jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Mar 30, 2020 12:12:52 GMT -5
Anyone up to guessing how it works ? It's a quiz. The elderly lapidarian whom designed it ran and owned and ran a lucrative rock shop in Tampa Florida for many years. He was known for the hard to polish materials he polished on this machine and made a lot of money on the slabs produced. Here's what it is capable of: 1)Creating terrible silica and rock dust. Must be avoided when in operation preferably in open air enviro. 2)Wet polish slabs up to 8 inches diameter in 24 hours including the softest of materials with SiC 60 if I remember correctly. Kills hard-to-polish like malachite. 3)Spinning surface spins 24 inch disc at motor speed 1725 rpm(no pulley, flange direct to motor). 4)Slabs must be cast in plaster of paris in 6 to 8 inch diameter pie rings or short sections (about 1 inch) of 6 to 8 inch pipe. Hint - Think planetary gear box.
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shardy
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2019
Posts: 110
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Post by shardy on Mar 30, 2020 18:09:42 GMT -5
Very cool. Rock rotates on its own axis while playing pinball between the outlying rollers.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Mar 31, 2020 6:40:18 GMT -5
Very cool. Rock rotates on its own axis while playing pinball between the outlying rollers. Partially correct shardy. The rock slab is rotating on it's own axis but in a controlled fashion instead of bouncing around between what appears to be pinball bumpers/levers. Hint - the small round discs are adjustable position idler rollers. The middle two idler rollers are shared. It can handle two rock slabs up to a maximum of 11 inches across plastered into two 11 inch 'rings' at a time. Or two slabs plastered into two 10 inch or two 8 inch or two 6 inch rings in pairs at a time as it is adjustable. More specifications: With a 1725 rpm motor each slab receives 2,484,000 sanding cycles from infinite directions and points along the width of the slab in a 24 hour period creating uncanny polishes. Typical polish is attained from sun down to sun up on two freshly sawn slabs. Both slabs are driven by the friction of the rotating 24 inch sanding pad below in the same fashion as a stand-behind concrete floor polisher moves across the floor. Runs dry but best run isolated far away from mammals/humans due to dry rock dust such as an open air shed. Benefits: The backing plate for the stick-on SiC 60 abrasive pad can be a 24 inch diameter quality plywood disc(precision flatness is not so much an issue). As the 60 grit pad fills with rock dust and plaster the rock begins to polish itself on it's own particles which it's revolutionary capability.
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Post by fernwood on Mar 31, 2020 6:46:38 GMT -5
Sorry, but the first thing I thought of was a turntable. How the needle/stylus interact with the album. The stylus glides across the surface of the album to create music. The rock glides across the disk in much the same fashion to create a grinded/polished surface.
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shardy
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2019
Posts: 110
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Post by shardy on Mar 31, 2020 7:13:56 GMT -5
Ah. Good stuff.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Mar 31, 2020 19:12:24 GMT -5
Sorry, but the first thing I thought of was a turntable. How the needle/stylus interact with the album. The stylus glides across the surface of the album to create music. The rock glides across the disk in much the same fashion to create a grinded/polished surface. Darn thing only plays rock music Beth
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Apr 2, 2020 3:43:39 GMT -5
It is a bit amazing that the 6 idler rotations agreed with the 2 target slab rotations. Rotation force from rotating 60 grit pad below. On bucket list. Gotta attempt an 8 hour slab polish this rig claims. Sell me your unpolished slabs !
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nik
spending too much on rocks
Member since May 2019
Posts: 315
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Post by nik on Apr 2, 2020 3:48:54 GMT -5
I used to live a few blocks from his shop. Always amazing rocks and stories
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Apr 4, 2020 9:32:53 GMT -5
I used to live a few blocks from his shop. Always amazing rocks and stories Stories ? That would be Bill Burke the world rock traveller nik. LOTS of stories. My mentor, lucky lucky me. Most amazing man I ever met and light years ahead in self invented lapidary technology. Made most of his income doing a month in Australia buying or mining hand picked opals, bringing them home, cutting and selling them. Most of his other income was made off of the heyday Tampa Bay coral discovery he heated, cabbed, wrapped and sold. His weekend spot was just a skip down from mine on the St John's river near Salt Springs. He passed 5 years ago RIP. Dry lap polishes on 2 large slabs in one 8 hour shift is a miracle accomplishment. Worth the plaster hassle. Thanks for the memory.
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Post by woodman on Apr 4, 2020 9:51:17 GMT -5
Very similar to a bearing lapping machine we used at work. we lapped carbon seal mating rings for turbine engine that had to be perfect flatness.
I can see where this machine would flat lap but am failing to see how it would polish the slab.
It looks like simple design, build one and show us the results!
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