleaning frequency, this will depend on how deep your oil in the bottom of you tank is, and how long between cuts. Many particulates will settle with a little time. As long as you have a thick layer of clear oil on top, you may not need a cleaning yet.
but the blade does stir things up. if you ever feel the surface of the blade to be gritty, or newly cut slabs seem more gritty than slippery, than it is good to change -in my opinion - because this friction will make for a hotter cut and more wear on the blade. and more forces on the stone that might break weak points.
large 18" plus saws generally have several inches of oil and can go a long time. My LS10 and LS12 have as little as 1" or 1.5" and need cleaning more often.
I also cut more jasper and rhyolite than agate. you can cut agate a lot longer between cleanings.
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Post by FrogAndBearCreations on Sept 27, 2012 9:45:58 GMT -5
it helps to have a warm area for the filtering process
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Post by sheltie on Sept 29, 2012 7:54:50 GMT -5
I'm learning - slowly. I bought a gallon of orange degreaser and put it in a pail. How long should the slabs be in there? The degreaser is at full strength, not diluted.
Also, my oil turned dirty after the first cutting. Right now, after doing four days worth, it looks the color of dia... well you know. The is a thin layer of sludge on the bottom of the cabinet, probably about 1/16th of an inch. At what point should either circumstance necessitate me draining the oil and cleaning the cabinet? I clean all the exposed parts every day following slabbing.
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Post by deb193redux on Sept 29, 2012 10:31:57 GMT -5
see my remarks about settling, clear layers, and gritty feel
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Post by sheltie on Sept 29, 2012 13:10:10 GMT -5
Got it, Deb, thanks. What I need to know know is how long my slabs should be in the degreaser before I remove them and go on to the next part of the process? Right now I have quite a few in there that have been in from anywhere from one to three days.
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The Dad_Ohs
fully equipped rock polisher
Take me to your Labradorite!!
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,860
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Post by The Dad_Ohs on Sept 29, 2012 13:15:59 GMT -5
large 18" plus saws generally have several inches of oil and can go a long time. My LS10 and LS12 have as little as 1" or 1.5" and need cleaning more often. My 18" only has 3 gallons of oil in it and the blade is 1/2" in the oil. there is only about 2-3 inches of oil in the tank due to its size.I stick my finger in it to see how much grit is forming in the bottom, but I figure I will change the oil about every 4-6 months with regular use and every 3 months with heavy use.
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Post by deb193redux on Sept 29, 2012 13:16:37 GMT -5
after a day, time does not matter. some scrubbing may still be necessary
I usually go until a bucket is full, or I am ready to scrub and photograph, usually a few dozen slabs to as many as 5 dozen. this is from 2 slab saws.
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The Dad_Ohs
fully equipped rock polisher
Take me to your Labradorite!!
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,860
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Post by The Dad_Ohs on Sept 29, 2012 13:19:05 GMT -5
it helps to have a warm area for the filtering process You just described my house all year long.. except maybe late December - mid January or if its a really bad winter... until late February!!! Send all your oil here and I will, for a small storage fee, stuff it in my shed to finish dripping and you can have it back, for a small fee, when its done!!!!! Did I mention there was a small fee ?? I never thought of cleaning the slabs after cutting, I've been wiping the oil off as soon as they finish cutting... guess 'll have to get another bucket and cleaning solution, they sell totally awesome at the dollar store near me, and go soak my hea...umm... slabs!! hehe
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Post by sheltie on Sept 29, 2012 14:08:22 GMT -5
after a day, time does not matter. some scrubbing may still be necessary I usually go until a bucket is full, or I am ready to scrub and photograph, usually a few dozen slabs to as many as 5 dozen. this is from 2 slab saws. Thanks, that's what I needed.
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Post by Bikerrandy on Sept 29, 2012 16:11:18 GMT -5
One of my buddies keeps a bucket full of kitty litter next to his saw. When he removes the slabs, he places them in the bucket and covers them in kitty litter. After a day or two he rinses them off with a garden hose outside.
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