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Post by sophia13 on Nov 25, 2018 19:10:08 GMT -5
I see some soft wheels available in similar grits to the galaxy type hard wheels. What I'd thought were primarily "hard wheel" grits have soft wheel options. What are the advantages or disadvantages to the hard vs soft wheels in similar grits? Hope this makes sense Thank you
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Post by Rockoonz on Nov 25, 2018 19:51:23 GMT -5
Personally I see no reason to use soft wheels or belts coarser than 200 grit. A seller I buy from sells a 220 grit replacement for the 280 grit wheel on a diamond pacific cabber, never tried one but they are highly recommended by a couple people I know. I suppose they might have some use in rounding off preforms that are to be finished in a vibe tumbler.
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Nov 25, 2018 21:05:12 GMT -5
I acquired a 140 grit soft wheel. I don't think I'll ever use it. I may just turn it into cash. Lynn
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 25, 2018 21:42:07 GMT -5
Personally I see no reason to use soft wheels or belts coarser than 200 grit. A seller I buy from sells a 220 grit replacement for the 280 grit wheel on a diamond pacific cabber, never tried one but they are highly recommended by a couple people I know. I suppose they might have some use in rounding off preforms that are to be finished in a vibe tumbler. I use the 220 soft and I will never go back. It has improved my speed and cabbing. Plus a lot of softer material goes right to it.
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Post by stephan on Nov 26, 2018 8:50:38 GMT -5
I would imagine that it could be helpful in making shapes where you have to get into a recessed space (hearts, crosses, that sort of thing).
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Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Nov 26, 2018 10:59:34 GMT -5
What about using them for cabbing larimar and charoite? I often lose these cabs to flaking out when shaping on a hard 220 wheel and a soft 280 just doesn't seem aggressive enough to do all of the shaping there.
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Post by roy on Nov 26, 2018 11:14:25 GMT -5
Personally I see no reason to use soft wheels or belts coarser than 200 grit. A seller I buy from sells a 220 grit replacement for the 280 grit wheel on a diamond pacific cabber, never tried one but they are highly recommended by a couple people I know. I suppose they might have some use in rounding off preforms that are to be finished in a vibe tumbler. I use the 220 soft and I will never go back. It has improved my speed and cabbing. Plus a lot of softer material goes right to it. i was thinking the same thing as fast as you ware out the 280 wheel one a little more grit would last longer and do a better job
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Post by Rockoonz on Nov 26, 2018 12:38:30 GMT -5
Personally I see no reason to use soft wheels or belts coarser than 200 grit. A seller I buy from sells a 220 grit replacement for the 280 grit wheel on a diamond pacific cabber, never tried one but they are highly recommended by a couple people I know. I suppose they might have some use in rounding off preforms that are to be finished in a vibe tumbler. I use the 220 soft and I will never go back. It has improved my speed and cabbing. Plus a lot of softer material goes right to it. Is Ron still the only seller?
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 26, 2018 12:39:25 GMT -5
I use the 220 soft and I will never go back. It has improved my speed and cabbing. Plus a lot of softer material goes right to it. Is Ron still the only seller? I think so. I got mine from him.
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Post by Bluesky78987 on Nov 27, 2018 17:53:46 GMT -5
Tagging onto this question (Hi, I'm back!)
I've never really understood this either. People at my old rock club seem to swear by using the 100 or 220 grit hard wheel to shape (depending on the material), and then the same grit of soft wheel. They can never really articulate why though.
Is it to get the flats out? Does a soft wheel remove scratches differently? It seems like the soft wheel's ability to conform itself to the general shape of the stone would be good for removing flats and high spots, but when I test it, you have to apply a huge amount of pressure on the stone to deform those wheels (cabking soft wheels, and expandos is what I have used) at all. Like way too much pressure.
So I'm confused as well.
