juzwuz
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2010
Posts: 526
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Post by juzwuz on May 18, 2015 2:35:29 GMT -5
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2015 4:15:31 GMT -5
I knew you were going to kick butt when you first talked about this. How much difference did you see between the 3k and the 8k? When I went to 8500 I couldn't see any difference but I am working on pads that are turning much faster. Duh, just had a brain unfreeze. I can slow my machine down by slipping a belt to the next pulley. Jeeze I hate getting old.
Really damn nice polish. I am surprised that stone that soft will polish so good.
Jim
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,726 
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Post by Fossilman on May 18, 2015 9:55:18 GMT -5
OUTSTANDING Malachite sphere!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by orrum on May 18, 2015 10:05:39 GMT -5
Super super and shiny!
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juzwuz
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2010
Posts: 526
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Post by juzwuz on May 18, 2015 14:06:36 GMT -5
I knew you were going to kick butt when you first talked about this. How much difference did you see between the 3k and the 8k? When I went to 8500 I couldn't see any difference but I am working on pads that are turning much faster. Duh, just had a brain unfreeze. I can slow my machine down by slipping a belt to the next pulley. Jeeze I hate getting old. Really damn nice polish. I am surprised that stone that soft will polish so good. Jim Thanks! It was your recent malachite posts/threads which inspired me to contact rxscram for some rough. My polishing pads go from: 200, 400, 800, 1500, 3000, 6000, 8000. I don't remember seeing too much difference after 3k but I wasn't really looking too hard. I let the machine run for about 30 minutes on the lower pads and then starting around 3k I just let it run for up to an hour. The sphere is being polished with 105rpm motors so I bet it's pretty slow compared to what you have. I like to let the machine run on it's own and go do other stuff so I adjust the pressure on the pads to let the sphere have a random motion in it's turning action. It turns out to be fairly light pressure. The one thing I have not been able to polish is obsidian. I always end up with very light but noticable "scratches" which is probably contamination on the polishing pads. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2015 14:51:44 GMT -5
juzwuz When working that stuff at high speed it requires a lot of water and not so much of a light touch as a careful touch to keep from burning the stone. It must burn pretty deep to because it is pretty tough to get the black off without backing up a bit.
My flat lap was down when I polished my first piece of this so I had to go from 100 to 3000 wheels so I ended up burning several spots with the 3000 wheel. Since I have a problem with the pads turning fast I am getting set up to use waterproof sand paper especially on the small pieces so hopefully I can work my way up instead of doing it all in one jump which is not something you would want to do every day.
Hopefully the sand paper setup will work on some Welo opal too because it will be either that or by hand with sand paper. I do not do much carving anymore because I do not like hand sanding. I know a couple of carvers in China that have their wives do the sanding. We can only dream.
Jim
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Thunder69
Cave Dweller
Thunder 2000-2015
Member since January 2009
Posts: 3,105
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Post by Thunder69 on May 18, 2015 20:38:58 GMT -5
That is an awesome sphere...John
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Post by stephan on May 18, 2015 20:50:12 GMT -5
Quite beautiful.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on May 19, 2015 7:27:04 GMT -5
super cool sphere. great material and great workmanship.
Chuck
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rxscram
has rocks in the head
Member since August 2011
Posts: 519
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Post by rxscram on May 19, 2015 8:26:35 GMT -5
Beautiful sphere! I'm glad the rough worked out for it. :-)
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Post by rockpickerforever on May 19, 2015 11:05:39 GMT -5
Beautimous! I like it, nice job!
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rattlehead
starting to spend too much on rocks
MI Rocks
Member since December 2010
Posts: 213
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Post by rattlehead on May 19, 2015 15:36:52 GMT -5
Very nice!
For obsidian or glass, after 3000 pads, try making some pads with leather inside and use cerium oxide. Someone told me and it works well. Get them wet and then stop the water drop and let the sphere warm up a bit.
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juzwuz
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2010
Posts: 526
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Post by juzwuz on May 20, 2015 22:28:08 GMT -5
Very nice! For obsidian or glass, after 3000 pads, try making some pads with leather inside and use cerium oxide. Someone told me and it works well. Get them wet and then stop the water drop and let the sphere warm up a bit. I'll give it a try. Thanks! |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2015 7:14:02 GMT -5
You are turning pretty slow so it probably won't happen and I agree that warming it up a bit might help but I would keep a really close eye on it because I found out several times it is really really easy to burn that stone super black. If that happens it is pretty much go back to square one because it must go pretty deep. I had a hell of a time getting it off a couple of times.
Jim
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