sactorick
having dreams about rocks
gemfield
Member since October 2017
Posts: 67
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Post by sactorick on May 21, 2019 9:48:53 GMT -5
I thought I'd ask you seasoned pro's out there. I want to get something that will work nicely for thundereggs and maybe some bookends without spending a fortune. This is strictly for hobby. I like the vibrating flat laps but they have issues for me also. Like the mess for one. Although I'd use it in the garage, I don't want grit and rock stuff flung all over. I live in house with neighbors very close so I also don't want to run it outside and create a lot of noise for my neighbors.
Is this still my best way to go or is there a better option? I need to make the right choice for what I need. I've tried polishing thundereggs last night on an expandable drum wheel. It works but it was not as good as I wished. I'm sure there's a learning curve and that would improve.
I appreciate any input you guys might have for me. Thanks!
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Post by HankRocks on May 21, 2019 10:32:47 GMT -5
I thought I'd ask you seasoned pro's out there. I want to get something that will work nicely for thundereggs and maybe some bookends without spending a fortune. This is strictly for hobby. I like the vibrating flat laps but they have issues for me also. Like the mess for one. Although I'd use it in the garage, I don't want grit and rock stuff flung all over. I live in house with neighbors very close so I also don't want to run it outside and create a lot of noise for my neighbors. Is this still my best way to go or is there a better option? I need to make the right choice for what I need. I've tried polishing thundereggs last night on an expandable drum wheel. It works but it was not as good as I wished. I'm sure there's a learning curve and that would improve. I appreciate any input you guys might have for me. Thanks! I use a 20" vibrating Flat Lap to polish all of my Geodes, Thundereggs, Brazilians, Petrified Wood with good success. There is a mess created but I just take a wet old towel and wipe up real good around it. If you saw my garage you would see that my rock area has a "very worked" in look. The lap does a good job and the biggest hassle is washing the rocks between stages and gluing weights on any that need it. Inbalanced rocks and flat rocks really do need weights. One trick I use is to polish 15 to 20 pound pieces of Petrified wood 8 to 9 inches, or large Brazilians 5 to 6 inches and then cut 1/4" to 3/8" off the polished end and start the process over. I have done about 30 to 35 this way. Hardest part to that is lining up the cut on the Saw. The only disadvantage to polishing heavy pieces is wear on the Pan and wearing out the polishing pad. The pad is no big deal as I bought a 10' X 2' piece of tight weave indoor/outdoor carpet which will cut out 6 or 7 pads. The pan wearing out, or more accurately dishing in the center, is an issue. Henry
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Post by stonemon on May 21, 2019 10:50:01 GMT -5
I have a couple high speed disc sanders aka Richardson Ranch sanders retrofitted with hook and eye disc attachments. These work well for me. Discs are fairly cheap and I finish th final polish on a felt pad with 50,000 diamond paste.
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Post by greig on May 21, 2019 10:57:33 GMT -5
My two cents: I have a vibe flat lap and I love using it, but agree that it (like me) is noisy and messy. My experience is vibe laps are better for finishing/polishing, than grinding (ie. they take forever to remove saw marks). Instead, if you want an easy hobby method that requires no tools, buy various grades (coarse to super fine) of wet automotive sandpaper and work your rocks by hand on a flat surface. If you want a machine, really you cannot go wrong with a spinning flat lap.
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Post by roy on May 21, 2019 11:51:26 GMT -5
after reading all your conditions the best for you would be the BD wet sander ! i have a 36 " custom flatlap and i still use the wet sander from time to time
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,711
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Post by Fossilman on May 21, 2019 12:10:19 GMT -5
I like my old "Poly" with expand drums....Get different abrasives with your sandpaper for wheels.. Slip them on and off in no time and away you go....
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sactorick
having dreams about rocks
gemfield
Member since October 2017
Posts: 67
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Post by sactorick on May 21, 2019 14:52:28 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for your suggestions and replies. It's a difficult decision as there are several ways of accomplishing it. I'm going to kick this around for a while before settling in on which way I want to go. I do have an inexpensive wet sander I going to try but it leaves a lot of crud all over the flagstone patio that is hard to clean. Plus it's pretty noisy using it outside and we have very close neighbors. So I don't see myself doing lots of that.
BTW Greig... thanks for your input. I have seen your youtube video with your new flat lap. It was a good presentation of it. I don't have much back yard and running equipment outside would annoy my neighbors as they enjoy their days by the pool. The homes are built almost ontop each other. I need to keep everything in the garage if possible to hold down the noise. We have watched your videos for over a year now. Good work!
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sactorick
having dreams about rocks
gemfield
Member since October 2017
Posts: 67
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Post by sactorick on Jun 7, 2019 10:16:15 GMT -5
Okay, I dragged out this little wet sander I bought last winter and gave it another try. The first time I used it was on some Arizona pet wood and I was using 2 different cup wheels to rough it out. They weren't aggressive enough, I have to find the correct cup wheel. At any rate it was a real mess throwing that stuff around and the results weren't very good for as long as I spent on it. So anyway, I gave it another shot with a thunderegg and a slab. The wet sander works very good at polishing slabs with the velcro diamond disks with very little mess. I like it. The thundereggs, not so much. The problem is with the matrix area of the thunderegg. I just can't seem to get a good polish on the matrix. I know there's a learning curve and I'm a newby so I'm going to keep at it. Any tips on getting a decent polish on those thundereggs? Oh... and does anyone have a recommendation for which diamond cup wheel I should have? I've already bought two of them and they aren't aggressive enough.
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