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Nov 28, 2018 16:30:35 GMT -5
I use the 220 soft and I will never go back. It has improved my speed and cabbing. Plus a lot of softer material goes right to it. rockjunquie Do you use the 220 soft wheel instead of a 280 soft wheel? Tell us your grit sequence, please. Lynn
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 28, 2018 16:33:33 GMT -5
I use the 220 soft and I will never go back. It has improved my speed and cabbing. Plus a lot of softer material goes right to it. rockjunquie Do you use the 220 soft wheel instead of a 280 soft wheel? Tell us your grit sequence, please. Lynn Yes, I do. My sequence is the genie sequence except for the 220 soft and I add 14k, 50k and 100k- all spin-on Novas. I love the soft 220. I will never go back to a 280.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 29, 2018 17:37:28 GMT -5
Diamond Pacific is recommending 80, 220 Galaxy then backing up to 140 Nova and then on through the normal 280, 600, 1200, 3000 sequence. Something about micro fractures caused by using the hard wheels but my fuzzy brain didn't store the details.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,899
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Post by Tommy on Nov 30, 2018 14:17:12 GMT -5
I see some soft wheels available in similar grits to the galaxy type hard wheels. What I'd thought were primarily "hard wheel" grits have soft wheel options. What are the advantages or disadvantages to the hard vs soft wheels in similar grits? I've never really understood this either. People at my old rock club seem to swear by using the 100 or 220 grit hard wheel to shape (depending on the material), and then the same grit of soft wheel. They can never really articulate why though. Is it to get the flats out? Does a soft wheel remove scratches differently? It seems like the soft wheel's ability to conform itself to the general shape of the stone would be good for removing flats and high spots, but when I test it, you have to apply a huge amount of pressure on the stone to deform those wheels (cabking soft wheels, and expandos is what I have used) at all. Jason and Susan this is a great discussion about which grits to use in the lower stages but I'm not sure if you found answers to this specific question. The difference between hard and soft of the same grit is exactly what Susan said - the soft wheel's ability to conform to the general shape of the stone (the dome) will help remove the flat spots and high spots. Think of it as the difference between holding a rigid metal wood file in one hand and a piece of sand paper in the other - both of the same grit. The file does not bend or yield and thus it creates only flat lines across whatever it is scraped against. We minimize these lines by rotating the piece creating a grid of lines that resemble a dome shape. The sand paper on the other hand will apply equal pressure to all points of the now curved surface lowering the raised areas of the grid to the same depth as the flat spots thus eliminating the flat spots. Its the same way with these wheels - a 220 metal wheel is great for taking out the grid of flat lines that were created by the 60 or 80 grit by creating a finer grid of flat lines on top of them. A 220 soft wheel (some use 280, some use 140) will then apply equal pressure on the curvature of the dome and thus taking out the grid of flat spots created by the 220 metal. Hope this helps.
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Post by broseph82 on Dec 10, 2018 12:59:23 GMT -5
Personally I see no reason to use soft wheels or belts coarser than 200 grit. A seller I buy from sells a 220 grit replacement for the 280 grit wheel on a diamond pacific cabber, never tried one but they are highly recommended by a couple people I know. I suppose they might have some use in rounding off preforms that are to be finished in a vibe tumbler. I use the 220 soft and I will never go back. It has improved my speed and cabbing. Plus a lot of softer material goes right to it. So things I've read says 220 soft acts the exact same as 280 soft, so why even use the 220 vs 280? If it does the same I don't get why you'd just use 220. Are you still getting the "aggressiveness" like a 220 hard, but just on the soft wheels. Trying to wrap my head around it. So are there stones where you don't even use the 220 hard and go straight to 220 soft?
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Post by rockjunquie on Dec 10, 2018 13:04:36 GMT -5
I use the 220 soft and I will never go back. It has improved my speed and cabbing. Plus a lot of softer material goes right to it. So things I've read says 220 soft acts the exact same as 280 soft, so why even use the 220 vs 280? If it does the same I don't get why you'd just use 220. Are you still getting the "aggressiveness" like a 220 hard, but just on the soft wheels. Trying to wrap my head around it. So are there stones where you don't even use the 220 hard and go straight to 220 soft? The 220 soft is more aggressive than the 280. Noticeably... at least, to me. Yes, I take a lot of soft stones straight to the 220 soft. I don't know about other people, but I much prefer the 220 soft.
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Post by pauls on Dec 10, 2018 15:42:13 GMT -5
I rough grind on 80 hard, followed by 220 hard to get rid of the deep scratches, then 600 hard to refine the shape. My 220 is worn out so actually at the moment it is only 80 then 600 which is a bit too much of a jump.
Then.
140 expanding drum which gets rid of the flats and ridges, also the little flat spot you often get right on the top and anything that needs a bit of rounding, followed by 280, 600, etc etc. finish with 50000. or oxide buff.
I wasn't sure that I would use the 140 but now it's worn in a bit I use it on every stone. It's the handiest wheel I have.
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oldschoolrocker
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,578
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Post by oldschoolrocker on Aug 15, 2021 15:29:08 GMT -5
I use the 220 soft and I will never go back. It has improved my speed and cabbing. Plus a lot of softer material goes right to it. Is Ron still the only seller? Rockoonz and rockjunquie would u mind sharing who you get the 220 soft wheel from? I think I asked you before Tela, but can't remember for sure. I got one off johnson brothers and it didn't last very long at all. Would rather not buy from them again, especially since a 600 grit wheel I got was wildly out of balance as well. But not having much luck finding it elsewhere.
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 15, 2021 15:32:10 GMT -5
Is Ron still the only seller? Rockoonz and rockjunquie would u mind sharing who you get the 220 soft wheel from? I think I asked you before Tela, but can't remember for sure. I got one off johnson brothers and it didn't last very long at all. Would rather not buy from them again, especially since a 600 grit wheel I got was wildly out of balance as well. But not having much luck finding it elsewhere. I got mine at Ronsrocks on ebay. If he doesn't have any, I think you have to go straight to DP.
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oldschoolrocker
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2019
Posts: 1,578
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Post by oldschoolrocker on Aug 15, 2021 15:54:36 GMT -5
Rockoonz and rockjunquie would u mind sharing who you get the 220 soft wheel from? I think I asked you before Tela, but can't remember for sure. I got one off johnson brothers and it didn't last very long at all. Would rather not buy from them again, especially since a 600 grit wheel I got was wildly out of balance as well. But not having much luck finding it elsewhere. I got mine at Ronsrocks on ebay. If he doesn't have any, I think you have to go straight to DP. Thank u!
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