|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Apr 23, 2018 19:50:05 GMT -5
You might want to consider doing it more mosaic style, where you glue the stones onto pre-bought or pre-formed cement. You'll use quickset morter to stick them down, and you can get the gout in whatever colors look good. There's a "special for transparent tile" white mortar that they sell at HD which is working very well for me (with glass, not rocks). Then you can grout it (regular sanded grout) in whatever color grout you want, and the white underneath will still show through, making your transparent rocks/glass/whatever look really good. Just an option if you don't want to mess with pouring cement.
I was actually thinking that stepping stones with polished rocks would be super cool, but I don't have any polished rocks, lol.
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Apr 23, 2018 19:38:43 GMT -5
Hi All. I can't swing a trip that far away this time, but have fun out there! It's definitely a super nice place to walk around, even if you don't find anything. But if you do find things, they can be really reallllllly nice!
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Apr 4, 2018 20:20:10 GMT -5
I like my Ameritool. However, if you can possibly swing it, just skip directly to a cabbing wheel setup (although it's quite a bit more expensive). I wished I had just done that.
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Mar 22, 2018 10:14:04 GMT -5
"One thing I noticed on the trip, that unless one has been there before, one might not understand. There is a huge lava flow to the west, indeed, this is where the Pisgah Crater is located. Even when the sun is shining brightly, to look upon that lava field you experience an optical illusion of sorts. The dark color of the lava makes it look as if the lava field is in the shade of a huge cloud, even when it is not. Just a weird observation..."
EXACTLY! It looks soooo much like the shadow of a cloud, your mind keeps looking for the cloud!
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Mar 21, 2018 11:45:15 GMT -5
Cool! Love the pics. Looking forward to seeing how they come out!
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Mar 6, 2018 18:01:48 GMT -5
NOW you're talking! Looks like a real saw now! My problem with the clamp is that the top piece can only come down square. Can't go at an angle - not very good for irregular shaped rocks. If you're goign to glue your rock to a piece of wood, it should work fine though. I ended up elongating one of the bolt holes, to make an oval, allowing it to be clamped down at an angle. But then I quit using the vice entirely, and actually had it removed recently. Nice slabs you made! SUSAN Seems like someone Out there would have come up with a better vise for this saw. The nice thing is Once the rock is clamped in the vice I can Disengage the feed and push with my hand and feed by hand I can re-adjust for another bite all with the cover still on. What I don't like is what you said and the fact that you need longer more rectangular type rocks. There will need to be a way to join them together in order to cut them all up because you run out of clamping surface. Thanks NRG for the comeback on the grinding wheel type. ~Duke Yeah, seems like. However, as I've learned from my trips down to the BD plant (it's near my house), the owners/designers don't seem to do lapidary. They must be going off of data from distributors or I-don't-know-who. The vice is very narrow too - can't get a wide rock in it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I *think* that you also can't get a 2x4 into it on its flat side. I think it was just shy. How's that for design genius? (Or maybe they've fixed that by now).
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Mar 6, 2018 10:45:13 GMT -5
NOW you're talking! Looks like a real saw now!
My problem with the clamp is that the top piece can only come down square. Can't go at an angle - not very good for irregular shaped rocks. If you're goign to glue your rock to a piece of wood, it should work fine though. I ended up elongating one of the bolt holes, to make an oval, allowing it to be clamped down at an angle. But then I quit using the vice entirely, and actually had it removed recently.
Nice slabs you made!
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Mar 5, 2018 9:29:39 GMT -5
Yeah, Like Pat says, you just take the grinding wheel and cut through it a couple of times. It re-exposes the diamond on the blade when the blade gets "dull" and the diamonda are glazed over. Somebody else will have to give the background on what exactly is happening when that happens, but cuttin radially in from the edge of the flat grinding wheel (like a pizza cut) works good. I think I had heard about using bricks too, but haven't tried it.
