Thread: I Found It Over There

That would be so cool, but I am working. I need to save my holidays for the spring as two of my daughters are graduating from university. I do work an unusual shift and can travel on my days off.

Originally Posted by Bram

a contraption like this could be easily modified to make it lap your rocks, right? instead of moving the hacksaw it should move the holder in which you've clamped your rock, DMT plate underneat and let it do it's magic :P

For lapping purposes all you really need is a turning wheel. I think you could modify a potters wheel to work. A large surface with grit and water turning slowly. If you watch the Adrenes videos they show one in it. Commercially there are vibrating laps available, those too should not be a big challenge if you had a good supply of tools and access to construction materials. I however live 100 miles past the edge of the earth. I would like to see someone else do it though.

Gents you may find useful basic information on DIY lapidary tools at Kreigh's Homemade Lapidary Equipment. About half way down the page the useful sections start; Make Your Own Rock Saw, reciprocating wire saw, Some Thoughts On Horizontal Laps.

A google search for diy rock saw will lead to inspiration. For really big rocks search for drop saws, diameter up to 60". For moderate sized rocks a slab saw will do very well, blade diameter 10" - 24". If you are going to flatten a lot of stones a vibrating lap would allow you to set it and walk away for hours at a time.

Keep having fun with your rocks.
Jonathan

Just need one of these http://aardvarkrocktools.weebly.com/...951666.jpg?456

Pre-game at the pitch. I found it over there:

Was just browsing youtube watching random stuff when I came to this video.

He cuts some horn in the video on a bench grinder with a big disc in it. At about 5 and a half minutes in.... I see some potential with that setup for rocks.



I just found an ebay seller that does 20mm > 12.7mm reduction rings as well.... That would mean you can strap a 300mm (12") disc to a cheap bench grinder.

I watched the video and saw that set up. You could probably set it up with a 10 to 14" blade with a table set up. A motor that had enough power to get through hard rock and still tun slow enough not to wobble would be ideal. My brother does quite a bit of fabricating and we went over a concept for one with a 7" grinder as a power unit, similar to the setup in Henk's article. the issue I always come back to is the dust. If you could get that under control that would go a long way.

The only way to resolve dust would be a static water bath under the grinder and a pair of sponges on the blade under the table to pull some of the water off the blade before it comes out. You could always add a pair of bearings in a U bracket to reduce wobble. Or even 4 bearings just under the table front and back. If you made the table out of angle iron then you have a lot of options for mounting bearings the simple option been a U of threaded bar like an exhaust clamp. With 4 nuts 2 either side of the angle iron to adjust tension and distance.

The other way would be a high flow vacuum. Anything to keep it out of your lungs and off your clothes. It is very bad for your lungs and once you get it all over your clothes it spreads everywhere fast. It's like graphite powder in that regard.

The only true option to remove the dust would be to work underwater or with an area sprayer. It's an option provided you don't mind working blind or soaked! I've got a big pack of masks and a boiler suit to keep my dust down a little. It is something I need to look into myself. After the first few cuts I did with the angle grinder I soon took to working outside, I think I can get a cleaner working environment with a little light engineering. I've finally got my motorbike almost clean again! It might actually be worth looking into modifying a spray gun so I can cone my work with spray.