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Post by stardiamond on Jul 13, 2015 18:00:07 GMT -5
I have a one inch thick slab of Petrified wood purchase on ebay many years ago. It was listed as from Pittsburg Ca. I waited until I had the right saw to cut it into slabs. I started cutting it and the saw kept stopping so I Called Covington. I got some information regarding blade dressing. I had been doing 3 cuts through a silicon carbide dressing stick. I was told that I might need to do a lot more cuts. To keep dressing until I could feel that the diamonds were as exposed as much as possible. I ended up doing 7 cuts. The 14" 303 blade from Covington is produced by MK with a Covington label. It took hours to cut the slab and I had to tighten the blade set screw and fiddle with the clutch repeatedly. Maybe the size and the material is at the limits of the blade. I did get a relatively even first slab cut from the faced piece. I started the second cut and may get a third slab if it soaks off the board. I think the material is special.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2015 23:28:13 GMT -5
I use a small brass hammer to tap the edge of the blade all the way around and it works pretty good. I do not do any other kind of dressing. It just takes a few minutes to go around a 12 inch blade. You want to make sure you are hitting the blade square so you do not have a high side. Jim
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 14, 2015 11:52:19 GMT -5
The slab took over 4 hours to cut with no binding. There might be an issue with the vise being all the way to the back and the clip touching the vise knob. I also might have had the clutch too slow because of previous binding issues. I don't have anything left to cut, so I will dress the blade again when I have something to cut. The slab was smooth and square and a little over 3/16. I wanted a 1/4" but the first cut needed to be reclamped and the number of turns on the cross feed wasn't enough. The remaining slab on the board is about 3/8" and looks even.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,711
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Post by Fossilman on Jul 15, 2015 7:56:16 GMT -5
I use a small brass hammer to tap the edge of the blade all the way around and it works pretty good. I do not do any other kind of dressing. It just takes a few minutes to go around a 12 inch blade. You want to make sure you are hitting the blade square so you do not have a high side. Jim I do the same thing Jim,works great....
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,711
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Post by Fossilman on Jul 15, 2015 7:57:53 GMT -5
stardiamond-does your saw have a screw drive that controls your vice? Mine does and the bolt was wearing out and had to be replaced-runs great now...
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 15, 2015 10:26:53 GMT -5
I guess I'm confused. For me, dressing is sharpening by exposing diamonds. The blade rotates with virtually no wobble. I've used a hammer to reduce wobble. I never dressed my 8" 303 trim saw blades but they were hand fed.
The issue I seem to be having is that the feed is sometimes faster than the saws ability to cut hard material. I cut a bunch of Montana with the new blade and it worked fine so I believe Covington that it is a dressing issue. The saw was unpacked less than a year ago so things shouldn't be wearing out. I really don't like the feed system, but eventually I will figure out to get the saw to behave.
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Post by catmandewe on Jul 15, 2015 11:50:01 GMT -5
It is your clutch system, the covington clutch system is very finicky.
Tony
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Post by johnjsgems on Jul 16, 2015 9:51:54 GMT -5
The hammering is not dressing. Blades can round off on edge and cause binding. Hammering the edge flat (or grinding edge flat with SC stone and die grinder) will correct. Is that amethyst sage?
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 16, 2015 10:23:46 GMT -5
Petrified wood.
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Post by stardiamond on Jul 16, 2015 11:57:27 GMT -5
The piece glued to the board with sodium silicate, dropped off after 3 days. It gives me confidence to split some more slabs without being worried about being stuck. about 3/8 inch This piece came loose before cutting was complete and I finished the cut with my trim saw. I completed the slab cutting the other side rotating on my trim saw.
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