ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 10, 2016 13:26:43 GMT -5
I need to re-diamond a cabbing wheel. Is the synthetic diamond grit on ebay any good for this? link
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Post by Lapidaryrough / Jack Cole on Nov 10, 2016 13:53:03 GMT -5
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Nov 10, 2016 14:29:14 GMT -5
ziggy, I buy from that same guy on eBay. I put 10cts on a 3" x 8" belt. It costs me a whopping $2.80 for diamond & a little bit for the epoxy. I use 30 min stuff so I have time to mix & spread it. Lynn
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ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 10, 2016 14:34:20 GMT -5
ziggy , I buy from that same guy on eBay. I put 10cts on a 3" x 8" belt. It costs me a whopping $2.80 for diamond & a little bit for the epoxy. I use 30 min stuff so I have time to mix & spread it. Lynn Does the synthetic diamond powder stuff work well? Does it wear out quickly or is it on par with say, natural diamond grit? Never mind. I already ordered some.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2016 16:03:16 GMT -5
ziggy , I buy from that same guy on eBay. I put 10cts on a 3" x 8" belt. It costs me a whopping $2.80 for diamond & a little bit for the epoxy. I use 30 min stuff so I have time to mix & spread it. Lynn Does the synthetic diamond powder stuff work well? Does it wear out quickly or is it on par with say, natural diamond grit? Never mind. I already ordered some. Diamond is diamond. Method of mfg is similar natural or synthetic. I do think monocrystalline is better than poly. But no proof this is true.
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 10, 2016 18:47:22 GMT -5
As far as I know just about everyone is using synthetic diamond. The one exception I know of is Lasco Diamond. They only use natural diamond. They claim it works better and lasts longer. The synthetic guys say synthetic is better as particle sizes are uniform. You would have to try both to compare.
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ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 10, 2016 20:59:02 GMT -5
Thanks all. All of your answers are awesome.
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ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 12, 2016 19:06:54 GMT -5
Just two more questions. What is the advantage (if there is any) of using nickel coated diamond grit as opposed to just plain diamond grit?
Is there anything special I need to do when re surfacing really low grits (ie. 35-100 grit). Use extra epoxy? Use several thin coats? Use more grit? Less grit? Does anyone re do 35 grit wheels? Any knowledge passed this way will be a touchdown.
I am using epoxy 220 and plan on using ten carats (two grams) of grit mixed in for a 6" x 1 1/2" wheel.
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Nov 13, 2016 1:44:34 GMT -5
Just two more questions. What is the advantage (if there is any) of using nickel coated diamond grit as opposed to just plain diamond grit? Is there anything special I need to do when re surfacing really low grits (ie. 35-100 grit). Use extra epoxy? Use several thin coats? Use more grit? Less grit? Does anyone re do 35 grit wheels? Any knowledge passed this way will be a touchdown. I am using epoxy 220 and plan on using ten carats (two grams) of grit mixed in for a 6" x 1 1/2" wheel. The seller I buy from doesn't state whether the diamond is nickel coated. So I can't help you there. 10 CTS on a wheel that has much less than half the surface area of an 8" expando may be too much. I tried 15 CTS on an 8" expando & then tried just 10 CTS the next time. I think it grinds better with less. Lynn
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 14, 2016 19:11:28 GMT -5
I would guess the nickle plated diamond is used for electroplating diamond tools.
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ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 15, 2016 12:40:14 GMT -5
I would guess the nickle plated diamond is used for electroplating diamond tools. Wow, I never would have thought of that. Sounds entirely plausible. So, using diamond grit coated with it would offer no benefit when using it with epoxy it would seem, and there is probably no need to specify using nickel coated when re surfacing wheels this way.
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ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 15, 2016 12:42:17 GMT -5
Just two more questions. What is the advantage (if there is any) of using nickel coated diamond grit as opposed to just plain diamond grit? Is there anything special I need to do when re surfacing really low grits (ie. 35-100 grit). Use extra epoxy? Use several thin coats? Use more grit? Less grit? Does anyone re do 35 grit wheels? Any knowledge passed this way will be a touchdown. I am using epoxy 220 and plan on using ten carats (two grams) of grit mixed in for a 6" x 1 1/2" wheel. 10 CTS on a wheel that has much less than half the surface area of an 8" expando may be too much. I tried 15 CTS on an 8" expando & then tried just 10 CTS the next time. I think it grinds better with less. Lynn Cut my amount down by half maybe??? (Which would be great news to me seeing as how then my grit would do twice the wheels.)
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ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 16, 2016 16:23:05 GMT -5
35 grit epoxied in place 1st view 2nd view 3rd view Different parts of the wheel in each pic. Middle pic shows what looks like maybe a little thin on the grit in that one. The other two thirds are pretty even. He used 1 gram of grit and enough epoxy to cover the wheel with the grit mixed in. He just got lucky with that. This model airplane propeller balancer was a perfect support for the dowel and wheel. Hubby has that for his quadcopters that he builds and flies. When he's not cabbing or flying quads he sometimes launches a rocket he made from scratch. When I say from scratch, that includes packing homemade fuel in the homemade motors. The dowel in the picture below moonlights as a rocket fuel packing rod when it's not busy holding up diamond wheels. The lines are depth gauges for the parts of the motor that he packs. The propeller balancer has rollers that the dowel sits on. (Overkill) 95 carats left. The epoxy
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ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 17, 2016 14:23:53 GMT -5
The following was written by Ziggy's husband. Well, the first try was almost an epic fail but not quite. The diamonds worked great at cutting a really hard stone I've been working on. Trouble is, everywhere they were applied sparsely, they came off. If they were sitting more alone than in a group, they lifted right out of the epoxy. The epoxy still looks great, just no diamonds left in it in large areas. I suspect that this happened due to the large grit I am employing. It was big enough that when sitting alone in epoxy on its own, it was obviously catching on the rock and pulling out. I came to the conclusion that I needed more even and slightly thicker of a coat of diamonds. I actually mixed almost twice as much grit in to the epoxy and then I went over it again sprinkling grit onto the wheel to even up the coat while spinning it around. Then, after that coat tacked up, I applied another coat of epoxy over with no diamond grit. Below are three pics of how the wheel looks now, epoxy still wet. I am hoping the second coat of epoxy will minimize single particle loss.
