Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 27, 2015 18:18:08 GMT -5
Yep what broseph said. You don't want your vice jaws closed slanted on a rounded rock. You want the jaws as close to parallel as you can get whenever you vice up any rock. Cut yourself up a bunch of blocks out of 2 x 4s of different lengths. use them in the vice in back of the workpiece to keep the jaws closing on your rock in a parallel position. That will let you tighten more evenly and prevent rounded rocks from squirting out of the vice or your vice foot from jumping out of that wedging groove and wrecking your nice, new, expensive blade. I wrecked a 350$ blade on my 20 inch HP saw before someone told me about the blocks *L*...Mel
Oh crap, didn't read your last sentence. You already use the blocks correctly. My bad *L*.
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Post by captbob on Jan 27, 2015 18:22:07 GMT -5
Maybe you didn't see paragraph under the photo. "I also put wood blocks in the vise on the opposite side from the blade if the rock isn't big enough to fill the vise. This helps keep the vise from being all askew when tightening it. Don't have a picture of that, but I'm pretty sure that anyone with a saw understands." Any other round rock tricks?
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 27, 2015 18:23:54 GMT -5
*L* *Hitting myself on head like Homer Simpson* Duh!....Mel
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,179
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Post by jamesp on Jan 27, 2015 19:23:37 GMT -5
They make a wrench to fit those type handles on your vice. Looks similar to this. The ones I had seen only had 2 dowels.
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Post by gingerkid on Jan 28, 2015 12:09:16 GMT -5
Glad you're enjoying your new (and quiet) saw, captbob. Gorgeous material from Sabre52 and nice cuts! Are you tidying up your saw after each use?
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Post by broseph82 on Jan 28, 2015 16:31:33 GMT -5
The vises we have are ones that clamp on the bottom to top. Even though there are wood pieces on the vise it is still advised that we put a little wedge between the wooden piece on vise and between the rock. That's all I know for now. Hope you're liking the saw!
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Post by captbob on Jan 28, 2015 16:36:59 GMT -5
Do you have a name for that type of wrench James? Glad you're enjoying your new (and quiet) saw, captbob. Gorgeous material from Sabre52 and nice cuts! Are you tidying up your saw after each use? You're funny Jan! yes
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Post by captbob on Jan 28, 2015 16:41:32 GMT -5
Just got back from seeing American Sniper (freakin' awesome movie!) and I'm back at slabbing stone canyon for tumble material. Some of this stuff is so nice looking I almost feel guilty to cut it up to tumble.
almost....
Cutting thick slabs from hunks of rough so I can get them to shape/size using the trim saw.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,179
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Post by jamesp on Jan 28, 2015 17:37:10 GMT -5
Do you have a name for that type of wrench James? Glad you're enjoying your new (and quiet) saw, captbob. Gorgeous material from Sabre52 and nice cuts! Are you tidying up your saw after each use? You're funny Jan! yesNope, I think I searched 'knob wrench'. do not know the proper name. But the google images have web sites under the photo if you click on the photo.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 28, 2015 20:19:03 GMT -5
No hose from factory but you did it already. You will have to raise saw to drain unless you make a hole in the cart. The quiet is the blade. The 303S and 301 both are very quiet. I had two different club shop foremen call me after buying 303S blades from me. Both said they thought their saw feeds were broken because they couldn't hear the cutting. Both stopped the saw to check. Both took the time to call me about it. Most people only have time to call when something goes wrong. I'll ask about the vise knob Friday at Quartzsite. I think my old HP had something similar and it worked fine. The wood in the HP14 vise is soft enough to get a bite. My old HP24 had hardwood vise wood that were so hard I generally used scrap pine between the vise and rock.
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Post by captbob on Jan 29, 2015 13:52:00 GMT -5
Hey johnjsgems - got a question that you can probably answer off the top of your head. I'm wanting to get a back up blade. The saw came with a 301 blade. I'm thinking about getting a 303. From what I read around the internet, the 303 has a thinner kerf, so less waste; and will produce a smoother cut = less saw marks (not that the 301 leaves many). My question is: is there any downside to the 303, especially if I'm cutting a lot of jasper & agate? I'm thinking the 301 may be a "stronger" blade, but if so, is it that much more so than the 303? Bonus question! What is the kerf on the 301? The specs list the core as 0.065, but don't give a kerf measurement. Just fingering the blade, it seems the kerf is wider than the core. The 303 kerf is listed at 0.070. Thank you.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 30, 2015 19:07:16 GMT -5
303 core is .070" I believe. Kerf has to be a little thicker. The 301 has about 20% taller rim so you do get a lot more of the blade that matters. The wedge shaped "notch like segments" tend to cut through really hard materials better than 303C. 303 blades are very good though.
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Post by captbob on Jan 30, 2015 19:14:05 GMT -5
Thanks. I'll be ordering a 303 from you this weekend.
ETA: ordered - thanks again!
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Post by gingerkid on Jan 31, 2015 10:39:07 GMT -5
Just teasing you, captbob. I confess to religiously cleaning the lapidary equipment and tools. Probably spend more time cleaning. We went to see American Sniper last Friday - packed house. Loved the movie. Did you sit through the credits? Hope we'll see more cuts from your saw.
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Post by captbob on Jan 31, 2015 11:09:40 GMT -5
I know you were Jan BUT, I have quit cleaning it other than what is necessary to work the vise. That didn't take long. This saw is much easier for me to get to than my 24", so it's gonna get rode hard and put away oily. Yes, I was about the last one out of there. Very sombering ending, just kinda left ya drained. Working on a big pile of stone canyon for tumbling material, will post pics soon. I'm afraid ya'll are going to be wishing for my camera to break by the time I get bored taking pictures.
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Post by Peruano on Feb 2, 2015 19:18:04 GMT -5
They make a wrench to fit those type handles on your vice. Looks similar to this. The ones I had seen only had 2 dowels. The wrench that james refers to is available from Covington. I took a photo of the one we use with our Covington saw at our Lapidary Lab and will try to upload from my dinosaur phone to my wife's modern phone to Photobucket for general perusal. It had two pen spacings (one on each side) so presumabley is applicable to two size of tightening nuts for their vices. I believe it was labeled Covington 123. Photo to be added in a few minutes if technology does not overwhelm me. Tom Okay, here's the wrench we use with our Covington saw. Sorry for the crappy photo, but my phone has buttons. How many of you can claim that? Tom
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Post by captbob on Feb 2, 2015 20:13:59 GMT -5
My phone doesn't have a camera.
Thank you for posting that Tom. I'll see if I can locate it in the Covington catalog on their website. Is the know on your saw the same as on the HP?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2015 21:54:29 GMT -5
Be careful using cheaters on your saw you could easily provide more torque than the vice can handle.
That comes from someone who broke a vice this way.
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Post by Peruano on Feb 2, 2015 22:25:27 GMT -5
I acknowledge that you can always honk too hard on vice tightening, but these handles are made to work with the knurled nuts on the vices, and given reasonable usage, they shouldn't be a problem. No 3' galvanized pipe extensions are permitted. My homemade vice uses a 3/4" double nut on the end of the vice clamping mechanism and hence I use a 3/4" Snapon open end wrench and indeed could overtighten it if not aware of that risk. Oh the balance between rock too loose and vice too tight. That's what they make wooden wedges for. Cheers. Tom
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