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Post by tims on May 31, 2016 13:54:43 GMT -5
MK225 is a a really high quality porcelain blade and I'm told it is MK's big seller. BD started marketing as "Agate Kutter". I tried it on my drop saw and it works well. A little thick for slab trimming but no deflection when slabbing. And made for high speed water cooled applications. If you can find them for $52 I would grab them. In fact, tell me where. At BD's $134 list I'm paying more than $52. Is this the same blade? 1 left on Amazon for $44.99. |
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Post by tims on Jun 1, 2016 21:54:40 GMT -5
My blade showed up today so I put everything together and spun it up. There's some wobble in the blade --- it's like the shaft out of the motor is bent just slightly out of true. Maybe 1/8" of movement at the edge of the blade though at speed it looks like less, but it's difficult to judge while the blade is spinning. Might be an issue.
After adding some water I also realized I'll need to fashion a much better shroud / splash guard because as it sits the saw shoots a jet of water about 15 feet up and out at a 45 degree angle, and within 30 seconds or so my water reservoir is half empty. Otherwise, the saw runs virtually silent and there doesn't seem to be any looseness or vibration.
I've fashioned a shroud out of the bottom of a 5 gallon plastic bucket but I'm unsure of how to attach it. Might just epoxy it onto the frame. It sits flush behind the blade so I'm uneasy about screwing it into the frame in case a screw might wiggle loose, contact the blade and turn into a bullet.
Here's a quick walk around of the first spin-up (dry).
I'm waterproofing the 2x4s tonight with some leftover plasti-dip and will play with the splash guard tomorrow. Hoping to cut something by the weekend. |
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Post by Garage Rocker on Jun 1, 2016 22:06:36 GMT -5
Looks good, tims. I clamp a garden hose to the table and stick the nozzle set to mist inside the reservoir. Adjust the water flow and you can find a good balance of water in/water out. Got tired of filling it up. |
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Post by tims on Jun 2, 2016 13:28:14 GMT -5
Looks good, tims . I clamp a garden hose to the table and stick the nozzle set to mist inside the reservoir. Adjust the water flow and you can find a good balance of water in/water out. Got tired of filling it up. Good idea --- i'll still need to tone it down some though, it's a geyser. Plus i'm hoping to use water-soluble oil in the mix and I can't afford to water the lawn with that 
Would it make a difference adjusting how deep the blade dips into the water reservoir? Hoping to play with it more today, but as usual work tends to pick up in direct correlation to me having something better to do with my day ...
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Post by Garage Rocker on Jun 2, 2016 13:34:02 GMT -5
I thought about the fact that you may be using oil in some fashion with the new larger blade, after I sent the post. I don't know how you would keep from wasting a bunch and making an oil slick on the floor/ground.
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grayfingers
Cave Dweller 
Member since November 2007
Posts: 4,575 
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Post by grayfingers on Jun 2, 2016 13:54:39 GMT -5
My tile saw is in my basement, I set it in one of those black mortar mixing tubs from H.Depot. I found the optimum level to fill with water and marked it, I go a little deeper on the water than the stock tray allows I also put a trash bag back splash on the wall to catch the spray and send it back into the tub. The larger volume of water (about three gals)stays cool longer, and does not need refilling as often.  |
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Post by johnjsgems on Jun 2, 2016 14:21:51 GMT -5
Generally, you fill just high enough to cover the blade rim. Any higher and coolant sprays everywhere.
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grayfingers
Cave Dweller
Member since November 2007
Posts: 4,575
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Post by grayfingers on Jun 2, 2016 14:30:50 GMT -5
Ya, it does kick up allot of water, but my trash bag catches it. I pin the bag sides to the sides of the back end of the tub so it catches it all. I believe the increased water spray lessens the sparks and allows me to cut more aggressively without needing to dress the blade, and seems to reduce the wear. Or, I could be fooling myself into believing such....
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Post by Garage Rocker on Jun 2, 2016 14:44:43 GMT -5
Ya, it does kick up allot of water, but my trash bag catches it. I pin the bag sides to the sides of the back end of the tub so it catches it all. I believe the increased water spray lessens the sparks and allows me to cut more aggressively without needing to dress the blade, and seems to reduce the wear. Or, I could be fooling myself into believing such.... Might have to try that method. I currently spray it all over the garage floor, driveway, back yard, etc. And there's lots of it, considering there's also overflow from the hose running into the reservoir. On the other hand, it makes a nice mist machine if you want to stand in front of it on a sweltering day. |
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Post by johnjsgems on Jun 2, 2016 16:38:50 GMT -5
The only time I overfill a saw is when cutting big tiles on my MK145. If the tile is 16 x 16 or 18 x 18 the water runs off sides of tile instead of back to sump. Two tiles and I would run out of water. Overfilling throws more but I look like Pig Pen anyway when tiling. If I am trimming slabs and fill correctly I have a drip at blade guard and no shower. Unless I raise guard too high.
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Post by tims on Jun 2, 2016 21:51:06 GMT -5
Here's the saw wet with the new splash guard. It sprays a bit spinning up and stopping but otherwise seems ok --- my water level dropped about 1/4" in 3 minutes in my small 6x11" tray (~32oz. full). Filled to capacity I'm still running the blade a little deep in the water so I might play with the tray some more. After the test I stuck the guard on with liquid nails so it will be the one part that won't be easy to disassemble.
Cost: The bottom of one of my rock buckets 
 
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Post by tims on Jun 3, 2016 19:32:48 GMT -5
Got a few cuts in this evening. The first 3 were pretty much disasters, the 4th ok although plain and ugly. Left to right a blue-gray chalcedony, red and translucent gray chalcedony, tan sandstone chert nodule, gray chert or jasper. Sorry the pic is so washed out but they were all junk so you aren't missing anything:
I think part of the problem is the stupid thick yellow paint on the blade. As I cut past the edge of the blade the chunky yellow paint would wear off the blade and bind up in the cut, causing the blade to jam or clumping enough to twist the rock and shatter it. Stupid paint.
Anyway I was really discouraged and starting to think the project was a total failure, but decided to try a big ugly teepee nodule before giving up. All the previous pieces were pretty small, like 1.5" max diameter, and the teepee was about 2 1/2 x 4 1/2" but I just had to try a thick nodule before giving it up. This one actually cut ok and I'm half convinced that knocking half the paint off the blade first helped. As you can see it still managed to paint things yellow:
I tried a plastic scrubber then sandpaper to try to clean up the paint but to no avail. Broke out the dremel and got them pretty clean, although there are a couple little vugs that I couldn't get into to clean up. Stupid paint. Anyway, this last cut was enough to breathe some hope back into the project.
My question now: what's a good way to take the paint off a blade so it doesn't gum up the works and paint the cuts? Or does anyone know of a good 10" blade that isn't painted?
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Post by Peruano on Jun 4, 2016 7:57:01 GMT -5
The paint problem should go away with one or two more rocks. I can't believe that solvent won't remove it with a bit of a soak.
Many lapidary blades come with some paint and models are often identified by color (green, red, etc. figure in the blade brand names). Maybe your tile blade had thicker paint but I'd guess its a short term problem. Keep playing with water levels and feed rates. You will learn the intimacies of the setup and enjoy the fruits of your labors. Tom
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 4, 2016 16:12:39 GMT -5
It will wear off quickly.
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Post by tims on Jun 4, 2016 21:06:52 GMT -5
OK cool, I should have just stuck with plain rocks until the blade broke in better. I didn't consider using a solvent but i'm sure that would work fine, especially to get into the cavities.
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