The bucket of kitty litter is to throw your oil-cut slabs into immediately after cutting, to absorb the excess oil. Then, that won't get all the oil off, so you throw them in a bucket of dawn/water for awhile.
I got some mineral oil at Quartzsite to try. The BD10 only needs 0.6 gallons.
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Mar 3, 2018 20:24:40 GMT -5
You'll want to use oil in the BD10 Duke. Water really wears the blade out fast, even water with additive. I've only tried GemLube, but LarryS tried a whole bunch of different additives and said GemLube increased blade life the most. In the tile saw, water. On my tile saw, I keep the blade guard at around 50% raised. Depends how thick it is and how well you can see past it - it's a real test of stereoscopic vision! You'll figure it out once you start. OH, and on the BD10, you leave the cover on for when you're using the feed, and you have to take it off for hand feeding. I never use the feed (it's geared too slow and the vice sucks). The bd10 doesn't have much of an overspray problem. Sometimes my tummy will get damp but that's about it. I will be wearing an apron when I hand feed with oil (I'm switching to oil), but never did with water. More mess is created when you take your wet rock and set it down somewhere. Although, I'm a bit of a messy klutz. Oh, you're also going to need a couple of rough mesh grinding wheels to cut through when you need to dress your blades, if you don't have some already. And a kitty litter bucket with scoop (clay litter not clumping haha) and a Dawn-water bucket.
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Mar 3, 2018 11:01:54 GMT -5
Hey Duke. That looks insane. Especially the GFI. Bionic cart! But, I think you should move the controls to the end of the cart and here's why. When you use that 5" saw, you're going to want to stand in back of it - on the side your GFI currently is. (For purposes of staying basically dry). But I'm worried your post right there might get in the way of where your arms are going to go. Some people stand straight in front of their tile saws, but I think most people on here have gone to the "stand behind it" method. I do not use a tile saw but wouldn't it be easy enough to just turn the saw 180 degrees in the cart so you could pull the rock toward you and leave the wiring where it is? Chuck Could be. Depends how waterproof his GFI etc is and how much his tile saw sprays.
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Mar 3, 2018 10:21:25 GMT -5
Hey Duke. That looks insane. Especially the GFI. Bionic cart!
But, I think you should move the controls to the end of the cart and here's why. When you use that 5" saw, you're going to want to stand in back of it - on the side your GFI currently is. (For purposes of staying basically dry). But I'm worried your post right there might get in the way of where your arms are going to go. Some people stand straight in front of their tile saws, but I think most people on here have gone to the "stand behind it" method.
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Feb 6, 2018 12:12:56 GMT -5
Good to know. Scott has mine now, hopefully he will be able to give it new life.
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Feb 4, 2018 22:10:40 GMT -5
I always hated claiming races. No thanks. I'm happy to vote though - the more voting the better! I love voting!
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Feb 3, 2018 16:49:31 GMT -5
That's a thought Bill orrum. So many choices!
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Feb 1, 2018 20:06:00 GMT -5
Thanks all. I wondered how you made those big ones bobby1!
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Feb 1, 2018 19:57:59 GMT -5
What they said.
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 29, 2018 18:50:57 GMT -5
Excellent layout and cabbing, jeannie. I like how you used multiple fortifications on the cab.
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 29, 2018 18:41:43 GMT -5
Beautiful work and stone Bobby!
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 28, 2018 22:25:41 GMT -5
Looking forward to seeing you again next year zarguy Lynn! If nothing else, we'll hit Brenda. Glad to hear it's only 6 hours for you. It's 6 hours for me if I go the weekend of 1/1 - holiday traffic going home. Next year I'm only going during pow wow week, but will take more days.
|
|
|
Post by Bluesky78987 on Jan 28, 2018 22:23:28 GMT -5
mrzulu, yeah, pretty much. There might be some dealers left at Desert Gardens or Tyson Wells, but most have probably moved on to Tucson or gone home.
|
|