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Nov 18, 2016 0:40:02 GMT -5
I've never used such a coarse grit, 300 was my coarsest, so I don't have any advice. I hope your multi-coating works. Keep posting updates. We appreciate it. Lynn
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1nickthegreek
spending too much on rocks
Member since February 2014
Posts: 382
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Post by 1nickthegreek on Nov 18, 2016 15:04:19 GMT -5
Are you on a very tight budget? If not then I found 30 grit sintered (as in a full 3 mm of diamond blended into the steel. Not inexpensive by any means, and I dont know if they are anywhere near the quality of Neo-Sint, but they are around half the price lol Good luck!!!!! Sintered 30 grit
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Nov 18, 2016 16:09:41 GMT -5
That's a good price, especially if it's Inland brand. I think the cores are aluminum. When I bought my first 8" x 1.5" Chinese sintered wheel, I paid about $215 shipped. Now it's getting closer to $300. Their advantage is 5mm thick of diamonds. Disadvantage is heavy steel core.
I've been using my 60 grit for about 5 years & hardly see any wear. I love it! Lynn
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ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 18, 2016 22:13:04 GMT -5
I've never used such a coarse grit, 300 was my coarsest, so I don't have any advice. I hope your multi-coating works. Keep posting updates. We appreciate it. Lynn Yep. It's working out great now. I think the second coat of epoxy helped hold the grit better, and the more even coating I did prevents the individual grit pieces from pulling out of the epoxy. So, from now on, I'm not even going to mix my grit into the epoxy. I'm just going to brush on the base layer of epoxy, then sprinkle the grit on by hand to get the most even coat, then re-coat with epoxy after the first coat sets up. The 35 grit thing is perhaps not the same as the 300 grit thing Sometimes you learn by doing.
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ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 18, 2016 22:31:15 GMT -5
Are you on a very tight budget? If not then I found 30 grit sintered (as in a full 3 mm of diamond blended into the steel. Not inexpensive by any means, and I dont know if they are anywhere near the quality of Neo-Sint, but they are around half the price lol Good luck!!!!! Sintered 30 grit Ziggy's hubby speaking again.... Holy ****. I could never even think about spending half that amount on anything lapidary related. I inherited my trim saw and had it thirty years before I could afford to get it running and afford a new blade. Rather than spend umpteen thousands on a cabbing machine, I opted to build one from scratch using water jugs, re-purposed 80/20, scrounged up motor, Plywood, velcro, surgical tubing and pet store water valves. The only thing I bought were the bearings, shaft, pulley, and cabbing wheels. (I could only afford the $45.00 ones from Hans Lapidary.) I am what you would call, hmmmm, what is that word, POOR. From a poor family. Not so upwardly mobile. Fixed income. Worked all my life to get ahead and never reached the destination. Hospital bills to go broke by. Hard life and bad genetics has taken a toll and now I'm on total disability. 30 years as a welder gave me emphysema/COPD and bad genetics gave me two carotid artery surgeries, three stents near my heart, and blocked arteries throughout my body. Oh, lets not forget the atrophied right kidney that has failed completely and the left one in stage three failure because of previously stated blockages. I have something called familial hyperchloresterolemia. That is where the body makes massive amounts of bad cholesterol and triglicerides regardless of diet. My dad and all my uncles (6 I think) died before age 60 from this. Believe it or not, that is just the tip of the iceberg. The bright side for me? I made it to age 61. I have survived longer than any male in my family. I can only thank SSDI for finally getting me the good doctors I have now. They gave me a drug called Gemfibrozil and things are at least looking better there. I could only dream of ever buying a cabbing wheel for over $300.00. Ziggy's jaw hit the floor when I showed her how much that sintered wheel costs. After looking at the soft wheels at the link you provided, I see they sell soft wheels for about the same as Hans. Are the shipping charges reasonable there? Do they take Paypal? I would switch to Johnson Brothers just to avoid the slow boat from china free shipping. If they don't take Paypal I can't do business online with them. Nevermind, I just checked and they don't use paypal. That, plus they raise the price by 3 percent if you purchase by credit card. Really? Cash or money order? They need to come into the 21st century. Guess I'll just have to keep waiting on the boat. (Still need two wheels.)
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ziggy
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2016
Posts: 483
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Post by ziggy on Nov 19, 2016 16:28:09 GMT -5
Well actually Ziggy said: (I could only afford the $45.00 ones from Hans Lapidary.) So far, I have purchased four of the six wheels my home made cabber needs from Hans Lapidary in China. I have three in my possession and am waiting on the fourth one to come. The 280 grit and the 600 grit performed as expected. The 60 grit wheel they sent was no way 60 grit. More like no grit. Even the epoxy looked like crap with spots of thin epoxy in quite a few places. You could see some diamond in there, but it was not 60 grit. It did a better job of polishing like a 1200 or 3000 grit wheel would do, but could not remove amounts that a normal 60 grit wheel would. Rather than try and return and settle for a good wheel which would be a hassle to actually do I gave up on that wheel and re gritted that one to 35 grit. I am considering getting a 120 grit to go between the 35 and the 280. I hope those are what they say they are. So, be warned, Hans Lapidary wheels can be OK, or not.
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